Malaysia: Electricity for Converting to Islam?

Quran 2:256, Islam and Tolerance – No Compulsion in Religion

A frequently quoted verse from the Quran is “Let there be no compulsion in religion” (Quran 2:256). ¹“Quran 2:256, “There is no compulsion in religion…” (lā ikrāha fī l-dīni) has become the locus classicus for discussions of religious tolerance in Islam. Surprisingly enough…it was revealed in connection with the expulsion of the Jewish tribe of Banū l-Nadir from Medinain 4/625. In the earliest works of exegesis, the verse is understood as an injunction to refrain from the forcible imposition of Islam, though there is no unanimity of opinion regarding the precise group of infidels to which the injunction had initially applied. Commentators who maintain that the verse was originally meant as applicable to all people consider it as abrogated by Quran 9:5,29,73…  Viewing it in this way is necessary in order to avoid the glaring contradiction between the idea of tolerance and the policies of early Islam which did not allow the existence of polytheism — or any other religion — in a major part of the Arabian peninsula. Those who think that the verse was intended, from the very beginning, only for the People of the Book, need not consider it as abrogated: though Islam did not allow the existence of any religion other than Islam in most of the peninsula, the purpose of the jihad against the People of the Book, according to Quran 9:29, is their submission humiliation rather than their forcible conversion to Islam. As is well known, Islam normally did not practice religious coercion against Jews and Christians outside the Arabian peninsula, though substantial limitations were placed in various periods on the public aspects of their worship…

“Despite the apparent meaning of Quran 2:256, Islamic law allowed coercion of certain groups into Islam. Numerous traditionists and jurisprudents (fuqahāʾ) allow coercing female polytheists and Zoroastrians who fall into captivity to become Muslims — otherwise sexual relations with them would not be permissible (cf. Quran 2:221). Similarly, forcible conversion of non-Muslim children was also allowed by numerous jurists in certain circumstances, especially if the children were taken captive or found without their parents or if one of their parents embraced Islam. It was also the common practice to insist on the conversion of the Manichaeans, who were never awarded the status of ahl al-dhimma…

“[W]hatever the original meaning of Quran 2:256 may have been, it is more compatible with the idea of religious tolerance than with any other approach. Any Muslim who wanted to practice religious toleration throughout the centuries of Islamic history could use Quran 2:256, Quran 10:99 and Quran 109:6 as a divine sanction in support of his stance. On the other hand, Quran 9:5, Quran 9:29 or Quran 9:73 may be interpreted as going a long way in the opposite direction” (Yohanan Friedmann, “Tolerance and Coercion.” Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe . Brill [Leiden and Boston], 2005. CD-ROM version).

Verses Muslims Quote from the Quran About No Compulsion in Religion and Tolerance

Muslims often point to other verses in the Quran that command tolerance and no compulsion in religion:

• You shall have your religion and I shall have my religion. (Quran 109:6)
• We created not the heavens, the earth, and all between them, but for just ends. And the Hour is surely coming (when this will be manifest). So overlook (any human faults) with gracious forgiveness. (Quran 15:85)
• But turn away from them, and say “Peace!” But soon shall they know! (Quran 43:89)
• If it had been thy Lord’s will, they would all have believed,- all who are on earth! wilt thou then compel mankind, against their will, to believe!  No soul can believe, except by the will of Allah, and He will place doubt (or obscurity) on those who will not understand. (Quran 10:99-100)
• But if they turn away, thy duty is only to preach the clear Message. (Quran 16:82)
• We sent thee not, but as a Mercy for all creatures.  Say: “What has come to me by inspiration is that your Allah is One Allah: will ye therefore bow to His Will (in Islam)?” But if they turn back, Say: “I have proclaimed the Message to you all alike and in truth; but I know not whether that which ye are promised is near or far.  (Quran 21:107-109)
• Therefore do thou give admonition, for thou art one to admonish.
  Thou art not one to manage (men’s) affairs.
  But if any turn away and reject Allah,-
  Allah will punish him with a mighty Punishment,
  For to Us will be their return;
  Then it will be for Us to call them to account. (Quran 81:21-26)
• Say: “Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger: but if ye turn away, he is only responsible for the duty placed on him and ye for that placed on you. If ye obey him, ye shall be on right guidance. The Messenger’s duty is only to preach the clear (Message).  (Quran 24:54)
• So obey Allah, and obey His Messenger: but if ye turn back, the duty of Our Messenger is but to proclaim (the Message) clearly and openly. (Quran 64:12)

Is No Compulsion in Religion Practiced in Malaysia?

Could it be that the Malaysian government does not believe the Quranic verses about no compulsion in religion? 

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