New Orleans Terror Attack and Verse 9:111 of the Qur’an: Historical Context Of The Qur’an And Historical Necessity To Enjoin Martyrdom Towards The Fag End Of Its Advent

By Muhammad Yunus, New Age Islam 5 January 2025 -------------------------- Reading, quoting or effectuating any Qur’anic verse in isolation - without any regard to its context and without cross referencing it with other complimentary verse (s) contradicts the letter and the spirit of the Qur’an, and can result in grievous distortion of its message and must be avoided. -------------------------- The case of New Orleans lone wolf terror attack was speculatively traced to the verse 9:111 of the Qur’an, and rightly blamed to radicalization and a host of other factors including repeated exhortation to war and martyrdom in the Biblical scripture as Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqui Saheb has very ably expounded in his article of January 4. I am doing this short article to shed light on the historical context of the Qur’an and the backdrop of Surah al-Tauba which has several verses that has the tone and flair of 9:111. This is to demonstrate that regardless of the Biblical pronouncements quoted in the above article, the Qur’an’s call to martyrdom was a historical necessity without which Islam may have perished soon after the Prophet’s death that happened within 2-3 years of the revelation of the 9th Surah to which 9:111 belongs. Historical Background Of The Qur’an In Summary Starting as sole missionary at age 40 around 610 AD, the Prophet of Islam Muhammad (may God’s mercy and blessings be upon him) preached a monotheistic faith in his birth place, Mecca, that challenged their (Arab) gods and ancestral ways. The Meccans adamantly rejected his claims and strongly resisted fellow Arabs from joining the new faith. So Muhammad made only few converts during his stay in Mecca for the next ten years, patiently bearing a barrage of insults and calumnies that were hurled at him by all and sundry barring few exceptions. Many of the converts were also subjected to violence and some were killed. Ultimately, to avoid imminent assassination, he escaped to Medina some 270 mile up North with only one companion as mentioned in the Qur’an. This Was Around 622 AD The ensuing seven to eight years were most testing and crucial for the Prophet. As his popularity grew with time, the Meccans, the desert Arabs, the powerful Jewish tribes of Medina and many of the shaky converts of Medina (known as hypocrites) - all conspired against him. On a number of occasions, they collaborated militarily and sent powerful armies to annihilate the Prophet and his steadily growing company of believers (Ummat). The believers also faced grave military threat from the neighbouring Christian Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) who boasted of a massive and well organized army that was, well equipped, regularly drilled, and had strong cavalry divisions and extensive combat experience. Militarily, they were far superior to the followers of the Prophet who consisted of diverse tribal warriors with no experience of organized or coordinated warfare. So any military strategist could only have had dire predictions for the new faith. This Was Around 630 AD In the divine scheme, the Prophet had only two years left (he died in 632 AD), and unless the hostile pagans and the hypocrites were integrated into the community and the Byzantine threat diffused, Islam risked extinction soon after the Prophet’s death. The Qur’an had to achieve the unachievable in just about two years’ time. It was in this historical setting that the Surah al-Tawbah was revealed. As the Prophet’s community was in no position to match its enemies in any military encounter, the Qur’an infuses the believers with moral courage, passion of martyrdom and promise of divine reward (Paradise) even if they were to die in the cause of Islam. This was the context of the verse 9:111 as well as some other verses of the 9th Sura (al-Tauba). Possibly in highly vulnerable situation in which history had cast the Prophet and his followers there was no option but to recourse to martyrdom to save Islam from extinction. Thus at that moment in history the bidding to martyrdom was a historical necessity. What course history would have taken without Islam is a matter of gloomy conjecture – though one can get some inklings about the benevolent impact of Islam on the turf of history from the words of some of the iconic scholars of the Christin West: “Islam prevailed because it was the best social and political order the time could offer. It prevailed because everywhere it found politically apathetic people, robbed oppressed, bullied, uneducated and unorganized and it found selfish and unsound governments out of touch with any people at all. It was the broadest, freshest and cleanest political idea that had yet come into actual activity in the world and it offered better terms than any other to the mass of mankind” – H.G.Wells [1] “The Eastern thinkers of the ninth century laid down on the basis