Is There Coercion in Islam and Christianity?

· Christianity, Islam




The full verse is:


But, what does this verse exactly mean?

Can a heretic be brought back to ‘true faith?’  Can an apostate and a blasphemer be killed?   Can a thief be coerced into not stealing, in future?  Can someone who delivered vigilante justice to a heretic be brought to justice?  Case in point the killer of Governor Salman Taseer, who is celebrated by many as a hero in Pakistan, is so far escaping justice, thanks to the lack of wisdom of Pakistani judiciary.  These and many other related questions are answered by understanding this and related verses of the Holy Quran.

Not only the non-Muslims do not understand this verse, the Muslims themselves have limited understanding of this profound verse.

Some of the popular scholars from 18th century or before, believed that this verse has been abrogated as a result of verses about Jihad with sword. So they saw no problem in converting people to Islam by force or killing the apostates.

Thanks to the teachings of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, no Muslim now talks about abrogation in this day and age.

But, even the contemporary Muslim scholars, who are not well aware of Muslim as well as non-Muslim history alike, are not fully able to appreciate this verse.

In this article, I propose to ‘show,’ and demonstrate rather than quote from some authority and ‘tell,’ what this verse means.

How the Emperor Heraclius saw his role in Christendom  and how he converted Jews to Christianity by force is outlined here, from the pen of Tom Holland, the author of Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic,  which won the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History and was shortlisted for the  Samuel Johnson Prize:



No Christian apologist today, would like to defend the forcible conversions of Jews, from their Unitarian understanding of God to the Trinitarian understanding of God.

Everyone today, at least the Western Christians, understands that there is no coercion in the domain of ‘man relation to God.’

You cannot forcibly change anyone’s thoughts.  No doubt, states try to force people away from criminal or unpatriotic behavior, but none of the enlightened democracies try force, in the domain of human thought or conscience.  States may try to influence through false propaganda, but, invariably never try to torture certain thoughts, into human consciousness.

When the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, started to preach, Monotheism in a polytheist society, they chose coercion to resist his ideas.  Several of the early Muslims were martyred and many had to migrate.  No Muslim today can even think about defending the actions of the polytheist Meccans, as they were trying coercion  in the domain of ‘man relation to God.’

After a brief and bloodless siege, initiated after the offensives by the Byzantines colonies, Muslims seized control of Jerusalem from the Byzantines in February 638 CE. Caliph Umar Farooq, may Allah be pleased with him, accepted the city’s surrender from Patriarch Sophronius in person. Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, was shown the great Church of the Holy Sepulcher and offered a place to pray in it, but he refused. He knew that if he prayed in the church, it would set a precedent that would lead to the building’s transformation into a mosque. He wanted the Christians to have their freedom of religion and their worship places. Therefore, he instead prayed on the steps outside, where Umar Mosque was built centuries later, allowing the church to remain a Christian holy place.

He did put certain taxes on the non-Muslims, which today critics of Islam find to be discriminatory, but, he did not force non-Muslims to convert, for then he would be guilty of coercion  in the domain of ‘man relation to God.’


Until the European Enlightenment, the Christians did not understand that there is no coercion  in the domain of ‘man relation to God.’  But, today Christian apologists, may quibble about the number of innocent women and children killed in Jerusalem, during the First Crusade, but, would not defend basic action of killing people, for the sake of their religion, for their is no coercion in the domain of ‘man relation to God,’ or human thoughts and conscience.

During what is known as the Little Ice Age, Pope Innocent VIII, in his papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus (5 December 1484) instigated severe measures against magicians and witches in Germany. The grip of freezing weather, failing crops, rising crime, and mass starvation was blamed on witches. He issued the bull to inquisitors Heinrich Kramer and Jacobus Sprenger to systemize the persecution of witches.[17][18]


Kramer and Sprenger would later write the Malleus Maleficarum in 1486, which stated that witchcraft was to blame for bad weather. These remarks are included in Part 2, Chapter XV, which is entitled: How they Raise and Stir up Hailstorms and Tempests, and Cause Lightning to Blast both Men and Beasts:[20]

Therefore it is reasonable to conclude that, just as easily as they raise hailstorms, so can they cause lightning and storms at sea; and so no doubt at all remains on these points.Although men as well as women could be open to this charge, the title of the book itself is feminine in gender and Kramer wrote in section I that: ‘all witchcraft comes from carnal lust which is in women insatiable.’

Little did they recognize that they are punishing imaginary crimes and actually dwelling in the domain of human thoughts and conscience, which are beyond inspection by others.

Of course, real crimes are punished today, there are at least 2 millions in prisons of America.  But, none of them is in jail for bad behavior in the domain of ‘man relation to God,’ or for crimes of thought, but, for crimes of behavior, in the domain of ‘man relation to man.’

Bad behavior in the domain of ‘man relation to God,’ will be punished by God himself, in the hereafter and we cannot play to be gods.

The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the judicial system of the Roman Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy. It started in 12th-century France to combat the spread of religious sectarianism, in particular the Cathars and the Waldensians. This Medieval Inquisition persisted into the 14th century, and from the 1250s was associated with the Dominican Order. In the early 14th century, two other movements attracted the attention of the Inquisition, the Knights Templar and the Beguines.

