Claims

The spread of Islam by the sword

God (Allah) says in the Quran (Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 256): “There is no compulsion in religion. The path of truth and guidance is clearly distinct from the path of error.”

This verse was revealed by Allah when some parents at that time wanted to force their children to become Muslims after they themselves had converted to Islam.

Many countries were occupied by conquerors at that time, who oppressed, humiliated and enslaved the people. After the Muslims had freed the population of these countries from the occupiers, they presented the message of Islam and explained it. After that the people had freedom and their own free will. With Islam the people got their freedom back, no matter which faith community they belonged to. Everyone could accept Islam or not.

God (Allah) also says in the Quran (Surah Yunus, verse 99): “And if your God had willed, all those on earth would indeed have believed together. Would you then force people to become believers?”

About 250 million Muslims live in Indonesia and Malaysia (the largest Muslim community in the world), although no Islamic army ever entered these countries. So how did the people there come to accept Islam?!

The character traits of the Muslim traders, to which Allah calls the Muslims, convinced the people of Islam.

“Through the conduct of the Muslims, Islam spread like wildfire not only through traders in Indonesia, Malaysia, China and the whole world, but also through its sciences.” (Los Angeles Times)

One more remark: In the Quran, God (Allah) never used the word “sword” or “fight” when He commanded the Muslims to spread Islam or to call people to Islam. Which word was used instead?

God (Allah) said to the Prophet Muhammad in the Quran (Surah An-Nahl, verse 125): “Call to the way of your God with wisdom and good admonition, and argue with them in the best manner. Indeed, your God knows best who strays from His way, and He knows best those who are rightly guided.”

Final point: A Muslim’s faith consists of several parts. One important part is to call people to recognise Islam as the true religion.

A Muslim’s faith is therefore not complete as long as he or she does not invite others to Allah’s way through deeds or words. This explains why the Islamic conquests took place: they served to spread the message of Islam peacefully.

“Do not take the Jews and Christians as guardians”

This verse (Surah Al-Ma’idah, verse 51) is in the Quran. But in order to understand and correctly interpret any verse in the Quran, there is a simple rule called “+7/−7”. It means: if you read an unclear verse in the Quran and want to understand it better, you should read up to seven verses before it and up to seven verses after it.

Applying this rule, verse 57 explains verse 51 in detail. In verse 57 God says: “O you who believe, do not take as guardians those who mock your religion and make it an object of play, nor the disbelievers, and fear God if you are believers.”

As further proof, God says in the Quran (Surah Al-Mumtahanah, verse 8): “Allah does not forbid you from being kind and acting justly towards those who have not fought against you because of religion and have not driven you out of your homes. Indeed, Allah loves the just.”

It follows that Muslims may have non-Muslims as guardians and friends. The exception is those who despise and mock their religion. Every person should have dignity and self-respect. One should not keep people in one’s life who make fun of one’s way of life or religion.

Respect is the foundation of good relations between people.

The Prophet’s statement: “I have been commanded to fight the people”

One of the statements (hadith) of the Prophet Muhammad reads: “I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, and until they establish prayer and pay the zakat. If they do so, their blood and their property are protected from me, except by the right of Islam.”

How can the Prophet Muhammad say such a thing, although God (Allah) says about him in the Quran (Surah Al-Anbiya, verse 107): “And We have sent you only as a mercy to the worlds”? That is a contradiction, isn’t it?

No, it is not. To understand a hadith, we need to know its background. That means: when and why was it said? And what do the words in the hadith mean?

The word “people” in the hadith is a key word. It does not mean all people; it describes a particular group, depending on the occasion on which it was said.

The proof: in a verse of the Quran, God (Allah) describes a situation of war between Muslims and non-Muslims at the time of the Prophet: “Those to whom the people said: ‘The people have gathered against you, so fear them!’ – but that only increased their faith, and they said: ‘Allah is sufficient for us, and what an excellent guardian He is!’” The first word “people” refers to those who negotiated with the Prophet. The second word “people” refers to those who fought against the Prophet.

