| Why There Is No Compulsion In Islam | |
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(Taken from the author's book entitled "UP TO DATE UNDERSTANDING OF ISLAM - Translated by Ahmed Baki)
Based on the decisive rule (hukm) in the original Book of Islam, THERE IS NO COMPELLING IN THE PRACTICE OF THE DEEN! The statement laa iqraha (no compelling) in the related sign of the Koran associates with the statement FIYDDEEN (in the Deen) and emphasizes that it is related to the PRACTICE OF THE DEEN. To distort this fact and say that someone is not compelled to accept the Deen but after his acceptance force may be exerted upon him, is a result of inability to understand the SYSTEM within the Deen.
According to the Koran's statement (hukm), nobody can be compelled within the Deen, that is, no one may be forced into religious practices!
Why not?..
Based on the Deen-i ISLAM, the very first requirement from humans is their sincerity, their ikhlas, their inner honesty, cordiality, so that whatever they perform should be as they wished from inside; and that they must never act for show-off and hypocrisy. The very first thing that Islam disapproves is hypocrisy (the state of a munaafiq), that is, acting outward in dishonesty for a purpose, while the inner beliefs contradict with outward actions. For example, performing Salaat or fasting or wearing head-cover because of being forced to, without an inner warm reception, never make someone a believer. On the contrary, it turns a person into a munafiq, i.e., hypocrite.
If someone had at least some faith (iman) in spite of not being able to fulfill some practices, he is at least not an unbeliever.
But if we force someone to take some unwilled actions, and if he performs those actions under our pressuring, then we will be pushing that person into hypocrisy and have undergone the responsibility of his misbehavior.
In this way we would convert a believer of a certain level into a hypocrite (munafiq) by means of pulling one out of his belief, of which we could never be able to bear the responsibility.
Thus, THERE IS NO COMPELLING IN RELIGIOUS PRACTICES, according to the authority of the Koran... He who understands the SYSTEM of the Deen-i ISLAM will never pressure others.
Those who criticize or comment on the Deen-i ISLAM must perceive the following point before all...
According to the fundamental principals of the Deen-i ISLAM, NOT according to the rules invented later by the presumptions of others, none of the recommendations in the Koran are coercive and they have been left to one's own choice. Each person practices them as he wished and earns their rewards; or undergoes the results of those in the life after death, for which he did not practice but ignored. This world is a place for practice and afterlife realm is the place of finding the returns of what someone has achieved during his lifetime.
See how the excellent interpreter Hamdi Yazir of Elmali explained in his famous Koran Interpretation written in Turkish entitled Hak Dini Kur'an Dili, that there is no compelling (iqrah) in the Deen-i ISLAM and that compelling or using force on people in this respect is not compatible with the Deen:
The Deen is not about actions done by force, but rather with someone's own intentional (willful) deeds. Therefore, compelling (iqrah) as a form of actions done by force, is disallowed and forbidden. There may be compelling in the universe, but in the Deen, in the authority of the Deen, in the comprehension of Religion, it does not subsist, nor should it be. The dignity of the Deen does not permit compelling, it might rather restrain from compelling.
Consequently, there is no compelling present in where the Deen-i ISLAM is truly maintained, and neither should there be! Thus, the Deen does not ask for compelling. Compelling is unlawful and unrespectful.
There cannot be the thawab (positive gain) promised by the Deen within a deed practiced as a result of force; and no deed is regarded as ibadat (prayer) if it lacks total acceptance (ridha) and sincere intention!
Deeds are tied with their intentions!.. All the requirements of the Deen should be followed with a consent, sincere intention (warm reception) and with total compliance. To impose faith by force is an impossibility; Salaat performed by use of force is not Salaat; neither is fasting, neither is Hajj (Pilgrimage) and etc.
Besides, it is not permissible for someone to violate the rights of others and force them into practicing something. In short, under the authority of Islam, everybody must perform his duty intentionally without any COMPELLING. (Vol.:1, page: 860-861)
This is why nobody has an authority or a duty to make someone practice a religious requirement by force! Contrary actions are completely related with persons' using Deen as a tool in service of their personal desires, who desire to overrule people, and such a point of view is incompatible with the Deen-i ISLAM.
In order to understand this fact better, let us have a look at the root of the matter...
The Deen-i ISLAM announces the life beyond death...
For further reading: http://www.ahmedbaki.com
