No compulsion in the religion: Interpretation of the Quranic verse 2:256 through the centuries

Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh

Description

The verse 256 of the second chapter of the Quran reads as follows:No compulsion in the religion! The righteousness has been made clear from the error. Whoever disbelieves in the idols and believes in God, has grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. God is hearer, knower.Muslims often use the first sentence of this verse to prove that Islam recognizes religious freedom. But this is contradicted namely by a saying of Muhammad: "Whoever changes his religion, kill him." The killing of the apostate, the one who leaves Islam, is confirmed, for example, by the uniform Arab Penal Code adopted unanimously by the Council of Arab Ministers of Justice in 1996.We will limit ourselves in this study to show what Muslim exegetes say about the verse 2:256.The AuthorSami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh. Christian of Palestinian origin. Swiss citizen. Doctor in law. Habilitated to direct researches. Professor of universities (CNU-France). Responsible for Arab and Islamic Law at the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law (1980-2009). Visiting professor at different French, Italian and Swiss universities. Director of the Centre of Arab and Islamic Law. Author of many books, including a French, English and Italian translation of the Quran.

Sujets

• Interpretation

Informations

• Publié par: Sami Aldeeb
• Date de parution: 13 avril 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781511698436
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

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Centre de droit arabe et musulman
Zentrum für arabisches und islamisches Recht
Centro di diritto arabo e musulmano
Centre of Arab and Islamic Law


ϦϳΪϟ΍ ϲϓ ϩ΍ήϛ΍ ϻ
No compulsion in the religion
Interpretation of the Quranic verse 2:256 through
the centuries


Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh



second edition









This book can be ordered online at
www.amazon.com
2015

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Centre of Arab and Islamic Law
Created in May 2009, the Centre of Arab and Islamic Law provides legal
consultations, conferences, translations, research and courses concerning Arab and Islamic
Law, as well as relations between Muslims and the West, and assistance for students
and researchers. It also provides free downloads of a large number of writings from
the website www.sami-aldeeb.com.

The Author
Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh. Christian of Palestinian origin. Swiss citizen. Doctor
in law. Habilitated to direct researches. Professor of universities (CNU-France).
Responsible for Arab and Islamic Law at the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law
(1980-2009). Visiting professor at different French, Italian and Swiss universities.
Director of the Centre of Arab and Islamic Law. Author of many books, including a
French, English and Italian translation of the Quran.

Editions
Centre of Arab and Islamic Law
Ochettaz 17
Ch-1025 St-Sulpice
Tel: 0041 [0]21 6916585
Mobile: 0041 [0]78 9246196
Website: www.sami-aldeeb.com
Email: [e-mail]
©All rights reserved 2015

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Table of contents

Introduction
Part I. Presentation of the verse 2:256
1. Translation
2. Chronological order of the Quran and theory of abrogation
3. Interpretation based on the Quran and the Sunnah
4. The sayings of Muhammad related to the verse 2:256 and causes of
revelation
5. Quranic verses related to the verse 2:256
6. Meaning of the verse H-87/2:256 and its limits
7. Antagonism with constitutional and international norms
Part II. Exegetes in chronological order

3

5

7

7

10

14

15

17

23

24

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Introduction

In the first book, "The Fatiha and the culture of hate," we presented the interpretation
given to the seventh verse of the first chapter of the Quran through the centuries. Or
to be more precise, we reported and translated literally or summarily about 88 ancient
and contemporary exegesis to understand who are those who are angered upon, and
those who are misguided in the following passage:
Guide us to the straight path. The path of those whom you have favoured,
not [those] who are angered upon, nor [those] who are misguided.
In this book, we will adopt the same method as in the first book, but this time in
connection with the verse 256 of the second chapter of the Quran, which reads as
follows:
No compulsion in the religion! The righteousness has been made clear from
the error. Whoever disbelieves in the idols and believes in God, has grasped
the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. God is hearer, knower.
Muslims often use the first sentence of this verse to prove that Islam recognizes
religious freedom. But this is contradicted namely by a saying of Muhammad:
"Whoever changes his religion, kill him." The killing of the apostate, the one who leaves
Islam, is confirmed, for example, by the uniform Arab Penal Code adopted
unanimously by the Council of Arab Ministers of Justice in 1996. Here is a translation of
the relevant extract:
Article 162±The apostate is the Muslim, male or female, who abandons Islam
by explicit speech or an act whose meaning is indisputable, insults God, his
apostles or the Islamic religion, or knowingly falsifies the Quran.
Article 163±The apostate is punished by the death penalty if he is proven to
have apostatized and maintains it voluntarily after being invited to repent
within three days.
Article 164±The repentance of the apostate is achieved by renouncing what
constituted his disbelief; his repentance is unacceptable if he apostatizes more
than twice.
Article 165±All the acts of the apostate after his apostasy are considered as
1
null and void, and all property acquired by such acts return to the state fund.
Religious freedom has caused problems for all religions. Its contours are affirmed
by Article 2 paragraph 1 and Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights:

