In answer to the video "No Compulsion in Religion"
A few example were given earlier to help contrasting the Biblical laws, and the Islamic war ethics and regulations on non-Muslim citizen.
To further enlighten those unfamiliar with Bible loving regulations as regards foreign invaded nations, i will mention 2 types of divinely approved wars.
There is the compulsory command/mitzva among the 613 revealed at Sinai, binding on Jews of all times to destroy Amalek's seed Deut25:19 without showing any pity whenever the opportunity is there, and exterminate the remaining Canaanite nations from the land of Israel whenever any of them or their descendants are identified Deut20:16. This is a timeless ordinance, as already said, part of the 613 binding commandements, and is thus an explicit order to genetically exterminate a certain people. Every command within the Torah is understood as eternally binding and those that are inapplicable today due to the absence of a Temple will be reinstated in the utopian messianic era, where every nation will be forcefully subdued to the Jewish God Mal3:4,Deut30,Ezek11,36,37,Isa56:6-8,Zech14:16,Jere33:15-18,Ezek43:18-46:24.
The eternally binding command to blot out Amalek's seed and other Canaanites, if one fails acting upon this law anytime a descendant of such tribes is genetically identified, then one becomes subject to divine anger as what happened to king Saul 1Sam28:18,1Chr10. Saul suffered a violent and dishonourable death. His household was decimated at the hands of the Philistines who also dispossessed his community.
The same happened prior to the entire Israelite community that was sent for a 40 years desert wandering for their refusal to engage the promised land's natives in battle.
Along with those known, compulsory genocidal warfare as described earlier, during which no atrocities towards men, women, children, cattle and plants may be spared, there are laws relating to optional warfare, for the sole purpose of Israel's "national glory" as labelled by their rabbis. In such cases any random nation the Israelites arbitrarily choose, and set themselves out to conquer can either be "peacefully" submitted, resulting in the enslavement and taxation of its population, or in case of their rejection of the "peace offer", a military subjugation resulting with the execution of all adult males, the capture as spoils of war of their women, children, and livestock
Deut20:10-14"When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby".
In addition, should it be necessary to completely subdue that nation
2Kings3:19"you shall fell every good tree, and you shall stop up all springs of water, and you shall clutter every good field with stones".
In the land of Canaan, those natives that werent driven out or exterminated as per the Torah's injunctions during the invasion, were subdued into slavery Josh17:13. Their descendants suffered the same fate under Solomon's rule 1Kings9:20-1.
After all and as stated in both the HB and the Talmudic writings (Eleazar ben Shammua) , the purpose of creation and the reason why the heavens and earth are maintained is for the chosen race to observe Torah. All these citations werent made to disparage the Bible, rather at pointing what would have been the outcome had the Quran been the product of human base desires, whims, greed and lust.
The fact is the Ishmaelites went through almost identical situations as the Israelites in their confrontations with opposing tribes and nations, and yet we do not find anything remotely similar in terms of abuse and excess as is seen throughout the Hebrew writings, and by the hands of true prophets of God.
It is to be further noted that the Quran does allude to some episodes where the Israelites were confronted to, or were about to engage the Canaanites. Everytime, it refrains from mentionning the shocking acts which the Israelites have comitted. The Quran could have used these incidents as divinely sanctionned precedents allowing unrestricted bloodshed and abuses. Yet we keep on reading in the context of warfare, verses stressing self-restraint in retaliation, or the non-materialistic goals of fighting in Allah's way.
In answer to the video "No Compulsion in Religion"
Until 9:29, the sura Tawba prescribed divine punishment upon 3 groups; the hypocrites among the Muslims, the treacherous warmongers among the idolaters, and those idolaters insisting on their pagan practices within the sacred precincts of Mecca.
No punishement is prescribed on the peaceful idolaters beyond Mecca, as well as those in Mecca that refrain from their rituals at the sacred sites re-dedicated strictly to the Islamic religion. They are to be left unharmed as mentionned earlier.
Nor is there until now any legal directive towards the remaining non-Muslims living under Muslim rule, whether in Mecca or beyond. This included the people of the book (Jews and Christians) or the followers of other belief systems, or even atheists
9:29"Fight those who believe not in God and nor in the Last Day and nor do they forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden and nor do they follow the religion/DEEN of truth from among the people of the book, till they give the compensation with a willing hand, while they are humble".
