Verse of the Sword – What is the truth?

Verse 9:5 of Quran is popularly known as the verse of the sword by those who argue that Islam is violent by nature. I am quoting verse 9:5 below.

9:5 - Then, when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and seize them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent and establish prayer and give zakah, then leave their way. Indeed, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

People interpret this verse as a command to fight against all polytheists till they accept Islam (establishing prayer and giving zahah means accepting Islam). This is seen as the basis to spread Islam by the sword.

Another verse that is equally popular among those who argue against Islam is verse 9:29.

9:29 - Fight those who do not believe in Allah and in the Last Day, and they do not make unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful, and they do not acknowledge the true religion (Islam) from those who were given the Scripture, until they pay the Jizya willingly while they are subdued.

This verse mentions the people given Scripture (Jews & Christians) and talks about jizya (a kind of tax). Verse 9:29 is put together with verse 9:5 to conclude that – all polytheists have only two options: convert to Islam or face death while Jews and Christians have a third option: pay jizya and live in subdued state.

In addition to this, the surah that contains these two verses is believed to be the last surah that was revealed. Based on that, it is also argued that whatever is there in this surah is the final word and anything in other surahs that talk about peace, etc are all invalidated.

There is strong ground for Muslims to argue that all these interpretations of the two verses (9:5 & 9:29) are wrong. To start with, one needs to understand that there is a specific approach that needs to be used for understanding Quran. I have described the approach in a separate post – Understanding Islam from Quran.

Now, before coming to verse 9:5 and 9:29, one needs to first look at certain other verses that establish high-level guidelines on the relationship Muslims should have with non-Muslims.

Consider the following verses.

60:8 - Allah forbids you not, with regard to those who fight you not for (your) Faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them: for Allah loveth those who are just.

60:9 - Allah only forbids you, with regard to those who fight you for (your) Faith, and drive you out of your homes, and support (others) in driving you out, from turning to them (for friendship and protection). It is such as turn to them (in these circumstances), that do wrong.

The above two verses are preceded by verses that talk of not having friendship with non-Muslims. These two verses summarize the whole concept – Muslims should treat non-Muslims with kindness and justice as long as the non-Muslims don’t fight Muslims on account of religion and don’t oppress Muslims (drive them out of their homes).

Quran allows Muslims to fight against those who fight them on account of religion, as explained by the below verses.

Quran 22:39 & 22:40 - Permission is given to those who are being fought because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is Able to give them victory. Those who have been evicted from their homes without right only because they said, “Our Lord is Allah.” ...

Though Quran gives Muslims the right to retaliate, it asks them to prefer patience over fight.

16:126 - And if you retaliate, retaliate with an equivalent of that with which you were afflicted. But if you are patient - it is better for those who are patient.

Now let me come to verse 9:5. Have a look at the verses before and after that verse.

9:4 - Except those with whom you have a treaty among the polytheists and they have not failed you in anything and they have not supported anyone against you, so fulfill their treaty until their term (has ended). Indeed, Allah loves the righteous.

9:6 - And if anyone of the polytheists seek your protection then grant him protection so that he may hear the Words of Allah. Then escort him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know.

Verse 9:4 clarifies that the fight is because the polytheists have broken the treaty and turned hostile towards Muslims. Verse 9:1 to 9:3 can also be read to get more information on the context – the polytheists had broken the treaty and Muslims are asked to wait till the sacred months are over and then retaliate.

Verse 9:6 says that if a polytheist surrenders, Muslims are supposed to escort them to a place of safety after making them hear the words of God. From this verse, it is obvious that there is no intention of forcing the polytheists to accept Islam. They are made to hear the words of God and then allowed to go where they want. This shows that the fight is only against hostility and not to spread Islam. Spreading the word of God is something that Muslims are supposed to do as much as possible. Asking those who have surrendered in battle to just hear certain things on God cannot be considered unfair. It is unfair only if they are tortured or forced to accept Islam.

In addition to that, Quran is completely against compelling anyone to accept Islam. Consider the following verses.

