How should I view this Koran verse?

Question

4:76 Those who believe do battle for the cause of Allah; and those who disbelieve do battle for the cause of idols. So fight the minions of the devil. Lo! the devil's strategy is ever weak.

Believers fight for Allah; disbelievers fight for the devil. So fight the minions of the devil?

So, believers fight the christians and jews?

Answer 1

ROFL..you got em staggering.

I love the different "translations". They are versions, call a spade a spade. How can a word mean fight to one person, and it mean a metaphoric fight to another. They crack me up.

The verse is pretty damn clear. This is what the terrorists feed off of.

Answer 2

Well one, books are written as a single text, generally not to be taken bit by bit. And generaly the numbers are added in later as references for people studying the books on an academic and non-faith based level. But, I would say that it would tell you to fight people who fight not because of what they believe, but because of things like money or ideas like that. And, although people have differences of opinions, the roots of the islam, christian, and jewish religions started in the same place. I am not claiming who is right or wrong, or if anyone of the 3 is in this statement, but you cannot take away the believe of Christians and Jews in their God, and true Christians and Jews would fight for the same reason that Islams fight, their God and their faith. This text does not necessarily condemn Christians and Jews, if perhaps, the God they pray to is the same as Allah, (methodology and dogma is different, but the entity could be the same, even if someone is worshipping incorrectly) then it wouldn't condemn them at all. Also, if you want to read into this text that it is condemning Christians and Jews, then it is also condemning Bhuddists, Wiccans, Hindus, Satanists, and any other believer in anything. Only people who would be safe are Atheists. Also, the use of the word devil, which shares similar roots with the Judeo-Christian devil, would negate out the Jews and the Christians, because they often fight against the devil.

There are many questions that a single line leaves unanswered, read the book as a whole. Also, learn about when it was written, social context, words lost in translation, other possible translations from the original text. BE aware that humans, of any religion, is fallible and is capable of translating texts to fit his/her needs. Read with an open mind, read with an intelligent mind, read with an enlightened mind.

Answer 3

The best way to know how to view any verse is to pray diligently for understanding.

That said, let's look at this verse line by line:

'Those who believe do battle for the cause of Allah' - You call Him Allah, the Jews call Him Yahweh or Jehovah, and Christians call Him God the Father. Believers should fight for good, but Christians and Jews are believers as well, even with our differences.

'...and those who disbelieve do battle for the cause of idols.' - Non-believers by their very nature are doing battle for the cause of idols since they put their trust and efforts in earthly things, such as material goods and riches, or the satisfying of the senses with fleshly lusts and pursuits.

'So fight the minions of the devil.' - Yes! By all means, fight the minions of the devil, but does that mean killing people? The devil has many minions, many of which are not people at all. Aren't hatred, greed, lust, envy, etc. really minions of the devil as well? And fighting doesn't always mean violence. You can fight with acts of kindness and love, which more often than not are more effective than force or coercion.

'Lo, the devil's strategy is ever weak.' - The devil is cunning, ruthless, and is ever-ready to snare those who choose to follow his ways; ignore him at your peril. He is, however, a defeated foe and no match for our God.

God bless you in your quest for truth, my friend.

Answer 4

It is a completely metaphorical battle, this battle for good over evil. Perhaps there are rare occasions when the figurative battle does become a literal battle, such as if innocent people are being oppressed or terrorized, then a person on the side of good would come to their aid.

But 9 times out of 10, we fight battles in our daily life that are not literal battles. But we could speak of them as a fight, because of the exertion we must put forth to strive for good. That is what the Qur'an is talking about in my opinion. To do good IS to "fight the battle" for Allah. To do evil IS to fight against Allah - whether there are actual implements of war used or not.

There are people calling themselves "Christians," "Jewish", and "Muslims" who fight on BOTH sides of this "battle." There are good and bad among every group of people. It is wrong to say that a whole group of people are all on the side of evil or all on the side of good. So one can never just fight against Christians and Jews, or Muslims just because that is what they call themselves.

Remember that in the Qur'an, a "Muslim" is anyone who submits to the will of Allah and follows Him. Therefore, a Christian or a Jew, or a Hindu or a Buddhist, could all be a "Muslim" in this sense.

Answer 5

U should fight anyone. How come religions can't accpet each other and live in peace? How about believers live in peace with the Christians and Jews ans everyone else? No is minions of the Devil.

Answer 6

Do you have something against Christians and Jews? You clearly believe they are minions of the devil if that is the way you interpreted the verse.

Answer 7

Quran chapter 4 verse 76 "Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who reject Faith Fight in the cause of Evil: So fight ye against the friends of Satan: feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan"

It is the "cause of Allah" not "battle"
And Cause of Allah is not killing innosent people, it is infact to fight the bad in the society.

