Answering Questions Through The Holy Qur'an: Is there freedom of religion in Islam? Is there compulsion in Islam?

Is there freedom of religion in Islam? Is there compulsion in Islam?

2:256 There is no compulsion in the religion. Surely the right course has become clear from the wrong. So whoever disbelieves in false deities and believes in Allah has grasped the firm handhold with no break in it. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing.

109:6 For you is your religion, and for me is my religion."

17:107 Say, "Believe in it or do not believe. Indeed, those who were given the knowledge before it, when it is recited to them, they fall on their faces in prostration."

42:15 So to that then invite, and stand firm as you are commanded and do not follow their desires, but say, "I believe in what Allah has sent down of the Book, and I am commanded to do justice between you. Allah is our Lord and your Lord. For us are our deeds and for you your deeds. There is no argument between us and between you. Allah will assemble us, and to Him is the final return."

28:55 And when they hear vain talk, they turn away from it and say, "For us are our deeds and for you are your deeds. Peace be on you; we do not seek the ignorant."

39:15 So worship what you will besides Him." Say, "Indeed, the losers are those who (will) lose themselves and their families on the Day of Resurrection. Unquestionably, that is the clear loss."

50:45 We know best what they say, and you are not the one to compel them. But remind with the Qur’an whoever fears My threat.

7:88 The chiefs (of) his people who were arrogant said, "O Shuaib, we will surely drive you out and those who (have) believed with you from our city, or you must return to our religion." He said, "Even if we are (the) ones who hate (it)?

10:99 And if your Lord had willed, those who are on the earth all of them would surely have believed. Then, will you compel mankind until they become believers? 10:100 And it is not for a soul to believe except by the permission of Allah. And He will place the wrath on those who do not use reason.

10:41 And if they deny you then say, "For me are my deeds, and for you are your deeds. You are disassociated from what I do, and I am disassociated from what you do."

81:27 It is not except a reminder to the worlds, 81:28 For whoever wills among you to take a straight way.

33:28 O Prophet, say to your wives, "If you desire the life of the world and its adornment, then come, I will provide for you and release you with a good release.

18:29 And say, "The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills - let him believe and whoever wills - let him disbelieve." Indeed, We have prepared for the wrongdoers a Fire, its walls will surround them. And if they call for relief, they will be relieved with water like molten brass, which scalds the faces. Wretched is the drink, and evil is the resting place.

6:108 And do not insult those whom they invoke other than Allah, lest they insult Allah in enmity without knowledge. Thus We have made fair-seeming to every community their deed. Then to their Lord is their return, then He will inform them about what they used to do.

17:84 Say, "Each works according to his manner, but your Lord is most knowing of who is best guided in way."

41:40 Indeed, those who distort (in) Our Verses are not hidden from Us. So, is (he) who is cast in the Fire better or (he) who comes secure on the Day of Resurrection? Do what you will. Indeed, He is the All-Seer of what you do.

8:12 When your Lord inspired to the Angels, "I am with you, so strengthen those who believed. I will cast terror in the hearts of those who disbelieved, so strike above the necks and strike from them every fingertip."

(There is no compulsion in Verse 8:12. The sentence is addressed to the Angels. Mankind was created to willingly worship God, and they suffer the consequences of their disbelief)(Allah knows best)

14:36 My Lord, indeed, they have led astray many among mankind. So whoever follows me, then indeed, he is of me, and whoever disobeys me, then indeed, You are Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

(Disobedience can be forgiven if they repent and correct themselves (4:16))(Allah knows best)

9:29 Fight those who do not believe in Allah and in the Last Day, and they do not make unlawful what Allah has made unlawful and His Messenger, and they do not acknowledge the religion of the truth, from those who were given the Scripture, until they pay the jizyah willingly, while they are subdued.

(The context of Chapter 9 is self-defense (9:8-10, 9:12-13, 9:40, 9:61, 9:64-66, 9:107). Verse 9:29 indicates who are the ones to be fought, in a context of war, because they began to attack (9:13). The Verse does not say that they are to be fought until they convert to Islam, but says “until they pay the jizyah willingly”. And there is no compulsion in that payment either, because the Verse says that the payment is done willingly. It is said that the payment is in exchange of security. The non-Muslims who make objections against this Verse are hypocrites, because Muslims do not pay willingly in non-Muslim countries but they are forced to pay taxes)(Allah knows best)

8:39 And fight them until there is no oppression and the religion is all of it for Allah. But if they cease, then indeed, Allah is All-Seer of what they do.

