Does jihad come under the meaning of mischief? The verses of Jihad are ample and condone Qitaal (killing) but you offer only two reasons: intentional murder and mischief. Could you please explain?
Answer
There are two categories of verses in the Quran that talk about Qitaal:
i) Those that talk about the fact that it is to be fought by the Companions of the Pophet, alahissalaam, against the enemies of the messenger who were destined to be punished under the law of God Almighty – which required all enemies of the messengers (Rusul) to be punished in this world after they had been convincingly communicated the message by the Messenger directly.
The Quran says:
“Allah has decreed: ‘ It is I and My Rusul who will most ertainly prevail.’ Surely Allah is All-Powerful, All-Mighty.” (58:21)
It is in this category of Qitaal for which we have such verses which say:
“But wen the forbidden months are past then fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them and seize them beleaguer them and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)” (9:5);
“Fight them; Allah will punish them by your hands and humiliate them. He will grant you victory over them and soothe the hearts of a believing people.” (9:14); or
“In fact, it was not you who killed them, but it was Allah Who killed them; it was not you who threw the handful of sand, but it was Allah Who threw it.” (8:17)
This Qitaal was the alternative to the natural calamities which the Almighty had sent to the earlier nations who denied the of messengers. It was God’s way of dealing with a special kind of mischief which only happened during the times of the Messengers.
The other category of Qitaal is the one that is meant to take care of another mischief for all times to come. It is the one which must be fought by the Muslims under an Ameer of an organized state against those groups and states that are persecuting people for religious reasons, which the Quran calls fitnah. The relevant verse for that objective is:
“And what reason do you have not to fight in the cause of Allah, to rescue the helpless oppressed old men, women, and children who are crying: ‘Our Rabb! Deliver us from this town whose people are oppressors; send us a protector by Your grace and send us a helper from Your presence?'” (4:75)
In both cases of Qitaal, the Quran has stuck to its promise: No soul would be allowed to be killed except for two reasons: “… as a punishment for murder or mischief in the land” (5:32)
If anyone wants to prove that the prophet, alaihissslaam, fought, or that the Quran itself allowed Muslims to kill people for reasons other than these two, then he is most welcome to go ahead in proving for whatever objectives he has in mind. But he should know one thing clearly: He will, in that case, make an attempt to prove that either the prophet, alaihissalaam, did something that was, God forbid, in conflict with the Quran, or the Almighty has, May He forgive me for saying that, contradicted Himself in His Book, although He Himself proudly declares in the same book, “Why don’t they research the Quran? Don’t they realize that if it was from someone other than Allah, they would find many discrepancies in it.” (4:82)
The fact that hadith is also a form of wahy is a man-made argument. The prophet, alaihissalaaam, it is clear from the Quran, did receive wahy that was outside the Quran. I can prove it from the Quran. However, whatever wahy has been revealed outside Quran, whether to prophet Muhammad, alaihissalaam, or other prophets, all of it subservient to the Quran. The Quran has come to dominate over everything else. If this point is not accepted then, the least that can be said is that the true status of the
Quran has not been appreciated.