Reply to the core of Islam

Submitted by Alain Jean-Mairet (Switzerland), Nov 14, 2005 at 10:14

When quoting the Koran, or the traditions, how can one decide what is taken out of context and what is at the very core of the revelation?

I'd say that when we can ascertain the situation at the time of revelation, with good certainty, based on universally accepted Islamic sources, and when the messages of the Koran are then quite clearly understandable, and when the meaning we find then is indeed the one adopted by the totality or a great majority of Islamic scholars of the origins (madhabs), then, I think that we definitely can, in good faith, affirm that we have a solid element of the Islamic dogma.

Then, if history agrees, that is, if Muslims massively adopted the attitude and actions resulting of the said interpretations, I shall propose that we abandon our last doubt and take for granted that Islam does order Muslims to do so.

Based on such conditions, we can affirm, for example, that jihad, that is, to wage war against non-Muslims, is a religious duty (surah 9, then 5, the last revealed of the Koran, abrogating all peaceful verses, according to interpretation of madhabs), that Islamic warriors are allowed to kill during what is considered a sacred period of time (II:217), that they also can kill all infidels after a siege, all of them without exceptions (IX:36, authoritative interpretation by Muslim and Abu Da'ud). We also can affirm that Muslims have to speak only in good terms of their religion to infidels (XVI:125, concordant instructions of madhabs for the call to the faith).

Based on that, I'll assert that a Muslim who is trying to convince a non-Muslim of the universal peaceful quality of his religion can be but either badly ignorant of his own religion or a jihadist, trying to call us to Islam. And according, once again, to the Koran, to the deeds of the prophet, to the unanimous interpretation of all Islamic schools of law, and to history, the next step he has to take if we don't embrace Islam is to wage war on us. If he fails to do so, he disobeys his own law.

That is the core of Islam.

And of course, if that demonstration is correct, no Muslim will tell you that. Unless he were sincerely trying to reform his religion.

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