1
Al-qanunal-jaza'i al-'arabi al-muwahhad, Cairo, adopted by the Council of Arab Ministers of
Justice November 19, 1996, p. 52. Text on: http://carjj.org/node/237.

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Article 2.1±Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration, without distinction of anysuch as race, colour, sex, lan- kind,
guage, religion,political or other opinion, national or social origin, property,
birth or other status.
Article 18± Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and
freedom, either alone or in communityothers and in withpublic orprivate, to
manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
The clause of that article, which talks about the freedom to change his religion or
belief, provoked a strong reaction from the Muslim countries. This question is
probably the most important challenge for Muslims, aware that religious freedom can
mean the disappearance of Islam, according to Al-Qaradawi who says: "If Islam did
1
not kill apostates it would have disappeared after the death of Muhammad," quoting
the Quranic verse 5:33 to justify the killing of apostates:
The reward of those who combat God and his messenger, and hasten
corruption on the earth, is that they be killed, crucified, have their hands and feet cut
off on alternate sides, or be banished from the earth. They will have ignominy
in the worldly [life]. And in the last [life] they will have a great punishment.
Our goal here is not to review all aspects of religious freedom in the Arab and Islamic
countries today, or even the meaning given to it by classical and contemporary
Mus2
lim jurists . We will limit ourselves to show, as in the seventh verse of the Fatiha,
what Muslim exegetes say about the verse 2:256.
This book is divided into two parts. The first part is devoted to the study of the verse
2:256 and the second present the exegesis in chronological order.
We are grateful for any suggestion or correction regarding the form and/or the
content of this book.

1
Seethis video: http://goo.gl/bu1PcG.
2
Werefer the interested reader to our study Le changement de religion en Egypte, 2014:
http://goo.gl/TfZ4dR

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Part I.
Presentation of the verse 2:256

1. Translation
We give here the Arabic version in Uthmani orthography modern orthography, and
five translations: ours, that of Muhammad Asad, that of Yusuf Ali, that of
Wahiduddin Khan, and that of Abdel Haleem.
Uthmani orthography
°iVVÙ¯¦°%ØUÄcXT°1SÅÓ¼¯×mÁÝÖWcC\-VÙ¥E³[ÖÙ]C°%ÀiÕumWÛÜW"iV©ÛÏ°Gr¯ÛRPWmÙ¯,Y
Ï/̯ WÆÍÌk°Ý[|XTRNPW3_¡°Ý5YrVÙ2ÃSÙ®QXTÔoÄÈÙ¯\_Õ-W*Ôy
Usual orthography
˸ ˸˸
μ˶ϔ˸˴ϻϰ˴ϘΛϮϟ΍ΓϭήόϟΎΑ˴ϚδϤ˴Θ˸γ΍˶Ϊ˴Ϙ˴ϓ͉๡ΎΑ˸Ϧϣ˸Άϳϭ˵ΎΑ˵˸˸ϦϤ˴ϓϲ˴ϐϟ΍Ϧϣ˵Ϊ˸ηήϟ΍˴Ϧ͉ϴΒ˴Η˸Ϊ˴ϗϦϳ˷˶Ϊϟ΍ϲ˶ϓϩϛ·ϻ˴
˴ϡΎ˴ϧ΍˵˶˴˸˵˶˴˸˶˶˴͉˸΍ή˸
˶˵˶ΕϮϏΎτϟ˶˸ήϔϜ˴ϳ˴˶˷˴˶͊˴˶˴˴˶
ϢϴϠϊϴϤ͉๡΍ϭΎϬ˴ϟ
˲ ˶˴ϋ ˲˶ ˴γ ˵˴ ˴
Our translation: No compulsion in the religion! The righteousness has been made
clear from the error. Whoever disbelieves in the idols and believes in God, has
grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. God is hearer, knower.
Other translations:
M