The Importance of Putting Quran 5:32 Back in Context

A masterful rebuttal from the great Scaramouche:

This letter appears in today’s National Post:

TRUE MUSLIMS

Arakan Struggle 6-723012

Re: ‘Allah Told Me To Come Here And Kill People,’ March 16.

Ayanle Hassan Ali is alleged to have stabbed two members of the Canadian Armed Forces in a federal building, claiming, “Allah told me to do this.” Funny because as a practising Muslim, here’s what I’ve constantly heard Allah has been telling us: “Loyalty to your country is part of faith.” And “Whosoever killed a person – unless it be for killing a person …  it is as if he had killed all of mankind.” The only difference is what I’ve been told is authentic, but what Ayanle has been told is perhaps only mental instability. 

Mirza Masroor Ahmad, caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at, perfectly said it when he met Justin Trudeau in 2012, “Islam is an open religion which teaches mutual respect and so if you are a true Muslim you should be willing and able to integrate in any part of the world.”
Jari Qudrat, Toronto.

Here’s the letter I sent in response:

After learning that Ayanle Hassan Ali had attacked Canadian soldiers because, as he understood it, Allah had commanded him to do so, I knew it was only a matter of time before someone trotted out those lines in the Quran about how killing one person is like killing the entire world. I was also fairly certain that whoever mentioned this verse–arguably the Quaranic verse most often most quoted in the West–would extract it from its context, jettisoning the words that come before and after it, thereby distorting the words as they appear in the holy text.
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Letter-writer Jari Qudrat, “a practising Muslim,” shows us how it’s done. For, in citing the line “Whosever killed a person–unless it be for killing a person…it is as if he had killed all of mankind,” he neglects to mention that A) these words have their origin in the Jewish Mishnah and B) the full verse (5:32) reads as follows:
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On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land.
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In other words, Allah is explaining that the Jews, and only the Jews, are supposed to avoid the killing. Muslims, on the other hand, not so much. And, as if to underscore this difference, in the very next verse (5:33) Allah sets out the heavy-duty penalties for non-believers who dare to oppose Islam:
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The punishment of those who wage war against God and His Apostle, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter.
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Now, there are plenty of Muslims who heed the line as Qudrat has quoted–or rather, misquoted–it. At the same time, however, it is worrisome when peaceful Muslims claim that their quotation fragment is the “authentic teaching” and that the violent actions of other “practising Muslims,” including Ayanle Hassan Ali, are entirely at odds with Islamic doctrine. It is far better, I think, to quote the lines correctly–and disavow them–than to pretend they say something that, obviously, they do not.

Can’t Help Mocking the “Shocking”

Dr. Mohammad Iqbal Al-Nadvi, the head of the Canadian Council of Imams, thinks it’s “shocking”—yes, shocking!–that a 27-year old Muslim who stabbed some Canadian soldiers would say that “Allah told me to this.”

Why is he so shocked?

He claims it’s because the stabber “put responsibility on religious reasons” and that that’s “a disturbing notion.”

You can see where he’s coming from. After all, the idea that a Muslim would use a religious pretext to kill non-Muslims, especially those in the military, is…about as “shocking” as “dog bites man.”

So after issuing the requisite disclaimers about how Muslims denounce such actions and calling for them to assume “shared responsibility” for national security, the imam gets down to the nitty-gritty–his fears that non-Muslims will lash out as infidels are wont to do after such “shocking” incidents:

Al-Nadvi conceded that this attack may give rise to Islamophobia, but thus far, he said he’s felt that both media and politicians talking about the events at the recruitment centre have not played upon fear. “The response was very balanced and very focused,” he said. “I hope this kind of thing will continue. There is still a factor of Islamophobia that may be triggered by these incidents.”What a joke!

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By now it should be clear to all that “Islamophobia” is a phantom and phony fear, a self-defense mechanism that is always trotted out in the wake of these attacks.

The “Islamophobiaphobia” of our authorities, on the other hand, is genuine and rampant–and terrifying.

Update: Invaluable anti-jihad blogger Pointe de Bascule had this to say about Al-Nadvi, one of the Islamic authorities cited in the NCCM’s anti-radicalization booklet (which was compiled with the RCMP’s go-ahead but later denounced):

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MUHAMMAD IQBAL MASOOD NADVI: AN ADVISOR TO THE NCCM CLOSE TO THE JAMAAT-E-ISLAMI

His name is spelled Nadawi in the NCCM booklet. Iqbal Nadvi was born in India in the late forties (the Calgary Herald stated that Nadvi was 54 on October 31, 2003) and went to study in Saudi Arabia in the seventies. After obtaining his Ph.D. in Islamic Law at the Ummal Qura University (Makkah) in 1991, he took a teaching position in Riyadh. He moved to Canada later in the nineties and became the Imam of the Islamic Centre managed by the Muslim Association of Calgary in 1998. He moved to Ontario in 2004 and became Director of the Al-Falah Islamic School in Oakville. This school is located at ICNA-Canada’s head office. In June 2013, Nadvi was elected Chairman of the Canadian Council of Imams for a 3-year mandate. On March 14, 2014, Iqbal Nadvi was back in India to give the Friday sermon at a mosque controlled by the Jamaat-e-Islami in New Delhi. The video of the event is available on JEI India’s YouTube channel (also Archive.Today). The JEI was founded by Syed Maududi (1903-1979) in 1941 in India. After the partition of India, Maududi moved to Pakistan. The JEI is a close ally of the Muslim Brotherhood and it pursues the same totalitarian objectives, mostly in Southeast Asia (Pakistan, India and Bangladesh). It is also active in countries where its supporters have migrated.

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 In his book Jihad in Islam, Syed Maududi clearly summarized the mission of Islam, as understood by his supporters whether they are in Pakistan, India, or in Canada:
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Islam wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation that rules it. […] Islam requires the earth – not just a portion – but the whole planet.
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…Despite (or is it because of?) his ties to a radical strain of Islam, Al-Nadvi rose through the ranks to become the head of the Canadian Council of Imams.

I could say that I find that “shocking,” but the truth is that I do not.

Update: Ayanle Hassan Ali, accused in military centre stabbing, once worked at Pearson airport

One thought on “The Importance of Putting Quran 5:32 Back in Context”

  1. Hm … unsurprisingly, it looks like the RCMP itself is – perhaps unwittingly, perhaps not so much – openly promoting sedition and treason against the Canadian government, in favour of islamic supremacy.

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