“The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind.” So said Obama is his speech at Cairo on June 4, 2009, intended to the Muslim world.
This quote is taken from verse 5:32 of the "Holy Koran". Let us first quote the full verse and see what it says (Yusuf Ali translation):
“[005:032] On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land.”
The first thing to note is that, the command (allegedly of Allah) applies to the “Children of Israel” (i.e. Jews). It does not apply to Muslims. Probably, that is why you find a lot of killings of innocent civilians by extremist Muslims today. The extremist Muslims read nothing but the Koran and know their stuff better than the moderate Muslims and non-Muslims who don’t read the Quran.
Secondly, the verse does not use the word “innocent” anywhere, in any translation, which you can see at this link from Islamist site.
Thirdly, a person can be slain for (i) murder or (ii) for spreading mischief in the land (fasad). Now what is spreading mischief in the land (fasad)? The next verse 5:33 says:
The punishment of those who wage war against God and His Apostle, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter;
Let us see from other ayats, what this “spreading mischief” means:
Quran 7:103: Then after them We sent Moses with Our signs to Pharaoh and his chiefs, but they wrongfully rejected them: So see what was the end of those who made mischief(Mufisdoon).[So rejecting prophet /not converting to Islam is “mischief” and non-Muslims can be put to death]
Quran 8:73: The Unbelievers are protectors, one of another: Unless ye do this, (protect each other), there would be tumult and oppression on earth, and great mischief. [So, again unbelievers are mischief-makers-Providing Muslims equal citizenship rights and all rights -this would make us “mischief makers”]
Now let us see some of the renowned Tafsirs, how they define “mischief”:
“Because of that, which Cain did, We decreed for the Children of Israel that whoever slays a soul for other than a soul, slain, or for, other than, corruption, committed, in the land, in the way of unbelief, fornication or waylaying and the like, it shall be as if he had slain mankind altogether; and whoever saves the life of one, by refraining from slaying, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind — Ibn ‘Abbās said [that the above is meant] in the sense of violating and protecting its [a soul’s] sanctity [respectively]. Our messengers have already come to them, that is, to the Children of Israel, with clear proofs, miracles, but after that many of them still commit excesses in the land, overstepping the bounds through disbelief, killing and the like.” [Tafsir Al Jalalyn]
“…Sa’id bin Jubayr said, "He who allows himself to shed the blood of a Muslim, is like he who allows shedding the blood of all people. He who forbids shedding the blood of one Muslim, is like he who forbids shedding the blood of all people.'' In addition, Ibn Jurayj said that Al-A`raj said that Mujahid commented on the Ayah, (it would be as if he killed all mankind) "He who kills a believing soul intentionally, Allah makes the Fire of Hell his abode, He will become angry with him, and curse him, and has prepared a tremendous punishment for him, equal to if he had killed all people, his punishment will still be the same.'' Ibn Jurayj said that Mujahid said that the Ayah, (and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind.) means, "He who does not kill anyone, then the lives of people are safe from him.'' [Ibn Kathir’s Tafsir]
Thus, examination of the full ayat 5:32 and its comparison with other ayats and Tafsir, we find that Obama is guilty of misquoting or partially quoting the verse from Holy Quran, to give it a wrong meaning from what it true means. According to the Tafsirs, this ayat protects only a Muslim from being killed by another (today even this is violated by Muslims). It offers no protection to non-Muslims who are fair game to the Muslims.
President Obama is either misled or his intention is to mislead non-Muslims, while placating his Muslim audience.
Further, this verse is copied from a Jewish book Mishnah Sanhedrin, not from the Torah as mistakenly thought Muhammad (Allah), I will deal below.
Obama passes on noble Jewish Talmudic teaching as Islamic
Now I will examine the full story behind that verse. Recall that the verse commenced with “On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel”. Now the questions are:
On what account?
Was it really ordained for the Children of Israel by God? Was it there in the Torah?
