Understanding Quran[9:123]

[A.H.A]

Salaam

Quran[9:123]^[1] is often used to justify attacks on non-Muslim neighborhoods. Although the context and subject of Surah 9^[2] is clear, but I'm having a hard time to find a good interpretation and context in order to reconcile it with other verses such as Quran[60:9]^[3]. For any share of thought I will be grateful. Thanks in advance.




^[1]  يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ يَلُونَكُم مِّنَ الْكُفَّارِ وَلْيَجِدُوا فِيكُمْ غِلْظَةً ۚ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الْمُتَّقِينَ
^[2]  Understanding Surah Tauba (Chapter 9) and the Infamous 'Killing': http://quransmessage.com/articles/surah%20tauba%20FM3.htm
^[3]  لَّا يَنْهَاكُمُ اللَّهُ عَنِ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يُقَاتِلُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ وَلَمْ يُخْرِجُوكُم مِّن دِيَارِكُمْ أَن تَبَرُّوهُمْ وَتُقْسِطُوا إِلَيْهِمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُقْسِطِينَ

[Truth Seeker]

Salaam,

Did the article link that you have on your footnotes([2]  Understanding Surah Tauba (Chapter 9) and the Infamous 'Killing': http://quransmessage.com/articles/surah%20tauba%20FM3.htm)  not help?

[Star]

Surah 9 seriously confused me when I started it. When it starts off, it talks about believers being dissolved of all treaties from the pagans. And then it says how after the forbidden months are over, you're supposed to kill all the pagans!!! I've read pretty much the whole surah in context, but there's nothing there that shows me why believers are commanded to kill all the pagans after the treaty is over.

I have a hard time understanding this chapter with all the other verses that advocate peace. The verses that most people make a fuss about are 9:5 and 9:123. I get why those verses don't actually promote aimless violence, but what about the whole rest of the surah?

I saw the article about "understanding the killing verses" but I'm still confused.

This was brought to my attention because they were talking about Donald Trump and ISIS earlier on CNN and it seemed like these verses almost justified what ISIS was doing.

I mean, it SEEMED like it. There has to be some explanation for this. I don't think God would advocate terrorism.

Anyone know anything about this?

[Star]

Also, there are some verses that say to fight people who fight you and kill them wherever you find them, which makes sense because it's just self-defense. But why isn't there some prohibition against killing children? Because children shouldn't be caught up in other people's wars.

[Star]

Sorry for all these posts, but I just reread 9:4-5. Verse 4 says that the pagans who fulfilled their treaty to you should be treated well and you should fulfill your part of the treaty with them.

And then verse 5 says to kill the pagans after the sacred months are over.

Is verse 5 referring to the pagans who did not fulfill their treaties to you, or just the pagans in general?

The Quran can be scarily misinterpreted if you don't read carefully. It's very easy to take a few verses in isolation and justify killing everyone.

Why did God make it that way???

Mia

[Hassan A]

Salaam mia666,

With regards to your hope of finding interpretations and contexts to reconcile with the verses of the Quran which touch on warfare, I’ve compiled for you Muhammad Assad (whom I very much like his commentaries) explanations of those verses:

- Surah 9 verse 5 -

Read in conjunction with the two preceding verses, as well as with 2:190-194, the above verse relates to warfare already in progress with people who have become guilty of a breach of treaty obligations and of aggression. 8 I.e., "do everything that may be necessary and advisable in warfare". The term marsad denotes "any place from which it is possible to perceive the enemy and to observe his movements". As I have pointed out on more than one occasion, every verse of the Qur'an must be read and Interpreted against the background of the Qur'an as a whole. The above verse, which speaks of a possible conversion to Islam on the part of "those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God" with whom the believers are at war, must, therefore, be considered in conjunction with several fundamental Qur'anic ordinances. One of them, "There shall be no coercion in matters of faith"(2:256), lays down categorically that any attempt at a forcible conversion of unbelievers is prohibited - which precludes the possibility of the Muslims' demanding or expecting that a defeated enemy should embrace Islam as the price of immunity. Secondly, the Qur'an ordains, "Fight in God's cause against those who wage war against you; but do not commit aggression, for, verily, God does not love aggressors" (2:190); and, "if they do not let you be, and do not offer you peace, and do not stay their hands, seize them and slay them whenever you come upon them: and it is against these that We have clearly empowered you [to make war]" (4:91). Thus, war is permissible only in self-defense (see surah 2, notes 167 and 168), with the further proviso that "if they desist - behold, God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace" (2:192), and "if they desist, then all hostility shall cease" (2:193). Now the enemy's conversion to Islam - expressed in the words, "if they repent, and take to prayer [lit., "establish prayer"] and render the purifying dues (zakah)"- is no more than one, and by no means the only, way of their "desisting from hostility"; and the reference to it in verses 5 and 11 of this surah certainly does not imply an alternative of "conversion or death", as some unfriendly critics of Islam choose to assume. Verses 4 and 6 give a further elucidation of the attitude which the believers are enjoined to adopt towards such of the unbelievers as are not hostile to them. (In this connection, see also 60:8-9).


