Clear Answers - Isn't it true that Islam was spread by the sword?

No. This is not true. However, this is a common misconception in the
minds of many people. The Qur'an declares:
There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth
distinct from error (Qur'an 2:256).
This Qur'anic verse shows that God has made truth and falsehood
distinct from each other and people are therefore free to choose one
or the other.No one can be forced to believe in a religion since
belief is somethingvery personal. One who follows the Qur'an will not
try to force another person to believe.
Even the prophet Muhammad, on whom be peace, could not force another
person to become a Muslim. God revealed to him the following words:
And if your Lord willed, all who are in the earth would have believed
together. Would you then compel people untilthey become believers? It
is not for any soul to believe except by the permission of Allah
(Qur'an 10:99-100).
This instruction from God makes it clear that anyone is mistaken who
thinks that he or she cancompel others to believe. If God wanted, He
could make everyone believers, but rather has given them free choice.
Even so, no one can believe upon being forced. It is the grace of God
on a person that will result in belief. Is there a teaching more
beautiful than this? How could any true follower of the Qur'an turn
around and force his faith on others? On the contrary, the Qur'an
instructs its followers on how to call people to true faith as
follows:
Call unto the way of yourLord with wisdom and fair exhortation, and
reason with them in the better way (Qur'an 16:125).
Where does the Qur'an tell anyone to call peopleat the point of a
sword? It does not. God instructed his messenger, on whom be peace, as
follows:
Say: This is my Way: I invite unto Allah with sure knowledge, I and
whosoever follows me (Qur'an 12:108).
Here again, the call is to be made with sure knowledge, with clear
evidence. Putting these instructions together, a Muslim understands
that he or she must present Islam with clear evidence (i.e. sure
knowledge) and use wisdom and fair exhortation to reason with people
to accept the evidence for faith. Where is there any mention of sword
in all of this?
The Junior Encyclopedia of Canada says:
Islam is the fastest-growing religion worldwide (The Junior
Encyclopedia of Canada, Hurtig Publishers, Canada, 1990, Vol.2.
p.396).
What explains this phenomenon? Who is forcing anyone today to become
Muslims? Muslims are not even engaged in active preaching in any
noticeable degree. People are voluntarily coming into Islam because
they find that Islam makes sense.
Huston Smith discusses in his book entitled The World's Religions, on
page 256, how the prophet Muhammad, on whom be peace, grantedfreedom
of religion to the Jews and Christians under Muslim rule. The prophet
had a documentdrawn up in which he stipulated that Jews and Christians
shall be"protected from all insults and vexations; they shall have an
equal right with our own people to our assistance and good offices,"
and furthermore, that they shall "practice their religion as freely as
the Muslims" (Quoted in The World's Religions by Huston Smith, Harper
Collins, 1991, p.256). Smith points out that Muslims regard that
document as "the first charter of freedom of conscience in human
history and the authoritative model for those of every subsequent
Muslim state" (p.256).
So, was Islam spread by the sword? The following short answer comes
from Ira Zepp Jr., a non-Muslim, in his book entitled A Muslim Primer:
It is unfortunate that Islam has been stereotyped as the 'religion of
the sword' orthat Islam was 'spread by the sword.' The historical
reality is that the expansion of Islam was usually by persuasion and
not by military power. In any case, Islam cannot be forced on anyone;
if profession of the shahadah [i.e. the declaration of Islam] is
forced on someone, it is not true Islam (A Muslim Primer by Ira Zepp,
Jr., 1992, Wakefield Editions,US, p.134). - - ▓███▓ Translator:->
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Clear Answers - What does Jihad mean?

The word Jihad represents a concept which is much misunderstood in the
West. The concept is explained nicely by the Christian scholar Ira 6.
Zepp, Jr. in his book entitled A Muslim Primer on pages 133-135. We
adapt from his answer the following:
The essential meaning ofJihad is the spiritual, psychological, and
physical effort we exert to be close to God and thus achieve a just
and harmonious society. Jihad literally means"striving" or "struggle"
and is shorthand for Jihad fi Sabeel Allah (struggle for God's cause).
In a sense, every Muslim is a Mujahid, one who strives for God and
justice.
Al-Ghazali captured the essence of Jihad when he said: "The real Jihad
is the warfare against (one's own) passions. Dr.Ibrahim Abu-Rabi calls
Jihad "the execution of effort against evil in the self and every
manifestation of evil in society." In a way, Jihad is the Muslim's
purest sacrifice: a struggle to live a perfect life and completely
submit to God.
Another form of Jihad is the striving to translate the Word of God
into action. If one has experienced God and received guidance from the
Qur'an, one strugglesto apply that guidance in daily life. So the
larger, more prevalent meaning of Jihad is the spiritual struggle of
the soul. In this case, Jihad isalways present for the believer
whether there is an external enemy or not. We should never reduce
Jihad to violence.
A third level of Jihad is popularly known as"holy war." The classic
passage is found in the Qur'an:
Fight in the way of Allah those who fight against you, but transgress
not the limits. Truly Allah likes not the transgressors (Qur'an
2:190).
It is crucial to note here that what is condoned isdefensive warfare;
Islam cannot justify aggressivewar. Muhammad and theTradition are also
against killing non-combatants, torturing of prisoners, the
destruction of crops, animals and homes. Adapted from Ira 6. Zepp,
Jr., A Muslim Primer (1992, Wakefield Editions, US) pp.133-135.
Robert Ellwood of the University of Southern California has the
following to say about the Muslim concept of Jihad:
Out of the community ideal of Islam comes the concept of jihad, or
holy war, which is designed to defend Islam and allow its social
practice, though not to force individual conversions, which is
forbidden. Since Islam in principle isa community as well as
areligion, presumably only an absolute pacifist would be able to
reject the theory of jihad out of hand, since other communities also
fight to defend or expand their ways of life. (Many Peoples, Many
Faiths by Robert S. Ellwood, 4th edition, Simon & Schuster, US, 1982,
p.346).


