Are there any Muslims who reject the Quran's command to fight all unbelievers till all religion is for Allah?

Question

Quran 8:39 “and fight with them until...religion should be only for allah" http://cwis.usc.edu/dept/msa/quran/008.qmt.htmlhttp://cwis.usc.edu/dept/msa/quran/008.qmt.html

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah addressed the concept of violent Jihad in his Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 28/263. The purpose is that all religion should be for Allaah alone, and that the word of Allaah should be supreme…””

Muslim World Magazine addresses the subject this way "There should be some kind of fear in the western world, one of the causes of which is that since the time it first appeared in Makkah, Islam has never decreased in numbers, rather it has always continued to increase and spread. Moreover Islam is not only a religion, rather one of its pillars is jihad."

I know this is all very hard to believe, especially factoring in the assurances your Islamic aquaintaince gives you, but its a mainstream reality of Islamic groupthink.

For non-muslims who have Muslim aquiantances, there is no more shocking a thing than to hear what is said between Muslims. I realize this sounds "bigoted" to the less informed and overly PC. Neverthless, this is a fact of life. I can absolutely guarentee in 99% of these relationships, that the opinions shared with "kafir" are mirror opposites before only islamic company.

This "shock" factor is the stuff of great drama and the accounts are endless. Jeckl and Hyde cannot do it justice, its far more extreme.

Answer 1

If by fighting you mean Jihad, then no I don't reject what you're saying. Jihad encompasses a myriad of actions. If a Muslim is stopped from offering "light" by the will of Allah (SWT), he/she (yes, SHE) should fight and resist being silenced. By the by, JIHAD is considered the "sixth" pillar of Islam, the other way around. There are FIVE pillars of Islam and Jihad ain't one of them. Jihad encompasses a myriad of actions a Muslim (or non-Muslim!) might take.

Answer 2

And Jesus said to turn the other cheek and to love your enemies, etc, so what? Alot of things are said at certain points in time. Never the less, this does not ignore the violent history that Islam has had, though i will continue to argue that most of this violence was a result of the culture in Arabia at the time. They could not help but interpret it in such a way.
I would disagree with your point about what Muslims say to each other in secret though.
One of the senior officials of the Egyptian Orthodox church just told a christian meeting, that was supposed to be private, that all other christians, catholic and protestant, are all damned and so forth. Does this say anything about Christiantiy? Not at all, it just says that the guy is an idiot. There are also many Muslims that are idiots.
As for the concept of jihad, it is such a wide and loose idea that it should probably not be taken seriously, but in its modern meaning, referring to violence and such, it is a concept that is present in Islam and any Muslim that says otherwise is not speaking correctly.
As to what should drive Muslims to jihad, well, there are many different interpretations and books about this subject. It all really depends on the person and their ideology. There is no central authority in Islam (as opposed to Catholocism for example) that tells Muslims what to think and what to believe. One Muslim can believe that bin Ladin is the greatest thing on Earth, while the guy next to him on the bus believes that George Bush is doing a great job in Iraq. It depends on the individual.
As for Ibn Taymiyah, his writings are centuries old and he is one of the most conservative, close minded and violent Muslim scholars in Islamic history. His writings and interpretations of the Quran are widely accepted by the more fanatical Islamist groups, but other more moderate writings can be found. Ibn Taymiya's writings have been the basis for many of the modern fanatical groups, such as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which later led to the Islamc Jihad, al-Qaidah and so forth. If you limit your investigations of Islam to only its most conservative scholars then you are not being fair.
All this of course does not exonerate Islam from the things that are done in its name.

Answer 3

Fighting evil should continue until its power base is dislodged, after which it should be stopped. Fitna has been explained in verse 191 of this surah.

"Din should be only for Allah" makes it clear that the purpose of fighting in the way of Allah is to remove persecution, corruption and mischief which suppress liberty and do not allow people to choose between truth and falsehood so that they may willingly believe in Allah and follow His commandments. The root of evil is in polytheism. It should be uprooted. When our living Imam returns, he will put an end to polytheism and make available true freedom for mankind. In verse 40 of al Hajj it is said that Allah repels some men by means of others to keep safe synagogues, churches and cloisters so that every man may have the freedom to remember God according to his own belief, because there is no compulsion in religion (Baqarah: 256). Only Islam, and no other religion, gives freedom to one and all to worship one true God - Allah.

"And if they desist" means when the polytheists renounce false gods and idol-worshipping and come into the fold of the true faith, Islam, and believe in the one and only true God.

Answer 4

Yes, I did hear an Islamic writer. He looked like a sad person.

All that sticks with me was his quote about the radicals:

"they are small people who roam the world, looking for towers to bring down."

Answer 5

If they exist, they are not following all the commands in their scriptures.

Which would suit me fine. Their religion, if practiced in toto, is of the devil.

Peace to you in the Lord.

Answer 6

Only the ones who do not really follow islam.

Answer 7

Perhaps you're as good as reading as you are cutting and pasting -
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/maududi/mau8.html#S8

You seem to have forgotten to read the historical background of this surah. If you want to debate INTELLECTUALLY then perhaps you should be informed first.

Answer 8

I dont reject it. All honour belongs God, His messenger, and the believers. may God guide you to the truth.

Answer 9

Probably not