This verse, as attested by the prophetic practice, is not restricted to the people of the book. It covers any religion that was and could potentially fall under Muslim rule as a result of provoked warfare. The verse mentions 4 categories;
1- Those who do not believe in God
2- Those who reject the resurrection
3- Those who regard as lawful what Allah and the prophet have forbidden. Those that pass the 2 preceding criteria by believing in God and the concept of resurrection, should adhere to Islam as the only reasonable spiritual reality. If they make the choice not to, then they are believers in one of the many man made religions that does not forbid what Allah has forbidden through His prophet in the Quran and sunna. Or they might be from the people of the book, believers in God and the resurrection. Being sincere in their faith, they should, like the aforementioned group naturally enter the fold of Islam. The Quran speaks of them, those that remained truthful to the scriptures in anyway, shape or form it reached them, trying to follow it to the best of their ability. Their sincerity, unprejudiced, praiseworthy reading and understanding of their books led many of them to eventually believe in the revelation bestowed on the prophet Muhammad 2:121,83,3:113-115,199,4:162,5:13,66,69,83,7:159-170,17:107-9,28:52-4. But those that make the choice not to, they remain as people of the book who despite their sincerity in faith, do not regard as forbidden what Allah and His messenger forbade.
4- Those who do not follow the DEEN of truth from among the people of the book. The root D-Y-N means rule or debt or any obligation. It may be summarized as "system". It is used this way in the Quran 9:36,12:76 classical literature and even in common Arabic speak. Whenever the preposition "mina" is used before a composite entity, or a group, and that this entity is given a qualification, then "mina" carries the meaning of "among", pointing to a portion from among that composite entity 4:46,160,5:5,23,41,57,107,8:65,57:10. "The Deen of truth" in that phrase cannot refer to Islam as a religion. One cannot speak of a portion from among the people of the book as being followers of Islam while others reject it. This speaks of the Jews and Christians whom the Quran in many places condemns as sinful, insincere to the truth of their own books. The praiseworthy among them, followers of "the deen of truth" were those included in the 3rd category.
None of the groups above are to be fought until they become Muslims. Rather until they pay the jizya in submission to the Islamic rule. That subjection is in relation to the Islamic system which they are now bound to, being permanent non Muslim residents under protection of the Muslim state. The majority of Muslim scholars have understood the passage in that way. See for example al-Shafi'i, Al-Umm, Vol. 4, Ahmad Mustafa al-Maraghi's Tafsir Vol. 10 or Fatani, Ikhtilaf al-Darin p48. This is also seen by the fact that the musta'min (a non Muslim temporary resident) is not subjected to the Islamic legal system nor the jizya, according to the Hanafi school. That subjection has thus nothing to do with humiliation, as some have interpreted, and without any evidence in the prophetic practice nor that of the first caliphs. Humiliation does occur however, when those non-Muslim residents of the Islamic state refuse to pay government taxes to the point they have to be forcefully made to. Just as Muslims, shortly after the prophet's death had to be fought, humbled, and forced to pay the government taxes under Abu Bakr's caliphate.
The order to fight therefore isnt motivated by a choice of creed otherwise the mere paying of a tax would not have been enough to end the fighting, rather a forceful conversion would. Yet that option is never proposed in the verse. The only issue for them is explicitly spelled out; Payment of taxes and submission to the laws of the religious state they live in as members of a different religion on whom different rights and obligations apply. The governement has actually more to gain in wealth and manpower if they convert, especially in early times when Muslims were a minority in these newly conquered lands. Yet they are told to keep their religion and autonomy instead.
Converting to Islam, something that isnt incumbent upon them, would end the command to fight them should they insist on not paying the jizya. But they will not escape being fought should they refuse honoring the duties that fall upon them as Muslims, including contributing financially to the functioning of the Islamic state, as well as obligations that did not apply to their former religious communities, like military service. There really is no true incentive for them to leave their religion which is why the option is never proposed in the verse.
The verses that follow illustrate some of the transgressions of the people of the book, and their causes, such as deification of prominent personalities, blind following of their religious leaders etc, while no blame is placed on them for not following Islam. These dark deviations in religion will never extinguish the light of guidance, no matter how much the disbelievers among the people of the book dislike it 9:32. The verse employs the image of a person attempting to extinguish a strong light with a blow from the mouth, to illustrate the relative feebleness of his position.
The passage ends with the reiteration of a prophecy made long before 48:28,61:9 regarding the prevailing of the deen/way of truth sent by the One true God over all other ways no matter how much the polytheists dislike it 9:33. The wording of this verse is very appropriate since it specifically mentions the polytheists, followers of non-divine religions, as disliking the establishment of the deen of truth. The people of the book, sincere to their scriptures as pointed earlier, will not dislike the establishment of a Godly system, since it does not only mean establishing Islam, but also exposing and establishing the truth of their own religion
5:83"And when they hear what has been revealed to the messenger you will see their eyes overflowing with tears on account of the truth that they recognize".
The Jizya is a collective tax, not a head tax. It is imposed on the people of dhimma, the diminutive for dimmat Allah wa rasulih, the protection of God and His messenger. This connection demonstrates the significance of the dhimmis, making them eligible for protection under divine obligation. The prophet applied the command upon Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and according to some scholars like abu Hanifa, the pagans, based on a prophetic saying
"If they (Arab polytheists) accept the dhimmah contract (aqd al-dhimmah), then inform them that they have the same rights and duties as Muslims".
