Earlier today, I was at the Market to get a Ram which is a donation from Lawal Foundation, Netherlands to the KnowIslam Project.
After going back and forth, we started negotiating with a seller who said he wouldn’t take anything less than the price he came down to.
While negotiating, a call from +234983527** came in. The caller needed clarification on a matter he’s dealing with. He mentioned a case of blasphemy in the North of recent and in discussing with someone, he quoted Qur’an 2:256 to show that Islam is against compulsion in matters of religion. As a response, the other person quoted verse 33 of Surah al-Maidah that says the punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger is to be killed. So, he needs some clarification.
Firstly, I pointed out to Qur’an 5:32 which shows that Islam is forbids killing a soul unjustly and comparing its gravity to that of killing the whole of mankind.
Then, I explained the context of verse 33 with Surah Mumtahanah verses 8 and 9. In verse 8, Allah says in the Qur’an that Muslims are not forbidden from (being good, nice, just, etc) those who do not fight us on account of our religion nor chase us out of our homes because Allah loves those who act justly. In verse 9, Allah approves of fighting those who fight us on account of the afore mentioned. Thus, the enemies of Allah in Qur’an 5:33 are those who fight against Muslims. I did this reading the verses in Arabic.
On dropping the call, the seller said, “Take take, take am Sheikh ๐”. He told his colleague that I’m a Sheikh and that we shouldn’t bother, he only wants me to pray for him. The money we were supposed to pay for the “Ladaa” (a kind of money they pay for selling or the land or so), he asked us to pay just half of it, got us food for the ram and helped us to the car.
As Allah willed, I was opportune to make things clear to the caller which he would, I think, go on to explain to the other person. As Allah willed again he eased our affair at the market.
If waging war against enemies of Allah has no context, imagine how many people would be alive today. They also don’t believe the Qur’an says so, they’re just blind and mischievous.
Bashir Lucas Samson Lukman
English 