In Islam there are four groups of people:

1. Muslim
2. Musta’man (any Muslim or non-Muslim person or group that asks for my protection)
3. Mu’ahad (any person or group with whom agreements exist, like today’s treaties between countries)
4. Combatant (the person or group that fights against me and starts a war in order to invade my country)

The Quran states that it is forbidden to fight or kill the first three groups. That leaves the fourth group, and this is the group the hadith speaks about.

Back to the hadith: the word “people” here refers to a particular group, namely the warriors who attack the Muslims first. God (Allah) forbids the Muslims to attack people. He says in the Quran (Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 190): “And fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but do not transgress! Allah does not love the transgressors.”

Jihad is terrorism!

Jihad is not prescribed in Islam in order to force people to accept Islam.

God (Allah) says in the Quran (Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 256): “There is no compulsion in religion. The path of truth and guidance is clearly distinct from the path of error.”

Rather, jihad is prescribed in order to ward off injustice, repel attacks and make the call to faith in the one God (Allah) possible. The Prophet Muhammad – may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him – did not fight people to force them to enter Islam, but because they had started the hostilities and had forbidden the Messenger to spread the message of Islam.

Islam is not a passive religion. That is why we find verses about jihad and about how to protect one’s religion and country. Even today, every constitution contains articles about the military that protects the country against attackers.

If you search Google for the word “Jihad”, the definition shown does not contain the word “terrorism”.

On the other hand, the Prophet Muhammad in his time sent letters about Islam and sometimes sent his companions to explain Islam to non-Muslims. With the development of technology this is no longer necessary. Today there is social media everywhere; therefore neither letters nor envoys are sent to other countries.

The Prophet Muhammad is the author of the Quran

Anyone who reads books notices that authors like to add a short personal biography to their book. An author likes to write about his successes and avoids, as far as possible, showing his weaknesses or embarrassing situations. In contrast, the Quran speaks both about situations in which the Prophet Muhammad was in the wrong and about situations in which he was reproached by God (Allah).

Many verses tell the life stories of prophets (such as Moses) in detail. Other verses report the birth of some prophets, such as Moses and Jesus.

If you read the whole Quran, you will find no verse about the biography of the Prophet Muhammad – neither about how he was born (as with Jesus) nor about how he lived (as with Moses). Nor will you find a verse about his family (as with the prophets Noah, Abraham and Moses).

It is therefore crystal clear that the Prophet Muhammad was not the author of the Quran.

According to Islamic belief, the Quran is word for word the unaltered message that Muhammad received from God piece by piece over a period of 23 years through the angel Gabriel, and proclaimed faithfully down to the letter. The Quran is therefore valid for the peoples of all times. Any other message received by an earlier prophet was valid only for a particular people at a particular time.

Polygamy for men, but not for women!

Before Islam, a man could marry many women (even more than four). There were neither restrictions nor rules for men’s marriages. So Islam did not introduce polygamy; it regulated and refined marital and family relations.

Islam is the only religion that restricts marriage to several women. Neither in the Old Testament (Torah) nor in the New Testament is there a verse that limits marriage to several women. Only later came the rule of the Church (NOT of the holy books) that a man may marry only one woman.

Incidentally, among the Jews a man could marry several women at the same time up to modern times. This is already mentioned and permitted in Exodus* (21). Polygamy also exists among the Mormons (a Christian group).

God (Allah) also says in the Quran (Surah An-Nisa “The Women”, verse 3): “… marry those women who seem good to you, two, three or four. But if you fear that you will not act justly, then (only) one, or what your right hand possesses. That is more suitable so that you do not deceive and do not oppress.”

