Quran 9:25 doubt

[Eddy]

Sahih International: O you who have believed, fight those adjacent to you of the disbelievers and let them find in you harshness. And know that Allah is with the righteous.

Arberry: O believers, fight the unbelievers who are near to you; and let them find in you a harshness; and know that God is with the godfearing.

The following is the interpretation by one of the most trusted Islamic scholars: Ibn Kathir.

http://www.recitequran.com/tafsir/en.ibn-kathir/9:25

THE PROHIBITION OF TAKING THE IDOLATORS AS SUPPORTERS, EVEN WITH RELATIVES
Allah commands shunning the disbelievers, even if they are one's parents or children, and prohibits taking them as supporters if they choose disbelief instead of faith.
Allah warns,(You will not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day, making friendship with those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, even though they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their kindred (people).
For such He has written (predetermined) faith in their hearts, and strengthened them with a Ruh (proof, light and true guidance) from Himself. And He will admit them to Gardens (Paradise) under which rivers flow.) (58:22)
Al-Hafiz Al-Bayhaqi recorded that `Abdullah bin Shawdhab said, "The father of Abu `Ubaydah bin Al-Jarrah was repeatedly praising the idols to his son on the day of Badr, and Abu `Ubaydah kept avoiding him. When Al-Jarrah persisted, his son Abu `Ubaydah headed towards him and killed him. Allah revealed this Ayah in his case,(You will not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day, making friendship with those who oppose Allah and His Messenger.'') (58:22) Allah commanded His Messenger to warn those who prefer their family, relatives or tribe to Allah, His Messenger and Jihad in His cause.

I would appreciate if the Muslim community point me in the right direction here.
My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is that this verse is not aim at being applied only on a time of war or dispute but it is a universal rule that applies at all times.
So doesn't this contradicts the famous "There is no compulsion in religion?
If your son or father decides to become a Christian, are you expected to fight him?
What does fight means exactly here?
How do you fight your relatives? Verbal or physical fight?

Sorry if my curiosity makes me ask questions that make you uncomfortable.

 

[Al-Ansariyah]

No, we dont get uncomfortable answering your questions because islam is logical and it has answer to each of your question.

So the verse mentions "fight". It does not necessarily mean physical fight nor does it mean verbal. It means to keep hate in your for disbelievers. This is a very important concept in islam which is known as " Love and hate for the sake of Allah". We love those who are muslims and we hate those who disbelieve!

And about the verse "there is no compulsion in religion", we dont put knife on their neck if they are christians or jews etc.(unless they abuse islam). yes, we have to keep hate in our hearts towards them, but we dont have to fight them physically or verbally in vain!

Even if its our family who disbelieves, we have to keep that hate for the sake of Allah in our hearts. As for parents, we have to be kind anyway but again keep that hate in our heart because they disbelieve!

 

[Eddy]

So the verse mentions "fight". It does not necessarily mean physical fight nor does it mean verbal. It means to keep hate in your for disbelievers. This is a very important concept in islam which is known as " Love and hate for the sake of Allah". We love those who are muslims and we hate those who disbelieve!

Oh, so you are saying that as soon as a say the shahada I have to start hating my parents, my family, my friends and everyone who is not a Muslim?
I think I prefer the Christians attitudes who even love their enemies.
Hating is such an awful feeling that could easily turn into violence even if is not supposed to.
Well, thank you for that, that explains many things.
I'm starting to understand Islam better now.
Now, let me ask you something since I took the time to research and I tried to use the best possible islamic sources to make my points.
Where did you get that the word "fight" actually means "hate" in this case?
I used Ibn Kathir interpretation.
Who did you use?
Can you provide me a link please?

And about the verse "there is no compulsion in religion", we dont put knife on their neck if they are christians or jews etc.(unless they abuse islam). yes, we have to keep hate in our hearts towards them, but we dont have to fight them physically or verbally in vain!

I see, so there is no physical fight unless they abuse Islam.
Now what is that mean?
If they express what they believe to be the truth by saying Islam is a false religion an Muhammad is not a real prophet.
Can that be considered an abuse towards Islam?
In the west we do that all the time and is what we call freedom of speech.

Even if its our family who disbelieves, we have to keep that hate for the sake of Allah in our hearts. As for parents, we have to be kind anyway but again keep that hate in our heart because they disbelieve!

Your interpretation is a lot nicer than the one from Ibn Kathir.
You even say that you have to be kind with your parents anyway even when you have to hate them.
Ibn Kathir said:

Allah commands shunning the disbelievers, even if they are one's parents or children,

I definitely prefer your interpretation rather than Ibn Kathir's but I'm not sure everyone agrees with you.

 

[Al-Ansariyah]

Astaghfirullah. Who am i to interpret the words of my Lord!! You definitely have a little brain to understand islam. You think you can learn the whole islam just by the way you are doing it now?!! Whatever posts i saw of yours are always about the things that dont fit your mind and are always something political. I dont know why you are even seeing the political system of islam when you dont believe in one God! You should be asking about our beliefs. As this is first thing that should be discussed. But you are asking what is after it. Prophet didnt put the shariah in the beginning. He called people towards one God, then he told them what they have TO DO. So you see, first comes belief!. And how dare you say you understand islam now better than before when you dont even know whats our basic beliefs!! That means you are still ignorant, ignorant, ignorant!

 

[MidnightRose]

Hello Eddy,

The quotation you used referred to the Battle of Badr. It's literally in the quotation. This was related to war.

No Muslim is coming after you or hates you. Don't doubt that.

The only thing you have to worry about are Western governments clandestinely using taxpayer funds to indoctrinate and radicalize the impressionable minds of children. The damage done by the US, for example, using the University of Nebraska to publish terrorism-promoting schoolbooks for Afghan children in the 1980s and 1990s has had enormous repercussions. See: From the US, The ABCs of Jihad.

Thread closed.