Muslim children living in the west are often confronted with the insult of being called terrorists who kill people in the name of Islam. In this regard what needs to be understood and communicated to our children is that such people do invoke certain verses of the Qur’ān and certain narratives of the Prophet (sws) in favour of their militancy. However, these verses and narratives have a specific context and background and in no way support their inference.
In order to understand this issue, we can divide the religious history of mankind into two distinct periods. In the first period, which occupies the major portion of this history, the Almighty directly interacted with the inhabitants of this earth by selecting certain personalities as His representatives. To them, He revealed His guidance for the benefit of mankind. They were deputed by Him to fully explain and elucidate the basic truths. Although these truths are inherently known by a heedful person through the testimony of his conscience and intuition, the Merciful God supplemented this arrangement by appointing His representatives from among mankind to remind them of these truths. Over a period, which extends to several thousand years, numerous personalities were chosen for this purpose. In religious parlance, they are called anbiyā’ (Prophets). The last of these personalities was Muḥammad (sws). With his demise in 632 AD, the institution of nabuwwat (prophethood) was terminated and this first period of history was brought to an end.
Today we are living in the second period of history, which is to extend until the end of this world. In this period, divine interaction through appointed representatives no longer takes place.
The first period of history has a certain feature which is wholly and solely specific to it. The Qur’ān, a Book which belongs to this first period, mentions this feature. As per this feature, the judgement which is going to take place in the Hereafter is visually substantiated in this period during the lifetime of certain anbiyā’ (Prophets) who are designated as rusul (Messengers) of God. Those who deliberately deny the basic truths delivered by these messengers are punished in this world and promised a severer torment in the Hereafter and those who accept and profess faith are rewarded in this world and promised even greater reward in the Hereafter.
It was through Muḥammad (sws) and his Companions (rta) that the last time this worldly judgement took place. The Qur’ān is nothing but a record of this last judgement. The various phases of Muḥammad’s preaching mission are discussed in detail in this book – which in fact is the real theme of the Qur’ān. These phases culminate in the worldly retribution of Muḥammad’s addressees.
If this background is kept in mind, the conclusion one may reach is that certain harsh directives which the Qur’ān mentions need to be understood: the disbelievers of Muḥammad (sws) which included the Idolaters and the People of the Book of Arabia were in fact punished for deliberately denying the truth communicated to them by a messenger of God on His behalf. This punishment became a visual proof of the punishment that will take place in the Hereafter for such wrongdoers. However with the passing away of Muḥammad (sws) this divine practice of the Almighty ceased. This law and divine practice was not meant for later generations and periods of time. However, many of our scholars made the cardinal mistake of extending it into the second phase of religious history and in this way they were inadvertently guilty of “playing God.”
In other words, it must be realized that the Jews and Christians of today are an entirely different category than the ones the Qur’ān refers to. Today’s Jews and Christians can in no way be dealt with in the same manner as the ones who lived in the times of Muḥammad (sws). They were a different class of people who had intentionally denied the truth and had been punished for this offence.