3:20 - So if they dispute with thee, say: "I have submitted My whole self to Allah and so have those who follow me." And say to the People of the Book and to those who are unlearned: "Do ye (also) submit yourselves?" If they do, they are in right guidance, but if they turn back, Thy duty is to convey the Message; and in Allah's sight are (all) His servants.

10:99 - If it had been thy Lord's will, they would all have believed,- all who are on earth! wilt thou then compel mankind, against their will, to believe!

Verse 3:20 asks the Prophet to just convey the message from God - there is no other duty for him. Verse 10:99 says that some people do not believe only due to God’s intention and the Prophet should not compel people to believe. If Mohammed himself does not have the right to apply any force to make people believe, other Muslims cannot even think of doing it.

Note that verse 9:5 talks about ending the fight if the opponent accepts Islam. At many places, Quran talks about ending hostilities when the opponents accept Islam. This approach is based on the principle that when someone accepts Islam it is implicit that there is no reason to continue the hostilities – this is because most of the fights referred to in Quran were on account of religious differences. This does not mean that the fight itself is just to make the opponents accept Islam.

The reason for the fight referred to in verse 9:5 is the failure of the polytheists to honor a peace treaty. But in case of verse 9:29, it is violation of a special type of peace treaty called Dhimmah. The key word in verse 9:29 is jizya. One needs to understand the meaning of jizya first. Jizya is related to Dhimmah. I am describing the concept of jizya below.

Dhimmah is a social contract an Islamic society makes with non-Muslims in order to let them be within the Islamic society. Islam is not just a belief system - it includes social practices that are aimed at making Islamic societies self-sustaining. One such practice is zakah - mandatory charity that every capable Muslim should pay in order to take care of the economically weaker sections of the society. Under Dhimmah, capable non-Muslims have to make a mutually agreed periodic payment to the Muslims. This periodic payment is called jizya. The concept of jizya is there in order to ensure that non-Muslims also contribute to the society similar to the way Muslims do with zakah. Another point to note is that jizya is not something enforced by Muslims arbitrarily – the amount of jizya is agreed upon by the non-Muslims at the time of establishing the contract.

Verse 9:29 clearly says that the fight is to get jizya. Based on that, it is obvious that the fight is against someone who owed jizya but refused to pay – it is not about fighting non-Muslims in general. In an Islamic society, even Muslims will be asked to pay zakah similar to the way non-Muslims pay jizya. It is just about enforcing the law of the land – similar to the way present day governments enforce taxes on citizens.

Another criticism on verse 9:29 is about the phrase “pay the jizya willingly while they are subdued”. This is misinterpreted as a requirement that those who pay jiza (i.e., those who are under Dhimmah) should always be in a subdued state. This is an incorrect interpretation. The word “subdued” can refer to only getting subdued in battle. The verse just says that the opponents should be subdued in battle and made to pay the due jizya. Verse 60:8 clearly states that non-Muslims who are not hostile should be treated with kindness and justice. Dhimmis (non-Muslims under Dhimmah) are those who have agreed by contract to live in peace with Muslims - there is no question of treating them badly or as second class citizens.

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Understanding Islam from Quran

Understanding Quran is key to understanding Islam. In addition to Quran, there are other sources of knowledge like Hadith, etc. However, in order to get an understanding of the core principles and practices of Islam, it is sufficient if one looks at Quran alone. All other sources must be consistent with Quran – any inconsistent material from other sources should be considered invalid. Here, I am describing the approach that should be used for understanding Quran.

Note: The translations of Quran verses used here are from Abdullah Yusuf Ali (http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/)

Quran is believed by Muslims to have come directly from God. It is the most authentic source of knowledge on Islam. Quran cannot be understood with a casual reading - some focused attention is required in order to understand it. Based on verses from Quran itself I am explaining how Quran should be interpreted:

4:82 - Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy.

