Is the Quran Hate
Propaganda?
What does the holiest book of Islam really say about non-Muslims?
This article offers a structured list of Quran verses which, taken as a whole, would almost certainly qualify as hate speech were it not for the cloak of 'religion'.
TROP strongly discourages anyone from drawing conclusions about the character of any particular Muslim from this. Islam may be a hateful ideology, but that does
not mean that the Muslim you know is is a hateful person.
Introduction:
Why the Violence?
Why the Indifference?
On September 25, 2002, a group of armed Islamists in Karachi, Pakistan entered the office of a Christian charity, tied seven workers to chairs and then brutally murdered them. According to Muslim witnesses, the Muslims
"showed no haste. They took a good 15 minutes in segregating the Christians and making sure that each one of their targets received the most horrific death."
The killing of non-Muslim humanitarian workers by devout followers of Islam occurs quite often. While there is rarely any celebration on the part of other Muslims, neither is there much outrage expressed by a community renowned for its peevishness.
While rumors of a Quran desecration or a Muhammad cartoon bring out deadly protests, riots, arson and effigy-burnings, the mass murder of non-Muslims fails to raise any sort of real passion. In the eleven years following 9/11 nearly 20,000 acts of deadly Islamic terrorism were perpetrated, yet all of them together do not provoke the sort of outrage on the part of most Muslims that the mere mention of Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo inspires.
This critical absence of moral perspective puzzles many Westerners, particularly those trying to reconcile this reality with the politically-correct assumption that Islam is like other religion. The Judeo-Christian tradition preaches universal love and unselfishness, so it is expected that the more devout Muslims would be the most peaceful and least dangerous... provided that Islam is based on the same principles.
But beneath the rosy assurances from Muslim apologists that Islam is about peace and tolerance lies a much darker reality that better explains the violence and deeply-rooted indifference. Quite simply, the Quran teaches supremacy, hatred and hostility. It dehumanizes and stigmatizes non-believers, making it easier to rationalize (or ignore) their mistreatment in the name of Islam.
Consider the elements that define hate speech:
- Drawing a distinction between one’s own identity group and those outside it
- Moral comparison based on this distinction
- Devaluation or dehumanization of other groups and the personal superiority of one's own
- The advocating of different standards of treatment based on identity group membership
- A call to violence against members of other groups
Sadly, and despite the best intentions of many decent people who are Muslim, the Quran qualifies as hate speech on each count.
The holiest book of Islam (
most of which is about non-Muslims) draws the sharpest of distinctions between Muslims, the best of people (
3:110), and non-believers, the worst of creatures, (
98:6). Praise is lavished on the former while the latter is condemned with scorching generalization.
Far from teaching universal love, the Quran incessantly preaches the inferiority of non-Muslims, even comparing them to vile animals and gloating over Allah's hatred of them and his dark plans for their eternal torture. Muslims are told that they are destined to dominate non-believers, against whom harsh treatment is encouraged.
The Islamic State put these teachings from their holy book into practice during a restaurant siege in Bangladesh during Ramadan 2016. They spared fasting Muslims and fed them their iftar - while
torturing and killing those who could not recite from the Quran.
Polished Muslim pundits in the West are fond of using the word 'bigot' to describe critics of Islam, but they are rarely challenged on their own view of the Quran. What does the book they claim to be the literal and eternal word of Allah really say about non-Muslims?
The Quran Distinguishes Muslims from Non-Muslims
and Establishes a Hierarchy of Relative Worth
The Quran makes it clear that Islam is not about universal brotherhood, but about the brotherhood of believers:
The Believers are but a single Brotherhood (
49:10)
Not all men are equal under Islam. Slaves and the handicapped are not equal to healthy free men, for example (
16:75-76). The Quran introduces the “Law of Equality,” which establishes different levels of human value when considering certain matters, such as restitution for murder (
2:178).
Neither are Muslim believers equal to non-Muslims:
Are those who know equal to those who know not? (
39:09)
Is the blind equal to the one who sees Or darkness equal to light? (
13:16)
A believing slave is superior to an unbeliever (
2:221 speaking of a prospective wife)
The Quran plainly tells Muslims that they are a favored race, while those of other religions are “perverted transgressors”:
Ye are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah. If only the People of the Book [Christians and Jews]
had faith, it were best for them: among them are some who have faith, but most of them are perverted transgressors. (
3:110)
As we shall see later, Allah condemns non-Muslims to Hell based merely on their unbelief, while believers are rewarded with the finest earthly comforts in the hereafter, including never-ending food, wine and sex (
56:12-40).
Much of the Quran is devoted to distinguishing Muslims from non-Muslims and impugning the latter. Among other things, non-Muslims are said to be diseased (
2:10), perverse (
2:99), stupid (
2:171) and deceitful (
3:73).
The first sura of the Quran is a short prayer that is repeated by devout Muslims each day and ends with these words:
Keep us on the right path. The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favors. Not (the path) of those upon whom Thy wrath is brought down, nor of those who go astray. (
1:6-7)
Muhammad was once asked if this pertained to Jews and Christians. His response was, "
Whom else?" (
Bukhari 56:662,
Sahih Muslim 34:6448). Since Allah makes such a strong distinction between Muslims and those outside the faith, it is only natural that Muslims should incorporate disparate standards of treatment into their daily lives. The Quran encourages segregation and enimity and tells Muslims to be compassionate with one another but ruthless to the infidel:
Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are severe against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves… (
48:29)
The Arabic word used to describe the ideal treatment of non-Muslims (shin-dal-dal) is the same word used in over 25 places in the Quran to describe how painful Allah has made Hell for them. The reasoning is found in the verse prior to this (
48:28), which simply says that Islam is superior over all other religions.
