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Calling to Islam between Tolerance and Violence
the ninth lie
butrus says: in makkah allah's messenger (pbuh) had raised the slogan of tolerance as he used to recite the verse: "would you then compel mankind until they are believers?” (younos : 99). he, may allah disfigure him for his lies & deceit, asserts such meaning in another location saying: "at the beginning the call for allah found no opposition due to the freedom of belief and the commercial interests and due to his calling for "al-hanifiah" ( the call of abraham) which was prevailing at that time". he reiterates such notion so much trying to convince the audience that allah's messenger (pbuh) at first used the method of flattery & peacefulness and when his powers increased he started to apply violence by fighting and by the "jihad".
in reply to this i said: first the verse which he concludes "would you then compel mankind until they are believers?” ( younos : 99). such verse is not makkian as he claims, it was revealed in madinah and this is enough to nullify his view. in addition to this he is undecided in the same matter and of course this is the way of all liars. for example in another location he says that allah's messenger (pbuh) used to call them unbelievers and used to mock their idols in makkah and that due to this "hell was raised in makkah" -as the announcer who talks to him puts it in agreement to butrus’ words. the total of his words refutes one another and such is the condition of all liars.
in order to elucidate his lying in such matter i would like to point out two things:
first: in regards to the opposition of the call
second: in regards to al-hanifia (the unswervingly right religion) and those who follow it.
first: zakaria butrus in so many occasions reiterates that the call originally was because quraish was seeking for reign over the arabs, or bani hashem’s seeking reign over quraish and the arabs. such talk is void of sense for whoever goes through the prophet's (pbuh) biography finds out that the call was faced with fierce opposition from quraish and bani hashem the clan of allah's messenger (pbuh).
narrated by al-bukhari, ibn abbas said: when the verse: “and warn your tribe of near-kindred”, was revealed, the prophet ascended the safa (mountain) and started calling, "o bani fihr! o bani 'adi!" addressing various tribes of quraish till they were assembled. those who could not come themselves, sent their messengers to see what was there. abu lahab and other people from quraish came and the prophet then said, "suppose i told you that there is an (enemy) cavalry in the valley intending to attack you, would you believe me?" they said, "yes, for we have not found you telling anything other than the truth." he then said, "i am a warner to you in face of a terrific punishment." abu lahab said (to the prophet) "may your hands perish all this day. is it for this purpose you have gathered us?" then it was revealed: "perish the hands of abu lahab (one of the prophet's uncles and the son of abdul mutalib ibn hashem), and perish he! his wealth and his children will not profit him...."
allah's messenger (pbuh) had gathered his kinship and called them to embrace islam but they mocked him and took his words in a funny way and left him behind their backs, and there many narrations to prove this. abu al-drada' reported that he heard allah's messenger (pbuh) saying: "the most ascetic of people are the prophets and those who oppose them most are their relatives".
as allah the almighty revealed in the holy quran :
and warn your tribe (o muhammad ) of near kindred. and be kind and humble to the believers who follow you. then if they disobey you, say: "i am innocent of what you do."
( as-shu’araa' 214-216).
quraish was acting just like bani hashim warning the people of following allah's messenger (pbuh) and giving him their backs themselves. they used to torture whoever followed allah's messenger (pbuh), they even accused him of being a sorcerer and of being crazy. they besieged him and all his followers in one of makkah's passes for three years until they were on the verge of death from hunger & thirst. they used different ways in order to sway him from spreading islam; one time with money another with reign and authority. allah's messenger (pbuh) never did submit to their alluring, but used to call them disbelievers. " say, "o you disbelievers, i do not worship what you worship, nor are you worshiping what i worship, nor am i worshiping what you have worshiped, nor are you worshiping what i worship, to you is your religion, and to me is my religion!" (al-kafiroon 1-6)
the call was mainly supported by two tribes other than quraish namely; al-aous & al-khazraj and not in makkah but in madinah. quraish was the principal enemy in the war against allah's messenger (pbuh) in: badr, uhud, al-ahzab, al-hudaibiah, and the conquest of makkah. is it possible after mentioning all these facts to say that the call was hashemite or qurashian? or that it started off with flattery & peacefulness?
second: regarding al-hanifia (the unswervingly right religion) and those who follow it.
al-hanifia was not a well established call before allah's messenger (pbuh) was sent. those who followed it were not spread here and there, in fact it had one follower in makkah or to be more precise in the whole arab peninsula in addition to very few christians (counted less than five) and who had no effect whatsoever on the course of events there. quraish and the arabs in general were worshiping idols claiming that this was the hanifia, they would not permit anyone to mock these idols or to call for their abandonment, just like every regime in history. never did it happen before allah's messenger (pbuh) was sent that anyone, except for zaid ibn nofail, challenged them. as for zaid ibn nofail they assigned him to his uncle (al-khattab ibn nofail) who sent him out of makkah and he in turn assigned some young men to make sure he never gets in again, to ensure that he will not instigate people to leave their religion and join his. zaid lived his life lonely and died lonely and he never claimed to be a prophet.
the point here is that there was no religion called al-hanifia, to be more specific al-hanifia was not a wide spread religion among the arabs before allah's messenger (pbuh) was sent. quraish and the arabs were pagans and claimed that this was al-hanifia, everyone claimed to be a follower of abraham (pbuh). allah's messenger (pbuh) called for al-haifia (religion of abraham) which in other words is islam, the religion of allah and the reason of sending all the prophets with the message:
"and whoever desirously shirks from the creed of ibrahîm (abraham) except he who befools himself? and indeed we have already elected him in the present (life), (literally: the lowly, i.e., the life of this world) and surely in the hereafter he is indeed among the righteous."
