Gross Fundamental Rights Violations in Many Verses of Quran

Introduction

In the present times all over the world, whenever lives are lost following religious hatred in the forms of bomb-blasts, mass-shooting, knife-attacks, suicide bombing or mob violence, the first suspicion is on the Jihadists. There are numerous instances of Jihadi hate, intolerance, violence and bigotry in all parts of world in the recent years the worst form of which was demonstrated on 7th Oct 2023 on Israeli territories. In the recent years Jihadi genocides have taken place in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Middle East, Sudan and several other African States. In Afghanistan, Taliban have done complete genocide of Sikhs & Hindus. In Pak & Bangladesh, targeted killing and persecution of non-Muslims are going on. From Middle East Christians are vanishing fast amounting to their genocide. In Sudan, genocides of three African Tribes incl Fur, Masselites and Zaghava ethnic groups have been completed by the Islamists in the recent months. There are numerous such examples BUT it is highly deplorable that the protectors of the Human Rights at the UN are largely turning blind eyes to it. On the contrary, most if not all top officials at the UN are culpable to their partisan approaches, singing to the tunes of the Islamists.

Jihad as a tenet of Islam

Human Rights is the worst victim of Islamic Jihad in all continents of the world. Jihadists are responsible for over 90% of the deaths and devastations in the recent decades the world over. Most Muslims believe in five tenets of Islam but the hardliners believe in Seven, with Jihad being one of them as depicted below in the tree of Islam. Although Jihad has wider connotations including one’s struggle to get rid of evils within, it has acquired a universal disrepute of committing atrocities against all those who don’t follow the norms of Islam as perceived by the Jihadists. Although jihadi violence is largely against the followers of other religions/faith, often it also leads to sectarian violence within the different sects of Islam such as Sunni vs Shia etc etc leading to severe abuses of the Human Rights. Muhammed whom Muslims call a prophet, had rendered the understanding of Jihad against non-believers of Islam as “Convert, Flee or Die”. The same concepts were adopted in medieval times against Parsis and Hindus and remain their approach in modern times too as seen in 1990 in Kashmir (India), Sinjar (Iraq) or Afghanistan.

Jihad as inimical to non-Muslims

Jihad has emerged from Quran & Hadith. In the initial literature, Jihad was a means of getting rid of the ills that violated the teachings in Quran. In those literatures, many of the actions in Jihad included the purification within oneself of the followers of Islam as well as against others. However, there are over 60 verses in Quran that are discriminatory against the believers of other religions and faiths (read “60 hateful & intolerant verses of Quran, parts I & II, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/60-hateful-intolerant-verses-quran-part-1/ and https://thecounterviews.in/articles/60-hateful-intolerant-verses-quran-part-2/). Jihad preaches various actions against all of them. In the present-day world, the original meaning of jihad has vanished somehow and what is being largely preached/followed, is the actions against the believers of religions/faiths, both among Islam and the others that follow the concept different from those preached by their clerics. Hence, there is also different beliefs in different sects of Islam resulting in sectorial jihadi violence (eg. Shia vs Sunni) in addition to the non-Muslims. By now, there are about 200-odd Jihadi organisations in the world some indulging in sectorial violence and others committing gross Fundamental Rights violations against non-Muslims. 

Islamic teachings by clerics/Mullahs are blindly believed by the common Muslims as without caring for its authenticity. Most of the Muslims believe the words of their Imams as words of their Allah who preach Quran/Hadith as per their intended objectives. Teachings of the most parts of Quran is extremely good for Muslims for practicing brotherhood among themselves BUT those 60 verses referred above are discriminatory, divisive and intolerant against the non-Muslims whom they call Kaffirs. Parts of Jihad on smothering the ills within oneself, are largely ignored in the present times BUT those emphasising struggle against Kaffirs, are given prominence by most of the Mullahs/Imams. In Friday Khutbahs/speeches the Mullahs/Imams freely indulge in twisting the meanings of Quranic verses to incite terrorism & violence including the suicidal ones (Fidayeen) largely against non-Muslims although there are numerous instances of committing violence against the believers of the other sects of Islam too. Earlier only prominent Islamic clerics used to issue Fatwas (dictum/call) for Jihad but in the recent years and decades, any Tom, Dick & Harry of Islam issue Fatwas at will, citing Quran/Hadith. 

