What exactly are religious books trying to tell us? part-5

Those who maintain that the Quran’s does not have a violent side, and want to use it as the very foundation to lead their lives I ask, have you ever acted the way the Quran explicitly instructs you to with your Hindu, Christian or non-Muslim neighbour? Do you decline someone’s friendship just because he is a non-Muslim or a person with another faith?

If not, well, then you are not in sync with the Quran’s mandated etiquettes. And isn’t the Quran “Allah’s Book”? If so, if one chooses to cease this insipid on and off practice of Islam and really, I mean really adopt the Quran as a way life, what happens when he grows in to another ‘Taliban-esque’ figurehead? Whose fault will it be then?

A verse in Surah Al Baqara offers –

“I’ve made war ‘Faraz’ (responsibility) for you, and yet you dislike it. In parallel there may be other things that you may not agree with, but they may bear well for you. (2:216)”

There is another one in Surah Al Nasr which says – 

“Keep waging war for Allah, you are not accountable for anything apart from you well-being! Encourage other Muslims to do so. Soon Allah will diminish the strength and power of the Kafirs. And above all Allah is exceedingly stern when it comes to enacting punishment (4:84).”

True to these provocative words from the Quran, and riled by Jihad mixed adrenaline, many jumped at the chance to fight shoulder to shoulder with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and wage war against the Jews and the Nasaras. They thought that all they were doing was following Allah’s rules and guidelines. And in many ways they cannot be blamed. On an 18th October 2005 issue of The Daily Prothom Alo in Bangladesh, there was a report which claimed that about 3000 Madrasa students and teachers were “inspired” by the Harkat-Ul-Jihad in the 1980s, to travel to Afghanistan and take on the Soviet army. The fact that the Quran is liable for cultivating this unreasonable hatred towards “Kafirs” in Madrasa students, is irrevocable. 

And those who choose to deny it are simply deluded and ignorant. Every time I try and indulge myself in this sensitive issue, the events of 9/11 tend to float its way into the discussion. The world stopped and grimaced in horror at the deedss of a handful of Jihadi fanatics, who managed to convert entire aeroplane into a weapon and claim thousands of innocent lives. Those who practice Islam for peace will argue that this is work of those who are beguiled and nurture misguided ideals. Not only are they not in sync with what Islam actually is, but they are deluded into thinking that they are pure Muslims, who have only strived to execute Allah’s will to the word.