People of the Book: Difference between revisions

===The Qur'an===

The ''Qur'ān'' (القرآن) is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur'an to be the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind. The best-known chapter of the Qur'an is al-Fatiha ‘The Opening’. This surah is recited as part of all the mandatory daily prayers and repeated within each prayer. A faithful Muslim who said all their prayers would recite this surah at least seventeen times a day, and over five thousand times a year.  

===Does Qur'an 2:79 prove corruption of the previous scriptures?===

It is a common belief among Muslims that the Qur'an states that the previous scriptures (the Taurat and Injil) have been physically corrupted by those who were charged with safeguarding it (the Jews and Christians). Thus, the Qur'an is the 'return' to the true message of the God of the Bible. When asked to provide evidence that the Qur'an says the previous scriptures have been corrupted, Muslims will proudly present verse 2:79 as evidence.

{{col-end}}

===The People of the Book: Do they qualify as believers or disbelievers?===

This is a fundamentally important question in Islam. If the People of the Book are indeed believers, then Islam is not necessary to avoid eternal torment in hell. However, if the People of the Book are disbelievers, then Allah has a lot to answer for, namely why did he allow for so many people to be led astray by books they themselves did not corrupt? A typical Islamic response would be: "It is a test." But if that's the case, why would any omniscient (all-knowing) being require a test to know the hearts of men? And why create an eternal torture chamber to punish those humans who failed the test when he knew they were going to fail before he even created them? Allah is therefore either a sadist or he is ignorant.

===God===

According to Islam, ''Allāh'' is the Creator of the Universe. Allah does not mean 'God' but rather '' 'the God' ''<ref name=EM/> and is thus one of the remnants of Islam's polytheistic origins. In the pre-Islamic era, Allah was the supreme creator god of the Arabs, a moon god who lived in a rock located in the Ka'aba. <ref name=EM>[http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/allah.html "Allah"] - Encyclopedia Mythica from Encyclopedia Mythica Online; Accessed June 15, 2007.</ref> Yet he was still only one god among the many others they believed in.<ref name=MG>[http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/moongod.htm "Moon God"]- Allah - the Moon God.</ref> The goddesses; ''Allāt'' (the feminine form of “Allah”, meaning '' 'the goddess' ''),<ref>Arne A. Ambros, and Stephan Procházka - [http://jis.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/3/400.extract A Concise Dictionary of Koranic Arabic (p. 306)] - Weisbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3895004006</ref> ''Manat'', and ''al-Uzza'' were Allah's daughters.<ref name=EM/>  

===Jesus Christ===

In Islam, ''Isa al-Masih'' (عيسى المسي usually translated as ''Jesus Christ'') is not believed to be the Son of God, but simply a 'messenger', inferior in status to Muhammad. While Muslims will claim they "love Jesus", it is clearly evident that they do not love ''Yasū‘'' (يسوع the actual Arabic term for ''Jesus'', which is used by Arab Christians),<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Isa_(name)&oldid=325004433 Isa (name) - Etymology]</ref> but love the Islamic Isa who, when studied, shares little in common with the founder of Christianity.

===The Angel Gabriel===

According to Islamic scriptures, ''Jibreel'' (جبريل Gabriel) is the angel who first appeared to Muhammad in the cave of Hijra and taught Muhammad the Qur'an. The initial experience frightened Muhammad, and originally thinking he was possessed by a demon, the Islamic prophet became suicidal.

===Dhimmitude===

The term ''Dhimmitude'' is derived from ''Dhimmi'', which means a non-Muslim living in an Islamic country. Robert Spencer has defined it as "the status that Islamic law, the Sharia, mandates for non-Muslims, primarily Jews and Christians". According to orthodox Islamic law, those who are qualified for the second-class Dhimmi status within the Muslim society are the free (i.e non-slave) Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians, who agree to pay the jizyah. Adherents of other religions, as well as those without religion, are asked to convert to Islam; if they refuse, they are to be forced to convert.

===Jizyah Tax===

{{Quote|Umar ibn al-Khattab during the conquest of al-Basrah (636 CE)|Summon the people to God; those who respond to your call, accept it from them, but those who refuse must pay the poll tax out of humiliation and lowliness. If they refuse this, it is the sword without leniency. Fear God with regard to what you have been entrusted.<ref>Al-Tabari, ''The History of al-Tabari (Ta'rikh al rusul wa'l-muluk)'', vol. 12: ''The Battle of Qadissiyah and the Conquest of Syria and Palestine,'' trans. Yohanan Friedman (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992), p. 167.</ref>}}

===Forced Conversion===

This article simply provides information about the Islamic use of forced conversion and forced submission or expulsion as evidenced by Islamic scripture and historical and contemporary writings. For example, According to the respected scholar, Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, jihad should be waged against Jews and Christians because they are guilty of committing shirk (one of the gravest sins in Islam), their beliefs about the Day of Judgement are not Islamic, and they do not follow the laws of Islam revealed to Muhammad.<ref>[http://www.englishtafsir.com/Quran/9/index.html#sdfootnote27sym Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an (Quran 9:29, Footnotes 26 & 27)]</ref>

===The Pact of Umar===

Much has been said of the ''Pact of Umar'',<ref>Paul Halsall - [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/pact-umar.html The Status of Non-Muslims Under Muslim Rule]- Medieval Sourcebook, January, 1996</ref> and much of it distinctly positive. Its non-Muslim admirers gleefully compare its contents to the treatment of religious minorities in Medieval Europe, while ignoring its influence and conformity with Islamic scriptural sources which still govern the treatment of minorities in the East today. Some non-Muslim scholars of early Islam doubt the pact's authenticity, highlighting the fact that the Islamic traditions surrounding the writing of the pact are a few hundred years removed from the actual events described, and that no contemporary sources refers to it at all. ''Sophronius''' (560  - 638 AD) authentic extant writings also refer to the Muslim conquerors in a very negative way, putting further doubts on the Muslim recollections of events.<ref> Robert Hoyland, ''Seeing Islam as Others Saw It'' (Princeton, 1996) p. 69-71</ref> Nevertheless, this article will accept its authenticity and analyse the rights and limitations placed on the Syrians, to see just how free non-Muslims really were under the Rightly-guided Caliph.

===The Genocide of Banu Qurayza===

Hijra year 5 (627 AD), Almost nine hundred Jews (including children) of a Medinan tribe named Banu Qurayza were massacred by Muslims in one day. Muhammad was the lead spectator of this atrocious butchery which began early in the day, ending in torchlight. Those who escaped death were taken captive by Muslims and sold in slave markets. This genocide is known in history as the Banu Qurayza incident.

{{Main|Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam?}}

But is that really the case? Does Hebrew violence in the ancient era, and Christian violence in the medieval era compare to, explain away or even legitimize the tenacity of Muslim violence in the modern era?

===Pedophilia and the Tu Quoque Defense===

A refutation of the e-book ''The Islamophobe's Glass House: Refuting the Claim that Prophet Muhammad was a Pedophile'' by Ibn al-Hashimi. In his introduction titled "The Glass House", the author reveals that the first way he is going to prove Muhammad was not a pedophile is by applying the logical fallacy of ''ad hominem tu quoque''.  His first claim is that Jewish law permits a man to marry a girl as young as three years of age, and Christian law permits a man to marry a girl as young as seven years of age. He also brings up Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph. Relying on 2nd century AD non-canonical (not considered to be Christian scripture) writings, the author attempts to parallel Joseph's actions with those of Muhammad. Both claims are false, and the author fails to prove that the label of "pedophile" is inaccurate for a 54-year-old man who has sexual intercourse with a nine-year-old girl.