Quran, Jihadi Tanzeems and Fundamental Rights

Islam has scant regard for Human Rights in general as advocated by the United Nations. Quran/Hadith largely disregards Fundamental Rights of non-Muslims as well as their own women. As quoted above, at least 60-odd verses of Quran are discriminatory, hateful or intolerant towards the believers of other religions/faiths. Several verses of Quran have dual meanings which can be interpreted either way of being hateful or otherwise. Thus the so-called contractors (Mullah/Imams) of Islam twist & turn the facts in those verses to manipulate the largely ignorant common Muslims esp during their Friday Khutbahs. In other words, the common Muslims dance to the tunes of their radical clerics behaving as devils. This is the most common reason why maximum group violence are indulged after Friday Khutbas. By now there are nearly 200-odd Jihadi Tanzeems all over the world bearing allegiance to Quran, in almost all continents. Of these there are nearly 40+ who are large enough in size & resources, overtly violent. A list of such Tanzeems is rendered below. Today’s Jihadi Tanzeems have forgotten about getting rid of devils within themselves, forcing self-belief on others whether own or other religions/faiths. That is why they are involved in jihadi violence. Al-Qaida, ISIS, Jamat, Harkat and Hezbollah have numerous regional and continental affiliates in order to commit atrocities on non-Muslims esp in non-Islamic countries. They have proliferated especially after the call for Global Islamic Caliphate by Al-Baghdadi. African tribes are the most persecuted ones followed by Hindus & Christians in Asia.

Quranic Verses Violating Fundamental Rights

It is felt that the Indian State and our politicians have long been short-sighted in ignoring the fact that certain practices of religion have been long violating these fundamental rights. If any religion discriminates between the followers of various religions and faiths, it is violating the fundamental rights of equality (articles 15, prohibition from discrimination ). If any religion professes to demean the followers of another faith/religion like Quran does against the believer of other faiths & religions, it too violates ones’ fundamental rights of freedom (articles 19, freedom of belief). The worst is the case if a religion professes to punish the followers of other faiths/religions with death/burning in the fire as stipulated in some verses of Quran; it violates article 21(right to life & liberty). Besides, some of the customs and practices of Islamic religious books like loud Azan, offering namaz on public places do create or potentiate a situation of public disorder and morality thus violating Article 25 of Fundamental Rights.

Ambiguity in Interpretation of Quranic Verses

It is acknowledged that many of the verses quoted below are in isolation but inferred in continuity with preceding or succeeding verses many of which have perceptional ambiguity. If a cleric wants to play down the offensive contents of these verses, he would try to mellow it down interpreting in conjunction with some other verses, may be in other contexts quoted elsewhere. It is also emphasised that most of the Quranic verses are for instilling the faith of Muslims in their Allah and doing good for fellow Muslims (referred as 'believers'). Most of the verses strongly emphasize no to believe in any other religions/faiths. Lot many verses are highly critical of the non-Muslims who have faith in Gods other than Islamic Allah. They are termed disbelievers. Disbelievers in Quran are looked down with discrimination, hate, intolerance and bigotry awarding punishments like death, burning in fire and so on...only because they believe in God other than Islamic Allah that any person in secular and non-Islamic States have the freedom to do so. There is a separate chapter 109 of a single verse on ‘Disbeliever’ that is silent of all prior discriminatory, hateful and intolerant expressions in verses mentioned in the preceding/other chapters.

The readers are cautioned not to go by the simple and moderated English translations of the Quranic verses mentioned below, having deliberately mellowed the tone and tenor of ‘hate and incitement’ to avoid catching eyes of the laws. However, the Arabic verses are extremely divisive although some having dual meanings too; eg hateful if explained by the ultra-radical Imams and mild if explained to prove it non-intolerant.

Quran Authorising Jihadists to take Law in Own Hands

Islam advocates fulfilling their Allah’s wishes through the believer's (Muslim's) hands (Quran chapter 9 verse 14) for which 7th tenet of ‘Jihad’ has been created. Wherever Quranic verses mention “Allah will judge/see” it means that the Jihad wing of Islam should implements those wishes of their Allah. This is the main reason why 200-odd Jihadi Tanzeems have proliferated, all claiming allegiance to Quran. Similarly, wherever Quran mentions of “painful torment/subjecting to raging fire of hell/abode or dwelling of fire/creating terror/killing polytheist/find death etc etc”, these wishes of their Allah is understood to be met through Jihad of Islam. There are some verses which intends to create fear and terror in the hearts of a ‘non-believer (or non-Muslim) considered to be enemy. Islamic Jihad and terrorism are born out of these Quranic verses.