The justice between wives that the verse speaks of is a justice that lies within the ability of the person obliged. It means fulfilling the legal rights in the required manner, including food, clothing, housing and everything that befits the dignity of a woman as a human being. If a man cannot guarantee this justice, he may not marry more than one woman.

Islam was not sent for one particular group only, but for all mankind. Many cultures still accept polygamy today.

Now to the next question: why is polygamy not permitted for women?

Allah created us, and He knows exactly what is useful and what is harmful for us. Because He loves us, wants to guide us to the right path and wants to forgive us, He set these rules for us. He says in the Quran (Surah An-Nisa “The Women”, verse 27): “And Allah wants to accept your repentance, but those who follow their desires want you to deviate completely (from the right path).”

Polygamy for women would lead to a mixing of lineages. Even a DNA test is not 100 % accurate.

It is worth noting that Allah did not oblige Muslims to practise polygamy. He permitted it. It is a permission from Allah, and people are free to make use of it or not.

* Exodus: the second book of the Torah and of the Jewish Tanakh

The imposition of the tribute

Rules and laws change over time. In those days there were many wars and many conquerors. Serving in the army was therefore a duty for every Muslim. Non-Muslims who lived in a Muslim country did not have to fight in the Islamic army. That is why the tribute was prescribed for this group, which did not want to fight against attackers.

The following rules applied to the tribute:

• The poor are exempt.
• Women and children are exempt.
• It applies only to men (whether Muslim or non-Muslim) who do not serve in the army.

Incidentally, the tribute was not invented by Islam; it was already known as a levy before. The Gospel of Mark (12:14–17) reports that the Pharisees and Herodians asked Jesus: “Should we pay taxes to Caesar?” He answered: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Some say the tribute was a means of pressure to make non-Muslims accept Islam. But that is not true at all.

The simplest logical answer is this: the zakat in Islam is much higher than the tribute. That means a person pays more money if he becomes a Muslim.

In other words: the non-Muslims paid for the service that the Muslims fought for them and protected them against attackers. That was the law of the land at that time. Something similar exists today, namely in the form of taxes that every person pays for certain services.

Child rape and the age of Aisha

The physical development of women differs depending on environment and place. We see, for example, that in Africa puberty and the physical changes in girls begin earlier than in Europe.

For a marriage to be valid, two basic conditions must be met: mental maturity and physical maturity.

Aisha met both conditions early, and her age was therefore suitable for marriage.

From the time before and after Islam there are reports of cases in which kings or Jews married girls who were much younger still – for example the marriage of the Byzantine emperor Alexios II, who married the nine-year-old princess Agnes. Customs, traditions and laws change over the centuries.

Further proof that this was entirely common at the time: those who hated the Prophet Muhammad during his lifetime or fought Islam said many bad things about him – that he was a madman, a priest, a sorcerer and so on. But they said nothing at all about his having married a young woman. Had this been a scandal at the time, they would have used the opportunity to turn the disbelievers or the new Muslims away from the Prophet Muhammad or to stir up hatred against him.

Second part, on the claim of rape: It is only logical that a woman hates the man who raped her, isn’t it?

But that completely contradicts Aisha’s life with the Messenger (may God bless him and grant him peace). All books about the Prophet’s biography state that she led a very happy married life with the Messenger and was very jealous when he was with his other wives. That shows that she loved him, and he loved her most. A hadith reports that one of his companions asked him: “Whom do you love most?” He answered: “Aisha.” (Hadith 3662 in Bukhari)

When the Prophet let his wives choose – because of their excessive demands – between divorce and staying with him, Aisha decided without hesitation to stay with him. Allah mentions this in the Quran (Surah Al-Ahzab, verse 28): “O Prophet, say to your wives: If you desire the life of this world and its adornment, then come, I will give you a provision and release you in a gracious manner.”

If she had been forced to marry him, why did she not take the opportunity to leave him?