The jizya imposed on them is a collective tax because it is agreed upon by mutual consultation, not arbitrarily decided by the Muslim state. The nature of the compensation to the Muslim state varied depending on the capacities of each one. It was not always monetary and its amount was adaptable to each case.
The benefits which the government offers in exchange of the due jizya, are matters of communal and national interest - defending the territory from outside aggression, establishing security, maintaining the environment, building infrastructure, etc., not the sort of benefits you can opt out of. The earliest Muslim rulers even appointed a portion of the Muslim zakat to feed the needy among the people of the book, even though they were exempted from paying the jizya. When a Jew came asking the caliph Umar for money, he said
"go find him and those like him, and give them out of the public treasury".
It is known that together with the needy, the clergy was also exempted from the tax by the Muslim authorities. And yet they fully benefited from government services, including military protection and infrastructure. These exception to the rule of 9:29 are based upon strong and firm unconditional principles as regards the Muslim duty towards the weak in any society, and the preservation of the worship sites of the people of the book where the name of Allah is mentionned. There is thus a strong Quranic basis for the policy of most Muslim rulers, including as early as the caliph Umar, of being selective in the application of the jizya upon the people of dhimma.
Even though Jizya it is not a personal head tax, for the sake of argument, one can either pay taxes willingly, or be punished through several forceful means including jail in case of refusal, or leave the country. In a secular state the issue is pretty much the same. Special taxes will apply to alien residents, who in addition to having to compensate the state for providing them with benefits of all kind, must also exempt themselves from the obligations and rights that apply to the citizen of that state (military service, various taxes on salaries, financial regulations etc). Paying that tax will protect them from being pursued and punished by that government.
Some insidious critics like calling it "protection money". Every taxation system in the world is in fact aimed at providing protection; either by financing a system that preserves the well-being of the society as a whole, or by protecting against punishment, since failing to pay results in sanctions. Jizya is the rightful compensation demanded from the dhimmi, in exchange of the exemption from the laws, rights, obligations, penalties etc of that state religion in matters that do not concern the society as a whole. That is because the sharia for Muslim governance of non-Muslim citizens is that non-Muslims should not be forced to follow the moral laws dictated in the Quran.
The idea that this model oppressed non Muslim dhimmis to the point they preferred conversion is unfounded, without any historical and documented basis. It wasnt therefore a system aimed at enriching anyone, but a legitimate compensation for concrete services and exemptions. That is why non-Muslims that volontarily participated in the military were exempted from the tax. Those that paid the tax and werent properly served were refunded. For instance when Muslim ruled Syria was threatened with invasion by the Romans and the Muslim ruler doubted whether he would be able to protect the non-Muslims of that region, he hastily returned their jizya money which was supposed to be partly aimed at guarantying their protection. Abu Ubaydah ibn al Jarrah told the Christians they would be bound by the agreement again only if he is able to fend off the Roman invasion. The Christians consequently prayed for Muslim victory, knowing that the Romans would never behave with them in such a manner.
Under that system, non Muslims enjoy complete religious autonomy as long as it does not conflict with the state religion. For example selling alcohol publicly. Dhimmis may deliberate, individualy deny, or reform their religious laws to their liking and to fit their desires without any concern about the laws of the state, again, so long as no conflict occurs between the 2. For example it is well known that Christian and Jewish elites enacted laws preventing their people from resorting to a Muslim judge in cases where their own laws were unfavorable.
The misinformed critics arguing that jizya was an unfair system aimed at enriching the Muslim state may be thinking of the divinely blessed taxation and hoarding of riches and spoils by king David and his appointed governors in his conquests. This wealth was dedicated to the building of national religious edifices (on the ruins of other people's) 2Sam8,1Chr18:2,6,8,13,20:1-2,26;26-7 and meant for personal glory as well 2Sam12:29-31. The wise king and prophet Solomon would continue in this pattern, in line with the rules of the monarchy dictating that the king's expenditures (a "heavy yoke" that ultimately caused the scission of the kingdom of Israel after Solomon's death 1Kings12) should be collected indiscriminately, contrary to the jizya that spares the needy and weak 1Sam8:11 (some exemples of the daily rights, gifts and luxuries of the Jewish monarch to be brought forth by conquered nations in 1Kings5:1-7,9:14-15,27-28,2Chr27:5). Solomon similarily to David had appointed representents that collected his levy from Jews and non-Jews, the difference between the 2 groups being that when the conquered nations could not pay they were reduced to forced labor 1Kings9:21. Contrary to this subduing system aimed at benefiting a party and lowering another, going back to the days of Joshua (Josh16:10) and before, jizya partly financed the functioning of a society in which those who paid it were fully part of.
In answer to the video "No Compulsion in Religion"
Some insidious critics like calling it "protection money". Every taxation system in the world is in fact aimed at providing protection; either by financing a system that preserves the well-being of the society as a whole, or by protecting against punishment, since failing to pay results in sanctions.
