"No Compulsion in Islam"—Really? / Esther: Wise and Generous Beyond Her Years / Is Poverty Avoidable?

Good morning from Georgia!

This past weekend I immensely enjoyed teaching on Genesis 1-11 to students in the Asia Pacific Leadership Academy, based in Manila. In addition to brothers and sisters from all over the Philippines, others also joined from Cambodia, Singapore, Myanmar, Vietnam, Guam, California, and Canada.

Genesis 1-11 is the Primeval Narrative, as opposed to Genesis 12-50, which takes us into the Patriarchal Period. The main idea: in the Ancient Near East (the world of the first readers / hearers of Genesis) there was a background narrative, a set of myths, about the origin of the world, the creation of humans, an evil serpent, the search for eternal life, extraordinarily long lives, giants, a flood, and more. Genesis captures and rewrites all these stories, stripping them of the erroneous, the idolatrous, and the mythological. The Genesis version is a better story, telling us who God is and who we are. Most of this material may be found in Origins: The Ancient Meaning and Modern Application of Genesis 1-11—available here.

In today’s bulletin:

• Is poverty here to stay? What did Jesus mean when he said the poor will always be with us?

• Original Sin—an apostolic doctrine?

• Vicki’s latest podcast: “Esther: Wise and Generous Beyond Her Years”

• “There is no compulsion in Islam,” it is said. But is this true?

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QUESTION & ANSWER

Q&A 1688—Will the Poor Always Be with Us?

Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want…” (Mark 14:7). Does this mean there is no cure for poverty? Isn’t Jesus a bit defeatist?

Jesus certainly didn’t live as a defeatist. We might say he was both a realist and an idealist. The passage he quotes shows us that poverty can definitely be conquered—but only when people follow God’s laws. Within the commonwealth of ancient Israel, this was a possibility. But outside the Kingdom of God, eradicating poverty does not seem possible, given human sin and the absence of the impact of Word of the Lord. Not to say we shouldn’t try.

But why should we think there could have been no poverty in ancient Israel?

• There was to be no long-term land acquisition, because the land belonged to God. This is the point of the Jubilee laws (Lev 25:23).

• Loan sharking was strictly prohibited (Exod 22:25).

• The legal system was not be titled in favor of the rich, against the poor (Exod 23:6). On this matter the prophets had much to say (Amos 2:7)!

• Implemented consistently, the laws of Torah would have brought about the end of the institution of slavery. For example, kidnapping was a capital crime (Exod 21:16). Moreover, slaves had rights (Exod 20:10; 21:26-27; etc).

• The Israelites were charged with caring for the alien, the widow, the orphan, and the poor—remembering that they too were once slaves and powerless (Deut 10:17-19).

Lived out consistently, such a system would spell the elimination of poverty!

Q&A 1689—Is Original Sin an Apostolic Doctrine?

My church teaches “original sin.” We are born sinners, because we inherited Adam’s guilt. I don’t see this teaching in the gospels. Did Jesus’ apostles teach it?

The Bible teaches that all are affected by Adam’s sin. Yet despite the Fall, we still have free will. We are all accountable for our own sins. Children are born morally innocent, not bearing guilt for Adam’s sin. Neither the New Testament (first century) nor the earlier church fathers (c.100-350) know anything of “original sin.” Children were considered innocent. Consider the evidence. KEEP READING

ESTHER: WISE AND GENEROUS BEYOND HER YEARS

MUḤAMMAD’S BIOGRAPHY, VI
Violence and Compulsion

Last week we looked at the wars and warfare of the Sīrat. Today we study a complementary subject: compulsion. Why? Because Muslims typically claim that there is "no compulsion” in Islam, a phrase in Q 2.256. We’ll begin by examining a few passages on violence, mutilation, and revenge. I will also hazard a guess about Muḥammad’s hypersensitivity to criticism—something that still affects Muslims (and non-Muslims) 1400 years later.

Violence

• The first instance of violence in Islam: “When the apostle’s companions prayed they went to the glens so that their people could not see them praying… a band of polytheists came upon them… and rudely interrupted them… they came to blows, and… Sa‘d smote a polytheist with the jawbone of a camel and wounded him. This was the first blood to be shed in Islam” (166).

• “When battle was joined I dealt him a blow / That drew blood—his arteries murmured aloud: / That is what I did on the day of Badr” (536).

• “When you thrust with a spear you made great wounds / From which came hot foaming blood” (560). This reads like the Iliad—intense violence and gore.

• Muḥammad has a man tortured to extract information, then a fire is kindled on his chest until nearly dead. Then vengefully beheaded him (764, [ṭ 1582]). [Some Muslims reject this, as unworthy of Muḥammad, given that he pardons the woman who tried to poison him. Yet such a degree of cruelty is very much in harmony with the Muḥammad we come to know in the Hadith of Bukhari.]