of their theology, the principle of the Rights of Man, ....of which the humane and chivalrous prescriptions would have put to blush certain belligerents in the Great War; expounded a doctrine of toleration of non-Muslim creeds so liberal that our West had to wait a thousand years before seeing equivalent principles adopted.” - Count Leon Ostrorog [2]. "The theory of the Muslim faith enjoins toleration and freedom of religious life for all those followers of other faiths who pay tribute in return for protection …, The very existence of so many Christian sects and communities in countries that have been for centuries under Mohammadan rule is an abiding testimony to the toleration they have enjoyed, and shows that the persecutions, they have from time to time been called upon to endure at the hands of bigots and fanatics, have been excited by some special and local circumstances, rather than inspired by a settled principal of intolerance." - Thomas W. Arnold (1864-1930). [3] "After Muhammad's death, Jews and Christians were never required to convert to Islam but were allowed to practice their religion freely in the Islamic empire. Later Zoroastrians, Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs were also counted among the ‘People of the Book'. It has never been a problem for the Muslims to coexist with people of other religions.” - Karen Armstrong. [4] 1. H.G.Wells, The Outline of History, p. 613/614. 2. Asaf A.A. Fyzee, Outlines of Mohammedan Law, 5th Edition, New Delhi 2005, p. 53/54. 3. Thomas W. Arnold, Preaching of Islam, 2nd revised edition, 1913, reprinted Delhi 1990, p. 419/420. 4. Karen Armstrong, Muhammad, London 1991, p. 87. Summing Up: The Qur’an asks its universal audience to probe into its verses and seek the best meaning in them: • “We have sent down the Book to you (O Muhammad,) with blessings so that the prudent may probe into its verses (message) and be mindful of it” (38:29). • “Will they not probe into the Qur'an - or are there hearts sealed” (47:24) • “Those who listen to this speech and follow the best (meaning) – it is they who are guided by Allah, and it is they who are prudent” (39:18). [earlier listed under Note 11] • “Follow the best (meaning) of what has been sent down to you from your Lord, before suffering comes upon you of a sudden and without your knowledge” (39:55). [earlier listed under Note 11] Therefore, reading, quoting or effectuating any Qur’anic verse in isolation - without any regard to its context and without cross referencing it with other complimentary verse (s) contradicts the letter and the spirit of the Qur’an, and can result in grievous distortion of its message and must be avoided. Also Read: The ISIS And Its Likes – The Muslim Violent Extremists Of This Era Must Be Outlawed On Historical Precedent To Save The Middle East From A Tsunami Of Bloodshed And The World From A Clash Of Civilizations The Heinous Crimes That ISIS Is Perpetrating Totally Opposed To Islam And Those Killed Fighting For ISIS May Earn Divine Wrath Instead Of Paradise And ‘Hurs’ – An SOS To All Mosque Imams Declare The ISIS As The Kharijites (Those Who Seceded From Islam) As This Article Demonstrates And Declares: Global SOS To The Ulama, Muftis, Intellectuals And Scholars Of Islam ISLAM IS A RELIGION OF PEACE AND PLURALISM The Heinous Crimes That ISIS Is Perpetrating Totally Opposed to Islam And Those Killed Fighting for ISIS May Earn Divine Wrath Instead of Paradise And ‘Hurs’ – An SOS To All Mosque Imams Countering Violent Extremism – Muslim Ulama And Custodians of Faith Must Avert A Potential Holocaust Declare the ISIS as The Kharijites (Those Who Seceded from Islam) As This Article Demonstrates and Declares: Global SOS To the Ulama, Muftis, Intellectuals and Scholars of Islam Muslims Have NO Qur’anic Basis for Religious Supremacism Terrorists Have Failed So Far and Should Not Be Allowed To Affect Global Multiculturalism, Sultan Shahin Tells Parallel Meeting at UNHRC in Geneva The Rising Threat of Islamic Extremism in India: Moderate Intellectuals Must Join the Battle against Supremacism, Exclusivism, Sectarianism, Fascism and Violent Takfirism in Muslim Society Muslims Must Confront Islamist Terror Ideologically: An Islamic Reformation Required Islamic Radicalism Going Mainstream Throughout The East, says Sultan Shahin in a conference at United Nations in Geneva ------ Muhammad Yunus, a Chemical Engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, and a retired corporate executive has been engaged in an in-depth study of the Qur’an since early 90’s, focusing on its core message. He has co-authored the referred exegetic work, which received the approval of al-Azhar al-Sharif, Cairo in 2002, and following restructuring and refinement was endorsed and authenticated by Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl of UCLA, and published by Amana Publications, Maryland, USA, 2009. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/orleans-terror-attack-verse-9-111-quran-martyrdom/d/134248 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism