The Qur'an: Bookof War
idea, the violent verses of the ninth sura, including the Verse of the
Sword(9:5), abrogate the peaceful verses, because they were revealed later
inMuhamma d's prophe tic career : In fact, most Muslim author ities agree
thatthe ninth sura was the verylast section of the Qur'an to be revealed.
In line with this, some Islami c theol ogian s have asser ted that the Verseof the Swo rd abr oga tes no few er tha n 124 mor e pea cef ul and tol era nt
verse s of the Qur'an. Tafsi r al-JaIal ayn, a commen taryon the Qur'an byth e
re sp ec te d im am s Ja la l al- Di n Mu ha mma d ib n Ah ma d al- Ma ha ll i
(1 38 9-14 59 } an d Ja la l al-Di n'Ab dal - Ra hma n ib n AbiBa kral -Su yut i
(14 45-1505 ),ass ert s tha tthe nin th sum "was sen tdown whensec uri ty
was rem ove d by the swo rd ."' Ano the r mai n-
str eam and res pec ted Qur 'an com men tat or,
Is ma il bi n `A mr bi n Ka th ir al Di ma sh qi
(1301-1372),known popularly as Ibn Kathir,
de clar es that sura9:5"abr ogat ed ever y agre e-
ment of peace between the Prophet and any
ido lat er, eve ry tr eat y, and ev ery ter m.. ..No
id ol at er ha d an y mo re tr eat y or pr om is e of
sa fe ty ev er si nc e Su ra h Ba ra 'a h [t he ni nt h
sura] was revealed." Ibn Juzayy (d. 1340), yet
another Qur'an commentator whose works are
st il l re ad in th e Is la mi c wo rl d. ag re es : Th e
Ver se oftheSwo rd' s pur pos e is "ab rog ati ng
every peace treaty in the Qur'an. ""Ibn Kath ir
make s this clear in his comme ntary on another
"toleranceverse":Andhe[Mu ham mad ] sai th: 0
my Lor d! Lo the sear ea folk who beli eve not.
Then bear with them ,U Muh amm ad, and say :
Pea ce. But the y wil lcome to know" (Qur'an
43:88–89).Ibn Kathir explains: "Say Salam
(peace!) means, 'do not
Alexis de
Tocqueville
on Islam:1 studied theQuran a great deal. Icame
away from that studywith theconviction
that by and largethere havebeenfew reli-
gions in theworld asdeadly to men as that
of Muhammad. Sofar as Ican see, it is the
principalcause of thedecadence so visible
todayin theMuslim world and, thoughless
absurd than the polytheismof old, itssocial
andpolitical tendencies arein rayopinion
more to be feared,and I thereforeregard it
as aform of decadenceratherthan a form
ofprogress in relation topaganismitself."