Some Highly Objectionable/Abusive Verses of Quran

Let us consider some examples of the verses distinctly indulgent in discrimination, hate, intolerance and bigotry preached in Quran against non-Muslim faiths/religions. Quran is highly hateful against polytheists and worshippers of idols (like Hindus) termed as idolators. There are several verses that violate dignity, often prescribing punishments to the disbelievers, polytheists and worshippers of idols. A few such Quranic verses are reproduced, below:-

Chapter 2 (Heifer), Verse 191 incites to kill the believers of other faiths/religions thus violating the right to life.

Chapter 3 (Family of Imran), Verse 151 is discriminatory, hateful, bigoted and also threatens the right to life of believers of religions/faiths other than Islam.

Chapter 4 (The Woman) Verse 56 is also hateful, intolerant, bigoted and threatens life with the worst forms of violence.

Chapter 6 ‘Livestock’ verse 106 lays down the Islamic concept that there is no other God (what polytheists believe) except Allah. This is discriminatory as Quran cannot discredit or deny the presence of various Gods that believers of other religions/faiths worship. This verse deserves to be amended.

Chapter 9 (Repentance) verses 2, 3, 5, 17, 28, 68 & 73 make many discriminatory, hateful and offensively bigoted statements against believers of religions/faiths other than Islam, polytheists and worshippers of Gods through idols. In verse 2 Quran threatens that Allah will disgrace the believers of other religions which is a hateful offensively bigoted statement. Worse, verse 5 threatens the polytheists to kill them because of their religion. Even the other verses mentioned below are equally damning for the non-Muslims called ‘non-believers’ : -

Chapter 10 (Jonah), verse 105 again demeans and discredits the religion of polytheism. How can this verse of Quran be preached in nations where polytheism is preached and practised? This verse claims that monotheism is true religion, Quran discredits Hinduism..

Chapter 14 (Abraham) verse 2 is highly discriminatory that wishes the believers of other religions the woes and torments because of their belief in other Gods.

Chapter 18 (The Cave), verse 100 is discriminatory, and hateful towards the believers of Gods other than Allah. All such verses that announce hell, fire, torments etc to the non-Muslims only because of their faith don't deserve to be preached in nations where all religions are regarded as equals.

Chapter 22 (The Pilgrimage), verse 17 directly threatens the Jews, Sabeans, Christians and Zoroastrians.

Chapter 33 (The Confederates) verses 8, 64, 73 are equally hateful and discriminatory threatening the believers of other religions/faiths and worshippers of idols with severe consequences of painful death (or murdering by painful punishments) .

Chapter 41 (Detailed), Verses 27, 28 threaten believers of other (non-Islamic) religions/faiths of murdering in intense agony or burning in fire whom Quran quotes as disbelievers.

Chapter 48 (The Victory) verses 6, 13 threaten the believers of other faiths (ie non-Islamic faith) and polytheists with curse and death by subjecting into blazing fire.

Chapter 66 (Prohibition), Verse 9 wishes hell to the believers of faiths other than Islam.

The above are only a few examples. Quran has numerous such verses that are indulgent of varying degrees of insults against the believers of other religions/faiths. Quranic hate & intolerance is often directed specifically against polytheist Arabian tribes who worshiped idols in their numerous temples as well as against Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians. Quran goes to the extent of calling Abraham a Muslim; something that infuriates Jews/Christians (read Quran, Chapter ‘Family of Imran’ verse 67, chapter ‘The Pilgrimage’ verse 78, ). No wonder Jews and Christians often get infuriated and burn Quran for such demeaning verses like the one given below:-

Impacts of Quranic Hate and Jihad

There is no doubt left in anyone’s mind that Quran is hateful and incites numerous many Muslims to practice Jihad. This is why there are approx. 200-odd Jihadi Tanzeems in the world all vouching their allegiance to the above quoted verses of Quran. Those hate against non-Muslims can be seen in the numerous Jihadi attacks against humanity all around the world, the major ones in the recent years and decades enumerated in one of the articles (read “Major Jihadi attacks in the World”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/major-islamic-jihadi-attacks-in-the-world/). Jihadists are presently shaming humanity in various parts of the world, committing genocides such as those Hindus/Sikhs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, of Christians in Kosovo-Serbia, CAR, the Middle East, and of the African tribes (such as Fur/Masselites/Zaghawa) in Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia etc…to which UN/UNSC/UNHRC remains indifferent (read “Muted UNHRC Response Encouraging Islamic Genocides”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/muted-unhrc-response-encouraging-islamic-genocide/).