At the end of the Middle Ages, the concept and scope of the Inquisition was significantly expanded in response to the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Its geographic scope was expanded to other European countries,[1] resulting in the Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition. Those two countries in particular operated the Inquisition throughout their respective empires (Spanish and Portuguese) in the Americas, Asia, and Africa.[2] Its focus now came to include the persecution of sorcery, an aspect almost entirely absent from the Medieval Inquisition, making it one of the agents in the Early Modern witch-hunts. Persecution of Jewish and Muslim converts to Catholicism was the special concern of the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions because of the belief that they secretly practiced their old faiths, resulting in cruel methods of torture to extract confessions.

The institution of the Inquisition persisted after the end of the witch-trial period in the 18th century, but in the Age of Reason was abolished outside of the Papal States after the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century. The institution survives as part of the Roman Curia, renamed to Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office in 1904.

In this day and age, no one tries to defend these actions, which were endemic in the Catholic Church, in the centuries past.  Rather, today Pope Francis is presenting himself  to the media, to be more liberal than many an agnostics and atheists.

Pakistan’s Radical in Chief, General Zia ul Haq

Many examples of coercion, in the domain of ‘man relation to God’ or human thoughts and beliefs, can also be given, from the Islamic history, spread over 1400 years.

The example that I am most familiar with is the 1984 ordinance, promulgated by General Zia ul Haq, against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, in Pakistan.  This  ordinance prohibits them from reading the Holy Quran or saying the Muslim greeting of peace to anyone.  It defines crime, where none exists.  One of the clauses states:


In short, the Ahmadiyya Muslims are not allowed to think and believe, what they do and are required to think and believe like General Zia ul Haq.

He is long deceased, but, the fundamentalists in Pakistan, have resisted any withdrawal of this coercive ordinance.

Inquisition wheel





Today the Christian apologists may argue as to how many Muslims and Jews were influenced by these inquisitions, but, none would justify and rationalize the validity and reasonability of these inquisitions, for they know that there is no coercion in the domain of ‘man relation to God.’

Mountain of mercy
The Mountain of Mercy at Arafat, from where the Prophet delivered his last sermon

Muslim literature has been replete with mention of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, addressing a crowd of more than a hundred thousand people, at the time of the final pilgrimage or Hajj.


It was during this sermon that the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, more precisely, defined the domain of ‘man relation to man.’  He said:






On a prior occasion the Prophet had defined a Muslim as “The Muslim is he from whose tongue and hand a Muslim is safe.”  In other words in the domain of ‘man relation to man,’ there are three broad areas that any rational man wants to secure from other men.  His life, property and honor.

The Holy Quran recognizes these three human rights, in the domain of ‘man relation to man,’ and even suggests possible legislation, for each of these three spheres.  I quote a few verses in this regard here:

O ye who believe! equitable retaliation in the matter of the slain is prescribed for you: the free man for the free man, and the slave for the slave, and the female for the female. But if one is granted any remission by one’s brother, then pursuing the matter for the realization of the blood money shall be done with fairness and the murderer shall pay him the blood money in a handsome manner. This is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy. And whoso transgresses thereafter, for him there shall be a grievous punishment.  And there is life for you in the law of retaliation, O men of understanding, that you may enjoy security. (Al Quran 2:179-180)

And as for the man who steals and the woman who steals, cut off their hands in retribution of their offence as an exemplary punishment from Allah. And Allah is Mighty, Wise. (Al Quran 5:39)

And those who calumniate chaste women but bring not four witnesses —  flog them with eighty stripes, and never admit their evidence thereafter, and it is they that are the transgressors.  (Al Quran 24:5)

So, after all, there is coercion in the domain of ‘man relation to man.’  Crime, according to the Holy Quran, is defined as violation of ‘man relation to man,’ and never in the domain of, ‘man relation to God.’

But, coercion in the domain of ‘man relation to man,’ is not jungle law or ‘might is right.’

You will not want me to administer vigilante justice, to every one I suspect of killing, stealing money from Government, indulging in bribery or back biting.

For if I had such authority or jurisdiction, I will need to build a large private industry to deliver 80 lashes, to everyone who is back biting and maligning chaste women, as I have found most people that I have come across, guilty of at least, back biting.

Neither can the Taliban, any political party or any religious organization begin to deliver vigilante justice.  This is jurisdiction of state and no state allows ‘state within state’ or gross violation of its laws.

I am a practicing physician in New York state and every time I have signed a contract with any hospital or insurance company, there are clauses in the contract to highlight that all our mutual dealing is subject to state and federal laws.

In other words jurisdiction of authority is all important in any legislation and it is best to avoid overlap and contradictions.

Any organization, religious, political or business, can have its bylaws to govern itself or its members, but, they are subject to state laws.

Additionally, religious organizations will agree that their bylaws are not only subject to state laws and wisdom, but, also subject to compassion and justice, for otherwise, they will lose sympathy of their own followers, as compassion and justice is the basic message of every religion.