- Surah 2 Verse 190-194 -

Verse 190 - This (190) and the following verses (191-194) lay down unequivocally that only self-defense (in the widest sense of the word) makes war permissible for Muslims. Most of the commentators agree in that the expression la ta'tadu signifies, in this context, "do not commit aggression"; while by al-mu'tadin "those who commit aggression" are meant. The defensive character of a fight "in God's cause" - that is, in the cause of the ethical principles ordained by God - is, moreover, self-evident in the reference to "those who wage war against you", and has been still further clarified in 22:39 - "permission [to fight] is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully waged" - which, according to all available Traditions, constitutes the earliest (and therefore fundamental) Qur'anic reference to the question of jihad, or holy war. That this early, fundamental principle of self-defense as the only possible justification of war has been maintained throughout the Qur'an is evident from 60:8, as well as from the concluding sentence of 4:91, both of which belong to a later period than the above verse.

Verse 191 -  In view of the preceding ordinance, the injunction "slay them wherever you may come upon them" is valid only within the context of hostilities already in progress, on the understanding that "those who wage war against you" are the aggressors or oppressors (a war of liberation being a war "in God's cause"). The translation, in this context, of fitnah as "oppression" is justified by the application of this term to any affliction which may cause man to go astray and to lose his faith in spiritual values (cf. Lisan al-'Arab).

Verse 191 -  This reference to warfare in the vicinity of Mecca is due to the fact that at the time of the revelation of this verse the Holy City was still in the possession of the pagan Quraysh, who were hostile to the Muslims. However - as is always the case with historical references in the Qur'an - the above injunction has a general import, and is valid for all times and circumstances.

Verse 193 -  Lit., "and religion belongs to God [alone]" - i.e., until God can be worshipped without fear of persecution, and none is compelled to bow down in awe before another human being.(See also 22:40.) The term din is in this context more suitably translated as "worship" inasmuch as it comprises here both the doctrinal and the moral aspects of religion: that is to say, man's faith as well as the obligations arising from that faith.


Hope this helps.

[Star]

Thank you for your reply. The commentary sheds some light on the verses, but I have one more question: Warfare is only permissible against people who attacked you first, this is the primary Quranic doctrine on violence, right? So why does 9:5 say to kill the pagans without specifying that you're only supposed to kill the ones who don't honor their treaties with you? Just wondering

[Star]

So basically, this is my understanding of the relevant verses of the surah so far:
9:1-3 God and Muhammad have dissolved all their treaties with the pagans.
9:4 Except for the treaties with the nice pagans who honored their terms and followed the rules.
9:5 When the sacred months are over, kill all the pagans!
So, which pagans are 9:5 referring to: the pagans who didn't honor their treaties, or ALL the pagans in that area?
Logically, it should just mean to kill the pagans that didn't honor their treaty, because muslims are instructed to only fight people who fight them.
But verse 5:28 suggests that even when other people fight you, it's better to make terms of peace with them.
Confused?

[Hassan A]

salaam mia666,

You said:

"So why does 9:5 say to kill the pagans without specifying that you're only supposed to kill the ones who don't honor their treaties with you?"

With respect, I disagree with you in saying that the 9:5 doesn't specify to whom (among the pagans) is being reffered to. I believe that if that verse (9:5) is read in conjunction with the two preceding verses, as well as with 2:190-194, then it becomes evident that it ONLY relates to warfare already in progress with people (in this case the pagans) who have become guilty of a breach of treaty obligations and of aggression.

With regards to your second to last comment, I don't see where the confusion arises as you seem to have it perfectly figured out.

[Truth Seeker]

Salaam,

Because the scared months prohibit fighting for the Muslims, they are instructed to fight after the months are over and of course it would be with hose pagans who broke their treaties.

If you read 5:28 it is regarding the son's of Adam and the decision of one not to fight against the other. Muslims are instructed to incline towards peace and that is the overall goal but also they are also told that if they are oppressed then they can fight.

Verse 2:191 even states that oppression is worse than death.

[Star]

Hassan, yes, you probably have a point. I think I had it figured out but I wanted clarification
TruthSeeker, yeah, if you read the verses in conjunction it clarifies a lot.

[Truth Seeker]

[Star]

Just a comment, which group of people is 9:123 referring to? The hypocrites, or the pagans mentioned at the beginning of the surah, who broke their treaties? I hope 9:123 is not talking about ALL disbelievers, can someone please clarify?

[good logic]

Peace mia666.

Only those who attack the believers!:

9:123
O you who believe, you shall fight the disbelievers who attack you - let them find you stern - and know that God is with the righteous.
يٰأَيُّهَا الَّذينَ ءامَنوا قٰتِلُوا الَّذينَ يَلونَكُم مِنَ الكُفّارِ وَليَجِدوا فيكُم غِلظَةً وَاعلَموا أَنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ المُتَّقينَ


Also notice the context GOD is talking to the dwellers of Medina and the Arabs around them at the time of the prophet .see verses from( 9: 119/120... onwards)

" Kaatilu alladina Yalunakum" ...."Fight those who attack you."...

GOD bless you.
Peace.

[Star]

Good Logic: ^(=>w<=)^      Yes, there were some translators who translated that verse as "if they attack you." However, some translators translated it as "fight those disbelievers that are near to you." The arabic word used is ya'lunakum. Does this mean near to you or those who attack you? I looked it up in an online arabic dictionary but only found a multitude of other versions of the word and their different meanings.

Either way, if you read this verse in context, it's definitely not saying to kill everyone without discrimination. Allah says very clearly that He does not command evil.

Peace

Mia