Syed Akbar Ali's Answer To Dr Nabeel Qureshi's And USA Today's "The Quran's deadly role in inspiring Belgian slaughter"

BY SYED AKBAR ALI

Well its happened again. The psycho jihadis get infected with "extra Quranic" ideas and run wild but the Quran gets the bad press. 

In a column in the USA Today,  Dr Nabeel Qureshi has blamed the Quran as being the cause of the jihadi attack in Belgium. 

Nabeel Qureshi of Pakistani origins and who was born a Muslim is now a renowned christian missionary in the US. 

(Dr. Nabeel Qureshi is a global speaker with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) and the author of three books, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity (Zondervan, February 2014), Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward (Zondervan, March 2016), and No God But One—Allah or Jesus (Zondervan, August 2016.     Qureshi holds an MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School, an MA in Christian apologetics from Biola University, and an MA in religion from Duke University. He is currently studying Judaism and Christianity at Oxford, pursuing his doctorate in New Testament Studies. He divides his time in Atlanta and Oxford with his wife and baby daughter.)

You can read the full article by Qureshi in the USA Today here :  "The Quran's deadly role in inspiring Belgian slaughter"

The jihadi terrorist attack in Belgium has claimed 31 lives. 81 were injured.  

The analyses have begun. 

Again they have failed to identify the real reason for all this jihadi madness. 

And predictably they have incorrectly zeroed in onto the Quran.

Let me straight away give you the conclusion to this rebuttal by me.    

1.  By not identifying the real cause for the insane behaviour of the jihadists you will not get the solution.  The problem does not get solved. You are only prolonging the insanity.

2. By blaming the Quran you are doing a sloppy job. You are taking the easy way out.  Plus it is factually incorrect as I will show here.

3. The real source of the jihadi problem is NOT the Quran but the "extra Quranic" teachings of the religious people. (I cannot even call them scholars, lets just stick to religious people ok).  It is those theologies OUTSIDE the Quran which have messed up the jihadis.  Realising it or not, even Qureshi mentions this a few times in his column in the USA Today.

4.   Contrary to what Qureshi says, the problem is the Muslims ARE NOT FOLLOWING the Quran literally. In order to create a jihadi-free Islamic world, Muslims must revert to a close, critical and literal reading of the Quran.  Muslims must revert to an intense understanding of the Quran.

First here is a truncated version of Nabeel Qureshi's column.  My reply follows.

Again you can read Nabeel Qureshi's full article here :http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/03/22/radicalization-isil-islam-sacred-texts-literal-interpretation-column/81808560/

 

• Western recruits for jihad are inspired by the literal interpretation of Muslimsacred texts. This is what we must fight
• Americans awoke this morning to another terrorist attack — this time in the Brussels airport and subway. 
• I am concerned how little we in the West understand why peaceful Muslims who live among us are drawn into radical Islam
• as I began to investigate the Quran and the traditions of Muhammad’s life  for myself in college, I found to my genuine surprise that the pages of Islamic history  are filled with violence. 
• what the (ISIS) recruiters themselves say sheds the most insight on the radicalization process. 
• ISIL’s primary recruiting technique is not social or financial but theological. 
• With frequent references to the highest sources of authority in Islam, the Quranand hadith (the collection of the sayings of the prophet Muhammad)
• . . . ISIL enjoins upon Muslims their duty to fight against the enemies of Islam and to emigrate to the Islamic State once it has been established
• ISIL’s propaganda magazine, Dabiq, ..appealed to prospective recruits to leave their homeland and emigrate to the Islamic State by quoting a hadith from the canonical collections;
• urged them to realize that they are living in times that reflect those of the earliest Muslims by referring to Muhammad’s life
• it encouraged them to take a step of faith by quoting the Quran
• it praised them for their obedience by quoting yet another hadith. 
• All four references to the Quran, hadith and the related Sunnah, were on the same two-page spread. 
• ISIL uses Islam's foundational  texts to appeal to potential recruits
• As a young boy .. impossible for me to look up a hadith unless I traveled to an Islamic library
• if I wanted to know about the traditions of Muhammad, I had to ask imams or elders in my tradition of Islam. 
• the Internet has made the traditions of Muhammad readily available for whoever wishes to look them up, even in English. 
• When everyday Muslims investigate the Quran and hadith for themselves, bypassing centuries of tradition and their imams’ interpretations, they are confronted with the reality of violent jihad in the very foundations of their faith
• The Quran itself reveals a trajectory of jihad reflected in the almost 23 years of Muhammad’s prophetic career. 
• As I demonstrate carefully in my book, Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward
• Muhammad's message featured violence with increasing intensity, culminating in surah 9  chronologically the last major chapter of the Quran
• Muslim theologians have understood and taught this progression, that the message of the Quran culminates in its ninth chapter
• Surah 9 is a command to disavow all treaties with polytheists and to subjugate Jews and Christians (9.29) so that Islam may “prevail over all religions” (9.33). 
• It is fair to wonder whether any non-Muslims in the world are immune from being attacked, subdued or assimilated under this command. 
• Muslims must fight, according to this final chapter of the Quran, and if they do not, then their faith is called into question and they are counted among the hypocrites (9.44-45). 
• If they do fight, they are promised one of two rewards, either spoils of war or heaven through martyrdom. Allah has made a bargain with the mujahid who obeys:  Kill or be killed in battle, and paradise awaits (9.111)
• Muslim thought leaders agree that the Quran promotes such violence. 
• Muslims must depart from the literal reading of the Quran in order to create a jihad-free Islamic world
• ISIL . . radicalizes them primarily by urging them to follow the literal teachings of the Quran and the hadith
• interpreted consistently and in light of the violent trajectory of early Islam. 
• As long as Islamic world focuses on foundational texts, we will see violent jihadi movements
• In order to effectively confront radicalization, then, our tools must be similarly ideological, even theological
• This is why I suggest that sharing alternative worldviews with Muslims is one of the best methods to address radicalization
• Indeed, this is what happened to me
• As I faced the reality of the violent traditions of Islam, I had a Christian friend who suggested that Islam did not have to be my only choice and that there were excellent reasons to accept the gospel
• Dr. Nabeel Qureshi is a speaker with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and is the author of Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward. 