Under that system non Muslims are obviously favored since they enjoy a sort of autonomy within a state and may live by the regulations of their own religions as long as these do not create a conflict with the state religion (drinking alcohol privately for example). The rules applied by the later caliphs relating to "ghiyar", the dresscode of the dhimmis, was not intended to be discriminatory. When Muslims entered a foreign land and ruled over it, they were initially in minority. For this reason the ruler would tell the non-Muslims to wear a distinct clothing already belonging to their culture and not copy the Muslim dresscode.
An example is that of the zunnar/belt which was inherited from the Greek culture and originally not an item Muslims wore. This dress code regulation was actually reciprocal if one considers that the prophet himself used to tell his people not to act or dress like non-Muslims. Further for purely convenient and administrative purposes, this distinction avoided confusing situations where one person would be reprimended although he might be subject to different rights and obligation than another.
Dhimmis may deliberate, individualy deny, or reform their religious laws to their liking and to fit their desires without any concern about the laws of the state, again, so long as no conflict occurs between the 2. For example it is well known that Christian and Jewish elites enacted laws preventing their people from resorting to a Muslim judge in cases where their own laws were unfavorable.
Because they get to keep their religion and rules and can never be forced to renounce them, the only citizen obligation that applies to them is the payment of the jizya either volontarily or through force if they decide to remain in Muslim land but rebel against that only law.
Although punishment isn't prescribed for Muslims refusing to acquit themselves of the taxes, since these taxes are caritative and it would obviously be absurd to punish someone for refusing to be charitable, Muslims on the other hand do get punished for refusing to acquit themselves of other citizen obligations that do not apply to dhimmis, including fighting for the country's defence.
In answer to the video "No Compulsion in Religion"
The story of Thumama is actually an interesting one. When the prophet permitted the killing of Thumama b. Uthal, the chief of Banu Haneefa who had assassinated a number of the Prophet’s Companions, and had even plotted to kill the Prophet himself, yet when he was captured, not only was he given to drink from the prophet's own she-camel but after repeated invitation to Islam and repeated rejection, was eventually set free. He returned to the prophet's mosque and eventually converted, impressed like many others by the prophet and Islam's high morality. He knew he deserved the death penalty, as seen from his own answer
"If you do me a favour, you will do a favour to a grateful person. If you kill me, you will kill a person who has spilt blood. If you want wealth ask and you will get what you will demand"
yet the prophet neither was vengeful, nor wanted favors and much less money from him, despite his influential tribal position. Upon his arrival to Mecca and after an enthusiastic declaration of faith, in his zeal he implicitly answered a questioner that he had always been a Muslim
"When he reached Mecca, somebody said to him: Have you changed your religion? He said: No! I have rather embraced Islam with the Messenger of Allah".
The prophet had to temper Thumama's overzealousness later on; when he returned to his tribe and the most influential among the people of Yamama converted after hearing his story. Thumama convinced them to halt all grain supply to the Quraysh. Such a sanction would have been highly effective in draining the Quraysh, but the noble prophet interceded on behalf of those very ones that had starved him and his early companions in a ravine, persuading the people of Yamama to resume trading with Quraysh, preferring to take the harder but nobler route to victory than the faster one at any cost
"The Messenger of Allah (Sallalahu Alayhi Was-Sallam) did not have to choose between two matters, but that he chose the easier of them as long as it was not a wrong action. If it was a wrong action, he was the furthest of people from it".
In answer to the video "No Compulsion in Religion"
2:106 speaks of N-S-KH meaning a) to write an exact copy, or b) to write over as in replace. 16:101 says baddalna aya makan aya/we replace an aya in the place of an aya. Sura 16 by the way is Meccan and according to the proponents of the idea, the first case of abrogation occurred in Medina. Both verses speak of the physical replacement of the abrogated, with the abrogating and this is not the case of Quranic abrogation according to which both types of verses are still present within the Quran. It is talking of the Quran's ayat superseding the ayat of previous scriptures, replacing them, which precisely is one of the oft repeated functions of the Quran. Another verse misused by the proponents of Quranic abrogation is 13:39. It speaks of "mahw" which means effacement and total removal; this again disagrees with the advocates of that theory according to which both the abrogating and the abrogated verse remain in the Quran.
No consensus exists on whether the doctrine is a reality. The identification of abrogated rulings in the Quran has been in the past and still is an act of biased interpretation. We see cases of companions, even after the prophet's death giving different opinions on whether a verse is abrogated or not, as is the case for 2:184 with ibn Umar arguing for and ibn Abbas against its abrogation. Scholars of abrogation, fuqaha’ havent been able to refine the principles of abrogation so as to give them universal shape. Different scholars have come up with their own standards of abrogation. This doctrine was introduced decades after the Prophet and was developed in full over three centuries by many scholars. In other words, abrogation is not a genuine Islamic doctrine. Most verses proposed as subject to abrogation do not even conform with the rule of an aya replacing another aya; for example scholars on the subject argue that the "verse of the sword" 9:5 abrogates 2:256 yet they conveniently omit that 2:256 contains information that cannot be replaced and so they are forced to select even within an aya what is abrogated and what is not. Further the verse of no compulsion was revealed in Medina after the first command to perform jihad 2:190-5. It is a reiteration of an Islamic principle present long before in Meccan verses, including in 18:29. This means the application of that principle of freedom of religious choice, and its validity, are unaffected by the political superiority of the Muslims. No authentic report of the prophet mentions the theory or the existence of abrogated verses within the Quran. Not a single verse of the Quran indicates that a ruling has been overruled by another.