Islamic law actually forbids formal Muslim charity (in the form of the
zakat payment) from being used to meet the needs of non-believers.
Allah intends for Muslims to triumph over unbelievers:
And never will Allah grant to the unbelievers a way to triumph over believers [Pickthall –
“any way of success”] (
4:141)
The only acceptable position of non-Muslims to Muslims is subjugation under Islamic rule:
Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (
9:29 Jizya is the money that non-Muslims
must pay to their Muslim overlords in a pure Islamic state.)
A common criticism of many Muslims is that they often behave arrogantly toward others. Now you know why.
The Quran Dehumanizes Non-Muslims
and Says that They are Vile Animals
The Ayatollah Khomeini, who dedicated his entire life to studying Islam, said that non-Muslims rank somewhere between "feces" and the "sweat of a camel that has consumed impure food." Small wonder. The Quran dehumanizes non-Muslims, describing them as “animals” and beasts:
Those who disbelieve from among the People of the Book and among the Polytheists, will be in Hell-Fire, to dwell therein (for aye). They are the worst of creatures. (
98:6)
Surely the vilest of animals in Allah's sight are those who disbelieve, then they would not believe. (
8:55)
Verse
7:176 compares unbelievers to "panting dogs" with regard to their idiocy and worthlessness.
Verse
7:179 says they are like "cattle" only worse.
Verse
9:28 says the unbelievers are unclean.
Verse
6:111 says they are ignorant.
Verse
4:76 says they are helpers of the devil.
Verse
5:60 even says that Allah transformed Jews of the past into apes and pigs. This is echoed by verses
7:166 and
2:65.
A hadith (Bukhari
54:524) says that Muhammad believed rats to be "mutated Jews" (also confirmed by Sahih Muslim
7135 and
7136).
Verses
46:29-35 even say that unbelieving men are worse than the demons who believe in Muhammad.
According to Islamic law, non-Muslims may be
owned as property by Muslims, but - in keeping with Islam's supremacist message - a fellow Muslim should never be (unless they convert to Islam after they are enslaved).
Christians and Jews are not considered fully human in Islam. The penalty for killing one of them is limited to one-third of the compensation due for unintentionally killing a Muslim. Muhammad made it clear that a believer cannot be put to death for killing a non-believer, since they are not equal (see Conclusion). Thus, killing kafir is less serious than engaging in a consenting sexual relationship outside of marriage.
The Quran Says that Allah does NOT Love Unbelievers
Christianity teaches that God loves all people, but hates sin. The Quran never says this. Instead it explicitly declares that Allah does
not love those who do not believe in him:
He does not love the unbelievers (
30:45)
Allah only loves those who obey Muhammad (at least according to Muhammad, who provided the "narration"):
Say: "Obey Allah and His Messenger": But if they turn back, Allah loveth not those who reject Faith. (
3:32)
Instead of a god that loves the sinner, even while hating the sin, the wrath of Allah is placed squarely on the individual:
Surely Allah does not love any one who is unfaithful, ungrateful. (
22:38)
Verses
11:118-199 say that Allah does
not bestow mercy on everyone. For this reason, he chooses not to guide some people:
And Allah's is the direction of the way, and some (roads) go not straight. And had He willed He would have led you all aright. (
16:9)
In fact, he tells Satan to lead the unbelievers to destruction:
And lead to destruction those whom you can with your (seductive) voice (
17:64)
For those whom Allah does not love, there will be the most terrible of eternal torments, including eternal roasting:
Those who reject our Signs, We shall soon cast into the Fire: as often as their skins are roasted through, We shall change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the penalty: for Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise. (
4:56)
"Allah is the enemy of the unbelievers" (
2:98) and, as we shall see, he hates them so much that he even leads them into sinning and actively prevents them from believing in him, thus ensuring their fate.
The Quran Says that Non-Muslims are
Destined for Eternal Torture in Hell
Although nowhere does the Quran say that Allah loves those who don’t believe Muhammad, there are over
400 verses that describe the torment that he has prepared for people of other religions (or no religion):
And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers (
3:85)
The relative worth of non-Muslims is that they are but fuel for the fire of Hell:
(As for) those who disbelieve, surely neither their wealth nor their children shall avail them in the least against Allah, and these it is who are the fuel of the fire (
3:10 Shakir: "firewood of hell")
As they are fueling the fire, unbelievers will be tormented by Allah’s angels on his command:
“O ye who believe! Ward off from yourselves and your families a Fire whereof the fuel is men and stones, over which are set angels strong, severe, who resist not Allah in that which He commandeth them, but do that which they are commanded.” (
66:6)
It doesn’t matter how many good deeds an unbeliever does, because they count for nothing with Allah:
The parable of those who reject their Lord is that their works are as ashes, on which the wind blows furiously on a tempestuous day: No power have they over aught that they have earned (
14:18)
Shall we tell you of those who lose most in respect of their deeds? Those whose efforts have been wasted in this life, while they thought that they were acquiring good by their works? They are those who deny the Signs of their Lord and the fact of their having to meet Him (in the Hereafter): vain will be their works, nor shall We, on the Day of Judgment, give them any weight. That is their reward, Hell, because they rejected Faith, and took My Signs and My Messengers by way of jest. (
18:103-106)