There are at least 200 verses in the Holy Quran promoting compassionate living and scores of verses, highlighting justice, so it goes without saying that no Islamic organization can promulgate laws that violate basic human compassion and justice.


He gave us an insight as what kind of laws in the sphere of “man relation to man,” are wise.  He said, ‘Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom  executed!’  Anyone promulgating laws in the domain of ‘man relation to man,’ could benefit from this advice.

For non-state actors and organizations, the key is that laws or bylaws that they promulgate, cannot go against the existing state laws.  Otherwise, they will be guilty of going against the state and being unpatriotic.  The Muslims are reminded that the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, said, “Love of one’s country is part of the faith.”

The history of last two millennia is a witness that it is not prudent or wise or even possible, to exercise coercion in the domain of “man relation to God.” Legislation or coercion in “man relation to man,” is subject to compassion,  wisdom, justice and existing contracts.

This is what is meant by the often quoted and misquoted verse of the Holy Quran:





References of materials collected from Wikipedia

The Spanish Inquisitions article is saved completely in the Muslim Times and the following references apply to Inquisitions in general segment and witch hunt.

  1. Jump up to:a b Lea, Henry Charles (1888). “Chapter VII. The Inquisition Founded”. A History of the Inquisition In The Middle Ages 1. ISBN 1-152-29621-3. “The judicial use of torture was as yet happily unknown…”
  2. Jump up^ Murphy, Cullen (2012). God’s Jury. New York: Mariner Books – Houghton, Miflin, Harcourt. p. 150.
  3. Jump up^ Medieval Sourcebook: Inquisition – Introduction
  5. Jump up^ Lea, Henry Charles. “Chapter VII. The Inquisition Founded”. A History of the Inquisition In The Middle Ages 1. ISBN 1-152-29621-3. Retrieved 2009-10-07. “Obstinate heretics, refusing to abjure and return to the Church with due penance, and those who after abjuration relapsed, were to be abandoned to the secular arm for fitting punishment.”
  7. Jump up^ Directorium Inquisitorum, edition of 1578, Book 3, pg. 137, column 1. Online in the Cornell University Collection; retrieved 2008-05-16.
  8. Jump up^ Foxe, John“Chapter V”Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
  10. Jump up^ Blötzer, J. (1910). “Inquisition”. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 2012-08-26. “[…] the occasional executions of heretics during this period must be ascribed partly to the arbitrary action of individual rulers, partly to the fanatic outbreaks of the overzealous populace, and in no wise to ecclesiastical law or the ecclesiastical authorities.”
  12. Jump up^ Catholic Encyclopedia
  13. Jump up^ Bishop, J (2006). Aquinas on Torture New Blackfriars, 87:229.
  14. Jump up^ Larissa Tracy, Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature: Negotiations of National Identity, (Boydell and Brewer Ltd, 2012), 22; “In 1252 Innocent IV licensed the use of torture to obtain evidence from suspects, and by 1256 inquisitors were allowed to absolve each other if they used instruments of torture themselves, rather than relying on lay agents for the purpose…”.
  15. Jump up^ Lea, Henry Charles. A History of the Inquisition of Spain, vol. 1, appendix 2
  16. Jump up^ Compare Haydon, Colin (1993). Anti-Catholicism in eighteenth-century England, c. 1714-80: a political and social study. Studies in imperialism. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 6. ISBN 0-7190-2859-0. Retrieved 2010-02-28. “The popular fear of Popery focused on the persecution of heretics by the Catholics. It was generally assumed that, whenever it was in their power, Papists would extirpate heresy by force, seeing it as a religious duty. History seemed to show this all too clearly. […] The Inquisition had suppressed, and continued to check, religious dissent in Spain. Papists, and most of all, the Pope, delighted in the slaughter of heretics. ‘I most firmly believed when I was as boy’, William Cobbett [born 1763], coming originally from rural Surrey, recalled, ‘that the Pope was a prodigious woman, dressed in a dreadful robe, which had been made red by being dipped in the blood of Protestants’.”
  17. Jump up^ Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe, (49)
  19. Jump up^ Wikisource, Summis desiderantes, by Pope Innocent VIII.
  20. Jump up^ Malleus Maleficarum (1486)
  21. Jump up^ Stokes, Adrian Durham (2002) [1955]. Michelangelo: a study in the nature of art. Routledge classics (2 ed.). Routledge. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-415-26765-6. Retrieved 2009-11-26. “Ludovico is so immediately settled in heaven by the poet that some commentators have divined that Michelangel is voicing heresy, that is to say, the denial of purgatory.”
  25. Jump up^ Saint Dominic Presides over an Auto da FePrado Museum. Retrieved 2012-08-26
  27. Jump up^ Raymond of Peñafort, Summa, lib. 1 p.33, citing D.45 c.5.
  28. Jump up^ Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 10.
  29. Jump up^ H.C. Lea, A History of the Inquisition of Spain, vol. 3, Book 8
  31. Jump up^ “Christianity | The Inquisition”. The Galileo Project. Retrieved 2012-08-26
This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the Spanish Wikipedia. (July 2013)


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