WHAT THESE PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ISLAM No Compulsion or Coercion 2:256. The Quran verses are clear in commanding the believers that there is no coercion or compulsion in Islam to convert. The history of 14 centuries is the proof that Muslims had no systematic compulsion to convert people to Islam. One verse translation is given below: There is no coercion or compulsion in the Deen (religion, way of life). The right way now stands clearly distinguished from the wrong. Hence he who rejects the evil ones and believes in Allah has indeed taken hold of the firm, unbreakable handle, and Allah (Whom he has held for support) is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. [Noble Quran 2:256] Muslims have honored this commandment and they have been careful in not forcing people to convert to Islam. The best examples are Spain, India, East Europe where Muslims entered with armies and conquered them yet these countries remained non-Muslim majority. On the other hand, in Sub-Sahara Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia where Islamic armies never entered, these countries became Muslim majority countries. In our time in the 21st century, no Muslim army has entered in North America or Europe yet millions of people are converting to Islam by their own will. One of the principles of understanding the Quran is that a verse (ayah) should be read (a) in the context of the surrounding verses, not in isolation, (b) in the context of its revelation, which may be found in the Hadith collections, and (c) in the context of the whole Quran. A fourth requirement frequently presented is to see the words, terms and phrases used and as understood by the companions of the Prophet. It simply means reading various commentaries of the Quran of the classical period and finding how they understood and explained a given verse or a passage. Not knowing Arabic is not an excuse because in the 20th century a few commentaries of the Quran in English language have appeared and these writers have summed up the earlier commentators; some of them are Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Towards Understanding the Quran referred to above, Muhammad Asad and Abdullah Yusuf Ali. There are two translations and commentaries in the works, one by Dr. Irfan Ahmad Khan to be published from India and the other by Dr. Ahmad Zaki Hammad to be published from Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. Some parts of the both works have been published. Another aspect of understanding the Quran verses is the time frame for application of their meaning. A verse or a passage may have special meaning for a particular time of the revelation and it does not apply after the time has passed. Or a verse or a passage may also have a generalized meaning for all times to come since its revelation. Gaddafi Iyal
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 22:54:58 +0000
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