Volume 8 Surah 9 - Enjoy Islam

Al-Tawbah (The Repentance) | THE EARTH’S SUFFOCATING EXPANSEwithout any partners. Moreover, they find it odd because they face a concentratedand wicked crusade which tells them that the Islamic faith managed to spread onlybecause it used the sword. Jihād, it claims, wanted to force other people to acceptIslam, depriving them of the freedom of belief.Had things been so, they would have been odd indeed. But the truth is totallydifferent. Islam lays down a rule stating that “There shall be no compulsion in religion.The right way is henceforth distinct from error.” (2: 256) Why does Islam, then, moveforward to fight, and why has God bought the believers’ souls and property, so that“they fight for the cause of God, kill and be killed”? (Verse 111) The answer is that jihādhas a reason which is totally different from compelling other people to accept Islam.Indeed jihād seeks to guarantee the freedom of belief.As we have stated on several occasions, Islam is a declaration which liberatesmankind throughout the earth from submission to human beings. As such, Islamalways faces tyrannical forces and systems which seek to subjugate people anddominate their lives. These systems are backed by regimes and powers of differentsorts, which deprive people of the chance to listen to the Islamic message and toadopt it if they are convinced of its truth. Or they may force people, in one way oranother, to turn away from the Islamic message. That is an ugly violation of thefreedom of belief. For these reasons, Islam moves forward, equipped with suitablepower, to overthrow these systems and destroy their forces.What happens then? It leaves people entirely free to adopt the faith they like. Ifthey wish to be Muslims, they will have all the rights and duties that apply to allMuslims. They will have a bond of real brotherhood with those who have beenMuslims long before them. On the other hand, if they wish to maintain theirreligions, they may do so. They only have to pay a tribute, i.e. jizyah, which has aclear purpose: to acknowledge the freedom of movement for Islam among them, tocontribute to the treasury of the Muslim state which is required to protect themagainst any outside aggression, and to look after those of them who are ill, disabledand elderly in the same way as Muslims are looked after.Never in its history did Islam compel a single human being to change his faith.That is alien to Islamic beliefs and practice. On the other hand, crusades werelaunched to kill, slaughter and eliminate entire communities, such as the people ofAndalusia in the past and the people of Zanzibar in recent history, in order to compelthem to convert to Christianity. Sometimes, even conversion was not accepted. Theywere killed only because they were Muslims, or because they followed a brand ofChristianity which was different from that of the dominating Church. For example,12,000 Egyptian Christians were burnt alive only because they differed with theByzantine Church over matters of detail, such as whether the soul originated withthe Father alone, or with the Father and the Son together, or whether Jesus had a244