Ok this is my reply to Dr Nabeel Qureshi.  

I think Dr Nabeel has hit the nail exactly on the head. The problem is in the religious people and their interpretation and teaching of all the "extra Quranic" theologies. 

I have made a list of Nabeel Qureshi's reference to these "extra Quranic" theologies and writings in his article above. Here  they are :

1. sacred texts.
2. traditions of Muhammad’s life
3. pages of Islamic history
4. hadith (the collection of the sayings of the prophet Muhammad)
5. quoting a hadith from the canonical collections;
6. Muhammad’s life
7. quoting yet another hadith.
8. hadith and the related Sunnah,
9. foundational  texts
10. impossible for me to look up a hadith
11. traditions of Muhammad
12. investigate . . and hadith for themselves
13. centuries of tradition and their imams’ interpretations

These are among the "extra Quranic" material that is referred by Nabeel Qureshi as well as the ISIL.

"Extra Quranic" means you cannot find these materials in the Quran. It is outside the Quran. 

So please do not blame the Quran for something that is NOT found inside the Quran. This is step one.

And if something is not found inside the Quran, then you cannot "interpret or misinterpret" it based on the Quran either. Because it is not written in the Quran. 

Much of this material was written hundreds of years AFTER the Quran. 

Much of this material was never extant in history. Meaning the original "books" written by the hand of the person who they say wrote the book - never existed in history.

For example there is no such thing as the original volume of the famous Sahih Bukhari writings by Bukhari himself kept somewhere in some museum or library. There is no such thing.

Abdul Hakim Murad the sufi thinker from Cambridge University says Bukhari died before he completed his works.  So Bukhari did not leave behind a completed book. 

It was latter day writers who "completed" the compilation of what they thought was Bukhari's work. The most well known of this compilations was by Ibnu Hajar Askalani of Cairo who lived about 500 years after Bukhari.

In the same way the famous book Al Risalah that is attributed to Shafie (over 1000 years ago) was never extant. It never existed as a completed book during the time of Shafie.  It was the generations that came after Shafie who 'completed' the work and presented it to us as a completed Shafie text.

The even more famous book Al Muwatta of Malik (over 1000 years ago) was also never extant as a complete work during the time of Malik. It was finally compiled or put together generations after the death of Malik. Researchers say that up to 27 different versions of Malik's Muwatta can be traced - all attributed to different compilers throughout history.  I knew a guy who did his PhD thesis on the Muwatta, including studying the variations among the different versions of the Muwatta.

Therefore all these are NOT the Quran.  For simple accuracy you must separate these extra Quranic texts from the Quran. This is step two.

The jihadis, the ISIS, everyday Muslims, the lay preachers, the super preachers etc all read these extra Quranic material. The same materials. 

It is how they all interpret these 'extra Quranic' materials that often causes them to behave in the way they behave.

So dont blame the Quran.  

I will keep this short. Here is a list of beliefs that are shared by the jihadis, the ISIS, everyday Muslims, the lay preachers, the super preachers etc which are NOT FOUND in the Quran.

Remember : NOT FOUND IN THE QURAN.

Instead they are found in the extra Quranic material listed above AND also found in the christian Bible. 