Of course, exhibiting antagonism to the Islamic hate by burning a few books of Quran is not the answer (read “Quran burning in Denmark/Sweden is a wrong approach”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/quran-burning-in-denmark-and-sweden-is-wrong-approach/). Similarly, expressing hatred and violence against innocent Muslims who are not indulging in terrorism or Jihadi violence, is Islamophobia hence, condemnable. The entire non-Muslim communities of world must insist on Quran being amended of the hateful contents or else, ban it from being preached in their own countries. China is one such country which has taken a tough stance against the growing Islamic radicalism, extremism and terrorism among their Uyghur Muslims (read “World Must Adopt the Chinese Model of Islam”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/world-must-adopt-chinese-model-of-islam/). The UN or the UNHRC has become useless in redressing these grave concerns of the non-Muslims.

Impacts of above verses on Non-Muslims

Believers of religions and faiths other than Islam would have given a damn to Quran if it had not shown discrimination, disrespect, hate, intolerance and even bigotry against them. It is highly condemnable as the quoted verses will be absolutely unacceptable to those specially named such as Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Polytheists (faiths other than Islam & Christian) and Idol Worshippers (Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Taoism etc). As explained above, hate and intolerance contained in Quran has given rise to the present forms of Islamic Terrorism with which entire world is engulfed in. Many have the opinion that Quran is incompatible with secularism, multi-ethnicity and democracies. It violates many Human Rights; that was why Cairo Declaration 1990 by mainly the Islamic Countries had taken a different recourse.

It must be acknowledged that Hindus have immense tolerance not to take up arms when a Muslim cleric publicly demeaned the supreme Hindu God as Muslim (read “असहिष्णु अल्लाह की तुलना सनातनी ॐकार से क्यों?” https://thecounterviews.in/articles/comparing-om-with-allah/). Imagine if someone calls Mohamed (whom Muslims consider a prophet) a Jew or Christian. The entire Muslim world will be up in arms. Further, it is highly condemnable of Quranic Chapter 6 ‘Livestock’ verse 106 (the first verse quoted above in this article) where it says there is no God other than Allah. All these only confirm Quran is highly offensive to the gods of other faiths. Whether framed by Mohamed or the other contemporary Caliphs in the likes of Abu Bakr, Umar and Usman; it is unacceptable. Quran is also vengeanceful, inciting violence among Muslims who collectively go up in arms if anyone says anything about Quran or its main author, Mohamed (whom they refer as Nabi, a prophet). Hate chants like "Sar Tan se Juda" etc become mob expressions. The world is witness to the many violent Islamic protests/acts in France, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or elsewhere (read “New Islamo-Fascism in World”, https://thecounterviews.in/articles/islamo-fascism-paris-jihadi-attack-macron-pakistan-turkey-malaysia-mahathir-muslims-islam-radical/).

Indifference of Judiciary against Hateful Quran

Just like the pseudo-secularist Congress party of India treats Muslims and Quran as holy cow, Indian Supreme Court and High Courts too have had knee-jerk reactions in their many verdicts on this matter. Long back, Calcutta High Court had rejected a plea in this regard in 1985 essentially because the advocate arguing the case could not lay stress on the discriminatory, hateful, intolerant and bigoted verses of Quran that impinged on fundamental rights. The High Court mentioned that it was not within the jurisdiction of the court to decide on banning the Quran or holy books of other religions; unable to visualize that it clearly impinged on the fundamental rights of non-Muslim citizens.

The latest among these was the verdict on Md Waseem Rizvi's PIL in the Indian Supreme Court (WP 401/2021) for the removal of 26 hateful verses of Quran. SC of India dismissed the application calling it “absolutely frivolous” owing to the technicalities in the petition because he didn’t have a highly skilled or renowned advocate arguing the case. Otherwise, how on Earth can the SC overlook those verses of Quran as violating fundamental rights?

