Durie: Challenging Islam’s Warrant to Kill

Australian Anglican pastor and authority of Qu’anic doctrine, Dr. Mark Durie, is a well respected expert, widely published columnist,  and author of The Third Choice: Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom. See our review of Third Choice in the February 2010 New English Review; Dhimmitude Dominates.

On January 19, 2015, Dr. Durie joined our noted colleague ,Dr. Richard L. Rubenstein, in a presentation “Responses to Jihad from Christian and Jewish Theological Perspectives,” sponsored by the Ethel and Irwin S. Hausman Memorial Speakers Series at Congregation Ahavath Torah in Stoughton Massacusetts in January 2015 moderated  by noted expert on Halacha Jewish and Sharia law, Rabbi Jonathan Hausman and frequent contribuor to the NER, his borther Matthew Hausman.   See also Durie’s, “Bearing the Cross; A Letter to ISIS” in the current March 2015 NER.

In this Middle East Forum/FrontPageMagazine article, “Challenging Islam’s Warrant to Kill“, Dr. Durie cites and explains the Qur;anic doctrine used by the Hacking Division of the Islamic Doctrine providing a license to Salafist Muslim in the US to attack and behead US military personnel residing here. Remember that the Islamic State Calphate is emblematic of the purest form of Islam exemplified by Mohammed and his followers who became the earliest Caliphs. It is not the political correct view of Islam espoused by Sunni Muslim sheiks and Imams under the guise of  pure taqiyya; Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance- only among its adherants. Kauffirs- unbelievers when subjugated through Muslim conquest are offered a choice to  either convert, be killed or pay the jizya- hush money to avoid being beheaded- “smitten on the neck”.

Durie writes:

There is much talk these days of radicalization and deradicalization. At the heart of both processes are religious ideas: theological dogmas.  What are some of the key theological principles which might cause a Muslim to take this call seriously? What is the Islamic reasoning given by the IS Hacking Division in support of its call to kill non-Muslims?

The Hacking Division quote two verses of the Qur’an:

• Sura 9:123 ‘fight believers who are near to you’ and

• Sura 9:14 ‘Fight them; Allah will punish them by your hands and will disgrace them and give you victory over them, and satisfy [actually yashfi ‘heal’] the breasts of a believing people’.

The meaning of these two verses hangs upon the word q?til?, translated here as ‘fight’. The verbal root q-t-l from which q?til? is formed means ‘kill’, so the the Arabic actually means ‘fight to kill’ (see discussion here). These Qur’anic verses truly are commands to kill non-Muslims.

The second quoted verse, from Sura 9:14, puts forward a view concerning what Muslims should do about emotional pain and anguish they may experience because of unbelievers.  ‘Allah’, the verse says, ‘will heal the breasts’ of Muslims, – and then the sentence continues into the next verse – ‘and remove the rage of their hearts’.

The key concept here is that if Muslims have strong feelings, including anger, against non-Muslims, their emotional distress will subside and be ‘healed’ as they kill, humiliate and triumph over non-believers. Strange therapy indeed for the human soul!  According to the Qur’an, in order to secure inner  ‘peace’, calm within the Muslim soul can be secured by shedding non-Muslim blood.

These are stock-standard verses used to urge Muslims to go for jihad against disbelievers. However what most caught my eye in the Hacking Division’s call to arms against infidels in America was but a reference to Muhammad’s teachings. The Hacking Division refers to hadith 4661 in a published English version of the Sahih Muslim (translated by Abdul Hamid Sidiqqi).

The Sahih Muslim is one of the most revered and authoritative sources for the teaching and example of Muhammad, whose life is considered exemplary and compulsory for Muslims to emulate.  This particular hadith can be found on page 1263 of Volume 3 of the English edition:

Chapter 789 (DCCLXXXIX)

About a man who killed a disbeliever and embraced Islam.
(4661) It has been narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: A disbeliever and a believer who killed him will never be gathered together in Hell. [See here.]

 

This is a most significant statement. It is saying that if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim, they cannot both end up in hell.  The alternative to hell is paradise, so in other words, killing a non-Muslim – who is destined for hell due to their unbelief – can provide a sure ticket to paradise for a Muslim.