Common questions
Honest answers to hard questions
The short answer
About 30 seconds to read
Some questions about Islam deserve more than a slogan. Here we take five of the most common ones. Each starts with a brief answer, then shows the texts, their context, and where Muslims themselves disagree.
We write as Muslims who believe Islam is a faith of mercy. We have not hidden difficult verses or history, because a trustworthy answer has to include them.
Does Islam promote violence?
The value of life
… And that ye slay not the life which Allah hath made sacred, save in the course of justice. …
Context: Part of a list of core duties. The phrase “save in the course of justice” is a real qualification. Islamic law, like other legal systems of its time, allowed the death penalty for some crimes after judgment, and allowed killing in lawful war.
The Prophet Muhammad warned that anyone who kills a non-Muslim living under a treaty with Muslims will not even smell the fragrance of Paradise. For the Qur’an’s best-known statement about the sanctity of life, Qur’an 5:32, and its context, see Cherish life.
Source:Sahih al-Bukhari 3166
What the Qur’an says about fighting
One key passage presents fighting as permission for people who had been wronged and driven from their homes because of their faith. It gives the protection of places of worship as a reason for resisting oppression:
Sanction is given unto those who fight because they have been wronged; and Allah is indeed Able to give them victory; Those who have been driven from their homes unjustly only because they said: Our Lord is Allah - For had it not been for Allah’s repelling some men by means of others, cloisters and churches and oratories and mosques, wherein the name of Allah is oft mentioned, would assuredly have been pulled down. …
Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loveth not aggressors.
Context: Pickthall’s “begin not hostilities” is one reading; other translators have “do not transgress”. The next verses are harsh, telling believers to fight their attackers wherever they meet them, but they also say that if the enemy stops, hostility must stop too (2:191–193).
The Qur’an also commands Muslims to accept peace when it is offered. If an enemy keeps away, does not fight and offers peace, “Allah alloweth you no way against them.”
Sources:Qur’an 8:61Qur’an 4:90
Limits in war
The Prophet forbade the killing of women and children in war. When he sent out an army, he instructed its commanders not to break agreements, embezzle the spoils or mutilate the dead.
What about Qur’an 9:5, the verse often quoted as “slay the idolaters wherever ye find them”?
The verse is often quoted without its context. It is part of a passage about Arabian polytheist groups at war with the early Muslim community. The verse immediately before it exempts those who had kept their treaties. The verse after it tells Muslims to grant protection to any of the enemy who ask for it and escort them to safety. A few verses later, the passage describes the enemy as people who “broke their solemn pledges” and “did attack you first”.
Interpretation has not been uniform, and Muslim commentators have differed over how broadly the verse applies. The historian Asma Afsaruddin shows how these readings developed and argues that understanding jihad primarily as armed combat came relatively late and was contested.
Source:Afsaruddin, 2013
Qur’an 9:29 commands fighting certain People of the Scripture “until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low”. The tribute is the jizya tax. Early commentators linked it to conflict with the Byzantine Empire. Classical Islamic law used it as the basis for taxing non-Muslim subjects, who in return were guaranteed protection of life and property and the freedom to practise their religion.
Sources:Qur’an 9:29Britannica, “Jizyah”
Extremism and history
Groups such as the so-called Islamic State have claimed religious justification for atrocities. In 2014, more than 120 Muslim scholars published an open letter rejecting those claims point by point, using the Qur’an, hadith and classical scholarship.
Honesty also means admitting that Muslims, like followers of other faiths, have not always lived up to their teachings, and that Islamic history includes wars of conquest as well as long periods of coexistence. We believe the Qur’an’s limits on violence, and its command to incline to peace, are the standard by which Muslims should be judged.
Can people choose their religion freely?
There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error. …
Say: (It is) the truth from the Lord of you (all). Then whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve. …
Context: The verse goes on to warn of punishment in the Hereafter. In the Qur’an, freedom to choose does not mean the choice has no consequence before God.
Elsewhere the Qur’an asks the Prophet, “Wouldst thou (Muhammad) compel men until they are believers?”, and a short chapter ends with the words “Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion.”
Sources:Qur’an 10:99Qur’an 109:6
The difficult part: apostasy in classical law
Most classical Muslim jurists held that an adult Muslim who openly abandoned Islam could face the death penalty. These rulings drew mainly on hadith and legal tradition; the Qur’an itself does not set a worldly punishment for leaving Islam.
Source:Saeed & Saeed, 2004
Many modern Muslim scholars argue that the classical rulings belonged to a time when religious and political loyalty were bound together, so that leaving the community was treated like treason, and that punishing belief itself contradicts “no compulsion in religion”. Others keep to the classical positions. Laws and public opinion vary widely between Muslim-majority countries.
Our view is that faith which is forced is not faith, as the Qur’an itself teaches.
How does Islam view women?
Lo! men who surrender unto Allah, and women who surrender, and men who believe and women who believe, … and men who remember Allah much and women who remember - Allah hath prepared for them forgiveness and a vast reward.
Whosoever doeth right, whether male or female, and is a believer, him verily we shall quicken with good life, and We shall pay them a recompense in proportion to the best of what they used to do.
