"The Whole truth, the plain truth and nothing but the truth"

Submitted by Lactantius Jr (United Kingdom), Jan 4, 2007 at 18:44

To Zedine

Your Part (1) of (3) parts bothers me Zedine. At 6,841 words which completely ignore my all-important first question to you about Surah 5:32-33, I'm not optimistic that our conversation will go anywhere.

Here is my preliminary reply to your lengthy posting, in response to my "I've got questions Zedine" posted at http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/70092 where I responded to your posting titled "The actual Muslim prayer is -------------------------" posted at:- http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/55907 and which concludes with you saying

"There is a lot of misunderstanding about Isalm (sic) and Muslims. Islam is the most peaceful religion. "If any person kills one human being it is like killing the whole mankind, and if any one save one human life it is like saving the whole mankind ......"QURAN"

So a real Muslim cannot be a terrorist at all.

Questions are welcome."

A Qur'anic quotation often trotted out by Muslims as part of the "Islam is peace" mantra, allegedly runs along the lines:

"If you kill one soul it is as if you have killed all mankind." to which you added and if any one save one human life it is like saving the whole mankind ...... and before dealing with anything else, I insist that you deal with my very first question about your selective quotation of Surah 5:32 which prompted me to ask whether you were being deliberately deceitful? Otherwise, why did you not quote the whole of it? the full and unexpurgated version (Abdullah Yusuf Ali) of Surah 5:32&33 saying something very different from your sanitised partial quotation:-

"On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land. The punishment of those who wage war against God and His Apostle, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter;"

Aya 33 lists a selection of savage punishments for those who fight the Muslims and create "mischief" (or in some translations "corruption") in the land, punishments which include execution, crucifixion and amputation. What kind of "mischief in the land" could merit such a reaction Zedine? Could it be interpreted as secularism, democracy and other non-Islamic values in a land? Could the "murder" be the killing of Muslims in Iraq or Afghanistan by American and British soldiers?

Very importantly, do the Muslims including yourself Zedine, who quote the expurgated form, do so mendaciously and duplicitously, thus seeking to deliberately conceal what Surah 5:32-33 actually says.

I have many questions about Islam and violence Zedine, and place the utmost importance on truth, the plain truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and our conversation is going nowhere without it, so do please deal with my questions about the reasons for your partial quotation, and the consequences that flow from them.

With kind regards and best wishes

Lactantius Jr.

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