Contradictions between verses that come to the surface for the reader of the Qur’ān would appear to be proof that the Qur’ān has a human author. For it would not be logical for the All-Knowing, All-Wise and Experienced God to contradict Himself, and one of the reasons for these contradictions is that it took twenty-three years for the writing of the Qur’ān to be written down, during which time the conditions of the Islamic call changed from one of a state of weakness during the Makkan period to one power and tyranny in the Madinan period, when Muḥammad could avail himself of a strong army made up of the ‘Aws and Khazraj tribes, in addition to the Muslims who migrated from Makka.
BY KAMIL ALI
THE OTHER reason for these contradictions is that the author of the Qur’ān forgot some of what he said in an earlier period, for like any all human beings his mind was subject to the scourge of forgetfulness, a fact that Muḥammad himself acknowledges in verse 106 of Sūrat al-Baqarah:
Whatever communications We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or like it. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things?
To illustrate this fact, let us give some examples of contradictions in the Qur’ān. In Sūrat al-Naḥl, verse 56, the Qur’ān says this about the Day of Resurrection:
By Allah, you shall most certainly be questioned about that which you forged.
And it also says in Sūrat al-Naḥl, verse 93:
and most certainly you will be questioned as to what you did.
But a verse in Sūrat Al-Raḥmān denies that the question will occur to mankind and the jinn on the Day of Resurrection, as in verse 39 of Sūrat Al-Raḥmān:
on that day neither man nor jinni shall be asked about his sin.
Here we notice a clear contradiction in the creed. How can these verses be reconciled, one that confirms the questioning and the reckoning and the other that denies it?
As for how the da‘wā – the call to Islam – is to be conducted, we find many contradictory verses in the Qur’ān. Muḥammad began his da‘wā in Makka using wisdom and good advice, but after migrating to Yathrib and now able to rely on the strength of the Anṣār allies from the tribes of al-A’ws and Khazraj, he trned them into an armed force and began to raid the caravans of the Quraysh which had to pass near Yathrib. Muḥammad subsequently fought against the tribes of the Jews living in Yathrib, subdued them and seized their homes and their wealth.
Following the conquest of Makka, the bravura of the Muslims was strengthened, and so Muḥammad spread the Islamic religion by force of arms and called his wars a jihad. As a result of these wars the economic might of the Muslims increased through the spoils they took. To clarify the contradiction in the style of da‘wā, let us present some examples from the Qur’ān:
Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation, and reason with them in the better way. Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is Best Aware of those who go aright. [Sūrat al-Naḥl, verse 125].
This verse became the badge of the da‘wā in Makka. In Madina Muḥammad made his da‘wā via the sword, fighting the opponents of his da‘wā who were disbelievers. But as was his wont in all matters of da‘wā, his decision to fight was gradated according to the amount of combat power he had.
The first verse that was sent down (or rather sent up from the earth towards heaven) in the battle in Madina was this:
Permission (to fight) is given to those upon whom war is made because they are oppressed, and most surely Allah is well able to assist them; Those who have been driven from their homes unjustly only because they said: Our Lord is Allah [Sūrat Al-Ḥajj, verses 39-40].
This is the first step that Muḥammad took by way of fighting. He then went on to take another step, making it obligatory for the Muslims, but only for those who fought them as opposed to those who did not:
And fight in the way of Allah with those who fight with you [Sūrat al-Baqara, verse 190].
This is defensive war. This continued to be the condition until the eighth year of the Hijra, until such time that Muḥammad had the strength and bravura with which he was able to declare a general war on the offensive, now obliging the Muslims to fight all the polytheists, those who fought them and those who did not fight them equally. This was the eighth year, or according to some, the ninth year.
Here is the Sword Verse, which some commentators held to abrogate more than a hundred other verses of the Qur’ān:
Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. [Sūrat al-Tawba, verse 5].
There is no dispute that when the da‘wā was coupled with the sword, the number of those who entered Islam began to increase steadily as the swords of the da‘wā increased. The stronger the bravura was demonstrated, the more the number of Muslims increased commensurate to it, and the more fighters in the army of da‘wā proportionate to its strength. If Muḥammad had lived for a few more years beyond the battle of Tabuk fought against the Romans, when the number of fighters there reached thirty thousand, his army would have undoubtedly continued to increase to the amount of two hundred thousand fighters.
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From this we can conclude that those who embraced Islam during Muḥammad’s lifetime in Madina were mostly afraid of the sword or coveted spoils and slaves, and that few embraced it as a principle of some noble purpose. This conclusion is supported by the fact that most apostasised from Islam after Muḥammad’s death.
In our time most Muslims are Muslims by heritage only, with the exception of ISIS, Salafism, Wahhabism, and takfīrī groups which, if the Qur’ān is anything to go by, represent the true Islam.
