to elucidate...

Submitted by Taj (United States), Oct 10, 2008 at 16:49

sorry infidel but those are simply another example of listing verses sans any context in order to somehow construct the fear-mongering argument that Muslims are out to kill everyone not Muslim.

Not only is the argument poorly made, reality itself belies the claim. There are over a billion Muslims on the planet - if such a belief were so ingrained as you asininely assert, the world would be in utter chaos.

The reality is, the overwhelming majority of Muslims understand these verses in proper context and hardly conclude about their faith similarly to (your) islamophobic assertions...

as a simple exercise, let's look at just one of the verses you cited, 3:28 - I mean, partly cited...

It is rendered by Yusuf Ali as:

"Let not the believers Take for friends or helpers Unbelievers rather than believers"

the arabic transliteration is:

La yattakhithi al-muminoonal kafireena awliyaa min doonal mumineena

Now if you read this with an eye of critical thinking, the question of why the arabic term "awliya" is translated as 2 words, "helpers" or "friends" arises... The easy answer here is that the term in arabic has more than one meaning.

Now, with just an iota of curiosity, one would investigate as to what the actual meaning of awliya is...It is an easy task, thanks to the internet. I would recommend starting with finding out just what is the common arabic word(s) used for "friend". Say you use an arabic-english online dictionary, you will find that among the various terms listed, the word "wali" (singular of awliyaa) is not used. You will also find that the words sadiq and rafiq are commonly used instead.

To the critical thinker, a new question arises - just what then does wali mean if it is not commonly used as "friend" by arab speakers...Here, I would recommend one actually be familiar with religious vocabulary, finding that the term wali is of signifigance to Muslims - in its common religious usage, the term refers to a saint or someone who exhibits extreme devotion to God.

It also has a common usage pertaining to marriage, ie, it is the person who represents the bride in her side of the marriage contract. Oft times it is the father or brother. Clearly in this context a "wali" is not a "friend" but is a patron or agent or representative. Having a wali is a religious stipulation based on the statement of Muhammad - "There is no marriage without a wali" - if one transposes the word "friend" here, this statement is non-sensical...

Now, understanding what wali/awliyaa means, the verse as a stand alone is one of understatement, especially when understood in the context that this advice was given to the fledgling Muslim community who had just suffered a series of treacherous attacks and raids facilitated by non-Muslim tribes who violated peace treaties they engaged with the Muslim community.

Lastly, if wali means "friends" and Muslims cannot take unbelievers or Jews/Christians as friends, how do you explain the permission to take them as spouses??? (lol)

Now, that's deconstructing one of your cited verses - you can imagine how at length one can go regarding the other 13...

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