ISLAM & SWORD

The first impression most Koreans get when they

first hear about Islam and

the Quran can be expressed as :

“The Quran in one hand and sword in the other”.

Let's see how true this _expression is;

Islam states the methods how to invite people to Islam.

There isn't any among them forcing people by sword or any

other weapon to accept Islam

On the contrary main tool is wisdom, smooth expressions

and a smiling face.

"Invite to the way of Allah (SWT) with wisdom, and fair

preaching…” (Surah An- Nahl 16/125).

In The Quran Allah (SWT) says: "There is no compulsion in religion “ ( Surah Al- Baqara 2/256)

Religion should be chosen by own decision.

The property of religion is not compulsion; on the contrary religion prevents forcing.

According to this verse of The Quran, nobody may be forced to accept religion.

Because, religions addresses to the hearts.

The essence of religion is faith (iman). The place of faith (iman) is the heart. It is not acceptable just to say “I believe…” coming only from your mouth but not from your heart.

Those, without having faith (iman) in their hearts, say I believe

are only double faced hypocrites (munafiq). According to Islam hypocrites (munafiq) are more harmful than

unbelievers (kafeer).

Because they pretend to be muslim though they aren't. So the faith (iman) as a result of someone's fear of death is not acceptable.

Religion means Love of Allah (SWT) and deep belief in Him.

And Love couldn't be placed in hearts by force.

There is an interesting example for this issue in The Quran. When Allah (SWT) sent his prophets Moses and Aaron (AS) with His following order to the pharaoh:

" Speak to him mildly, perhaps he may accept admonition or fear of Allah" (Surah Ta-ha 20/44)

It can be easily seen that it is an order of The Quran to use mild way a soft language even you talk to the most stubborn unbeliever. Compulsion is contrary to the spirit of Islam.

No doubt the first person, who delivered the message of The Quran

was his messenger Muhammad (SAW).

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) preferred way of peace in his 23 years

guidance life.

Always war was started by his enemies, the unbelievers.

They could not prevent Islam

spreading and boosting though

they tried every way. Islam

started with only one person

but reached to 40.000 in 23

years.

In the last 10 years of the Prophet Muhammad’s life there were more than 50 wars.

After these wars the land of muslims reached 1.5 million square km.

The dead rate of enemies was only about 150 people totally, which means the aim of muslims is that, people get known Islam rather than dying without belief.

Through the history none of other religions spread as fast as Islam.

The unacceptable myth that Islam was spread by sword

the (non-Muslim) historian De Lacy Leary wrote:History

makes clear.

However, that, the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping

through the world and forcing Islam at the point of sword

upon conquered races in one of the most fantastically

absurd myth that historians have ever accepted. (Islam

at the crossroad, London, 1923, p.8)

It should also be known that Muslims ruled Spain for nearly 800 years. During this time, and up to when they were finally forced out, the non-Muslims there were alive and flourishing. Additionally, Christian and Jewish minorities have survived in the Muslim lands of the Middle East for centuries such as Egypt, Morocco, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan and all have Christian, Jewish populations.

If Islam taught that all people are supposed to be killed or forced to become Muslim, how did all of these non-Muslims survive for so long in the Middle of the Islamic Empire?

Additionally, if one considers the small number of Muslims who initially spread Islam from Spain and Morocco in the West to India and China in the East, one would realize that they were far too few to force people to be members of a religion against their will.

Additionally, the great empire and civilization established by the Muslims had great staying power, its citizens were proud to be part of it.

The spread of Islam stands in contrast to the actions of the followers of Christianity, who since the time of the Emperor Constantine have made liberal use of the sword-often basing their conduct on Biblical verses.

This was especially true of the colonization of South America and Africa, where native peoples were systematically wiped-out or forced to convert.

It is also interesting to note that when the Mongols invaded and conquered large portions of the Islamic State instead of destroying the religion they adopted it.

This is a unique event in history-the conquerors adopting the religion of the conquered!

Since Genghis Khan and his soldiers were the victors, they certainly could not have been forced to become Muslims! Ask any of the 1.5 billion Muslims alive in the world today, whether they were forced!

The largest Muslim country in the world today is Indonesia-and there were never any battles fought there! So where was the sword? How could someone be forced to accept a religion like Islam?

As a result we can say that all evidences prove that Islam is not the religion of sword. Islam is the last and perfect religion of Allah (SWT), which is accepted and adopted by the sincere heart not by force.