Muslims Only Supposed to Kill in Self-Defense?

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TROP is a non-political, fact-based site which examines the ideological threat that Islam poses to human dignity and freedom

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What can we learn about
Islam from this woman?

Games Muslims Play

Muslims are
Only to Kill
in Self-Defense

The Game:

Muslims are only allowed to kill in self-defense (ie. when their lives are at immediate risk).

The Truth:

This game involves finding a verse from the Quran that authorizes fighting in self-defense, and then ignoring others. It is sometimes bolstered by disingenuously slipping in the word "only" to make it appear as if fighting for Allah is limited by this condition.

The Quran certainly gives Muslims permission to fight in self-defense, but it is not the only circumstance under which they may take the lives of others. Fighting is urged in other places "until all religion is for Allah". The faithful are told to fight unbelievers who offer resistance to Islamic rule until they are subjugated.

The myth of killing only in self-defense is easily disproven from the accounts of Muhammad’s own life. His career of violence began with raids on merchant caravans traveling between Syria and Mecca. His men would sneak up on unsuspecting drivers and kill those who defended their goods. There was no self-defense involved (on the part of the Muslims, at least). This was old-fashioned armed robbery and murder – sanctioned by Allah (according to Muhammad, who also demanded a fifth of the loot for himself).

The first true battle that Muhammad fought was at Badr, when a Meccan army of 300 was sent out to protect the caravans from Muslim raids. The Meccans did not threaten Muhammad, and (turning this Muslim myth on its ear) only fought in self-defense after they were attacked by the Muslims. Following the battle, Muhammad established the practice of executing surrendered captives – something that would be repeated on many other occasions.

The significance of this episode can hardly be overstated, because it set in motion a long chain of Muslim violence that eventually passed through the heart of America on 9/11. The early Muslims were not being threatened by those whom they attacked, and certainly not by those whom they had captured. They staged aggressive raids to eventually provoke war, just as al-Qaeda attempts to do in our time.

Muslims try to justify Muhammad's violence by claiming that he and his followers “suffered persecution” at the hands of the Meccans in earlier episodes. It is true that Muhammad was evicted from the city of Mecca and had to seek refuge at Medina. But even the worst of this persecution did not rise to the level of killing. Nor were Muhammad and his Muslims in any danger in their new home at Medina. They were free to get on with their lives.

Even Muhammad’s own men evidently questioned whether they should be pursuing and killing people who did not pose a threat to them, since it seemed to contradict earlier, more passive teachings. To convince them, Muhammad passed along a timely revelation from Allah stating that “the persecution of Muslims is worse than slaughter [of non-Muslims]” (Sura 2:191). This verse established the tacit principle that the authority of Muslims is of higher value than the very lives of unbelievers. There is no larger context of morality against which acts are judged. All that matters is how an event impacts or benefits Muslims who follow Islam.

Under Muhammad, slaves and poets were executed, captives were beheaded and adulterers were put into the ground and stoned. None of this was during the heat of battle or necessitated by self-defense.

In addition to the Quran's instruction of violence against unbelievers and non-practicing Muslims (Sura 9), Islamic law mandates death for certain crimes such as blasphemy and apostasy. How does killing a blasphemer, an adulterer or someone who leaves Islam qualify as self defense?

Following his death, Muhammad’s companions stormed the Christian world - taking the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Europe. They attacked and conquered to the east as well, including Persia, Central Asia, and the Indian sub-continent. Few, if any, of these campaigns involved even the pretense of self-defense. They were about Jihad.

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Jihad Report Apr 13, 2024 - Apr 19, 2024

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Muslims are Only to Kill in Self-Defense

The Game:

The Truth:

Further Reading

Jihad Report
Apr 13, 2024 -
Apr 19, 2024

Jihad Report
March, 2024

Muslims are
Only to Kill
in Self-Defense