Surah Al Taubah , 9

Recitation of Surah Al Taubah by Shaykh Abdul Rahman al-Sudais
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAqRhlvFPWU&feature=related

Reflection by Prof Quriash Shihab, ayat 23 to ayat 35

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9mNRSjg67Y&t=847s




Kiyai Muhammad Bhakiet, on asma al husna,.... al malik

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbYjGb3Q0_U

It is not for the idolaters to tend Allah's sanctuaries, bearing witness against themselves of disbelief. As for such, their works are vain and in the Fire they will abide. (17) He only shall tend Allah's sanctuaries who believeth in Allah and the Last Day and observeth proper worship and payeth the poor-due and feareth none save Allah. For such (only) is it possible that they can be of the rightly guided. (18)

God was of course aware that Muhammad's life was drawing to an end. He went on to live only fifteen months after this surah was revealed. It was time to prepare the Muslims for that tumultuous event and the grave consequences that were to follow it. So, although Arabs had been secured for Islam, the Byzantines were still poaing a threat in the north. Some non- Muslims Arabs had fled there,, still harbouring grudges and aggressive designs against the Muslims. The potential for trouble was very real indeed. 

As soon as the news of Muhammad's death in 632 AC spread, rebellion broke out in various places around the fringes of the Arabian peninsula. It was left to the Prophet's first successor and Caliph, Abu' Bakr, to put down the rebellion before Muslim were able to feel completely secure and confident to take on the Byzantines, whose domination of Syria and Palestine represent a real obstacle to the northward spread of Islam.

Muslims are therefore basically opposed to war and are never the ones to start it. By the imperative of their own religion, they are taught not to impose their belief on others by force. Their mission is to impart and communicate Gos'a message, leaving people free to decide whether to believe or reject it. Those who refuse to believe are free to pursue lives in peace as long as they do not pose any obstacle or threat to Islam and the Muslims, who perceive their faith as the strongest and most vital binding relationship between God and humankind and that it is their responsibility to make others aware of it and provide them with the opportunity to understand and appreciate it.

This is the basis of the relationship between Muslims and non- Muslims in an Islamic society. God says elsewhere in the Qur'an:

Except those who seek refuge with a people between whom and you there is a covenant, or (those who) come unto you because their hearts forbid them to make war on you or make war on their own folk. Had Allah willed He could have given them power over you so that assuredly they would have fought you. So, if they hold aloof from you and wage not war against you and offer you peace, Allah alloweth you no way against them. (An Nisa: 90)

Those who take up arms against a Muslims state or parts of it must be met with with force, and if they are overcome, they should be disarmed. Once that is achieved, they are free to lead their own lives and practise their beliefs in peace and security under the protection of the Muslim authorities, in return for which have to pay a levy.

This is the background against which the prescription of the 'jizyah', or exemption tax, came into being. It is not due from those who are neutral and have never taken arms against the Muslim state. The surah gives ample explanation for the reasons behind the establishment of this tax, for it stipulates who should pay for it. They are those,

Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low. (29)

Those  liable to pay such tax are described further as those who "Fain would they put out the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah disdaineth (aught) save that He shall perfect His light, however much the disbelievers are averse." (32). Some  of their religious leaders are described as greedy and fraudulent people. On a closer look at how this exemption tax or 'jizyah' was implemented, it becomes clear that as a result of the early waves of converts to Islam in countries such as Egypt, Persia, and Asia Minor, funds collected from this type of tax had greatly diminished- doubtless to the delight of Muslims! The aim of Muhammad's mission had never been to amass wealth but to spread God's guidance and mercy.

Excerpt from " A Thermatic Commentary On The Qur'an "
Muhammad al-Ghazali
[ 1917 - 1996 ]



Reflection by Prof Quriash Shihab, ayat 23 to ayat 35
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9mNRSjg67Y&t=847s


Reflection by Imam Zia,
Session 5.1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ulgd7lyx9A&feature=relmfu
Session 5.2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7NvVpM8m4w&feature=relmfu