If the claim that the Prophet raped her were true:

• Why then did she not hate Islam or convert to another religion?
• Why did she remain faithful to him for 40 years after his death?
• Why did she teach the new Muslims the Prophet’s way of life?
• Why then did she narrate around 2,000 hadiths about the Prophet?

Injustice in inheritance between men and women

To judge whether Allah has disadvantaged women, we need to understand the logic and wisdom behind the law of inheritance.

In Islam the man is responsible for financial matters. Before marriage it is the responsibility of the father or the brother to provide for the woman’s financial needs, including her expenses, her living costs and her housing. After marriage this is the responsibility of her husband and her son. Women are thus financially better protected in Islam.

Allah says in the Quran (Surah An-Nisa “The Women”, verse 34): “Men are responsible for women because of what Allah has given some of them over others and because they spend of their wealth (for them).”

The claim that women always receive only half of what a man receives is absolutely not true. The logic behind the shares of inheritance in Islam depends on age and on the degree of kinship.

Age: The son inherits more than the grandfather (although both are men).

Degree of kinship: The daughter inherits more than the wife (although both are women).

In some situations women therefore inherit exactly as much as the man, as in Surah An-Nisa “The Women”, verse 11: “… And each of the parents is entitled to one sixth of what he leaves, if he has children.” Here father and mother each receive one sixth of what their son leaves.

Sometimes the woman inherits more than the man, as in Surah An-Nisa “The Women”, verse 11: “But if there are (only) women, more than two, they are entitled to two thirds of what he leaves; and if there is (only) one, then half.”

The woman receives half of her father’s estate if she is his only child, while her grandfather receives only one sixth. In this case the woman receives more than the man. This is because the daughter belongs to the first order of kinship and is younger.

The situation in which a woman inherits half as much as the man arises when both are of the same age. In this case the man bears the responsibility of providing for the financial needs of his wife, his daughter and so on.

Let me end with a question:

A father dies and leaves 60,000 euros to his two children (a son and a daughter). The son receives 40,000 euros, the daughter 20,000 euros. Which is better: to receive 40,000 euros and have to provide for others (such as wife, children and mother) out of it – or to keep 20,000 euros entirely for oneself, without being obliged to spend a single cent on others?

An example for further explanation: a man dies and leaves 5 million euros. The distribution looks like this:

Allah says: “And kill them wherever you find them”

To understand the Quran, one must know when and in what situation a verse was revealed. The verses about killing disbelievers have led to much discussion and have been explained by many religious scholars.

These verses were revealed at a time of war between the Muslims and the disbelievers, in which Muslims were driven out, hunted, dispossessed and killed by the disbelievers.

These are the verses in question:

(Surah An-Nisa, verse 89) “So do not take confidants from among them until they emigrate in the way of Allah! But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take from among them neither protector nor helper.”

(Surah At-Tawbah, verse 5) “When the sacred months have passed, then kill the idolaters wherever you find them, seize them, besiege them and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush! But if they repent, establish prayer and pay the alms, then let them go their way! Indeed, Allah is All-Forgiving, Merciful.”

(Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 191) “And kill them wherever you come upon them, and drive them out from where they drove you out, for persecution is worse than killing! But do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight you there (first). But if they fight you (there), then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.”

In Islam there are four groups of people:

1. Muslim
2. Musta’man (any Muslim or non-Muslim person or group that asks for protection)
3. Mu’ahad (any person or group with whom agreements exist, like today’s treaties between countries)
4. Combatant (the attacking person or group that fights against the Muslims and starts a war against them in order to invade their land, wipe them out or achieve political goals)

The Quran states that it is forbidden to fight or kill the first three groups. That leaves the fourth group, and this is the group these verses refer to.

Islam is not a passive religion; it protects the dignity and the rights of its followers. That is why there are verses about fighting and killing in the Quran. But, to stress it once more: they apply to group 4 as described above.

Moreover, Allah says in the Quran (Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 190): “And fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but do not transgress! Allah does not love the transgressors.”