Something else to note is that even the traditional adherents to the notion agree that there are no abrogated verses present in the Quran. This is seen from the various ahadith which speak of passages people used to recite and that were absent from the prophet's final recital of the Quran. People explained that phenomenon through the theory of abrogation. Even when some scholars speak of abrogated verse still present in the Quran, they dont argue that these verses become obsolete, rather they carry a new meaning.
In answer to the video "No Compulsion in Religion"
All religious scriptures have the concept of spiritual death, albeit some differences. Christianity, which is assumed to be Jesus' teachings, includes the HB with all of its contents, as well as the account of creation and the divine will to keep humanity in the dark in regards to moral consciousness.
Contrary to the Quran where man is supposed to be ingrained with God-consciousness, knowledge and good and evil, in the Bible, this mechanism was hidden in the fobidden tree of knowledge.
Jesus of course recognizes, as depicted in the NT, that some individuals are beyond spiritual hope. He accuses the stubborn Pharisees who could not see the truth despite his repeated warnings Jn8:42-49, thanks God for obscuring the truth to this type of repeated transgressors. They are those who are foreordained to have their hearts hardenned Rom9:8-23,Ex4:21,Deut2:26-35. They become delusional in spiritual matters and are further deceived through lies
Matt11:20-25"Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not..Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent"
2Thess2:10-13"and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness".
This is in line with the Hebrew Bible's statements the likes of
Jer10:23"people's lives are not their own, it is not for them to direct their steps".
Besides distancing himself from the spiritually unclean while calling them dogs and pigs Matt7:6, Jesus also purposely spoke to the spiritually dead, as the ones alluded to above, in parables, knowing that however clear his language is they will not understand him, thus conforming the prophecy of Isaiah according to which a category of transgressors will never be spiritually receptive
Mk4:10-12,Matt13:13-15"Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed...lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them".
Jesus did not love and pray for these "enemies", he on the contrary kept them far from the truth, in line with David who "hated" the lame and blind Jebusites 2Sam5:8. Jesus clearly states in it that he keeps speaking in parables to the spiritually blind
"in order that"
they do not understand
"otherwise they might turn and be forgiven".
He uses parables to teach and lead astray at the same time. It teaches his followers and confuses his rejecters and he purposely continues in this manner "otherwise" the rejecters might turn and repent, meaning he could have taught them in another manner than in parables but didnt, to achieve the purpose of NOT having them reform themselves. Note Jesus is quoting Isaiah6's prophecy where YHWH is sending Isaiah to some sinful nation.
Isaiah fortells that nation's doom and prior to this these people have their spiritual senses sealed as a punishment. Isaiah is to further confuse them (make the heart...) "otherwise" they might mend their ways. It is in this exact sense that Jesus in Matt13 is referencing Isaiah, hence the words that the prophecy is fulfilled in his contemporaries. He was confronted to people whose spiritual senses were sealed by God as a punishment as he stated earlier. To fulfill Isaiah's text he does exactly like him, confusing them further as a form of wordly punishment for their rejection of him, through unintelligible parables that will prevent any possibility for them to reform themselves. This theme isnt unique to Isa6, elsewhere God has
Isa29:10"poured upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and He has closed your eyes; the prophets and your heads who stargaze, He has covered".
This sealed their understanding to all the vision which Isaiah was putting before them
"And the vision of everything has been to you like the words of a sealed book, which they give to one who can read, saying, "Now read this," and he shall say, "I cannot, for it is sealed".
To those who only pay lip service to the Law, the hypocrites who only fear God outwardly
Isa29:14"I will continue to perform obscurity to this people, obscurity upon obscurity, and the wisdom of his wise men shall be lost, and the understanding of his geniuses shall be hidden".
This complete loss of wisdom will perdure until an unspecified day where the spiritualy dead will "see" and "hear" again v18.
Isa6, as quoted by Jesus centuries later when confronted by the spiritually dead, is a direct action by YHWH preventing people from the right path as He is alleged to have done to Pharao to whom Moses was sent with miracles but with a clear purpose; to cause God -in answer to Pharao's denial of the miracle- to unleash His series of punishements on Egypt and consequently free the enslaved Israelites. This is acccording to the principles that YHWH disposes as He wills of the hearts of the people, and more particularily of nations' leaders
Prov21:1"A king's heart is like rivulets of water in the Lord's hand; wherever He wishes, He turns it".
