In mid-November I posted about a story from California’s Paradise Post about an ex-Muslim who now calls himself Mujahid-El-Masih, who was quoted as saying that “the main theme of jihad is the murdering of Christians and Jews.” I also posted about the furious reaction from CAIR, in which post I noted that “the Qur’an actually mandates warfare against Christians and Jews not simply to murder them, but to offer them three choices: conversion, death, or subjugation as inferiors under Islamic law (cf. Qur’an 9:29). Many Muslim commentators throughout history and today have understood this to be the Qur’an’s last word on jihad.”
I have just received an email from Mujahid-El-Masih in which he says that he was misquoted by the Paradise Post: “I did not say that the main theme of Jihad is murdering Jews and Christians. I said the main theme of the Quran is Jihad. The Jihad can be done in three main ways: when Muslims invade any country they give three choices to the people.
1. Accept Islam.
2. Pay Tax.
3. Death By the Sword.”
This is, of course, absolutely true, in line with Muhammad’s directions in this hadith:
Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war…When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them….If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them. (Sahih Muslim no. 4294).