As further proof, God says in the Quran (Surah Al-Mumtahanah, verse 8): “Allah does not forbid you from being kind and acting justly towards those who have not fought against you because of religion and have not driven you out of your homes. Indeed, Allah loves the just.”

Is a woman’s testimony worth only half that of a man?

This principle does not apply to all matters, but only to those in which the man is knowledgeable and in which he is not guided by emotions, such as civil matters and business matters … because the woman is not familiar with financial matters. She is not specialised in them.

… The woman has a strong memory in matters that belong to her world. In financial matters she has a weak memory, because she does not often deal with them. This circumstance causes a deficit and a lack of experience in this area. On the other hand, she has a wealth of emotions. In contrast, the man suffers from a lack of emotions.

During pregnancy the woman suffers from a weakening of her memory and from its fluctuating performance. Sometimes the woman suffers from a weak memory for more than a year after giving birth, because her brain cells decrease [in the process].

The traits that characterise most women, such as over-emotionality, high excitability and exaggerated jealousy, can also affect some men, because women are not the only ones who have these traits. But the principle [that a woman’s testimony counts only half] applies to the great majority. Especially one or two days before her monthly period, the woman is nervous because of hormonal changes and cannot act with her full mental strength (premenstrual syndrome).

Testimony is a duty and a responsibility. If Allah reduces this duty and responsibility for the woman, the woman is thereby honoured, not the opposite.

The testimony of a single woman counts when it comes to women’s matters. In contrast, the testimony of a single man is in no case valid in this area. Here the woman has an advantage over the man.

If a woman forgets something in her testimony, she is reminded of it by the other female witness. Two women should always testify, as Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 282 says: “And let two witnesses from among your men testify, and if there are not two men, then [let] one man and two women [testify].” In contrast, a man’s testimony is no longer valid if he forgets something. Here too the woman has an advantage over the man.

The argument of the enemies of Islam that the half validity of a woman’s testimony is a disadvantage for the woman compared with the man is a groundless claim. For testimony is not a human right, but a duty and a responsibility.

“The Quran permits men to beat women” (Surah 4:34)

Hardly any verse is quoted as often as this one. God (Allah) says in the Quran (Surah An-Nisa “The Women”, verse 34), in meaning:

“… And as for those [wives] from whom you fear ill-conduct (nushuz), admonish them, leave them alone in their beds, and strike them. But if they obey you, do not seek a means against them. Indeed, Allah is Most High, Most Great.”

Anyone who reads only this one sentence gets the wrong picture. To understand the verse, three questions must be asked: In what time was it revealed? What exactly does it say – and what does it not say? And how did the Prophet himself live by it?

1. The time: a limitation, not a command
In 7th-century Arabia, a woman had practically no rights. Violence against wives was common and bound by no rules – incidentally also in Europe: as late as the 18th century, English law still granted a husband the right to “moderate correction” of his wife. The Quran did not introduce this widespread practice; it placed strict limits on it. The verse obliges no one to do anything – it describes a final, strictly limited stage in a marital crisis that is already on the verge of breaking down.

2. The text: a sequence of de-escalation
The verse sets a fixed order: first talking, then physical distance. And the very next verse, 35, requires that arbitrators from both families be called in before a separation takes place. At its core, this is what we today call “couples counselling”.

As for the third stage: scholars in the very first generations already defined what is meant by it – and what is not. Ibn Abbas, one of the greatest Quran commentators and a cousin of the Prophet, was asked what “strike” meant. He answered: with the siwak (a small tooth-cleaning stick) or something similar (reported in the Tafsir of at-Tabari). It is therefore a symbolic gesture of seriousness, not about causing pain. Striking the face, or leaving marks or pain, is forbidden according to all schools of law.

In addition, the Arabic word “daraba” has many meanings in the Quran. In Surah 14:24 it means “to set forth a parable”, in Surah 4:101 “to travel”. For this reason, some contemporary scholars even understand the passage as “to move away from them” – that is, a temporary separation.

