Playing God

"All rights of this book are reserved for the publisher and the author. This copy is for reading purpose only. This copy cannot be uploaded on any website except those of the publisher and the author." Playing God: Misreading a Divine Practice 51 of the Prophetic mission in which the Muslims were being told to separate themselves as a collectivity from the non-Muslims. This was so that the latter could be identified as a collectivity that was soon to be visited by divine punishment if they continued to deliberately deny the truth. In other words, if these verses are interpreted in the light of t he divine practice discussed in the previous pa ges, it be comes evident that the alif l ā m (al-) on al-k ā fir ī n (these disbelievers), on al-yah ū d (these Jews) and on al-nas ā r ā (these Christians) refers to the Jews and Christ ians w ho were the direct and immediate addressees of Muhamma d (sws) and had deliberately denied the truth communicated to them by him. Consequently, none of these verses relates to the non- Muslims of today. v. The Superiority of Muslim Blood The following H ā dith is presented as evidence to support the view that a Muslim will not be killed if he is guilty of killing a non-Muslim 33 whereas the reverse will be carried out: – F oP 9 F 3 @ F >\3 U F - B F > < eF?^? W10! Shu‘ayb ibn Muhammad narrated from his father, ‘Abdull ā h ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘A % s who reported from the Prophet: “No Believer will be killed in qis ā s of a 33. This is the opinion of Sh ā fi‘ ī and Ahmad ibn Hanbal. For details, see: Ibn Qud ā mah, Al-Mughn ī , vol. 7, 652-653; Sh ā fi‘ ī , Kit ā b al-umm , vol. 6, 38. www.javedahmadghamidi.com www.al-mawrid.org