THE VALUE OF A NON-MUSLIM LIFE by Joel Richardson
Whenever a Muslim “extremist” carries out a horrifying act in the name of Islam, most Muslims that I know are very quick to state that, “That is not Islam! Islam is not to be judged by the behavior of a few, but needs to be studied to see what it really teaches.” Fair enough. So the question then is: What does Islam really teach about the killing of non-Muslims?
The first thing that should be pointed out is that according to Islamic law, Muslims are, for all practical purposes, allowed to kill non-Muslims. This is based on the law of qisas. Qisas is essentially the law of reciprocity. It is the Islamic version of “an eye for an eye.” Qisas, for instance, states that if a Muslim murders another Muslim, then that Muslim will likewise be executed. Amazingly though, this law does not apply to a Muslim who murders a non-Muslim. This teaching is found in a hadith from Sahih Bukhari:
Narrated Ash-Sha’bi: Abu Juhaifa said:
I asked Ali, ‘What is [written] in this sheet of paper?’ All replied, it deals with the diyya [compensatory blood money paid by the killer to the relatives of the victim], the ransom for the releasing of the captives from the hands of the enemies, and the law that no Muslim should be killed in qisas [equality in punishment] for the killing of [a disbeliever].
In some cases, of course, the murderer might receive other penalties such as prison or a fine. But sadly, reality bears out that in a culture that does not value the life of non-Muslims as much as that of Muslims, a blind eye is most often turned to the murder of non-Muslims. If you go to the Web site of the Voice of the Martyrs at www.persecution.org, or of the Barnabas Fund at www.barnabasfund.org, you can read hundreds of stories, updated daily, of Christians mistreated or murdered without any legal repercussions for the Muslim murderer. The statement below is a perfect example of the mentality that I have often encountered when talking to many Muslims from the Middle East. This statement was made on an Internet interfaith discussion group. Notice the attitude toward the killing of non-Muslims (kaffirs):
The kaffirs [unbelievers] have been attacking Muslim countries killing Muslim people from the beginning of time…when we have done nothing. Like the people of Israel attack the Muslims from Palestine because they do it for the land and because they hate Arabs/Muslims…we defend them for Allah. We try and spread Islam, the one and only true word of Allah. They rejected it, therefore we are allowed to kill them. It is not haram [forbidden/illegal] to kill a kaffir. Of course we want to inshallah [by the will of Allah] peacefully live with them and inshallah teach them about the beautiful religion.