3. The example: the Prophet never struck a woman
What matters most is how the Prophet Muhammad himself lived the Quran. His wife Aisha reports:

“The Messenger of Allah never struck anyone with his hand – neither a woman nor a servant.” (Muslim, no. 2328a)

When women complained to him that their husbands were beating them, he said: “Those who do such a thing are not the best among you.” (Abu Dawud, no. 2146). And elsewhere: “The best of you are those who are best to their wives.” (Tirmidhi, no. 3895). He also asked: “How can one of you beat his wife as he beats a stallion camel, and then want to embrace her (sleep with her) at the end of the day?” (Bukhari, no. 6042)

God (Allah) describes marriage in the Quran (Surah Ar-Rum, verse 21) as follows:

“And among His signs is that He created for you spouses from among yourselves so that you may find tranquillity in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy.”

Conclusion: Domestic violence as we know it today – beatings, humiliation, fear – is forbidden (haram) in Islam. A woman who is harmed has the right under Islamic law to obtain a divorce. Anyone who mistreats his wife by citing this verse acts against the Quran and against the example of the Prophet.

The headscarf – a sign of women’s oppression?

Many people see the headscarf as a symbol that women are controlled by men. Let us look at what the Quran actually says – and whom it addresses first.

1. The Quran addresses men first
Before God (Allah) speaks about women’s clothing, He says (Surah An-Nur, verse 30):

“Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and guard their chastity. That is purer for them.”

Only in the next verse (Surah An-Nur, verse 31) are women told not to display their adornment and to draw their coverings over their chests. Decency and modesty are therefore a duty for both sexes – men are also subject to dress rules. The aim is for a person to be judged by their character and mind, not by their body.

2. The headscarf is not an invention of Islam
The Virgin Mary is almost always depicted with a veil in Christian art. Catholic nuns still wear one today. The apostle Paul writes in the Bible (1 Corinthians 11:5–6) that a woman should cover her head when praying. Married Orthodox Jewish women cover their hair with a scarf or wig. And only a few decades ago, the headscarf was also completely normal for many women in Germany, especially in the countryside. No one would call Mary or a nun “oppressed”.

Left: Mary, the mother of Jesus. Centre: Mother Teresa. Right: a Muslim woman.

What do you notice about these three pictures? All three women wear a headscarf, even though they come from different times and even different religions.

3. Coercion contradicts Islam
God (Allah) says in the Quran (Surah Al-Baqara, verse 256): “There is no compulsion in religion.” In Islam, every act of worship only counts if it is done with one’s own intention (niyya). A headscarf worn under coercion has no value before God. If a state or a family forces women to wear it, this is therefore not Islamic behaviour – and it is also criticised by many Muslim scholars.

4. Most women wear it out of conviction
Studies by the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) on Muslim life in Germany show that most Muslim women in Germany who wear a headscarf name their own faith as the reason – and only very rarely the expectations of their family or husband.

Many women who wear a headscarf are doctors, teachers, engineers or athletes. The American fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad won an Olympic medal wearing a headscarf in 2016.

5. The face and hands do not have to be covered
According to the majority of scholars, the face and hands are not among what must be covered. A clear indication: during the pilgrimage (Hajj), the high point of religious life, women are even forbidden to veil their faces (Bukhari, no. 1838).

A final question: In a free society, a woman may wear a miniskirt – and no one may forbid her. Why should the same freedom not apply when a woman chooses to cover herself? The German Basic Law (Article 4) protects both. Freedom means that the woman decides for herself – not her husband, not her family, and not her critics either.

Why may a Muslim woman not marry a non-Muslim?

A Muslim man may marry a Christian or Jewish woman, but a Muslim woman may not marry a Christian or Jewish man. Critics see this as unequal treatment. But the reason has nothing to do with the worth of the woman – it is about the protection of her faith.