Answer 8

ha,well
Here we go again...
Believers mean people who believe God.Period.
And I strongly suggest you tell where you read that.
What does 4:76 mean?
That's not how we divide the Qu'ran verses.
Name it and i'll go read it in Arabic and check if your translation is right.
I'm sorry,but i prefer trusting the original arabic version of the Qu'ran.
I have trouble with the translated it ones,because it's usually not accurate since it's very hard translating arabic into english,german,french etc.. without making any mistakes which of course,in turn,change the meaning.
Okay,people.
CHAPTER 4?
please tell me you're not looking in a translated version.
The Qu'ran is divided in parts.
But...is mainly made out of Ayats.
So the 'fourth' part of the Qu'ran contains several ayats.
And each Aya start from 1 to.... .
So you dont have to tell me which part,just the name of the aya and number,cuz thats how we usually look up things.
I cannot talk about something that might not be in the Qu'ran in the first place...and no.
The Qu'ran does not have several versions.
Just one.The Arabic one.And everyone uses that same,single one.
It's the translated stuff that drives me mad,cuz you have no idea where that could've come from.

Answer 9

~~ i would say this is more saying if you do not serve God, or in the Muslim faith God's name being Allah) then you are serving the devil. there are two choices out there, Good and Evil... if you choose Good, you Choose God. there is no place in heaven for evil.

look at it this way: God with and extra o = Good, and if you ad a d to evil you get devil.

God wants you to have good things, offers eternal life in paradise, where the devil on the other hand, still offers you a place for your eternal soul ... complete separation from God and all that is good.

God has given us free will, wishing that all would come to him and serve him. for those who choose God, we also in the end will be rewarded by our heavenly Father with Heaven. but, if we choose not to follow God, we choose the only other path, the evil path or the path of the devil.

God has given us power over the devil and all we need to do is claim that power and Follow Christ, to gain that power. the devil's powers are only as strong as we allow him to be. by choosing to follow God, we strip the devil of his power, and his hold is weak.

... so hold tight to God, and the devil must flee, because he has no power unless we allow him that power.

as far as your statement believers fight the Christians and Jews, i don't believe that even the Qu'ran wants us to fight those who love God. does it really matter what name we give God? isn't it more important who we serve than by what name we refer to him as?

in some cultures, the biological male person who helped produce you is known as your father, your dad, your daddy, your pa, your papa, your paw, etc.... no matter what you call him, he's the biological dude that is listed on your birth certificate... and no matter what he is called, you still belong to him...

same with GOD, our Heavenly Father, by what ever name, he is still the creator of the heavens and the earth, and the creator of our souls. This is the GOD that loves us enough to not make robots out of us, but allows us even though he created us, allows us the choice to serve him or not to serve him.

so why would we fight over a little thing like a name?

Both the Qu'ran and the Bible teach LOVE, and both the Qu'ran and the Bible teach us that GOD is LOVE.

Which battle will you choose? Will you stand for GOD? or will you stand for the devil? will you battle for GOoD, or will you battle for the dEVIL?~~

Answer 10

women and gents, it really is a classic social gathering of a few ignorant man or woman who hates Islam and used the most far-fetched interpretation of a verse to get others to belive that Islam is a violent faith. This verse is fairly trouble-free to interpret. Islam is a monotheistic faith. Worshipping yet another diety as well Allah is incorrect and why would you want to do this. This quote is merely keeping those who position self assurance in dissimilar gods receives their punishment contained in the hereafter for no longer believing contained in the only and in person-friendly words God. you're interpretation is critically incorrect. How contained in the international does the Quran categorize Christians with rapists and murderers even as the Quran obviously says Christians and Jews are human beings of the e book and believers: 2:sixty 2. those who trust (contained in the Qur'an), and those who stick with the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who position self assurance in Allah and the merely right Day, and artwork righteousness, shall have their advantages with their Lord; on them will be no worry, nor shall they grieve. 5:sixty 5. If in person-friendly words the folk of the e book had believed and been righteous, we could consistently certainly have blotted out their iniquities and admitted them to gardens of bliss. sixty six. If in person-friendly words that they had stood quick by utilizing the regulation, the Gospel, and each and every of the revelation that became despatched to them from their Lord, they'd have loved happiness from each and every aspect. there is from between them a social gathering on the right direction: yet lots of them stick with a direction that's evil. those VERSES FROM THE QURAN EXPLICITLY CONTRADICT YOUR INTERPRETATION; therefore, YOUR INTERPRETATION is incorrect. sorry, had to proper in caps because you probable would merely disregarded my answer on condition that i proved you incorrect with verses kind the Quran. i imagine you want to end reproduction and pasting this question. Get a clean question so i visit disprove it once back. to mr. mister...i flow by utilizing what the Quran, Hadith, and Sunnah says. that's it.

Answer 11

dear brother in Islam,

I highly discourage you from asking such questions on this forum. as these types of questions should be directed to sheiookh or scholars.

I recommend, when the site is back up (it goes up and down a lot) to look at Tafsir.com to look up any question with relation to a certain verse of the Quran and the interrpretation.

it is the tafsir of Ibn Katheer.

wallahu ta'ala alem. and Allah knows best.