Deadly Force

Muhammad's Great Commission

In his book, Global Jihad, scholar Patrick Sookhdeo, who was himself raised a Muslim, addresses Islam's version of the Great Commission.  Drawing on the Qur'an, he writes:

Islam teaches that all lands belong to Allah who has given them to Muslims.  Some they already possess, the rest are theirs in theory and will gradually become theirs in practice.  This doctrine is based on several verses in the Qur'an.  [Patrick Sookhdheo, Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam. (McLean, VA: Isaac Publishing, 2007), p.85.]

 Now, this may not seem startling in any general sense, since monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Christianity) necessarily have a belief that the entire world, indeed creation, belongs to God, since there is no other God and no false deities or authorities or powers will ever prevail in the face of the one and only God.  Thus, imperial possession of the entire world is a necessary corollary of monotheism. 

But all three monotheistic religions face a world which is manifestly neither Christian, nor Jewish nor Islamic.  How, then, do they believe it will come about?
  Traditional Jewish theology teaches that the entire world will become Jewish when the Messiah appears at the end of history.  But both Islam and Christianity teach that the world will come progressively under the control and possession of Allah or the Lord Jesus Christ respectively through history--or, to put it another way, through its followers and disciples.  The entire world will become progressively Islamised or Christianised, prior to the end of history as we know it. 

The classic, but by no means sole, Christian text teaching this is what is known as the Great Commission:

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age."  (Matthew 28: 18-20, emphasis, ours)

Christianisation of the entire world occurs through history as the Gospel is proclaimed and people groups hear, believe, and observe all that Christ has commanded.

Islam classically believes that the entire world will be Islamised as Islamic believers follow the pattern and example of Muhammad himself.

[Most Muslims] argue that the first Muslim community developed in clearly defined stages which must be emulated today.  First came the stage of weakness in which the message of Islam was proclaimed (da'wa) to an unbelieving society, then the stage of separation from unbelievers and migration (hijra) to a safe place where Muslim strength could be built up, and finally the stage of the sacred fight (jihad) to reconquer lost territory, victoriously extend Muslim political dominion and implement God's ideal state on earth.  (Sookhdeo, ibid.,  p. 86f.)

What is particularly significant here is the duty to engage in jihad for intermediate and final victory--and jihad means armed conquest, subjugation, and, if necessary, execution of non-Muslims.  In sharp contrast to Christian doctrine, classical Islam believed, taught, and practised armed subjugation as intrinsically necessary to achieving the Islamisation of the entire world.  Muslims did so because they were following both the teaching and example of Muhammad himself. 

The reality is this: the more pious and committed an Islamic believer becomes, the more he or she turns to the classical texts and teaching and examples; consequently, the more violence against non-Muslims becomes a holy duty.  Here is Sheik Al-Qaradhawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, for example:

Our war with the Jews is over land, brothers.  We must understand this.  If they had not plundered our land, there wouldn't be a war between us . . . . We are fighting them in the name of Islam, because Islam commands us to fight whoever plunders our land, and occupies our country.  All the schools of Islamic jurisprudence--the Sunni, the Shi'ite, the Ibadhiya--and all the ancient and modern schools of jurisprudence--agree that any invader who occupies even an inch of land of the Muslims must face resistance.  The Muslims of that country must carry out resistance, and the rest of the Muslims must help them.  If the people of that country are incapable or reluctant, we must fight to defend the land of Islam, even if the local [Muslims] give it up. . . . They must not allow anyone to take a single piece of land away from Islam.  That is what we are fighting the Jews for.  [Cited by Sookhdeo, ibid., p. 90. Emphasis,ours.)

To Western ears all that might sound a bit academic or anachronistic, until it is realised that the purview is not just Israel.  Historically, such lost lands which all Muslims have a sacred duty to fight to reconquer include Israel, Spain, the Balkans, India, and much of Central Asia. That is why jihadi fighters all around the world are committed to throwing themselves into the fray in places like Israel, Spain, Kashmir, Chechnya, and Afghanistan.  (Ibid.)

Sookhdeo continues:

Isma'il Raji al-Faruqi, a renowned Palestinian-American Islamic scholar, defines the Islamic state as universal and all pervasive, aiming at controlling the whole earth in terms of territory and all human beings in terms of population.  Even outer space should be under its control:

Islam asserts that the territory of the Islamic state is the whole earth or, better, the whole cosmos since the possibility of space travel [is] not too remote.  Part of the earth may be under direct rule of the Islamic state and the rest may yet have to be included; the Islamic state functions regardless.  Indeed its territory is ever expansive.  So is its citizenry, for its aim is to include all humankind.  If the Islamic state is at any time restricted to a few of the world's population, it does not matter as long as it wills to comprehend humanity.

Sookhdeo, p. 91)

In summary, classical and  modern Islam looks for world conquest--as does each and every monotheistic faith.  But Islamic tradition, doctrine and teachers differ in the call for armed and deadly force to be used to accomplish this goal.  Christian doctrine likewise believes in world conquest, but the means are entirely different: preaching and proclaiming, faith and repentance, and gradual discipleship.  The sword is forbidden.  For the sword, whilst it can subjugate, is powerless to convert the heart.  It cannot regenerate and bring the spiritually dead to life.  Only God's Spirit can do that. 

Christianisation occurs by changing the hearts and minds of people groups.  Islamisation occurs ultimately by subjugation and force.  And that is a powerful evidence that Islam is of the Father of Lies.