For this, we need to examine verses 5.27-5.31 of the Quran, which narrate the story of two sons of Adam:
Recite to them the truth of the story of the two sons of Adam. Behold! they each presented a sacrifice (to God): It was accepted from one, but not from the other. Said the latter: "Be sure I will slay thee." "Surely," said the former, "God doth accept of the sacrifice of those who are righteous. If thou dost stretch thy hand against me, to slay me, it is not for me to stretch my hand against thee to slay thee: for I do fear God, the cherisher of the worlds. For me, I intend to let thee draw on thyself my sin as well as thine, for thou wilt be among the companions of the fire, and that is the reward of those who do wrong. The (selfish) soul of the other led him to the murder of his brother: he murdered him, and became (himself) one of the lost ones. Then God sent a raven, who scratched the ground, to show him how to hide the shame of his brother. "Woe is me!" said he; "Was I not even able to be as this raven, and to hide the shame of my brother?" then he became full of regrets.
“Recite to them the truth of the story of the two sons of Adam. Behold! they each presented a sacrifice (to God): It was accepted from one, but not from the other”… Nothing is very clear in these verses unless we refer the Torah, where the story of Abel and Cain, the sons of Adam, is narrated. Now Quran does not even contain the names of the two sons of Adam and their sacrifices to God. So what is the purpose of repeating the incomplete story in the Quran, when the complete one is already narrated in the Torah as this:
...And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto HaShem. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And HaShem had respect unto Abel and to his offering; but unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
The rejection of Cain’s offering made him jealous and he killed Abel. Now what has this got to do with verse 5.32? Only one individual was murdered. There was no intent/action on part of Cain to commit mass murders. Secondly, this verse 5.32 said to be ordained for Jews is not found in Torah at all. It is found in Talmud. Let us see what Talmud says in Mishnah Sanhedrin:
You may also be aware of the fact that there is no similarity between civil and criminal cases. In civil cases one may repay the money damage and he is atoned; but in criminal cases the blood of the person executed, and of his descendants to the end of all generations, clings to the originator of his execution. So do we find in the case of Cain, who slew his brother. It reads [Gen. iv. 10]: "The voice of the 'bloods' of thy brother are crying unto me from the ground." It does not read "blood," but "bloods," which means his blood and the blood of his descendants. [According to others it reads "bloods" in the plural, because his blood was scattered all over the trees and stones.] Therefore the man was created singly, to teach that he who destroys one soul of a human being, the Scripture considers him as if he should destroy a whole world, and him who saves one soul of Israel, the Scripture considers him as if he should save a whole world. And also because of peace among creatures, so that one should not say: My grandfather was greater than yours; and also that the heretic shall not say: There are many creators in heaven; and also to proclaim the glory of the Holy One, blessed be He. For a human being stamps many coins with one stamp, and all of them are alike; but the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, has stamped every man with the stamp of Adam the First, and nevertheless not one of them is like the other. Therefore every man may say: The world was created for my sake, hence I must be upright, just, etc.
Thus, the verse—“he who destroys one soul of a human being, the Scripture considers him as if he should destroy a whole world, and him who saves one soul of Israel, the Scripture considers him as if he should save a whole world”—is not there in the sacred Torah. Actually, it was the commentary or interpretation of Jewish scholars/Rabbis of the Torah. The above commentary explains Genesis 4:10 and also the spiritual significance of the Adam and Eve story. It explains why only one Adam was created and not multiple of Adams. Muhammad, from his patchy knowledge, failed to figure out that this was a commentary on Genesis 4.10 and the significance of the creation of Adam story, and mistook it to be a revealed text. He distorted the sublime teachings of Talmud to this:
On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land.
In fact, many Muslims do not quote the full text of verse 5.32, because it is a badly messed up and distorted version of the original from the Talmud, and that quoting the full verse will cause them embarrassment. In this context, it is worth examining Maulana Maududi’s comments:
It is a pity that the precious words which embody God's ordinance are to be found nowhere in the Bible today. The Talmud, however, does mention this subject…… The Talmud also mentions that in trials for murder, the Israelite judges used to address the witnesses as follows: Whoever kills one person, merits punishment as if he had slain all the men in the world.
Maududi acknowledges that the verse 5.32, said to be revealed by God to the Jews, are not there in Torah but in the Talmud. But he cleverly conceals the full context, in which these words are found in the Talmud.
Conclusion
Muhammad, aka Allah, erroneously mistook Quran 5:32 to be a revealed verse of the Torah. He didn’t know that it was in the Talmud and couldn’t figure out how “Whoever kills one person, merits punishment as if he had slain all the men in the world” was connected to the Abel and Cain story.
And President Obama, out of his ignorance or deception, obviously passed on the noble Jewish teaching as Islamic to placate Muslims.
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