In the Quran (Surah Al-Ma’ida, verse 5), God (Allah) permits the Muslim man to marry “chaste women of those who were given the Scripture”, that is, Christian and Jewish women. Surah Al-Mumtahana (verse 10), on the other hand, states that believing women are not lawful for the unbelievers.

1. A Muslim must honour Jesus and Moses
A Muslim cannot be a Muslim at all without believing in Jesus (ʿIsa) and Moses (Musa) as prophets of God and honouring Mary. God (Allah) says (Surah Al-Baqara, verse 285): “We make no distinction between any of His messengers.” So when a Muslim marries a Christian woman, her faith is protected by his own religion: he may not force her to become Muslim (Surah 2:256), she may attend her church, and he may not insult her prophet – otherwise he violates his own faith.

2. The reverse protection does not exist
A Christian or Jewish man does not recognise Muhammad as a prophet, and his religion does not oblige him to respect the Quran or Islamic rules. The faith of the Muslim wife – her prayer, her fasting, her dietary rules, the upbringing of the children – would have no religious protection in such a marriage. The rule therefore protects the woman, not the man.

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, explained it this way in 2022: the Muslim believes in Jesus and Moses and is obliged to respect the faith of his Christian or Jewish wife. A non-Muslim man, by contrast, does not recognise the Prophet Muhammad. If he were to recognise and honour him as a prophet, the obstacle would no longer exist.

3. Other religions have similar – or stricter – rules
The Catholic Church requires special permission for a marriage with a non-Catholic, and the Catholic partner must promise to do everything possible to have the children baptised and raised Catholic (Canon Law, Canon 1125). In Orthodox Judaism, a marriage with a non-Jewish partner is not recognised at all – neither for men nor for women. By comparison, Islam is even more open: it explicitly recognises the marriage of a Muslim man with a Christian or Jewish woman.

The death penalty for leaving Islam (apostasy)

Critics say: “Whoever leaves Islam is killed.” To answer this question honestly, one must distinguish between the Quran, the actions of the Prophet, and later legal history.

1. The Quran names no worldly punishment
In the entire Quran there is not a single verse that prescribes a punishment in this world for abandoning the faith. On the contrary, God (Allah) says (Surah Al-Kahf, verse 29):

“The truth is from your Lord. So whoever wills, let him believe; and whoever wills, let him disbelieve.”

And in Surah An-Nisa (verse 137), God speaks of people who “believe, then disbelieve, then believe again, and then disbelieve again”. Had the first apostasy been followed by the death penalty, they could never have believed a second time. According to the Quran, the punishment for apostasy lies with God in the hereafter (Surah Al-Baqara, verse 217).

2. The Prophet killed no one for changing their faith

• A Bedouin came to Medina, accepted Islam, and later asked three times to withdraw his pledge of allegiance. The Prophet let him leave unharmed (Bukhari, no. 7211).
• In the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, the Prophet agreed that Muslims who defected to the Meccans would not be brought back – he thus accepted that they were leaving Islam.
• Ubaydullah ibn Jahsh, an early Muslim, converted to Christianity in Abyssinia. He was not punished.
• In Medina lived the “hypocrites” (munafiqun), whose disbelief was well known, above all Abdullah ibn Ubayy. The Prophet let them live, “so that people would not say that Muhammad kills his companions” (Bukhari, no. 4905).

3. The hadith refers to high treason, not a change of faith
There is the hadith “Whoever changes his religion, kill him” (Bukhari, no. 6922). Another hadith describes the same case more precisely: the one “who abandons his religion and separates from the community” (Bukhari, no. 6878). At that time, religion and state were one. Whoever left Islam usually also went over to the enemy who was waging war against the Muslims. The Quran itself reports a group that planned to accept Islam in the morning and renounce it in the evening in order to unsettle the Muslims (Surah Al Imran, verse 72). It was therefore about treason and fighting against the community – comparable to what today is called “high treason”, which in Germany too is punishable by up to life imprisonment (Section 81 of the German Criminal Code).