• Most of the poems in the Sīrat seem to glorify war. I did find one exception: “If you abandon war it will go far from you / When you stir it up you raise an evil thing / ’Tis a monster devouring everything near and far / It severs kinship and destroys people / It cuts the flesh from the hump and the back… / Beware of war! / Do not let it cling to you / A stagnant pool has a bitter draught / War—it first seems fine to men / But afterwards they plainly recognize an old hag / It scorches unsparingly the weak / And aims death-blows at the great (179).

• Overall, the spirit of the militant expansion of Islam is captured in this pithy sentence: “Fight everyone in the way of God and kill those who disbelieve in God” (991)

Mutilation

• “The apostle sent Kurz b. Jābir, who went in pursuit… and brought them to the apostle… He cut off their hands and feet and gouged out their eyes” (999).

• On the death of one of his uncles, Muḥammad proclaimed: “If God gives me victory over Quraysh in the future I will mutilate 30 of their men.” When the Muslims saw the apostle’s grief and anger against those who had thus treated his uncle, they said, “By God, if God gives us victory over them in the future we will mutilate them as no Arab has ever mutilated anyone” (584).

• Sometimes the apostle does forbid mutilation (463).

Hot temper

• We often read about the prophet’s intense anger (400).

• The apostle was so angry that his face became almost black (546).

• “The apostle of God prepared for war / When he is wronged his face becomes black with anger / With a great army foaming like the sea” (806).

Thin skin

• Despite the toughness, Muḥammad seems to have been remarkably thin-skinned—or paranoid, or tyrannical in prohibiting dissent.

• When the Quraysh became insolent towards God and rejected His gracious purpose, accused the prophet of lying, and ill-treated and exiled those who served Him and proclaimed His unity, believed in His prophet, and held fast to His religion, He gave permission to His apostle to fight and to protect himself against those who wronged them and treated them badly” (313). How different to Matt 5:43-48; 10:13-14.

• He orders the execution of two girls who sang satirical songs about him (819).

• Some of Muḥammad’s followers cannot bear rejection or mockery: “[We] called them to Islam, but they received it not / And they treated it as a joke. / They ceased not so until I volunteered to attack them” (419). Touchy!

• Execution of poet who had mocked Muḥammad (995). And of another (996).

• One Muslim expresses similar indignation: “There is no people whom I want to fight more than those who insulted your apostle, called him a liar, and drove him out” (679). After all, “There is painful punishment for those who vex God’s apostle” (925).

• It is often protested that there is no compulsion in Islam (377)—see Q 2.256.

“No Compulsion”—really?

It’s frequently claimed that in Islam there is “no compulsion” There is indeed a sentence in the Qur’an that reads “Let there be no compulsion in religion, for the truth stands out clearly from falsehood” (2.256).

Yet is this really true? Based on the chronology of the Hadith, surah 9 is one of the final surahs in the Qur’an. Here we read Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, nor comply with what Allah and His Messenger [Muhammad] have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth from among those who were given the scripture, until they pay the tax, willingly submitting, fully humbled (9.29). In surah 9 we also find the famous “Verse of the Sword”: … Kill the polytheists wherever you find them, capture them, besiege them, and lie in wait for them on every way (9.5).

• “God sent Muḥammad with this religion and he strove for it until men accepted it voluntarily or by force” (Sīrat 986). No compulsion? No forced conversions?

• Muḥammad said, “Woe to you, Abū Sufyān, isn’t it time that you recognize that I am God’s apostle?” He answered, “As to that I still have some doubt.” I said to him, “Submit and testify that there is no God but Allāh and that Muḥammad is the apostle of God before you lose your head” (Sīrat 813).

• A poet wrote “If you are not sincere in worship, and embrace Islam / Then shame will come on you speedily in this life / And in hell you will wear a garment of molten pitch for ever!” (Sīrat 468).

• Furthermore, Islam has a death penalty for apostasy. (In some Islamic schools of jurisprudence, a woman may receive a lesser penalty, such as life in prison).

Based on the evidence within the Qur’an, the Hadith, the Sīrat, Shari’a Law, and common practice in parts of the world where Shari’a is enforced or jihad is carried out, the claim that there is no compulsion is manifestly false! Many Muslims realize this, and are pained by this fact, even if they are reluctant to admit it publicly. 

For more on Jihad, listen to Islam B.

Next week: Miscellaneous Matters (the 7th installment in our series of 10) 

NEXT WEEK

Thanks for reading the bulletin. Thanks too for your prayers and financial support. One last thing. Anyone interested in resiliency training (mentioned several times in recent weeks), please let me know. You may want to join our informational Zoom session on the 21st. Next week I’ll be with the Atlanta Braves senior staff again, teaching on the reliability of the Bible. In the meantime the legs continue to heal. (No, I don’t feel like a bionic man, at least not yet.)

Have a great week!

For years of previous newsletters, click here. For the audiovisual version of the newsletter (YouTube, about 3 minutes, read by Chase Mackintosh), click here. This is usually available the day after the newsletter is posted. Reach our website here.