For the attainement of this purpose in regards to the Egyptian ruler
Ex7:3-5,13,Ex10:1"I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them".
Pharao and his officials had no other issue but to be doomed
Ex14:4"And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army".
Pharao's heart was purposefuly hardened prior to the performance of miracles in order to create a chain of events meant at destroying the Egyptian oppressors and ultimately freeing the Israelites. This removed any possibility of reform at the sight of the signs and warnings
Ex8:15"So the necromancers said to Pharaoh, "It is the finger of God," but Pharaoh's heart remained steadfast, and he did not hearken to them, as the Lord had spoken".
It is interesting to note that even prior to that, the subjugation, enslavement and opression of the Israelites themselves is attributed to God who is said to have stirred the peoples' hatred and jealousy towards them
Ps105:23-5"Israel came to Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And He made His people very fruitful, and He made it stronger than its adversaries. He turned their heart to hate His people, to plot against His servants".
The same was done later to Sihon king of Heshbon whose spirit was caused by God
"to be hardened and his heart to be obstinate".
Sihon consequently refused Moses' peace offer and was defeated in battle, his land conquered, his people massacred Deut2:26-35. Similarily, we read in Isa37:7 of God instilling a certain desire into the wicked Assyrian king Sennacherib that would ultimately create a chain of events leading to his death. Again later, God would harden the hearts of the Canaanites in order that Israel
Josh11:20-23"might destroy them completely, and that they might have no favor, that they (the Jews) might destroy them as the Lord had commanded Moses".
In
Judges9:22-24"God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the inhabitants of Shechem"
in order that the king Abimelech might be severely punished for his wickedness and murders of the sons of Gideon
53"Thus God requited the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father, in killing his seventy brothers".
YHWH prevented Solomon's son, Rehoboam, from hearkening the wise counsel of his father's former advisers about using tact, diplomacy in his dealings with the people who were heavily burdened by the royal taxation system instaured since the time of king David. YHWH prevented Rehoboam in order that the promised punishement of Solomon for his alleged sins, including the sin of idolatry, come true through the scission of the kingdom
1Kings11,12:15"The king did not listen to the people, for it was something brought about by the Lord, in order to fulfill His word".
Just as one day, YHWH will draw Magog by
"hooks into its jaws"
as would be done with a wild beast Ezek38, throughout the course of history, God would rise and forcefully incite neighboring nations to destroy and subjugate the Israelites for their transgressions. These punishing nations were late destroyed themselves, despite having done the task required of them. This would be the case of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Amonites, Moabites etc as described in the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Other examples of spiritual death in the Hebrew Bible are those of the tribe of Ephraim who remained "exalted" so long as they served God but when they became guilty of idol worship and remained unrepentant despite prophetic warnings to cease their sinful ways they "died" a spiritual death long before national destruction Hosea13. Again, in 1Sam2:25 we read of Eli's unrighteous sons who persisted in their transgressions despite the warnings until they could not hearken the voice of reason anymore because their faith was sealed, ie "the Lord desired to kill them". As he confronted the multitudes of polytheist Israelites, the prophet Elijah, in his open prayer to God, says that
1Kings18:37"You have turned their hearts backwards".
In answer to the video "No Compulsion in Religion"
They are those whose spiritual disorientation has obscured their lives. They are sucked in by irrelevant distractions although they can physically hear the calls of admonition, as if being called from afar and dimly perceiving what is being said 6:71. Their spiritual senses become clouded to a point that they begin perceiving acts and concepts that are otherwise a corruption of mankind, to actually be an improvement of humanity 2:11-12.
Sometimes, the sight of spiritually upright people causes their mockeries, aversion and rejection while they should serve as examples for them to follow 23:110,27:56.
David decried that atitude of the spiritualy degenerate, those full of hatred and aversion towards the doers of good Ps38:21. Even the most selfless of acts such as giving to charity is stripped from all goodness in their sight; it becomes a pretext of mockery and rejection of not only those that practice it, but a means of sarcastic attack against the revelation that demands it 9:79,36:47. These are the kind of people repeatedly addressed by the prophet Amos in particular, and others like Micah, condemned not only for their neglect of the poor but for their outright deceitful exploitation of them for wordly gains
Micah3:11,Amos8:5-6"When will the month be delayed, so that we will sell grain,..and to pervert deceitful scales...To purchase the poor with money, and the needy in order to inherit them, and the refuse of the grain we will sell".
In fact, any divine admonition, not just the calls for human empathy, is equally dismissed through any possible pretense
36:45-6"And when it is said to them: Guard against what is before you and what is behind you, that mercy may be had on you. And there comes not to them a communication of the communications of their Lord but they turn aside from it".
Even when the Quran points to external signs supporting its various arguments, they are equally dismissed while they are a source of wonder to the God-conscious
37:12-4"you wonder while they mock, and when they are reminded, they mind not, and when they see a sign they incite one another to scoff".