Indifference of UN/UNSC/UNHRC to Rights Violations by Quran

It is no secret that some of the Quranic verses violate Human Fundamental Rights. Yet, neither UN, UNHRC nor the nations having substantial Muslim population are able to direct the Islamic nations to amend Quran of those discriminations. If Islamic nations are unwilling to amend Quran, the UN, UNHRC and all non-Islamic nations should have taken care of the discriminations. However, for reasons unknown, all are reluctant to do so. In India, PIL and Writ Petition (WP) had been filed earlier in Kolkata HC and the Supreme Court (SC) on a different connotation of those verses as mentioned above, to be inflammatory and encouraging terrorism. None have challenged Quranic Verses as violating Fundamental Rights. However, there were several technical and other catches in filing any such cases as below: -

• Quran is no law that SC can review. However, Muslim Law as part of the Indian Constitution permits Muslims to follow Quran and on that pretext, any verse that violates any provision of the Constitution qualifies to be reviewed by the SC.
• SC reviews only those constitutional provisions (incl those of fundamental rights) that are brought before them through a review petition, Constitutional review or a PIL.
• SC interprets and decides the provisions only within a narrow vision shown by the advocates dependent on their merit, intellect, expertise and motive presenting the case. As a result, the SC verdicts have lacked the wider comprehension of the problems.
• As humans are prone to making errors, all works of humans in any sphere of life are prone to errors; be that the provisions of the Constitution or its saviour, the SC judges.

Human Rights Charter of the UNHRC stipulates Fundamental Rights to Religion “Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion”.

Irrelevance of Some Verses in Current Times

A lot many Muslims also feel that many of the verses applied to Mohamed’s initial efforts in overcoming the resistance while He was trying to enforce Islam on to the Arabian Tribes during the 7th century. They feel many verses are no longer applicable; esp in secular and democratic nations. However, they don’t speak against Quran for the fear of reprisals by radicals and jihadists as happened in Rizvi’s case too. Supreme Court was also possibly wrong in suggesting the case be put up before Islamic scholars because those verses are hateful to all non-Muslims hence, they will not act against it. Actually, the SC is the right platform for the hateful Quranic Verses to be reviewed.

Conversion Game of Quran

There is another dimension to the Indians' (esp Hindu) concerns and unease that pertains to religious conversion. In numerous verses of Quran, the disbelievers are compelled to turn 'believers' by converting. Mohamed and other Caliphs of Islam did it with a mandate of "Convert, Flee or Die" that denies the Fundamental rights of non-Muslims to live and practice their own religion; something that we see happening in Islamic nations and even in J&K (read “Looking Back at Ralive, Tsalive ya Galive : January 1990 Genocide of Kashmiri Pandits”. https://thecounterviews.in/articles/ralive-tsalive-ya-galive-january-1990-genocide-kashmiri-pandits/). Such practices of conversions changing religious demography cannot be permitted in India or any other non-Islamic nations. It violates article 25 (i) giving freedom to preach religion but it doesn’t give freedom to change the religious demography of those nations at the cost of the original natives. It is a foregone conclusion that if Muslims become majority in India, Hindus will vanish; something that is bound to cause genocide of Hindus/Sikhs/Christians, prevalent in Islamic nations.

Some other Rights Violations

The above instances and descriptions of Rights violations are only by Jihadists as per their interpretation of Quran which undoubtedly has numerous many verses hateful and intolerant towards the non-Muslims of the world. This is why the non-Muslims have vanished from the Islamic nations owing to the atrocities committed on them. There are atrocities and Rights violations within Islam itself wherein Sunni, Shia, Ahmedia, Hazra, Salafists etc keep fighting among themselves again quoting verses of Quran. Muslims are also at receiving end following their 9/11 attacks on USA. Their jihadi nature turned one of the most peace-loving communities of the Buddhists against them in Myanmar where they were driven away from Rakhine state. Besides, there are a few other forms of rights violations also taking place in the various parts of the world. However, these are of miniscule nature when compared to the Jihadi Rights violations

Concluding Thoughts

The author of this article is no advocate or practitioner of laws; he is only a student and learner of Human Rights. From the Human rights point of view, the above verses in Quran are undoubtedly discriminatory, hateful, intolerant and even bigoted against non-Muslims of the world, violating their fundamental Rights of Equality, Freedom and Religion. There are many other verses too that could be considered offensive for polytheists and worshippers of idols. Hence, it may be appropriate for the UN/UNSC/UNHRC to constitute a committee of religious experts from all those religions and faiths abused/demeaned in Quran (like Christianity, Jew, Zoroastrian, Polytheist & Idol-worshippers) so as to go in details and assess if any or many of those verses are offensive to them and submit the report. Thereafter, the UN/UNSC/UNHRC as well as the respective non-Islamic nations may initiate appropriate actions whether those verses need to be amended/removed or Quran preaching be banned in those nations. It will also be appropriate to ask the Islamic nations to Amend Quran because most of the Jihadi Tanzeems have their foundation in the many Islamic nations.