Answering Objections to Islam · Theology & Doctrine

The Verse of the Sword (Q 9:5)

In short

• 1.Q 9:4 exempts anyone who kept to the treaty; Q 9:6 orders safe passage for any who ask for it.
• 2.The setting is one named treaty broken at a specific time, not a standing rule.
• 3.The claim that it cancels 124 peaceful verses has no basis in classical scholarship.

The claim being examined

Q 9:5 is quoted as a standing command to kill non-Muslims wherever they are found, said to abrogate every peaceful verse.

The Islamic position

Q 9:5 addresses specific Meccan polytherists who had violated a treaty during an active war, and the verse's own continuation commands protection and safe passage for any of them who seek it.

Analysis

The whole objection works by quoting verse 5 and skipping verses 4, 6 and 7. Verse 6 tells the Muslims that if one of these same people asks for protection, they must give it, escort him to safety and let him go. You cannot fit that instruction inside an order to wipe people out. The claim that this verse cancels the peaceful ones comes from a small number of later commentators and was never the mainstream position. Al-Tabari and the majority read Surah 9 as war legislation for one specific conflict. One more thing worth pointing out: a few verses later, Q 9:29 sets out a tax for non-Muslim communities living under Muslim rule — which assumes those communities carry on existing.

From the Qur'an

From the Bible

Sources

More in Theology & Doctrine

• Q 4:157 and the Crucifixion
• Is Muhammad ﷺ Named in the Qur'an?
• Did Islam Borrow from Judaism and Christianity?
• The "Islamic Dilemma" (Q 5:47, 5:68, 10:94)
• Abrogation (Naskh) and the Charge of Contradiction