Ch 5: Misconception 4
Islam was spread by the sword and
is intolerant of other faiths:
Many social studies textbooks for
students show the image of an Arab horseman carrying a
sword in one hand and the Holy Qur'an in the other
conquering and forcibly converting. This, though, is
not a correct
Portrayal of
history. Islam has always given respect and freedom of religion to all
faiths. The Holy Qur'an
says:
{{Allâh
does not forbid you to deal justly and kindly with those who fought not against
you on account of religion and did not drive you out of your homes. Verily,
Allâh loves those who deal with equity. }},( Holly Qur’an 60:8).
Freedom of religion is laid down in the
Holy Qur'an itself:
{{There is no compulsion in
religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path.
Whoever disbelieves in Tâghût and
believes in Allâh, then he
has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break. And Allâh is All-Hearer, All-Knower. }},( Holly Qur’an 2: 256 ).
Christian missionary, T.W. Arnold had this opinion on his study of the question of
Islam's spread: "...of any organized attempt to force
the acceptance of Islam on the non-Muslim population,
or of any systematic persecution intended to stamp out the Christian religion,
we hear nothing. Had the caliphs chosen to adopt either
course of action, they might have swept away Christianity as easily as Ferdinand and Isabella drove Islam
out of Spain, or Louis XIV made Protestantism..."
It is a function of Islamic law to
protect the privileged status of minorities, and this is why non-Muslim places of worship have flourished all over the
Islamic world. History provides many examples of Muslim
tolerance towards other faiths: when the caliph Omar
entered Jerusalem in the year 634, Islam granted freedom of worship to all religious communities in the city. Proclaiming to the
inhabitants that their lives, and property were safe,
and that their places of worship would never be taken from them, he asked the Christian patriarch Sophronius to accompany him on a visit to all the holy
places.
The Christians of Jerusalem are keeping till today the covenant of Omar,
the second Caliph in Islam. Islamic law also permits
non-Muslim minorities to set up their own courts, which implement family laws drawn up by the minorities themselves.
The life and property of all citizens in an Islamic state are considered sacred whether the person is Muslim or not. One has to tell that there was a Muslim
soldier who has trespassed the rights of a Jewish man
in Iraq after
defeating the Persian Empire. This Muslim soldier had
pillaged the house of the Jewish man who himself went to the Madinah to complain about this misdemeanor. As soon as the
Caliph Omar heard about this plunder, he sued this soldier not only to give back
the house to the Jewish man, but also to be punished for his bad deed that has
not a jot of relationship with Islam.
Racism is not a part of Islam, the
Holy Qur'an speaks only of human equality and how all
peoples are equal in the sight of God.
{{O mankind! We have created you
from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may
know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you
with Allâh is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa [i.e. one of the Muttaqûn (pious)]. Verily, Allâh is All-Knowing, All-Aware. }}, (Holly Qur’an
49:13).
This Holy verse was not only a
statement in the Holy Qur'an, but also a real fact in
the Muslim world especially at the time that Muslims were used to follow the
Holy orders word by word to the point they got a great empire in 25 years at the
time that the Romans have spent 700 years to settle their great empire. For
instance, Amr Ibn AlAs, one of Muslim leaders who used to be monitoring
Egypt under the
agreement of the Caliph Omar, had a son who vied with an Egyptian guy.
Thereafter, when the son lost the race competition, he has beaten up the
Egyptian guy while uttering: do you overcome me and I am the son of the nobles!
The Egyptian young man was deeply hurt, and he went to the Madinah to complain against the son of this leader. The
Caliph Omar arraigned Amr Ibn AlAs and his son to his court;
then, he said to the Egyptian young man:" I want you to beat up the son of the
nobles and the noble man( who is the governor of Egypt-Amr
Ibn AlAs!". The Egyptian man
said: O Caliph of the faithful, I just want to beat up the son of our governor
for he had hurt me!". Pausing here for a moment, the
Caliph Omar, may Allah be praised with him, turned to the governor of
Egypt and said a
historical sentence,' O Amr! Since when did you
enslave the people whom their mothers had brought to the world free!"
On the heat of the moment, I should
mention a discussion has been with one of my best American friends. She asked
about the truth of the fact that Islam had been widespread by the power of the
swords. I told her,' Look Nancy, Islam was just the Saudi Arabia, then it has
been spread almost everywhere…many Muslim scholars who have protected Islam are
not Arabs, but they are from Russia, Perse, and other
places; for example, Imam Al Bukhari and Imam Muslim.
Nowadays the Arabs are very weak, but look around you: Turkey that used to be
the second Christian place
(Constantinople) after Rome is still Islamic many years after the
weakness of the Arab Muslims…It is the same thing for Malaysia, Afghanistan,
Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Bosnia,
Kosovo, the Middle East, Egypt etc…What is the reason that let them keep
their religion even though they many times suffer because of adopting a
religious life and loving Allah Almighty…there is no mundane power that compels
them to convert to Islam…They are Muslims because they want to seek the path of
comfort, soulful content, and perennial happy life. They are still Muslims
because they found themselves within the glistening of the Holy Words that come
directly from the Lord of the World.
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