| Pain, Pleasure and Prejudice The Complete Layman’s Guide to the Koran Chapter 8 Enemies Old and New 2:212 Life in this world has been made alluring for those who disbelieve. They mock those who believe; but those who fear Allah will be above them on the Day of Resurrection. Allah provides for those whom He wills without measure. ---- 3:178 Let the unbelievers not suppose that Our prolonging their days is better for them. We only prolong their days so that they may grow in sin, and a humbling punishment awaits them. ---- 8:73 As to the unbelievers, they are friends of one another. If you do not do this (subdue the unbelievers), there will be great sedition and corruption in the land. Generations long gone, and others who continue, in Allah’s estimation, not to see any good in His Revelations and would rather He kept them to Himself are many, and for these, the Lord of Mercy harbours a singular animosity. In no particular order, Allah singles out the following for special treatment when they cross over into His Dominion. People who renounce Allah are not the only ones for whom He harbours a singular animosity. In no particular order, the Koran singles out the following for special treatment when they cross over into Allah's Dominion. 1. The Meccans who fought His Messenger in a failed attempt to stop the spread of Islam. 2. The Meccans who should have emigrated. 3. Hypocrites and Apostates. 4. The Jews. 5. The Christians. 6. Polytheists 7. The pre-Islamic Arabs who refused to believe. 8. Those who don’t believe in any God. 9. Reformers 10. True Unbelievers Meccans Who Fought His Messenger The Meccans he hates for casting out His Messenger; for trying to kill the Prophet Muhammad so as to stop the spread of what the people of Mecca, at the time, considered an intolerant, detestable religion. The Prophet and his followers took refuge in Medina from which they attacked the caravans making their way to and from Mecca. The Meccans retaliated with attacks on Medina igniting a civil war (see Battle of Badr). The Meccans Who Should Have Emigrated 2:218 Those who believed and those who emigrated and strove for the Cause of Allah are those who may surely hope Allah’s Mercy. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. If you were a Meccan during the war between Mecca and Medina and you were tempted to convert to Islam but did not do so because you did not want to leave Mecca, for Allah you were as despicable as the Meccans who fought his Messenger. 4:97 Those whom the angels cause to die while they are unjust to themselves (the reference is to those Meccans who could have accepted the faith and emigrated, but did not) will be asked [by the angels]: “What were you doing?” They will say: “We were oppressed in the land.” They (the angels) will add saying: “Was not Allah’s Land spacious enough for you to emigrate to some other part?” Those people – their refuge is Hell, and what a wretched destiny! The stay-put believers of Mecca’s refuge may be Hell, but they still served as a rallying cry. Allah invited the believers to join his Messenger’s campaign against Mecca to liberate people who refused to leave the city even if, as revelation 4:97 makes quite clear, nothing was stopping them from doing so. 4:75 And why don’t you fight for the Cause of God and for the down-trodden, men, women and children, who say: “Lord, bring us out of the city (Mecca) whose inhabitants are unjust and grant us, from you, a protector, and grant us, from You, a supporter.” The following verse has been interpreted as inviting Muslims to emigrate to the land of the unbelievers so as to further Allah’s Cause there. 4:100 He who emigrates for the Cause of Allah will find on earth many a place of refuge and abundance; and he who leaves his home as an emigrant to Allah and His Messenger and is then overtaken by death, has already earned his reward from Allah. Allah is All-Forgiving, Merciful. The next verse would seem to confirm that, if this is the intent, that it is somewhat of a covert operation e.g. fifth column. 4:101 And when you journey in the land, you are not at fault if you shorten the prayer for fear that the unbelievers will harm you. The unbelievers are your manifest enemy. Allah was not pitiless towards all who would not actively join the fight for Islam by emigrating to Muslim controlled areas of the Peninsula or other countries, such as Abyssinia, where they were welcomed. 4:98 Except the oppressed men, women and children who have no recourse and cannot find a way (the reference here is to those Meccans who were weak and could not emigrate). 4:99 Those, Allah may pardon them; Allah is All Pardoning, All Forgiving. Polytheists Those who believe in the one God will be pardoned! 9:112 Those who repent, worship, praise, fast, kneel down, prostrate themselves, enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil and observe the ordinances of Allah – to [such] believers give the good tidings (that they shall be pardoned). As for those who believe in more than one god e.g. Hindus, there is no hope; and even those who are supposed to “forbid what is evil” dare not ask the Compassionate to show them mercy. 9:113 It is not for the Prophet and those who believe to ask for forgiveness for the polytheists even if they are near relatives, after it becomes clear to [the believers] that they are the people of the Fire. In the next verse, Allah holds up Abraham, who disowned his polytheist father, as a shining example to follow. 9:114 Abraham asked forgiveness for his father, only because of a promise he had made to him; but when it became clear to him that he was an enemy of Allah, he disowned him. Indeed Abraham was compassionate, forbearing. The believers in more than one god were deliberately led astray because they did not fear the god of the Messengers, the ultimate insult to the ultimate God, to whom belongs everything and who decides who lives and who dies. 9:115 Allah would not lead any people astray after He has guided them, until He makes clear to them what they should fear. Allah, indeed, has knowledge of everything. 