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Interpretation
\r\n Al-Maida (The Table Spread) - Chapter 5: Verse 44 (partial)

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\"And whoever does not rule by what God has revealed, truly they are the unbelievers."

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The charity that Muslim scholars granted passages from the Quran and Hadiths in order to read them as part of a greater, encompassing system of truth meant that their literal meaning was often set aside altogether. That one had to move from the evident meaning of a text to a secondary meaning because compelling evidence required it was known as Tawil, or interpretation. Even the earliest Muslims understood that literal meanings could, in fact, be dangerous. In a series of verses chastising the Jews and Christians of Medina for not following the sacred laws revealed to them or submitting to the Prophet's judgment, the Quran declares: 'And whoever does not rule by what God has revealed, truly they are the unbelievers.' This verse has echoed violently among militant revivalist groups in the modern period. It literally condemns as kafirs - unbelievers - those who do not rule by the law revealed by God, the Shariah. The Companion Ibn Abbas, who was so prized for his exegesis of the Quran's language that he was dubbed 'The Rabbi of this Nation,' offered a crucial specification. 'It is not the unbelief that they think it is, namely the unbelief that places someone outside the Muslim community. Rather it is an unbelief other than that unbelief.'

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Distancing this Quranic verse from accusations of apostasy was crucial in the first decades of Islam, which saw the emergence of the extremist Kharijite sect. This group believed that anyone who committed a serious sin was an apostate deserving of death (if someone really believed in God, how could they disobey Him?). Kharijites assassinated the fourth caliph, Ali bin Abi Talib, after accusing him of not ruling by God's decree. Ibn Abbas confronted the Kharijites with his explanations, and some four thousand eventually recanted their extremism.

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Compiled From:
\r\n \"Misquoting Muhammad\" - Jonathan A.C. Brown, pp. 81, 82

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