Also, in cases where the Quran states something different or something opposite then I have given the reference from the Quran for your comparison :

1.  statues are forbidden -  the ISIS have been going around destroying ancient statues, art works and archaeological findings. This is as per the Bible, Deuteronomy 4:15-18 (prohibition of graven images).  The Quran says that Solomon had statues built for him(34:12-13).
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2.  belief in the 2nd coming - Mathew 24:27 and others. Not found in the Quran.
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3.  the idea of 'akidah' as faith - a very important concept among jihadis as well and a source of much 'holier than thou' behaviour.  The concept of "akidah as faith" is found inthe Hebrew Bible. Refer Heb 11:17, Rom 4:16. It is not found in the Quran.

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4.  ownership of slaves - the ISIS have made headlines with their 21st century slavery. Ownership of slaves is detailed in the Bible (Lev 25:44,46; Lev 22:10-11; Exod 21:32 etc). Also in the Al Muwatta attributed to Malik. 
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The Quran says emphatically to free the slaves (2:177, 24:33, 9:60, etc) 

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5. kill the apostates - This has become the trademark of ISIS and the jihadis. They have beheaded anyone whom they say is an apostate.  The idea to kill apostates is found in the Bible as well. Refer Mark 7:10, Deut 13:5-10, Lev 24:16 etc.

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The Quran prescribes no temporal punishment for those who believe, then apostate, then believe, then apostate and then persist in their apostacy (Refer 4:137).

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6. women covering their heads - the ISIS and the jihadis make a very big fuss about women covering their heads. This is found in the Bible (1st Corinthians 11:5-6). There is no mention of the woman's head or woman's hair anywhere in the Quran.

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7.  kill the adulterer - another favorite of the jihadis and the ISIS. Not found in the Quran.This is in the Bible too. Please refer Lev 20:10, Deut 22:20-23 etc.
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Other than the above -  the following beliefs or practises are also not found in the Quran but they are found in the extra Quranic  texts and also in the christian Bible :  
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• circumcision of men 
• wearing holy writing on the foreheads or hanging them on the wall
• saying the Amen
• the story of the creation of woman from the man's rib
• the practise that men wear beards and robes.  

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This list above represents some of the things that are believed in and practised also by people like the ISIS plus others of course. 
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As a point of accuracy, and quite predictably, they cannot be found in the Quran. 
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They can be found in two other sources ie 

•  the "extra Quranic" theologies and 

• in the christian Bible. 

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These are the beliefs upheld by people like the ISIS as well which are so abhorrent to Dr Nabeel Qureshi as well as the West.

Dr Nabeel Qureshi should try to explain why these many biblical teachings (there are many, many more)  are so familiar to the practises of the jihadis and the ISIS? 

As for the Surah 9, it is much easier to explain. 

Surah 9 does explain the conduct of war and hostilities.  The Geneva Protocols on the Conduct of War (aka the Geneva conventions) are perhaps modelled on Surah 9.    
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However the American attack on Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya is not according to the Geneva conventions. They use depleted uranium, napalm and cluster bombs among other things. The UK - Saudi Arabian attack against Yemen was also not according to the Genevaconventions either. 
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The modern treatment of prisoners of war under the conventions most certainly refer the Quran.

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Qureshi quotes 9:29, 33 which he says advocate the killing of non Muslims.  
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But just a few verses after it says,  "you may declare all-out war against the idol worshippers when they declare all-out war against you, and know that Allah is on the side of the righteous" (9:36).

This is otherwise known as self defense. 

' when they declare all-out war against you '.  Again this is allowed as per the Geneva conventions on war. 

The only exceptions were the US attack against Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and still counting. Or the UK - Saudi Arabian attack against Yemen.   

Nabeel Qureshi quotes 9:111 in the same vein. But what about the many other verses in Surah 9, like what I have quoted above?

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Or the following two verses also from Surah 9 :

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"If one of the idol worshipers sought safe passage with you, you shall grant him safe passage, so that he can hear the word of Allah, then send him back to his place of security. That is because they are people who do not know"  (9:6).

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" then send him back to his place of security "  ??  

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This does  not sound very ISIS at all. 

But this is definitely the Quran.

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Or the following verse, also from Surah 9.

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9:7     "How can the idol worshippers demand any pledge from Allah and from His messenger? Exempted are those who have signed a peace treaty with you  at the Masjidil Haraam. If they honor and uphold such a treaty, you shall uphold it as well. Allah loves the righteous."

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So if you have a treaty with people, and they hold on to the treaty, then so should you. 
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You cannot simply attack them for no good reason.
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Many things that the West does not like about Islam are just not found mentioned anywhere in the Quran. But they can be found in the extra Quranic writings of the religioius people. They can also be found in the Bible. Since the Bible is much older, it does raise interesting questions.
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This is my quick reply to Dr Nabeel Qureshi.  If anyone knows him or his organisation, then please forward this reply to him / them.
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. Thank you.

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. Syed Akbar Ali