Issue 15
Issue 15[@15:26]: Robert Spencer, Director DhimmiWatch.org: “What is in those books is very clear instructions from the Prophet Muhammad that it is the responsibility of the Muslims to meet the unbelievers on the battlefield and to invite them either to accept Islam or second-class Dhimmi status in the Islamic state and if they refuse both of those then to wage war against them.”
Rebuttal 15: Robert Spencer implies Hadith books (see Issues 11, 12, 13) when he makes his above statement that again needs a progressive breakdown below:
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Issue 15a: Robert Spencer – “What is in those [Hadith] books is very clear instructions from the Prophet Muhammad…”
Rebuttal 15a: So, Mr. Spencer are you telling us that ALL Hadith collections are ACTUAL sayings of Prophet Muhammad? All Hadiths must be accepted as “clear instructions” of Prophet Muhammad?
Answer is plain and simple NO! Firstly, all Hadith collections starting from the time when Prophet Muhammad was alive till fifth century Hijrah are HUMAN EFFORTS of retention, transmission, collection and recording. They are some what similar to your Gospels where humans scrambled to collect and write and publish the latter as the word of God. If the bar of authentication in religious matters is low in your faith, it does not mean that Islam has to stoop equally low. Secondly, the bar for Islam is QURAN without any ifs ands or buts. Any claim of any Hadith has to meet the standards and principles of Message of the Quran. If there is any incongruity, then that Hadith has to be rejected without looking back. Reader, please refer to Rebuttal 12 in an earlier posting dealing with why Quran stands on its own without extraneous sources and the role of Hadith for Quran.
It is a separate matter that Robert Spencer and his folks will preach malice no matter how much the facts may be to the contrary.
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Issue 15b: Robert Spencer – “What is in those [Hadith] books is very clear instructions from the Prophet Muhammad that it is the responsibility of the Muslims to [when they] meet the unbelievers on the battlefield…”
Rebuttal 15b: Once again there is a huge gloss over. Firstly, he does not quote any Hadith for his full statement above. Secondly, Robert Spencer never tells the audience that in Islam and Quran, Muslims can meet their enemies in a battlefield under a few conditions only – self-defense, prevention of tyranny and lawlessness or for sake of religious freedom for all. In doing so there could be a strategic preemptive maneuver if a prevailing state of war exists. Please read Rebuttals 1, 8 and 13 above which outline excerpts from Quran to validate these claims.
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Issue 15c: Robert Spencer – “What is in those [Hadith] books is very clear instructions from the Prophet Muhammad that it is the responsibility of the Muslims to meet the unbelievers on the battlefield and to invite them either to accept Islam…”
Rebuttal 15c: From Rebuttal 15b, it is quite clear as to what conditions when met brings Muslims to a battlefield. Robert Spencer, please tell the audience if any “civilized” country of his choosing will shy away from causes where such a battle is thrust on it?
Essentially, the picture that Robert Spencer is trying to paint is battlefields of the old when two armies would come face to face on a battlefield and there was a possibility of a shouting dialogue or messenger exchange. Even though Robert Spencer quotes no Hadith or facts from history for his statement but lets give him room. Despite a defensive battle, according to Robert Spencer, Muslims at least had the courtesy to invite the enemy to Islam for its values of equality and dignity of mankind and gave one last chance to the enemy to avoid an unnecessary battle. Now what is wrong with that? In all this lets not forget the wars thrust on Muslims were merely for the fact that they were Muslims and carried an ideology of equality of mankind, that was an existential threat to the tyrants of the time from within their own populace whether they were Makkans, Byzantines or Persians.
What he is also correctly telling us is that Muslim armies met their enemies in the battlefield, unlike the European history of decimating cities and its populace starting from Biblical times, through Crusades to present day.
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Issue 15d: Robert Spencer – “What is in those books is very clear instructions from the Prophet Muhammad that it is the responsibility of the Muslims to meet the unbelievers on the battlefield and to invite them either to accept Islam or second-class Dhimmi status in the Islamic state…”
Rebuttal 15d: FYI Robert Spencer there is no second-class citizenship in Islam and Quran. There is no Dhimmi word in Quran. There is no historical discriminatory decree against a Dhimmi by any head of the state. While you have not provided any historical reference, then it begets you to at least inform your audience that “Dhimmi” is derived from “Dhimma” which means “extra responsibility.” Apart from usual state of affairs a “Dhimmi” is to be given extra protection and handling while making sure his rights and dignity is not violated, because they are under “Dhimma” of the Islamic State.
Robert Spencer needs to be educated about Dhimmi that he calls as second class citizen. The facts are to the contrary.
Lets look at the decrees or “Dhimma” of Muslim Rulers for their responsibility towards minority faiths:
CHARTER TO CHRISTIANS by Muhammad.