The Quran is refering to the psycho-spiritual reality, that the more one indulges in certain behavior, the harder it is to escape that behavior. The consciousness of this person begins to be molded in accordance with the life-style one adopts. Those who dont follow truth and make compromises with it, start to lose value for it, sometimes to the point they arrogantly start choosing falsehood over truth
54:4-5"And certainly some narratives have come to them wherein is prevention--Consummate wisdom-- but warnings do not avail".
This phenomenon is also considered a law of God, and is part of God's hidaya or guidance. The more one chooses to do good, the more God strengthens the will and love of the truth, as well as perception. The more one does evil and fails to repent, the more one's will becomes clouded with vice and lust. Man starts to see according to his whims and fancies. The prophet Micah addresses the sinful and corrupt Israelites as
In answer to the video "No Compulsion in Religion"
Just as the strengthening of one's heart and belief is attributed to Allah because He established and allowed the laws of causality leading to such positive outcome. A pattern of righteous behavior will increase one's spiritual receptivity
8:10-11,10:57,18:13-14,19:76,48:4,47:17"And (as for) those who follow the right direction, He increases them in guidance and gives them their guarding (against evil)".
Similarily, the sealing/death of the (spiritual) senses is attributed to Allah because it exists with His will and established laws of causality. If a person willfully and repeatedly makes the wrong moral, spiritual choices then this will cause a gradual degradation of spiritual receptivity, just like physical death naturaly comes as a result of repeatedly mutilating one's self. We are made of the physical body and the spiritual body; both can die at our own hands and at any moment if we indulge in certain behavior. Just as physical death ends the capacity to nurture the dead body, spiritual death ends the capacity to nurture the soul and purify it
"He will indeed be successful who purifies it, And he will indeed fail who corrupts it".
At that point, the person's moral values are turned upside down
7:146"I will turn away from My communications those who are unjustly proud in the earth; and if they see every sign they will not believe in It; and if they see the way of rectitude they do not take It for a way, and if they see the way of error they take it for a way; this is because they rejected Our communications and were heedless of them".
The straight path, that of righteousness becomes as if crooked to them as stated by the prophet Hosea
Hos14:10"Who is wise and will understand these, discerning and will know them; for the ways of the Lord are straight, and the righteous shall walk in them, and the rebellious shall stumble on them".
The way of sin appears smooth, and apealing as stated by David and Solomon
Ps36:2-3,Prov16:25,14:12,2:13-15"those who forsake the ways of uprightness, to go on ways of darkness, those who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perversity of evil who are crooked in their ways and perverse in their paths..There is a way [that is] straight in a man's view, but its end is ways of death".
It becomes even an abomination for them to turn away from transgression and reform themselves, while seeing the righteous acting with uprightness is repulsive to them Prov13:19,29:27. The disruption of their moral compass makes them think that their behavior is justified in the name of "freedom" while they are in fact slaves to their condition
45:23"Have you seen he who has taken as his god his [own] desire, and Allah has sent him astray due to knowledge and has set a seal upon his hearing and his heart and put over his vision a veil? So who will guide him after Allah ? Then will you not be reminded?"
Their senses of spiritual perception become so corrupted that despite being shown and clearly explained the signs supporting the highier divine realities, signs present all around and even inside of man 2:115,12:105,31:20 they keep ignoring and denying
5:71,16:36"So there were some of them whom Allah guided and there were others against whom error was due (haqqat alayhi aldalaal or "against whom a verdict of error became inevitable")".
At that point, the guidance, the multifarious evidence for the truth and light of spiritual uprightness is still present all around them yet they are now blind to it and unable to perceive it in any way
2:17"Their parable is like the parable of one who kindled a fire, but when it had illumined all around him, Allah took away their light, and left them in utter darkness-- they do not see".
That is in contrast with the God-conscious, whose spirituality is nurtured and developed to an extent that he remains alert to evil and corruption and whenever he slips, immidiately remembers God and turns back on his feet 6:122,7:201,47:17,57:28.
In answer to the video "No Compulsion in Religion"
After reaching that point where any exposure to the revelation causes aversion, one can choose to adopt a passive attitude towards the guidance from Allah and his surrounding signs instead of fighting, mocking or disputing them 6:25. It would avoid worsening one's state in the Hereafter. In 26:4-6 that gradual severity of a person's condition, and the corresponding spiritual consequences are described; although one is certainly to blame and deserving punishment for turning away in aversion from the signs and guidance, those most eligible for chastisment are the ones that arent satisfied with rejection, but step up their level of opposition by doing something worse such as scoffing at the revelations.
Instead of turning away from guidance in a confrontational and despising manner, a behavior that will only bring regret upon the person 67:8-11, one can opt for passive or respectful denial. Such an attitude makes one deserving of having the hardened and sealed heart mercifully restored, capable of freshly re-evaluating the guiding signs
8:23"And if Allah had known any good in them He would have made them hear"
6:46"Have you considered that if Allah takes away your hearing and your sight and sets a seal on your hearts, who is the god besides Allah that can bring it to you?".