( al-bakara : 130)
allah the almighty says:
” and they have said, "be judaic or nasara, (christian) (then) you shall be guided." say, "no, indeed, (but) it is the creed of ibrahîm, (abraham) the unswervingly (upright, ) (i.e. veering away from idolatry) and in no way was he one of the associators. (i.e. those who associate others with' allah)".
(al-bakara : 135).
allah also says:
" say, allah has (spoken) sincerely, so closely follow the creed of ibrahîm, (abraham) the unswervingly (upright) (i.e., veering away from idolatry) and in no way was he one of the associators." (i.e., those who associate others with allah)".
( al imaran : 95)
and allah says:
" and who has a fairer religion than he who surrenders his face to allah, and is a fair-doer, and closely follows the creed of ibrahîm (abraham) the unswervingly upright? and allah took to him ibrahîm for a (close) fellow".
(an nisaa : 125)
we believe that all the prophets were followers of islam, which is literally surrendering totally to allah the almighty who has no associates. this is al-tawhid (monotheism) which is indeed the religion of abraham. to us all the prophets are muslims, to us there is but one religion “islam” but there are many legislations. abraham (pbuh) was a muslim:
" in no way was ibrahîm a jew, neither a christian; (i.e. a follower of isa "jesus", nasraniyyan) but he was an unswervingly (upright) (i.e. veering away from idolatry) muslim; and in no way was he one of the associators (those who associate others with allah)".
( al imran : 67)
"as his lord said to him, "surrender, " (i.e., be muslim) he said, "i have surrendered to the lord of the worlds"
( al-bakara : 131)
he and his son ismail used to ask allah, as mentioned in the quran:
" our lord, make us (both) muslims (i.e. surrendered) to you, and of our offspring a nation muslim to you, and show us our rituals and relent towards us; surely you ever you are the superbly relenting, the ever-merciful".
(al-bakara :128)
yousof (joseph) (pbuh) was a muslim:
"lord! you have already brought me (my share) of kingship and you have taught me (my share) of the interpretation of discourses. o originator (literally: renderer; i.e., creator) of the heavens and the earth, you are my ever-patronizing patron in the present (life) (literally: the lowly (life), the life of this world) and the hereafter, take me up to you as a muslim (one who submits to you) and join me with the righteous".
(yousof : 101)
also was moses (pbuh) and his people:
"and mûsa said, "o my people, in case you have believed in allah, then in him put your trust, in case you are muslims." (i.e., you have surrendered to allah)".
(younos : 84 )
" and in no way do you take vengeance upon us except that we have believed in the signs of our lord as soon they came to us. our lord, pour out upon us patience and take us to yourself as muslims”.
(al-araf : 126)
noah (pbuh) was a muslim:
"yet in case you turn away, then in no way have i asked you for any reward; decidedly my reward is not from anyone except allah, and i have been commanded to be one of the muslims." (those who surrender to allah)".
(younos : 72)
solomon (pbuh) in the story of his writing to the queen of
"that you should not exalt yourselves against me, and come up to me as muslims." (or: in surrender)".
(an-naml :31)
and "he said, "o you chiefs, whichever one of you will come up to me with (i.e., bring) her throne before they come up to me as muslims?" (or: in surrender)".
(an-naml : 38)
"so, as soon as she came, it was said, "is your throne just like this?" she said, " (it is) as though it were the (very) one." and (sulayman) (solomon) said, "we were brought the knowledge before her, and we were muslims." (i.e., we surrendered "to allah")". (an-naml :42)
in description of the home of lot (pbuh) the angels said in the holy quran:
"yet, in no way did we find therein other than one house of muslims; (i.e., those who surrender themselves to allah)". (az-zariat : 36 )
and so were the apostles of jesus (pbuh) as allah says:
" and as i revealed to the disciples (the followers of isa "jesus", also called the apostles) (saying), "believe in me and in my messenger." they said, "we believe, and bear you witness that surely we (ourselves) are muslims." (literally: we have surrendered to him)".
( al-maeda : 111)
to sum up, all the prophets were sent with the message of al-tawhid (monotheism)
" and in no way did we send (any) messenger even before you except that we revealed to him, (saying), "there is no god except i; so worship me".
(al-anbia : 25).
the point is that the religion of abraham (pbuh) of which the quran and the purified sunnah speak is not that which was spoken of by quraish. spontaneously this means that the words of allah's messenger (pbuh) that he was a follower of abraham' religion was not meant to flatter them. it is evident for you now that allah's messenger (pbuh) used to contravene and antagonize quraish since day one and this is supported by the fact that most of the verses that spoke of "abraham religion" were revealed in madinah not in makkah.