4. What scholars say today
It is true: many classical jurists held the death penalty for apostasy – at a time when religious affiliation was the same as political loyalty. But there have long been important voices who judge differently. Sheikh Mahmud Shaltut, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, taught that a mere change of faith carries no worldly punishment. The former Grand Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, declared publicly in 2007 that a Muslim can change his religion and that judgment on this lies with God alone. And the Central Council of Muslims in Germany explicitly recognised in its “Islamic Charter” (2002) the right to change one’s religion or to have no religion.

For comparison: The Bible (Deuteronomy 13:6–11) also prescribes stoning for anyone who entices others to serve other gods, and in Christian Europe “heretics” were burned for centuries. No one would conclude from this that Christians or Jews today want to kill people of other faiths.

Conclusion: A faith that is lived only out of fear is not faith. God (Allah) does not want hypocrites, but people who believe out of conviction – “There is no compulsion in religion” (Surah 2:256).

Banu Qurayza – did Muhammad have a Jewish tribe executed?

Critics claim that the Prophet had the men of the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza executed because they were Jews. To understand the event, one has to know the whole story.

1. A treaty of alliance
When the Prophet came to Medina, he made a treaty with all the tribes of the city – Muslims and Jews – known as the “Constitution of Medina”. In it, everyone committed to defending the city together if it was attacked, and not to support the enemy. The Jews kept their religion, their property and their own jurisdiction.

2. Betrayal in the middle of war
In the year 627, an alliance of around 10,000 fighters besieged Medina, which was defended by only about 3,000 Muslims (the Battle of the Trench). The Muslims had dug a trench – the only open side of the city was where the Banu Qurayza lived. At exactly this moment, the Banu Qurayza broke the treaty and negotiated with the attackers. Had the plan succeeded, the Muslim women and children who were being sheltered in the city would have been left defenceless. The survival of the entire community was at stake.

3. The verdict was given by their own ally – according to their own law
After the attackers withdrew, the Banu Qurayza surrendered. They asked that Sa’d ibn Mu’adh judge them – the leader of the Aws tribe, who had formerly been their ally (Bukhari, no. 3043). Sa’d decided: the men able to fight were to be executed, and the women and children taken captive.

This verdict corresponds exactly to what the Torah itself prescribes for a city that rejects peace and wages war (Deuteronomy 20:10–14). It was therefore not a special “Islamic” law against Jews, but a law of war that was also found in the scriptures of the Banu Qurayza themselves.

4. It was about betrayal – not religion
The best proof: two other Jewish tribes of Medina, the Banu Qaynuqa and the Banu Nadir, had also broken treaties earlier. They were not killed, but were allowed to leave the city with their property. Jews who had not taken part in the betrayal were spared. And Jews continued to live in Medina and Khaybar afterwards. When the Prophet died, his armour was held by a Jewish merchant as a pledge for grain (Bukhari, no. 2916) – he continued to trade normally with Jews until the very end.

5. What historians discuss
There are different figures for the exact number of those executed (between 400 and 900). The most detailed account comes from Ibn Ishaq, who wrote around 120 years later. The great scholar Imam Malik already criticised him for taking over stories without checking them. For this reason, the historian W. N. Arafat argued in 1976 that the scale of the event was greatly exaggerated in the later accounts.

6. Judging by the standards of the time
Until the 20th century, high treason in wartime was punished by death in almost every country in the world. And even today, some countries still impose the death penalty for high treason – especially in times of war. An event from the year 627 must be judged by the standards of its time – not by those of a modern democracy at peace. For Muslims, the command of the Quran always applies (Surah Al-Ma’ida, verse 8):

“And do not let hatred of a people lead you to be unjust. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness.”