Michael Copeland has compiled an eclectic set of references concerning the ninth surah of the Koran, whose violent commands abrogate all of the earlier peaceful verses.
Koran: Read Chapter Nine
by Michael Copeland
Read chapter nine of the Koran. This is important. The text is easily available online. The website corpus.quran.com shows parallel translations and has a “word by word” breakdown and other features.
Why is chapter nine important? It is because this is the final and latest “revelation” allegedly given to Mohammed, which overrides everything elsewhere.
Some background explanation is needed. The Koran is not arranged chronologically. The chapters are placed with the longest first and the shortest last. Accordingly, the subject matter jumps all over the place, and makes the book very confusing. About one fifth of it does not make sense and has to be “interpreted”. The language is archaic: even Arabic speakers find it difficult. Most Muslims, though, are not Arabic speakers. They are, however, instructed how to read the script, and are required only to memorise it and recite it, an action that is highly esteemed. Not required to understand what they recite, they depend on their imams to explain what it says. Imams are thus in a considerable position of control, and have for years made use of various lies, for instance the “perfect preservation” of the text (as proclaimed by Yaser Qadhi), when Islam’s own trusted sources record many historic changes.
An important aspect of the Koran is that all of it forms part of Islamic law. This is no light matter: Islam is not Pick-Your-Own. Koran 33:36 explains:
“It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision.”
Citing this verse, Dr. Salah as Sawy, who is Secretary General for the Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (the Association of Lawyers for Sharia in America), gave this ruling:
“For things which have been stipulated in the texts of Islam, the Muslim community possesses no power except to acknowledge and obey…”
“Acknowledge and obey”: that is the instruction. Muslims have to submit. Islam means Submission. Submission, of course, is one end of a relationship. The real importance is in the other end — Control.
Syed Abul Al’a Maududi
“No one can regard any field of his affairs as personal and private”, wrote the revered scholar Maududi in his 1960 book The Islamic Law & Constitution. Islam is a system of control, “all-encompassing”, as Tariq Ramadan expressed it. “Islam Is The Perfect System For All Mankind”, announces a placard held by an unidentifiable niqab-clad Muslim woman.
Denying any verse of the Koran brings the death penalty. This may be carried out vigilante-style by anyone without legal repercussion, “since it is killing someone who deserves to die” (Manual of Islamic Law, Reliance of the Traveller, o8.4). In Islam your brother doubles as your executioner.
Abrogation
The text of the Koran contains statements which contradict each other. The way that Islamic teaching copes with this is by the doctrine of Abrogation. Under this doctrine the later revelation “abrogates” the earlier. For this it is necessary to know which chapters are later than which others. With chapter nine there is no problem. It is the latest complete chapter, and “abrogates” all previous texts that disagree with it. Esteemed scholar Sheikh Al-Shawkani (1759-1834) says:
“[The verses] about forgiving them [the unbelievers] are abrogated unanimously by the obligation of fighting in any case.”
The significance of chapter nine, the “Sura at Tawba”, is that it sets out Islam’s instruction of permanent hostility to non-Muslims, kafirs, involving their subjugation, extortion, or else killing. It also contains the justification for suicide bombing.