This verse essentially says that you will not find discrepancies in Quran. Incidentally, this verse is placed very close to two verses (4:78 & 4:79) that appear to contradict each other. If someone perceives discrepancy between certain verses in Quran, then it means that s/he has misinterpreted the verses. Whenever one tries to understand Quran’s stance on a particular topic, s/he should read all related verses from different parts of Quran together. One needs to consider verses on the particular topic as well as verses on Quran’s high level principles that have a general applicability to multiple contexts.

Some people talk about the concept of abrogation – they say that if there is a conflict between two verses, the verse revealed later would abrogate the earlier one. This is an invalid concept. When Quran clearly says that there is no contradiction in it, there is no question of abrogation. The proponents of abrogation concept cite verses 2:106 and 16:101. These verses talk about replacing certain messages/signs with new ones. These verses actually refer to replacement of messages sent before Quran – messages sent through earlier messengers like Moses and Jesus. Even in case of replacing messages, verse 2:106 clearly says that the new message will be similar to or better than the previous one. This cannot be interpreted as replacing a wrong message with a right one – the previous message will continue to be true, although it is replaced.

The next important verse on understanding Quran is:

3:7 - He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book: In it are verses basic or fundamental (of established meaning); they are the foundation of the Book: others are allegorical. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is allegorical, seeking discord, and searching for its hidden meanings, but no one knows its hidden meanings except Allah. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: "We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord:" and none will grasp the Message except men of understanding.

As per the above verse, there are certain verses in Quran that are allegorical. Only God knows the true meaning of the verses. People should not interpret those verses in a manner that causes discord. The above verse also says that one needs to believe that the whole of Quran is from God – no part of it can be considered as false. Now, there arises a question: what are we supposed to do with the allegorical verses that cannot be understood completely? The answer is – we don’t have to do anything. The verses in Quran can be classified into two broad categories:

(a) Verses that command people to do certain things or not do certain actions. These verses cannot be ambiguous in any way – God himself is not going to say that commands from him cannot be understood by humans. Verses in this category are the ones that define the actions and practices mandated for Muslims. It is important that these verses are understood completely.

(b) Verses that describe the characteristics of something or someone - Allah, Quran, Mohammed, Jews, Christians, God’s punishments, God’s rewards, some event of the past, and so on. Some of these verses may use metaphorical descriptions. These verses would not have any command/guideline to humans from God. In other words, knowing the true meaning of these verses would not change any belief/action/practice of a true Muslim. For example, verse 2:23 challenges anyone who doubts Quran to produce a surah similar to any of the surahs in Quran. This verse states the greatness of Quran. A true Muslim would not need any further introspection on this verse because s/he already has great esteem for Quran. But, some Muslims spend time trying to find out why surahs are unique by counting words, applying mathematical calculations, etc. In my opinion, spending time on finding out the uniqueness of surahs is an unnecessary effort - it does not benefit anyone.

Note: I have done the above categorization of verses just for the purpose of explaining the approach that needs to be used while interpreting Quran. However, Quran itself does not do any categorization.

God also gives an assurance that Quran will be protected from any corruption. The assurance is given in the following two verses.

Quran 15:9 - We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).

Quran 41:42 - No falsehood can approach it from before or behind it: It is sent down by One Full of Wisdom, Worthy of all Praise.

There is only a single version of Quran on earth today. So, one need not be worried about multiple versions or distortions in Quran.

Another important aspect to consider while understanding the verses is the context in which those verses were revealed. Quran was revealed over a period of 23 years and the verses were not revealed in the same order in which they are organized. The history behind certain verses may be uncertain or may not be available. In addition to that, there is no guarantee that the available historic information will be 100% accurate. God has promised to guard only Quran against distortion. One should be cognizant of this fact while looking into the history behind the Quran verses.

I short, one needs to take into consideration all of the following in order to understand any particular verse.

1. Verses adjoining the verse under considering.
2. Verses on the same topic from other parts of Quran.
3. Verses on high level principles that have applicability to the topic being considered.
4. Historic context of all the verses being looked at.

Except the 4th item (history) everything else can be got from Quran itself. It may be possible to understand Quran verses without looking at the historic context – but it requires very careful study. People who read the translation have an additional challenge due to distortions during translation.

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