Countering Islamic Propaganda: 3:56

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What can we learn about
Islam from this woman?

"Discover the Truth's" Game

3:56:
"A Severe Torment
in This World"

From Discover the Truth:

This verse references God’s wrath on the people who disbelieved in Jesus. The passage does not endorse Muslims to commit violence.
(August 21, 2014)

What the Quran Says

55. And (remember) when Allah said: "O 'Issa (Jesus)! I will take you and raise you to Myself and clear you of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection. Then you will return to Me and I will judge between you in the matters in which you used to dispute."
56. "As to those who disbelieve, I will punish them with a severe torment in this world and in the Hereafter, and they will have no helpers."
57. And as for those who believe and do righteous good deeds, Allah will pay them their reward in full. And Allah does not like the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers).

What the Apologists Want You to Believe

Verse 3:56 says that disbelievers will be punished with a "severe torment in this world and in the hereafter." While other religions promise an afterlife of punishment for misdeeds in this life, the Quran takes it a step further and promises "severe torment" in this world as well.

DTT claims the passage refers to God's wrath on a people who did not belief in Jesus, and that it is not an endorsement for Muslims to harm those who disbelieve in Muhammad.

How They Do It: Sleight of Hand

While it is true that verse 55 recounts an imaginary conversation between Jesus and Allah, the real point of the passage is Muhammad's claim to being a prophet and the fate of those who will not believe. 3:56 refers generically to "those who disbelieve" (or as DTT puts it "those who reject faith") not to those who reject Jesus alone.

As for the real Jesus, he said "my kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).

How They Do It: Citing Contemporary Apologists and Weak Hadith

DTT's entire argument is a section from the Tafsir of a 20th century Islamist.

How They Do It: Ignoring Reliable Sources

The Tafsir of Ibn Kathir, a far more respected Islamic scholar, interprets the part about being punished "in this world" quite a bit differently:

Muhammad's religion shall always be dominant and victorious over all other religions. This is why Allah allowed Muslims to conquer the eastern and western parts of the world and the kingdoms of the earth. Furthermore, all countries submitted to them; they demolished Kisra (king of Persia) and destroyed the Czar, ridding them of their treasures and spending these treasures for Allah's sake. All this occurred just as their Prophet told them it would, when he conveyed Allah's statement...

Muslims then acquired Ash-Sham from the Christians, causing them to evacuate to Asia Minor, to their fortified city in Constantinople. The Muslims will be above them until the Day of Resurrect ion. Indeed, he, Muhammad , who is truthful and who received the true news, has conveyed to Muslims that they will conquer Constantinople in the future, and seize its treasures....

(And I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection. Then you will return to Me and I will judge between you in the matters in which you used to dispute. As to those who disbelieve, I will punish them with a severe torment in this world and in the Hereafter, and they will have no helpers. )

This is what Allah did to the Jews who disbelieved in ` Isa and the Christians who went to the extreme over him. Allah tormented them in this life; they were killed, captured, and lost their wealth and kingdoms. Their torment in the Hereafter is even worse and more severe,

How could Ibn Kathir have gotten it so wrong!

In fact, this was ordained by Muhammad himself, according to Sahih Muslim 6930:

(Allah's Messenger) said: You will attack Arabia and Allah will enable you to conquer it, then you would attack Persia and He would make you to conquer it. Then you would attack Rome and Allah will enable you to conquer it, then you would attack the Dajjal and Allah will enable you to conquer him. Nafi' said: Jabir, we thought that the Dajjal would appear after Rome (Syrian territory) would be conquered.

Why They are Wrong

Ibn Kathir was writing in the century just before Constantinople was overrun, raped and pillaged by Muslim armies. By then, Muslim armies had already done the same to most of the Christian world, as well as the kingdom of Persia - which Ibn Kathir recounts in his rundown of greatest hits.

So, prior to 20th century apologetics, Muslims interpreted verse 3:56 as an endorsement of military conquest against those of other religions - particularly the areas that seemed to be doing much better than the Islamic world. When they were brutally conquered, scholars such as Ibn Kathir and others celebrated the carnage as a confirmation of Islam's superiority and the divine fulfillment of verse 3:56.

At the time of Muhammad (as in the present day), the non-Muslim world was generally more successful than the Islamic world. If Allah intended for this to be different, then he wasn't doing much about it on his own. That Muhammad and the subsequent caliphs ordered military campaigns means that conquest and looting is a legitimate means of establishing the proper order and punishing disbelievers.

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3:56: "A Severe Torment in This World"