Thread by @DrJavadTHashmi

This thread is actually useful to see what extreme measures are needed to sustain this doctrine of perpetual holy war, despite the multitude of Qur'anic verses that say otherwise. The Qur'an permits warfare only in response to aggression & it likewise anathematizes aggression. 1/

https://twitter.com/IbneKhan01/status/1314551162654294018

Indeed, the permission to wage war is conditioned upon responding to attack & aggression: "Permission [to fight] is granted to those who are fought, because they have been wronged--and truly God is able to help them... 2/

"...who were expelled from their homes without right, only for saying, 'Our Lord is God'" (Q 22:39-40). The Qur'an prioritizes religious freedom & elevates war to a level of jihād based on religious persecution (fitna). The Qur'an responds to any potential pacifists... 3/

& justifies war based on religious freedom: "Were it not for God’s repelling people, some by means of others, monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, wherein God’s Name is mentioned much, would have been destroyed... 4/

"...And God will surely help those who help Him—truly God is Strong, Mighty" (Q 22:40). Compare the reason that the Qur'an gives--religious freedom for even non-Muslims & their houses of worship--with the reason that @IbneKhan01 gives... 5/

He claims that war is justified "to conquer the earth and bring it under the dominance and banner of Islām and establish the worship of Allāh on this entire planet." Yet, the Qur'an says that the reason war is justified is to defend religious freedom & worship... 6/

even for "monasteries, churches, [and] synagogues"... WHEREVER "God's name is mentioned much." When war was declared, the Qur'an commanded, "Fight them until there is no more fitna (religious persecution) and [your] religion is [all] for God" (Q 2:193, 8:39). 7/

The medieval exegetes militarized this verse by glossing fitna to mean shirk/kufr & understanding the second part to refer to *their* (enemy's) religion instead of the more commonsense explanation that it refers to *your* religion.
According to traditional sources themselves..8/

the verse was revealed at the START of the conflict in Mecca, as the Prophet fled. "Fitna" is employed by the Qur'an because the Muslims were being subjected to affliction (balāʾ) & torture (taʿdhīb) in order to induce them away from their religion (yaftinu muslim ʿan dīnihi). 9/

The Qur'an recalls the state of religious persecution under the Pharaoh: "But none believed in Moses, save some progeny from among his people, for fear of Pharaoh and his notables, that he would persecute/inquisition them (yaftinahum)" (Q 10:83). 10/

How can the Qur'an permit wars of offense & aggression when the Qur'an says God dislikes this &, in fact, justifies the believers' jihād on the basis of their enemies' acts of aggression? This is impugning tawḥīd since it implies God changes in His likes & dislikes. 11/

"Fight in God's cause against those who fight you, but do not aggress (lā taʿtadū). Indeed God does not like aggressors" (Q 2:190). Not only does the Qur'an condition fighting on their "fight[ing] you," but it calls to peace if the enemy inclines towards peace... 12/

"But if they cease [fighting you], then God is indeed forgiving, merciful" (Q 2:192). This verse confused the medieval exegetes: how could God forgive shirk/kufr? So, they took the counter-intuitive reading that this refers to ceasing from shirk/kufr. 13/

For them, this was a theological problem. Yet, the Qur'an itself indicates that it is "cease [FIGHTING],": "If they incline towards peace, then you incline towards it" (Q 8:61). It does NOT say "if they incline towards Islam/belief/jizya..." 14/

In fact, the Qur'an declares, "So if they withdraw from you, and do not fight you, and offer peace, God allows you no way against them" (Q 4:90). Clarifying other pronouncements that command being stern with the Rejecters & fighting them, the Qur'an says: 15/

"God does not forbid you, with regard to those who did not fight you on account of religion and did not expel you from your homes, from treating them righteously and being just toward them. Truly God loves the just" (Q 60:8).
Ask yourself: what is unjust here but aggression? 16/

Next verse: "God only forbids you, with regard to those who fought you on account of religion and expelled you from your homes and supported your expulsion, from befriending them; whosoever befriends them, they are the wrongdoers" (Q 60:9). 17/

I could keep going--there exists no shortage of verses that forbid aggression. We could overwhelm you with them, yet you wish to tell us that one solitary verse (or two) abrogates (cancels out!) all of them? We should fear approaching unbelief, claiming God changes His mind.. 18/

& is inconsistent. Ritual laws can be abrogated, but NOT God's likes & dislikes! You allege that Q 9:73 "abrogates all things [previously ordained] in terms of forgiveness and forbearance [towards them],'" invoking a report by the Follower ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ... 19/

Do you say that a Follower's words take precedence over a Prophetic report? Then, what of God's words in the Qur'an? Where does this go in the hierarchy? Even the verse itself gives the lie to this claim, as it is about HYPOCRITES, seeming to equate them with REJECTORS: 20/

"O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be harsh with them" (Q 9:73). For some reason, you translate "strive against" as "fight" (qātala)--Tell me: Did the Prophet wage war, fight, & kill the Hypocrites, who professed Islam with their tongues? 21/

The very tafsīr you cite--Tafsīr al-Baghawī--notes of the same verse that the scholars differ "about the description of jihād against the Hypocrites..." & it includes opposing them with words, your heart, & even meeting them with a scowling/unpleasant face. 22/

Ibn ʿAbbās in that same tafsīr you cited says, "It means [to oppose them] with the tongue [i.e. by speech], & abandoning kindness." How can you then use this verse to justify military aggression, abrogating & canceling out the entire discourse on war & peace in the Qur'an!? 23/

You,@IbneKhan01, twist Q 2:109: "So forgive and forebear, until God brings His command (amrihī)." You claim that this means the command to wage aggressive war--yet, the best mufassir of the Qur'an is the Qur'an itself. This refers to the Hour, signaling God's final judgment. 24/

Literally in the same sūra: "Do they await anything but that God should come to them in the shades of the clouds, with the angels, and the matter (amru) be decided?" (Q 2:210) There are numerous verses that reinforce this idea, such that one wonders why you take reports...25/

..above the words of God in the Qur'an? We see this again where you take a report attributed to the Prophet over the words of the Qur'an conveyed (with certainty) by the very same Prophet. You use the ḥadīth, "I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify..." 26/

Of course, based on the modern (secular) scholarly approach I follow, I can say that this ḥadīth is spurious & should be considered a later development that was used to invert the Qur'anic logic: 27/

Qur'an: "Fight them until there is no more fitna (religious coercion)..."
Ḥadīth: "I have been commanded to fight the people [and coerce them]..." 28/

Even with a traditionalist paradigm, @AbuAminaElias points to a better way to interpret & understand this so that you are not throwing out & canceling all of the Qur'anic logic:
abuaminaelias.com/fight-people-u…
/29

The rest of @IbneKhan01's thread are reports, some going to the Prophet but mostly from those after him, which reveals to me the most blameworthy part of this mentality: to prioritize reports from so-&-so over & above God's word. 30/

The very fact that you must claim that one (or two) verses abrogate (cancel out!) dozens & dozens (over a hundred!) of verses *proves* how tendentious this reading of the Qur'an truly is.
Between us & you is God's book... 31/

@jricole @AkyolinEnglish @KhalilAndani @Abe_Kuyper
@MuqtedarKhan @AzizMedia

"And when it is said unto them: Follow that which God has revealed, they say: 'Nay, we follow that which we found our (fore)fathers following. What...!" (Q 2:170)

I tell you "The Qur'an says..." & you say, "So-&-so says..."

I gotta be honest. I wonder if the guy I responded to is actually just trolling.