Arguments from the Quran

INTERPRETATION OF THE ISLAMIC MISSION “Say to those who have disbelieved that if they desist, they will be forgiven for what has passed. But if they persist in their previous ways, then the law concerning former peoples has already been enforced. And fight them until there is no more fitnah (persecution) and the religion is entirely for Allah. Then, if they cease, Allah is Seeing of what they do.” (Quran, 8:38-39) Careful examination of the wording of the verse indicates that it does not simply command the establishment of a worldly system of governance, as explained above, without touching upon matters of belief. Rather, it commands fighting to change their beliefs: 1. According to the verse, if the disbelievers stop the “fitnah” they are involved in, which is the reason for the command to fight them, they will be granted “forgiveness.” Clearly, forgiveness is not the reward for simply giving up political power or avoiding worldly corruption; it is only given to those who abandon disbelief and polytheism. 7 7 The literal meaning of fitnah is not shirk (polytheism) itself; rather, shirk is one of its manifestations. The literal (lexical) meaning of fitnah is to subject something to heat” or “to test.” From this root meaning, the concepts of testing and trial developed. Over time, undesirable