(Verses 8:39 and 2:193 are not about compulsion in religion. Compulsion in religion is forbidden (2:256); so the Verse is in the context of Muslims being oppressed, and self-defense, because the Verse explicitly says “until there is no oppression” and “if they cease”; so Muslims fight against oppression, in order to overcome the oppressors / the oppression, and the religion becomes for Allah, so that Muslims can practice their religion)(Allah knows best)

2:193 And fight against them until there is no oppression, and the religion becomes for Allah Then if they cease, then let there be no hostility except against the oppressors.

2:139 Say, "Do you argue with us about Allah while He is our Lord and your Lord? And for us are our deeds, and for you are your deeds. And we are sincere to Him.

38:24 He said, "Certainly, he has wronged you by demanding your ewe to his ewes. And indeed, many of the partners certainly oppress some of them [on] another, except those who believe and do righteous deeds and they (are) few." And David became certain that We (had) tried him, and he asked forgiveness (of) his Lord and fell down bowing and turned in repentance.

(The disbelievers are the ones who oppress, not the believers (38:24))(Allah knows best)

22:41 Those who, if We establish them in the land, they establish the prayer and give zakah and they enjoin the right and forbid the wrong. And for Allah is the end of the matters.

(It is objected that, in some Muslim countries, there is no religious tolerance, because people have to follow performance standards, or rules of behavior, for example, in the street, or even when living in a Muslim family’s home. “Performance standards” is other than “compulsion in religion”, so everyone does what they want at their own home. Some non-Muslims are very hypocrites because they do exactly the same: in Christian countries, “everything” is not allowed in the street but they also have rules according to their ideas, and what they teach to their children is also according to their ideas. Muslims have the duty (and also towards their children) of enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong, as part of someone’s learning, regardless of their belief. While “compelling” is a different matter. This interpretation is confirmed by the Verses themselves, which use different words: the root of “compel” is “Jiim-Ba-Ra”, and it means “compel, constrain, incite, self-magnification, pride, insolence, tyrannical, etc.”; while the root of “enjoin” is “Alif-Meem-Ra”, and it means “command / order / enjoin, authority / power / dominion, counselled / advised / consulted, etc.”; so according to some of the meanings of “Alif-Meem-Ra”, “enjoining” can be in the sense of “advising” (informing / notifying / offering guidance / instructing, etc), rather than being a tyrant)(Allah knows best)

7:199 Hold (to) forgiveness, and enjoin the good, and turn away from the ignorant.

(Verse 7:199 confirms that, in the context of “enjoining the good”, Muslims are to “turn away from the ignorant”, so you are not forcing people into the religion)(Allah knows best)

9:67 The hypocrite men and the hypocrite women are of one another. They enjoin the wrong and forbid what is right, and they close their hands. They forget Allah, so He has forgotten them. Indeed, the hypocrites, they are the defiantly disobedient.

(The hypocrites do the same, but the other way round, they may enjoin the wrong and forbid what is right (9:67)(e.g. some non-Muslims try to deny Muslim women’s right to wear veil/hijab))(Allah knows best)

22:40 Those who have been evicted from their homes without right - only because they say, "Our Lord is Allah ." And were it not that Allah checks the people, some of them by others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allah is much mentioned. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is All-Strong, All-Mighty.

(It is also objected that Saudi Arabia does not allow building churches. But that’s not a matter about Islam, but about Saudi Arabia policies, because building a church is not forbidden in the Qur’an)(The Bible forbids the “images” which are present in catholic churches, so according to their Scripture, Christian themselves should not build such thing. In regard to banning the Bible, it contains: honor killing, a raped girl is forced to marry her rapist, stoning, women is forced to have relations with her husband’s brother, there is killing of women, children, babies, cattle (1 Samuel 15:3), and also there is killing of old men, women, mothers and children in Ezekiel 9:5-6; there is self-mutilation, there is incest, there is cannibalism, etc. People should not read it in order to follow it. On the other hand, there is self-defense in the Qur’an. Self-defense is not the origin / root / source of violence. And there is nothing bad or evil in the Qur’an, so there is no reason to ban it)(See the link below: “Which religion is moderate and which is extreme? Who are the radicals? Judaism vs. Christianity vs. Islam vs. atheism”)(Allah knows best)

2:217 They ask you about fighting in the sacred month. Say, "Fighting therein is a great (sin); but hindering from the way of Allah, and disbelief in Him and (preventing access to) Al-Masjid Al-Haraam, and driving out its people from it is greater (sin) near Allah. And oppression is greater than killing." And they will not cease to fight with you until they turn you away from your religion, if they are able. And whoever among you turns away from his religion, then dies while he is a disbeliever - for those, their deeds became worthless in the world and the Hereafter. And those are the companions of the Fire, they (will) abide in it forever.

(Non-Muslims are the ones who force and put pressure on people to leave their religion)(Allah knows best)

2:120 And the Jews and the Christians will never be pleased with you until you follow their religion. Say, "Indeed, the Guidance of Allah is the Guidance." And if you follow their desires after what has come to you of the knowledge, you will have neither any protector from Allah nor any helper.

(According to the Qur’an, you cannot compel people in the religion)(In regard to Judaism, according to the article “forced conversion”, “Forced conversions occurred under the Hasmonean Kingdom. The Idumeans were forced to convert to Judaism, by threat of exile or death”. According to Harold W. Attridge, “forced conversion was a national policy, is clear from the fact that Alexander Jannaeus demolished the city of Pella in Moab, ‘because the inhabitants would not agree to adopt the national custom of the Jews.’”. According to William Horbury, “The evidence is best explained by postulating that an existing small Jewish population in Lower Galilee was massively expanded by the forced conversion in c.104 BC of their Gentile neighbors in the north.”. “In 2009 the BBC defended a claim that in AD 524 the Yemeni Jewish Himyar tribe, led by King Yusuf Dhu Nuwas, had offered Christian residents of a village in what is now Saudi Arabia the choice between conversion to Judaism or death, and that 20,000 Christians had then been massacred”. “Inscriptions documented by Yousef himself show the great pride he expressed after massacring more than 22,000 Christians in Zafar and Najran”, etc.)(In regard to Christianity, according to that article, “Christian heretics had been persecuted; beginning in the late 4th century, the ancient pagan religions were also actively suppressed”, “forced conversions of Jews were carried out with the support of rulers during late antiquity and the early middle ages in Gaul, the Iberian peninsula and in the Byzantine empire”, “forced conversion that occurred after the seventh century generally took place during riots and massacres carried out by mobs and clergy without support of the rulers”, “tactics of crusades included the killing of hostages, massacre, and the devastation of the lands of tribes that had not yet submitted (to Christianity)”, “the so-called “new Christians” were those inhabitants (Sephardic Jews or Mudejar Muslims) who were baptized under coercion and in the face of execution, becoming forced converts from Islam or from Judaism”, and so on (forced conversion in colonial Americas, Eastern Europe, India, etc.))(In regard to atheism, “under the doctrine of state atheism in the Soviet Union, there was a “government-sponsored program of forced conversion to atheism” conducted by Communists, “the Russian Orthodox church, for centuries the strongest of all Orthodox churches, was violently suppressed”, “as of November 2018, in present-day China, the government has detained many people in internment camps, “where Uighur Muslims are remade into atheist Chinese subjects”. For children forcibly taken away from their parents, the Chinese government has established “orphanages” with the aim of “converting future generations of Uighur Muslim children into loyal subjects who embrace atheism”, and so on)(Christian countries have strategies against Islam, trying to make people leave the religion, or trying to prevent new conversions to Islam, by inventing a falsehood about Islam (In books, movies, internet, tv, pejorative use of Arabic words, etc). Their defamation is called “freedom of speech” by themselves, but inventing a falsehood is also against freedom of religion, and against themselves. See the article below, “Strategies against Islam. Is it something new?”)(Allah knows best)

11:28 He said, "O my people, do you see if I was on (the) clear proof from my Lord, while He has given me mercy from Himself but (it) has been obscured from you, should We compel you (to accept) it while you (are) averse to it?

74:36 A warning to (the) human being, 74:37 To whoever wills among you to proceed or stay behind.

74:54 Nay, indeed, it (is) a Reminder. 74:55 So whoever wills, (may) pay heed to it.

Answering Questions Through The Holy Qur'an

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Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Is there freedom of religion in Islam? Is there compulsion in Islam?

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