In his Penseés, Blaise Pascal wrote: "The conduct of God, who disposes all things gently, is to put religion into the mind by reason, and into the heart by grace. But to will to put it into the mind and heart by force and menace is not to put religion there, but terror, terrorem potius quam religionem.*
The invocation of terror as a tool of conversion is an integral part of historical Islam, and it is simply disingenuous to disregard this. A small sampling in the Qur'an, Sunnah, and Sirat, the three sources of Muslim doctrine, will show this handily:
Don't be fooled, these three sources are the fundamental sources of Islam. It is Islam by definition.
__________________________________________
*The Latin phrase is "a terror[ism] more than a religion." The original French: (Laf. 172 | Br. 185) «La conduite de Dieu, qui dispose toutes choses avec douceur*, est de mettre la religion dans l’esprit par les raisons et dans le cœur par la grâce, mais de la vouloir mettre dans l’esprit et dans le cœur par la force et par les menaces, ce n’est pas y mettre la religion mais la terreur. Terrorem potius quam religionem.»
The invocation of terror as a tool of conversion is an integral part of historical Islam, and it is simply disingenuous to disregard this. A small sampling in the Qur'an, Sunnah, and Sirat, the three sources of Muslim doctrine, will show this handily:
| Sahih Bukhari 4.52.220 | "Allah's Apostle said, 'I have been made victorious with terror.'" |
| Qur'an 8:12 | "I shall terrorize the infidels. So wound their bodies and incapacitate them because they oppose Allah and His Apostle." |
| Qur'an 8:57 | "If you gain mastery over them in battle, inflict such a defeat as would terrorize them, so that they would learn a lesson and be warned." |
| Ibn Ishaq 326 | "If you come upon them, deal so forcibly as to terrify those who would follow, that they may be warned. Make a severe example of them by terrorizing Allah's enemies." |
| Qur'an 8:67 | "It is not fitting for any prophet to have prisoners until he has made a great slaughter in the land." |
| Tabari IX:42 | "We have been dealt a situation from which there is no escape. You have seen what Muhammad has done. Arabs have submitted to him and we do not have the strength to fight. You know that no herd is safe from him. And no one even dares go outside for fear of being terrorized." |
| Ibn Ishaq 326 | "Allah said, 'No Prophet before Muhammad took booty from his enemy nor prisoners for ransom.' Muhammad said, 'I was made victorious with terror. The earth was made a place for me to clean. I was given the most powerful words. Booty was made lawful for me. I was given the power to intercede. These five privileges were awarded to no prophet before me.'" |
Don't be fooled, these three sources are the fundamental sources of Islam. It is Islam by definition.
__________________________________________
*The Latin phrase is "a terror[ism] more than a religion." The original French: (Laf. 172 | Br. 185) «La conduite de Dieu, qui dispose toutes choses avec douceur*, est de mettre la religion dans l’esprit par les raisons et dans le cœur par la grâce, mais de la vouloir mettre dans l’esprit et dans le cœur par la force et par les menaces, ce n’est pas y mettre la religion mais la terreur. Terrorem potius quam religionem.»
No comments:
Post a Comment