Dr. K.S. Lal (1920-2002)

          The great historian writes in his book “Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India” Vol, Delhi, 1999 as below: 

 

          Quran does not permit continuance of other faiths : “The two belonged to two different religious streams. The Muslim sultans reigned according to the dictates of the Shariat, the Hindu emperors on the principles of Dharmashastra. Their rules of war and governance were poles part.

          The Quran does not permit the existence or continuance of other faiths and their religious practices. Of the 6236 ayats in the Quran about 3,900 are directly or indirectly related to Kafirs, Mushriks, Munkirs, Munafiqs or non-believers in Allah and his Prophet. Broadly speaking these 3,900 ayats fall into two categories-those relating to Muslims who for their faith will be rewarded in this as well as the world hereafter, and those relating to Kafirs or non-believers who are to be punished in this world and are destined to go to Hell after death.” (pp. 4-5)

          Quran reads like a manual of war : “The Quran reads like a manual of war on mankind rather than a charter of brotherhood for al mankind. For people of other faiths, Jihad or permanent war was the command of the Quran and order of the day. Islam recommends Jihad or perpetual war on adherents of other religions – to lay hold of them, bind them, strike off their heads ad burn them in the fire of hell. This makes Islam a totalitarian and terrorist cult which it has remained ever since its birth.” (p. 5)

          Muslim invaders came to impose Islam on India : “Muslim invaders and rulers had come not only to conquer but also to impose the Islamic religion. And the gulf created by the phenomenon has not been bridged. For, Islam is an imposition on India. Worse, it has been imposed through conquest. Ralph Borsodi, an American educationist and social thinker, in his the Challenge of Asia observes that “everywhere in the world except in Asia Minor, the three great Semitic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – are intruders; that indigenous Asia in Brahmanist, Confucianist, Buddhist, Taoist; indigenous Europe is pagan; that in Europe, Christianity is a superimposition; in Asia, Islam is.” (pp. 6-7)  

          Jihad means killing or converting Non-Muslims : “Jihad is the highest duty of a Muslim Jihad means attacking, killing, enslaving or converting non-Muslims even when they have done no harm to the Muslims, even when they are unarmed. Jihad is waged for the sake of Allah; war and worship in his service are the same. Shirking Jihad is the greatest sin’ obtaining glory through Jihad is the highest grace. Islam suffers from the ego of triumphalism. It says that it should triumph over others, because it alone is true and all others are false. Not all exclusivists belong to the militant extreme, but all are convinced that their religion alone is true. This is Islamic fundamentalism. Fundamentalism is belief in the inherency of the scriptures of one’s religion. Fundamentalism is not accidental but essential to Islam.” (pp. 9-10)

          In Islam, truth is established by sword : “What Islam always meant by “knowledge”
 (ilm) was religious knowledge by “revelation”, the logic that all that is in Islam is right. It sees unchageability as strength. That is why the word reform is so abhorrent to Muslim thinkers and religious leaders. In Islamic scriptures there are commands, directions and orders. There is no mention of discussions or consensus arrived at. This was the practice in Arabia after its conquest by Muhammad and this was the practice wherever Muslim armies marched. In Islam, truth is established by the sword, not through arguments.” (p. 10)

          Iconoclasm is important in Islam : “Image breaking is a contribution of prophetic religions. In Islam, iconoclasm is important, but it is more important that the shrines of non-Muslims are desecrated and destroyed rather than spared through agreement or in exchange for wealth. (What Mahmud of Ghazni declared at Somnath according to Attar, is the gist of the true spirit of Islam).” (p. 10)

          Islam permits no separation of state and Religion : “The Quran and the Hadis provided the foundation upon which theology and law of Islam were raised. Totalitarian nature of Islam permits no separation of state and church. “Law in Islam is more intimately related to religion than to jurisprudence as modern lawyers understand it.” (p. 10)

          Islam a creed of aggression and violence : “The ponderosity of the Jihad gave them the energy and the rapidity of electric current. And Islam came to be what the world has ever since recognized it to be – a militant religion, a creed of aggression ad violence.” (p. 12)