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Wonders of Allah - Signs of Allah in Ants

Ants live in colonies and a perfect division of labor exists amongst
them. When we take a closer look at their systems, we shall also see
that they have a pretty interesting social structure. It will also
come to our attention that they are capable of sacrifice at a much
higher level than humans are. One of the most interesting points is
that - compared to humans - they do not know the concepts such as the
rich-poor discrimination and the fight for power that are observed in
our societies.
Many scientists, who for years have been doing extensive research on
ants, have not been able to clarify the subject of their advanced
social behavior. Caryle P. Haskins, Ph.D., the president of the
Carnegie Institute at Washington has this to say:
After 60 years of observation and study, I still marvel at how
sophisticated the ants' social behavior is. ...The ants thus make a
beautiful model for our use in studying the rootsof animal behavior.
(National Geographic, vol.165, no.6, p. 775)
Some colonies of ants are so extensive with respect to population and
living area, that it is impossible to explain how they can form a
perfect order over such a vast area. Therefore, it is not easy not to
concur with Dr. Haskins.
As an example of these large colonies we can give the species of ant,
called Formica Yessensis that lives on the Ishikari coast of Hokkaido.
This ant colony lives in 45,000interconnected nests over an area of
2.7 square kilometers. The colony, which is composed of approximately
1,080,000queens and 306,000,000 workers, has been named the "Super
colony" by the researchers. (Bert Holldobler-Edward O.Wilson, The
Ants, Harvard University Press, 1990, p. 1.) It has been discovered
that all production tools and food are exchanged in an orderly fashion
within the colony.
It is very hard to explain how the ants have maintained this order
without any problems, considering the vast area they are living in. We
must not forget that various security forces are needed for enforcing
law and maintaining social order, even in a civilized country with a
low population density. And there is an administrative staff leading
and managing these units. Sometimes, it does not become possible to
maintain the required order without problems despite all these intense
efforts.
Yet in ant colonies there is no need felt for police,gendarmerie or
guards. If we consider that actually the duty of the queens, whom we
think of as the leaders of the colonies, is just to maintain the
species, they do not have a leader or a governor. There is thus no
hierarchy based on a chain of command amongst them. Then who is it
that lays down this order and maintainsits continuity?
The fact that ants can establish such a great and perfect order is
proof that they are acting on the inspirationof a certain
"supervisor".The verse below fully confirms that God is the master and
supervisor ofeverything and that every living creature actson His
inspiration:
I have put my trust in God, my Lord and your Lord. There is no living
being He does not hold by the forelock and inspect! My Lord is on a
straight path. (Surah Hud: 56)
Article 2
Examining the movement of the ant is thought provoking. It moves its
infinitesimal legs in a sequential and extremely organised manner
knowing perfectly which leg should take the first stepand which the
next. It moves very rapidly without faltering.
The Ant lifts crumbs much bigger than its body. It carries them to its
nest with heart and soul. It travels distances that are very long in
comparison to its tiny body. On featureless land, with no guide at
itsservice, it can easily find its nest. Despite the entrance of the
nest being too small even for us to find, it is not confused and finds
it no matter where it is.
When one sees in the garden some ants, lined up one after the other,
ardently toiling to carry food to their nest, one cannot stop
wondering what kind of purpose these tiny living beings might have in
working so hard. Then one realises that not only does the ant carry
food for itself, but also for other members of its colony, for the
queen ant and baby ants. How such a tiny ant, which does not even have
a developed brain, knows diligence, discipline and self-sacrifice is a
point on which one needs to reflect. After pondering these facts, one
reaches the following conclusion: ants, like all other living beings,
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Wonders of Allah - Signs of Allah in Dreams

Islam tells us that a person in the grave is either enjoying a
peaceful stay or going through punishments depending on his/her deeds.
However, many people doubt this fact. This is due to the reason that
when a grave is dug, we do not see any fire burning people or gigantic
snakes biting dead bodies. All we see are bones mixed with soil. Well,
then where is the punishment or peace? Whether we can see it or not,
the promiseof Allah is true. Allah gave us many things to understand
things better. He tells us that there are signs in His creations for
those who think. To understand thisparticular issue (grave) better, we
can examine our dreams. Say, a person is sleeping right beside you. He
is seeing a dream where some people are trying to kill him. They catch
him and starts beating him. Finally, they take out a gun and shoots
him. Youare sitting beside this sleeping individual, but you do not
see any of these things. However, he is experiencing all these things,
it's just youcannot see. The same way, that individual in the grave is
going through all the things that are promised by Allah, it's just we
cannot see.
There are important purposes in dreams for someone who reflects. Such
a person thinks about how "realistic" the dreams are that he sees
while asleep, which in that way are no different in their realismfrom
the moment he awakes. For instance, despite one person's body lying on
the bed, indream he went on business trips, met new people, and had
lunch while listening to music. He enjoyed the taste of his meal,
danced to the music, became excited because of the incidents that
happened, became happy and unhappy, was afraid and felt tired.He could
even have driven a vehicle that he had not previously driven until
that day anddid not even know how to drive.
So, you can experience, see, touch, hear and taste things that are not
only real but also things that are unreal.

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