Rights in the Qur’an
- Inheritance. Women inherit in their own right: “unto the women a share of that which parents and near kindred leave”. In some cases a son’s share is twice a daughter’s. Elsewhere the Qur’an links men’s responsibility in the family to their duty to spend on its support.
- Property and earnings. A bride receives a marriage gift (mahr) that belongs to her, and women keep what they earn.
- Marriage. The Qur’an describes marriage in terms of “love and mercy”, forbids inheriting women against their will, and tells husbands to live with their wives “in kindness”.
- Daughters. The Qur’an condemns people who were dismayed at the birth of a girl, and it condemns the killing of infant daughters.
Sources:Qur’an 4:7Qur’an 4:11Qur’an 4:34Qur’an 4:4Qur’an 4:32Qur’an 30:21Qur’an 4:19Qur’an 16:58–59Qur’an 81:8–9
The Prophet Muhammad said that the best of people are those who are best to their wives. His wife ‘A’ishah reported that he never struck a woman or a servant.
Verses that are read differently
Qur’an 2:228 says that women “have rights similar to those (of men) over them in kindness, and men are a degree above them”. Qur’an 4:34 says that men are “in charge of women”, and links this to men spending their wealth to support women. Many Muslims understand these verses to describe a husband’s responsibility to provide for and protect his family. Others, including some Muslims, read them as setting up a hierarchy.
Sources:Qur’an 2:228Qur’an 4:34
Qur’an 4:34 also addresses serious marital conflict, and one of its instructions is translated by Pickthall as “scourge them” and by others as “strike them”. Ayesha Chaudhry’s study shows that pre-modern commentators generally read the verse as allowing a husband to strike his wife within strict limits. Many modern Muslim scholars restrict it much further, and some argue for a different meaning of the Arabic word.
Sources:Qur’an 4:34Chaudhry, 2013
We do not think it would be honest to leave this verse out. We also believe the Prophet’s own example, and the Qur’an’s command to live with one’s wife in kindness, leave no room for domestic abuse.
Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?
… say: We believe in that which hath been revealed unto us and revealed unto you; our Allah and your Allah is One, and unto Him we surrender.
Context: Addressed to Muslims about how to speak with Jews and Christians.
Because the Qur’an rejects the Trinity and the idea that God has a son, Muslims believe Christians describe the one God in a way that is mistaken, rather than worshipping a different god. Christians, for their part, see Jesus as essential to knowing God truly. See Islam & Christianity for these differences side by side.
Sources:Qur’an 4:171John 17:3
If God is merciful, why is there judgment?
… I smite with My punishment whom I will, and My mercy embraceth all things, …
Say: O My slaves who have been prodigal to their own hurt! Despair not of the mercy of Allah, Who forgiveth all sins. Lo! He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.
The Prophet taught that God divided mercy into a hundred parts, kept ninety-nine with Him, and sent one part to earth, and that all the compassion creatures show one another comes from that single part.
Source:Sahih al-Bukhari 6000
And whoso doeth good an atom’s weight will see it then, And whoso doeth ill an atom’s weight will see it then.
Context: Mercy does not make actions meaningless. Every deed, good or bad, counts.
Leaving judgment to God does not mean ignoring wrongdoing
Muslims are taught to avoid suspicion, spying and backbiting, and to leave the final judgment of their differences to God. But this is not a rule of indifference. The Qur’an commands justice even when it goes against one’s own interests, fair judgment between people, and legal accountability for harm, while encouraging victims to forgive where they choose to.
Sources:Qur’an 49:12Qur’an 5:48Qur’an 4:135Qur’an 4:58Qur’an 2:178Qur’an 42:40
Sources for this page
Quotations are marked and linked. Summaries are in our own words. How we choose and cite sources.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-An‘am (6)
Verse 6:151
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Hadith
Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith 3166
Sunnah.com reference: bukhari:3166
Summarized in our own words. Arabic text and a full English translation are available at the link.
Narrated by ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr. Concerns killing a person who has a treaty or agreement of protection with the Muslims.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-Hajj (22)
Verses 22:39–40
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqarah (2)
Verse 2:190
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-Anfal (8)
Verse 8:61
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah An-Nisa (4)
Verse 4:90
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Hadith
Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith 3015
Sunnah.com reference: bukhari:3015
Summarized in our own words. Arabic text and a full English translation are available at the link.
Narrated by Ibn ‘Umar. After a woman was found killed during a campaign, the Prophet forbade the killing of women and children.
Hadith
Sahih Muslim, hadith 1731a
Sunnah.com reference: muslim:1731a
Summarized in our own words. Arabic text and a full English translation are available at the link.
