Hamad Al Muftah, the Deputy Chief of Mission for the Qatari enclave in D.C., went on a Twitter rampage, attacking the many critics of Qatar, and one particular tweet of his happened to caught my eye.
“An attack by those who hate peace and embrace extremism reminds us of the importance of our values. It is a blessing. As the Bible says, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ (Matthew 5:9). The Quran teaches, ‘And if they incline to peace, then incline to it’ (Quran 8:61). The Torah reminds us, ‘Seek peace and pursue it’ (Psalms 34:14),” Al Muftah tweeted.
One of those is not like the others. And as usual it’s the Koran.
Your first hint is the conditional opening of “And if they incline to peace, then incline to it” which suggests a whole lot of context is being left out.
Like so much of the Koran, it’s actually about waging war on non-Muslims.
So let’s have a bit of context for good old Koran 8:61.
“Do not let those infidels think they are not within reach. They will have no escape.” Koran 8:59
“Make ready against them all you can of power, including steeds of war to threaten the enemy of Allah” Koran 8:60
As expected, it’s about fighting, killing and enslaving non-Muslims.
Yes, 8:61 mentions ‘peace’, but in Islam, peace means submitting to Allah for Muslims… and submissions to Muslims for non-Muslims.
And thus a more accurate translation is
“And in case they are bent on submission, then be bent on it and put your trust in Allah; surely He, Ever He, is The Ever-Hearing, The Ever-Knowing” (Koran 8:61)
It’s not exactly “blessed be the peacemakers” or “seek peace and pursue it” because there is no peace with Islam.
And certainly no peace, only a knife in the back, from Qatar.