          Islamic expanded for economic gains : “Islam originated in the land of the Arabs. The rise of Arabs as a political power has been elucidated by a large number of writers on Islam. T.W. Arnold observes that the expansion of the Arabs was due not so much to the religious spirit as to their desire to obtain the lands and goods of their neighbours who were richer and more fortunate than themselves. Most Arabs of the day of prophet Muhammad were poor. They needed a reformer to improve their economic condition. There are two ways of alleviating poverty and gaining economic well-being. One way is to work hard and raise one’s resources through labour and sweat. The other is to attack and rob others and thereby grow rich. The early indigent Arab Muslims could either be persuaded to make a living by working hard, or encouraged to attack and plunder the others. Islam resorted to the second alternative as ordered by Allah. Recruits, mainly from among the slaves or lower classes, began to swell the rank of the believers, or in the flowery words of Edward Gibbon, the spepherds were turned into robbers and robbers were collected to form an army of conquest. “Soldiering was not only the noblest and most pleasing professions in the sight of Allah but also most profitable.” (p. 12-13)

          Islam spread by armed might : “Islam spread through unparalleled feats of armed might. Some Muslim merchants spread their creed by peaceful means also by making their employees and other beneficiaries join their faith. Peaceful propagation of Islam was ruled out by the fact that the majority of early Arab Muslims were not educated enough to discuss, debate, argue and convince. Hence they were not trained for spreading the new creed through any missionary endeavour. They could only wield the sword very well. Hence Muslim historical literature repeatedly mentions that Islam spread through military conquest when the vanquished were offered the alternative of Islam or death. They accepted Islam because they had hardly any other choice. Death is no choice because nobody chooses death, so they chose Islam.” (pp. 14-15)

          Tolerance is found in Meccan, and killing of non-Muslims in Medianan Ayats : There are one or two passages in the Quran evincing tolerance like: “Your religion to you, my religion to me; or, there is no compulsion in religion.” “All passages preaching tolerance are found in Meccan, i.e., early Suras, and all the passages recommending killing, decapitating, and maiming are Medinan, i.e., later toleration has been abrogated by intolerance. For example, the famous verse 9.5, “Slay the idolaters wherever you find them,” is said to have concelled 124 verses that dictate toleration and patience.” (p. 15)

          Islam has to different sets of morality for Muslims and Non-Muslims : “Islam has two sets of principles of morality, ethics and justice : On e for Muslims and the other for non-Muslims. Sincerity, well-wishing and brotherhood are for the believers and faithful. For non-Muslims the principles and standards of behaviour are different.” (p. 15)

          Arab invasion of Sindh : The Arab and later Turk Muslims spread into India throught three major waves of invasions, but it took them five hundred years to do so. After the conquest of Iran by 643 CE, the boundaries of the Caliphate touched the frontiers of India. India, known to early Arabs as Hind wa sind, too could not escape Muslim expansionist designs, and they sent their armies into India both by land and sea. They proceeded alone the then known (trade) routes – (1) from Kufa and Baghdad, via Basra and Hormuz to Chaul on India’s west coast; (2) from West Persian towns, via Hormuz to Debal in Sindh; and (3) through the land route of northern Khurasan to Kabul via Bamian. But progress of Muslim arms and religion in India was slow, verty slow. For, the declarations of the objectives of Muslim invaders had not taken into account the potentialities of Indian’s stiff and latent resistance. Caliph Umar (634-44 CE) had sent an expedition in 636-37 to pillage Thana. It was followed by some attempts on the part of Caliphs Usman and Ali. But in vain. The four ‘pious’ Caliphs of Islam died without hearing of the conquest of Sind and Hind. (p. 17)

          The spread of Islam was military : “As Dr. Ali Issa Othman, for some years adviser to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) on education said; “The spread of Islam was military. There is a tendency to apologize for this and we should not. It is one of the injunctions of the Koran that you must fight for the spreading of Islam.” The success achieved in this fight for spreading of Islam is also the main story of the medieval Muslim chronicles. The importance of ‘force’ in Islam should be acknowledged rather than minimized. The denial of force as a means of spreading Islam by a few modern apologists, like Aziz Ahmad and Muhammad Mujeeb cannot alter the basic truth about the history and philosophy of Islam, nor spirit behind words like Kafir, Jihad, Jiziyah, etc.” (p. 23)