Narrated by Buraidah. Instructions to army commanders. The same report also tells them to invite the enemy to accept Islam, or else pay the jizya tax, before fighting. It reflects the laws of war of its time.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah At-Tawbah (9)
Verse 9:4
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah At-Tawbah (9)
Verse 9:5
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah At-Tawbah (9)
Verse 9:6
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah At-Tawbah (9)
Verse 9:13
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Reference
Asma Afsaruddin, Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Compares early and medieval Qur’an commentary on jihad with modern treatments, showing how interpretations developed and differed.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah At-Tawbah (9)
Verse 9:29
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Reference
Asma Afsaruddin and Britannica Editors, “Jizyah”, Encyclopaedia Britannica
Explains that early commentators linked Qur’an 9:29 to the hostile Byzantines and the Tabuk campaign of 630, and that non-Muslims who paid the tax were granted protection of life and property and the right to practise their religion.
Reference
“Open Letter to Dr. Ibrahim Awwad Al-Badri, alias ‘Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi’”, signed by over 120 Muslim scholars (2014)
A point-by-point rejection of the so-called Islamic State’s religious claims, argued from the Qur’an, hadith, and classical scholarship. The link is to an encyclopedia summary with references to the letter.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqarah (2)
Verse 2:256
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-Kahf (18)
Verse 18:29
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Yunus (10)
Verse 10:99
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-Kafirun (109)
Verse 109:6
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Reference
Abdullah Saeed and Hassan Saeed, Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam (Ashgate, 2004)
Examines the classical law of apostasy and argues that the death penalty for apostasy is untenable in the modern period.
Reference
“The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society”, Pew Research Center (2013)
Survey of Muslims in 39 countries. Views on religious law and on penalties such as those for leaving Islam varied widely from country to country.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-Ahzab (33)
Verse 33:35
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah An-Nahl (16)
Verse 16:97
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah An-Nisa (4)
Verse 4:7
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah An-Nisa (4)
Verse 4:11
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah An-Nisa (4)
Verse 4:34
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah An-Nisa (4)
Verse 4:4
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah An-Nisa (4)
Verse 4:32
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Ar-Rum (30)
Verse 30:21
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah An-Nisa (4)
Verse 4:19
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah An-Nahl (16)
Verses 16:58–59
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah At-Takwir (81)
Verses 81:8–9
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Hadith
Jami‘ at-Tirmidhi, hadith 3895
Sunnah.com reference: tirmidhi:3895
Summarized in our own words. Arabic text and a full English translation are available at the link.
Narrated by ‘A’ishah. Graded sahih (authentic) by Darussalam, as shown on Sunnah.com. The Arabic word translated “wives” can also mean “family”.
Hadith
Sahih Muslim, hadith 2328a
Sunnah.com reference: muslim:2328a
Summarized in our own words. Arabic text and a full English translation are available at the link.
Narrated by ‘A’ishah. Says the Prophet never struck anyone with his hand, neither a woman nor a servant, except when fighting in battle.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqarah (2)
Verse 2:228
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Reference
Ayesha S. Chaudhry, Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Traces how Qur’an 4:34 was interpreted before and after the colonial period, including the pre-modern view that it allowed a husband to strike his wife within limits.
Reference
“Allah”, Encyclopaedia Britannica
Describes Allah as the standard Arabic word for God, used by Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews as well as Muslims.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-‘Ankabut (29)
Verse 29:46
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah An-Nisa (4)
Verse 4:171
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Bible
The Bible, John
John 17:3
Quoted from the World English Bible (public domain).
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-A‘raf (7)
Verse 7:156
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Az-Zumar (39)
Verse 39:53
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Hadith
Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith 6000
Sunnah.com reference: bukhari:6000
Summarized in our own words. Arabic text and a full English translation are available at the link.
Narrated by Abu Hurairah. The report gives the example of a mare lifting her hoof so as not to harm her foal.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Az-Zalzalah (99)
Verses 99:7–8
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-Hujurat (49)
Verse 49:12
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-Ma’idah (5)
Verse 5:48
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah An-Nisa (4)
Verse 4:135
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah An-Nisa (4)
Verse 4:58
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqarah (2)
Verse 2:178
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Qur’an
Qur’an, Surah Ash-Shura (42)
Verse 42:40
Quoted from M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain. Parenthetical words are Pickthall’s. Modern translations can be compared on Quran.com.
Further reading
- Asma Afsaruddin, Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Compares early and medieval Qur’an commentary on jihad with modern treatments, showing how interpretations developed and differed.
- Abdullah Saeed and Hassan Saeed, Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam (Ashgate, 2004)
Examines the classical law of apostasy and argues that the death penalty for apostasy is untenable in the modern period.
- Ayesha S. Chaudhry, Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Traces how Qur’an 4:34 was interpreted before and after the colonial period, including the pre-modern view that it allowed a husband to strike his wife within limits.
- “Open Letter to Dr. Ibrahim Awwad Al-Badri, alias ‘Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi’”, signed by over 120 Muslim scholars (2014)
A point-by-point rejection of the so-called Islamic State’s religious claims, argued from the Qur’an, hadith, and classical scholarship. The link is to an encyclopedia summary with references to the letter.
- Asma Afsaruddin and Britannica Editors, “Jizyah”, Encyclopaedia Britannica
Explains that early commentators linked Qur’an 9:29 to the hostile Byzantines and the Tabuk campaign of 630, and that non-Muslims who paid the tax were granted protection of life and property and the right to practise their religion.