(excerpted pages 143-146 from: Jihad in Islam, by M.Y.K., The Muslim Revival, Vol V, No. 2, June 1936, Lahore, India)
According to Futuh-ul-Buldan Balazari the charter of freedom of faith granted to the Christians of Najran and later on extended to the Christian subjects of Islam all over the world runs as follows:
“This is the document which Muhammad son of Abdullah, God’s Prophet, Warner and Bearer of glad tidings, has caused to be written, so that there should remain no excuse for those coming after. I have caused this document to be written for the Christians of the East and the West, for those who live near, and for those of the distant lands, for the Christians living at present and for those who will come after, for those Christians who are known to us and for those as well whom we do not know. Any Muslim violating and abusing what is therein ordered would be regarded as a violator of God’s testament and would be the breaker of his promise and would make himself deserving of God’s curse, be he a king or a subject.”“I promise that any monk or way-farer, etc., who will seek my help on the mountains, in forests, deserts or habitations, in places of worship, I will repel his enemies with all my friends and helpers, with all my relatives and with all those who profess to follow me and will defend him, because they are on my covenant. And I will defend the covenanted against the persecution, inequity and embarrassment by their enemies in lieu of the poll-tax (Jizya) they have promised to pay.
“If they will prefer themselves to defend their properties and persons, they will be allowed to do so and will not be put to any inconvenience on that account. No bishop will be expelled from his bishopric, no monk from his monastery, and no priest from his place of worship and no pilgrim will be detained in his pilgrimage. None of their churches and other places of worship will be desolated or destroyed or demolished. No material of their churches will be used for building mosques or houses for the Muslims. Any Muslim so doing should be regarded as recalcitrant to God and His Prophet. Monks and bishops will be subjected to no tax (jizya) or indemnity, whether they live in forests or in the rivers, are in the East or West,. North or South. I give them my word of honour. They are on my promise and covenant and will enjoy perfect immunity from all sorts of inconveniences. Those who retire to the mountains and dedicated places, the produce of their cultivated lands will not be subjected to tax or tithe and in times of scarcity of food they will not be compelled to contribute anything in the form of grain. No military service will be taken from them, nor will they be required to pay jizya. Not more than 12 dirhams per annum will be taken from their merchants, landholders and from the wealthy among them. None should be harassed and tryannised for the payment of taxes. In religious controversies and disputations, they should be tathed to with civility and lenience. Let mercy overwhelm them wherever they may be and they should be protected from all troubles and injuries. He who broke God’s covenant and adopted a defiant attitude, will be regarded as His enemy and the violator of His testament. Every help shall be given them in the repair of their churches. They shall be absolved from wearing arms. They shall be protected by the Muslims. Let this document be not disobeyed till the Judgment Day.”
The following is the excerpt of “STATE LETTERS OF CALIPH UMAR” [Islamic Review, October 1956, pg 10] where he instructs his general, Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqqas, with following written orders:
(9) Encamp at a distance from the villages of those who have concluded pacts with you or have become Dhimmis (those under Islamic protection) on payment of the Jizyah [property tax]. No Muslim should be, allowed to go to their villages except one thoroughly upright in his conduct and trusted by you.
(10) No soldier or officers of your army is to divest a villager of his belongings as you have assumed responsibility for the security of their life, property and. honour, You are under a heavenly trial to fulfil your obligations to them as they are to fulfil theirs. As long as they fulfil their obligations, treat them well.
(11) Do not seek to defeat your enemy by maltreating those who have entered into agreements with you;
Mr. Robert Spencer, the above is a letter from a student of Muhammad. Does any King or a Pope in any lineage or sect of your Christianity or European history even comes close. What to mention the behavior of Crusaders who did it all in the name of their religion that needs no elaboration. In our times, “Civilized” countries like U.S. and NATO (-essentially whole of Europe, US, Canada, Australia) commanders are struggling during their current occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan with issues such as Abu Ghariab and other indiscriminate killing and rape by their soldiers. Indiscriminate killing, destruction and collective punishment is hallmark of IDFs. Ask Palestinians, they will tell you.
Another example of a Muslim Mogul Ruler, Aurangzeb of India – Islamic Review, Vol XIII, Nos. 4 & 5, pg 124-125, April-May, 1925:
Be it known unto all men that we, because of our natural mercy and favour for the welfare of our people, do hereby declare and decree that all our beloved subjects – be they high or low- shall live in peace and harmony one with another; and in accordance with the Islamic Sheria’t (Law) we hereby command that the Temples and the places of idol-worship of the Hindus be maintained and protected. And whereas it hath recently been brought to our notice that certain people intend to entreat despitefully and cruelly our Hindu subjects at Benares and debar the Brahmans from the ancient lawful rites of their worship; and whereas it hath also been brought to our notice that these rumours have caused much pain and consternation to them; now, therefore, we decree and let it be known throughout out our Empire, that from the date of the issue of this decree, no Brahman be molested in his prayers nor Hindu Temples be meddled with. Let our Hindu subjects dwell in peace and pray for our prosperity.