9:116 To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth; He gives life and causes death and, apart from Allah you have no friend or supporter. Unbelievers of Yore Then there are the “unbelievers of yore.” What does Allah propose to do to the unbelievers of yore, the people who believed in the benevolent, tolerant gods and goddesses of pre-Islamic times, what Muslims refer to as “the time of ignorance”, before Allah and His Messenger came along. 44:34 Truly these people (the Quraysh and their ilk who questioned Muhammad’s prophetic call) will say: 44:35 “It is only our first death and we will not be raised from the dead. 44:36 “Bring then back our fathers if you are truthful.” 44:37 Are they any better than the people of Tubba’ (Tubba’ refers originally to the kings of southern Arabia, in pre-Islamic times) and those who preceded them? We destroyed them all; for they were criminals. 44:38 We did not create the heaven and the earth and what is between them in jest. 44:39 We only created them in truth, but most of them do not know. 44:40 The Day of Decision is truly their appointed time all together. 44:41 The Day when no masters shall profit a client a whit, and they will not be supported; 44:42 Except for him upon whom Allah has Mercy. He is indeed the All-Mighty, the Merciful. 44:43 The Tree of Zaqqum (the Tree of Bitterness) will certainly be* 44:44 The food of the sinner. 44:45 Like molten lead, which boils in the bellies; 44:46 Like boiling water. 44:47 “Take Him and thrust him into the pit of Hell. 44:48 “Then pour over his head the agony of the boiling water; 44:49 “Saying: ‘Taste, you are truly the mighty and noble one.’ 44:50 “That is the punishment which you used to doubt.” Atheists What about those who don’t believe in any god. If my interpretation of “those who disbelieve” is correct, Allah will not spare them. 2:161 Upon those who disbelieve and die as unbelievers is the Curse of Allah, the angels, and the whole of mankind. 2:162 They abide forever in it (Hell); their punishment will not be reduced, nor will they be given any respite. 2:163 Your God is one God. There is no God but He, the Compassionate, the Merciful. A revelation quoted in Getting to Know Allah that is the type of would-be clinching argument made by many of those who believe in a creator-god. 2:164 In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of night and day; in the ships which sail in the sea with what profits mankind; in the water which Allah sends down from the sky in order to bring the earth back to life after its death and disperses over it every type of beast; in the continuous changing of winds; and in clouds which are driven between heaven and earth – surely in these are signs for people who understand. Allah’s reluctance to let the believers think for themselves or to look for a deeper understanding in His Revelations, which on the surface radiate so much hatred, means that making the Perfect Religion even more perfect, as if that was possible, may be impossible. Revealed truths tend to reflect the values and traditions of those who first received them and the Koran is no different; as Allah reminds us: 12:1 These are the verses of the clear Book. 12:2 We have revealed it as an Arabic Qur’an, that perchance you may understand. Allah revealed His Koran to a people whose outlook on life very much mirrored His Own. They were a people of primary colours, or rather of black and white … They were a dogmatic people, despising doubt, our modern crown of thorns. They did not understand our metaphysical difficulties, our introspective questioning. They only knew truth and untruth, belief and unbelief, without our hesitating retinue of finer shades. T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The sadistic cruelty and invitations to appalling brutality found throughout the Koran is not as worrisome as Allah’s pervasive ubiquitous hatred for unbelievers. Sane people don’t normally take pleasure in inflicting pain on those they love (“You Always Hurt the One You Love" is just a song), or inflicting pain at all. But what about the people you have been told, or conditioned to hate those who don’t honour the same god; believe in a different configuration of the same god; believe in more than one god; or, god-forbid, goddesses? In survey after surveys of believers in Western countries, a significant and growing minority of those who have no fear of offering an honest opinion, express sympathy for those who would kill unbelievers in terrorist attacks. What is more normal than empathizing with those who would kill peoples for whom your All-Compassionate god harbours such a visceral all-consuming hatred? This empathy represents a real problem for the so-called moderate Muslims who would deny that almost daily acts of terrorism by Islamists have anything to do with the Koran or the Prophet. In response to criticism, by believers, of the Catholic Church for such things as The Inquisition and The Crusades, a writer in Le Figaro defined the problem for those who would deny the cause-and-effect of the terrible violence done in Allah’s Name. The following is my translation of pertinent parts of his article. Any misunderstandings or misinterpretations are of course my responsibility. The Catholic Church is not without its faults. Its history is filled with dark pages it regrets … However, what differentiates Christianity from Islam is that Christians can always return to the values in the Gospels and to the gentle person of Jesus and ignore a Church which has lost its way. ... Jesus is nonviolent. A return [to the teachings] of Jesus is the remedy for the excesses of religious institutions. Looking to the Prophet[/Koran] for guidance, on the other hand, only reinforces the hate and the violence. Islam is a religion which in both its sacred text (Koran and Book of Hadiths and in banal rituals promotes hatred and violence. The ritual stoning of Satan every year at Mecca is not simply a re-enactment of a superstition… Its impact is anthropological. It is a ceremony, to which every Muslim is encourage to participate, and which sanctifies and encourages violence… -------------------- * Lack of punctuation at the end of this verse is not a typographical error.
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