This is what happenned to the previous nations to whom revelation was sent but gradually turned away from it and kept transgressing until they became spiritually deaf and blind. God knew some goodness in them despite their repeated transgressions so He turned to them in forgiveness, leaving them the chance to nurture and develop their newly recovered spiritual receptivity but while a few succeeded, many failed 5:70-71. One such incident is reported in the Hebrew Bible in the context of the Israelites' blindness to the prophetic warnings of destruction that was to befall the sinners among them as well as the heathen nations that oppressed them Isa29,35.
Most of those that reach that point where their senses of spiritual perception are damaged beyond repair, God does not restore their potential
8:23"and if He makes them hear they would turn back while they withdraw".
They remain in that condition until they meat their fate in the hereafter
10:33"Thus does the word of your Lord prove true against those who transgress that they do not believe".
As revealed to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the most obdurate disbelievers who have no more hope of mending their ways
Jer19:11"I break this people and this city, as one breaks the potter's vessel, which can no longer be repaired".
The Quran similarily compares the spiritually dead, those that came and listened to the prophet's gatherings, as static, hollow logs of timber resting against the walls 63:3-4. Elsewhere, along the same lines, it is said in the HB that
Prov10:13"a rod is for the body of one devoid of sense",
ie a category of people does not listen until punishment befalls them. The verse is thought to be a reference to Pharao.
In answer to the video "No Compulsion in Religion"
Prior to reaching that stage, they had all the time, and opportunities to re-evaluate their inner condition
35:37"Did We not preserve you alive long enough, so that he who would be mindful in it should mind?".
Guidance is present all around man and within his self to stimulate spiritual deductions. Repeated neglect and denial of these signs leads one to a point where he is incapable of changing his course. Eventually the level of wickedness becomes such that they beome deserving of divine retribution in this world 42:21,29:53,18:58. Instead of destroying them outright, God lets them add sins upon sins. Their continuous conceit, thinking that despite their condition and behavior they are beyond the reach of divine justice, this very thought process becomes a means by which their suffering is increased 7:182-3,68:43-5. In the era of prophethood, such people would think that God not punishing them despite the presence of a prophet among them was due to their being fully justified in their position.
The Quran would answer that God controls a system much more intricate than their shortsighted mindset. Not only were they in God's grasp, letting them add in sins until they are severely retributed, but God's witholding His immidiate retribution for sins takes also into consideration those who have yet the potential to reason and reform themselves, whether from among them or other independant groups and individuals 20:129-132. But whether in the times of the messengers or today, the fate of the spiritually dead is sealed
17:45-7,18:56-7"And We do not send messengers but as givers of good news and warning, and those who disbelieve make a false contention that they may render null thereby the truth, and they take My communications and that with which they are warned for a mockery. And who is more unjust than he who is reminded of the communications of his Lord, then he turns away from them and forgets what his two hands have sent before? Surely We have placed veils over their hearts lest they should understand it and a heaviness in their ears; and if you call them to the guidance, they will not ever follow the right course in that case".
Their earthly end does not depend on their spiritual condition, it will occur when their appointed time expires. As equally stated in the Hebrew Bible, the sending of prophets to those type of hardenned disbelievers is not meant at reforming them anymore but rather at annuling all arguments they might have the day they are raised. They will not deny that warnings were indeed issued to them, even by prophets
Ezek2:5"And they, whether they listen or whether they refuse to listen-for they are a rebellious house-they shall know that a prophet was in their midst".
As already said, there are typical patterns of behavior prior to the spiritual senses becoming sealed. The passage from sura 18/kahf shows an example; they were people who never understood the Divine Call, mocked it, contended with its Truth, turned away from it countinuously. They were walking the typical road leading to spiritual self-destruction. The second part of the verse explains the consequences of such behavior; God causes the death of their spiritual senses as a natural consequence of their advanced level of spiritual degradation. Their spiritual senses are caused to die just like Allah causes the physical death of the one who would continuously mutilate himself. The consequence of such spiritual condition is the incapacity to recognize, accept, and follow moral and spiritual uprightness.
This divinely decreed process, which is actually an imperceptible punishment already occuring on earth, is similarily described in 7:100-1. Allah sets a seal over the spiritual senses of the repeated, willful rejecters as a punishement for their attitude. Although they do not perceive it, they remain in darkness until death takes them. It literally is
"by means of their sins" (bi dhunubihim)
that God "sets a seal" upon the hearts of men. One causes himself to reach that point where he can no longer react positively to spiritual guidance until his appointed time comes 3:178,7:182-3,68:43-5. As said many times, the phenomenon is attributed to Allah since He has decreed this law of cause and effect but it is the immidiate consequence of one's own, willful behavior
92:4-21,41:5"And they say: Our hearts are under coverings from that to which you call us, and there is a heaviness in our ears, and a veil hangs between us and you".
They acknowledge that they have closed their understanding to any calls for spiritual reform.