MUHAMMAD AURANGZEB THE EMPOROR, GAZI [The Signature]
MUHAMMAD AURANGZEB s/o SAHIBQIRAN SANNI [The Seal]
Dhimmi is a term which is commonly used for minorities. Ask any African American slaves then and the emancipates later in United States who would had preferred to be a “Dhimmi” of Umar and Aurangzeb. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson were also not blind to the depravity of African Americans for which they essentially instituted “The Dhimmi Remedy” which in United States was called “Affirmative Action.” Lets quote the latter president in regards to Affirmative Action in his Commencement Address at Howard University:
“Nothing is more freighted with meaning for our own destiny than the revolution of the Negro American…In far too many ways American Negroes have been another nation: deprived of freedom, crippled by hatred, the doors of opportunity closed to hope…But freedom is not enough. You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: Now you are free to go where you want, and do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please. You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, ‘you are free to compete with all the others,’ and still justly believe that you have been completely fair…This is the next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result…To this end equal opportunity is essential, but not enough, not enough.”
Mr. Robert Spencer, you will go into annals of history for your humanitarian efforts if you might care to start a similar letter writing campaign to Israel to give equal, if not superior status to its Arab citizens, in summary a “Dhimmmi Status.”
However, Robert Spencer might not be aware of, but in Islam there is no room for racial, gender or religious discrimination. Some quotations from Quran are in order:
4:1. O you people! take as a shield your Lord Who created you from a single being. The same stock from which He created the man He created his spouse, and through them both He caused to spread a large number of men and women. O people! regard Allâh with reverence in Whose name you appeal to one another, and (be regardful to) the ties of relationship (particularly from the female side). Verily, Allâh ever keeps watch over you.
10:19. And mankind were but a single nation, then they fell into variance…
25:54. And it is He Who created human being from water and has given him relations by descent and (kindred) by marriage (and thus sought to establish a civilization and social life based on oneness of humanity under oneness of God). And your Lord is All-Powerful.
30:22. The creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your tongues and colours are (also some) of His signs. Behold there are sure signs for the learned people in this (unity of mankind and Oneness of the Creator).
49:13. O mankind! We have created you out of a male and a female, and We have made you tribes and sub-tribes that you may recognise (and do good to) one another. Surely the most honourable of you in the sight of Allâh is he who guards against evil the most. Verily, Allâh is All- knowing, All-Aware.
21:92. (Mankind!) surely, this your religion is the one single religion (of all the Prophets), and I am your Lord, so worship Me.
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Issue 15e: Robert Spencer – “What is in those books is very clear instructions from the Prophet Muhammad that it is the responsibility of the Muslims to meet the unbelievers on the battlefield and to invite them either to accept Islam or second-class Dhimmi status in the Islamic state and if they refuse both of those then to wage war against them.”
Rebuttal 15e: Robert Spencer, you could be more intelligent than what you just stated. Where was your screen writer. Fire him. You painted a scenario where two armies are facing each other and using your distortions of peace efforts by Muslims, which when fail, what is going to happen next? Any child will tell you “and if they refuse both of those then to wage war against them.” Whats your point? What is your moral lesson? Were the armies gathered to have a picnic? Don’t armies fight in a battle field? Did you expect Muslims to flee away? Please educate us all. This full statement of yours only shows your malice even against history.
References:
Jihad in Islam – Charter To Christians by Muhammad – The Muslim Revival
State Letters of Caliph Umar – Islamic Review
Commencement Address at Howard University – Lyndon B. Johnson
Holy Quran – Nooruddin
From Zahid Aziz:
In relation to the mention of the Charter to Christians given by the Holy Prophet Muhammad, I am repeating below a comment of mine from June 2010.
I once did some research after reading about this charter in The Muslim Revival. This led me to discover a book written in the 18th century by an Irish traveller to the Middle East, A Description of the East and Some Other Countries by Richard Pococke, published in 1743. In this book Pococke gives the translation of “The Patent of Mahomet which he granted to the monks of Mount Sinai and to Christians in general”.
See this link to display a pdf file of those pages from his book. They are in 18th century English, but you can probably understand the text if you remember that the letter which looks like an “f”, as in “Chriftians”, or “faying”, was the way of printing “s” in those days.
Please read from the bottom part of the first page, under Chapter XIV.