[Crann na Beatha]

This post has been deleted.

[Frank Grimes]

Originally Posted by JT26

Can someone explain theologically speaking these elements in the Quran.
I'm.not interested in simplistic statement s rather what is the Islamic scholarly viewpoint

I'll preface this reply with some caveats, the main one being that you should talk to a scholar about this stuff - i.e. go to a mosque and talk to an imam. The next caveats are; I am not a Muslim, so obviously I am not an Islamic scholar and therefore not an expert in the Shari'ah.

Having said all of that, I have read a lot about these topics and have numerous sources that I consult when the need arises. One of the reference books I use is a manual of fiqh from the Shafi'i Madhhab called The Reliance of the Traveller; despite what you might think based on the URL I have looked at a few passages from it in comparison to the hardcopy I own and it is an accurate reproduction of the book. Search the document for poll-tax (i.e. jizya) and non-Muslims (kuffar) for some of the information you are looking for, Jihad is Jihad in the book from recollection so using that search term will get you the information you are interested in.

Keep in mind that this is not the Qur'an that you are looking at, it is a legalistic document based upon the Qur'an and other sources of Islamic law. One translation of the Qur'an I use is the Muhammad Asad translation, which has an extensive commentary along with the actual translation - a commentary, preferably backed up with referencing to authentic sources is needed when reading the Qur'an. (Again, this file looks accurate when compared to the hard copies of this translation that I own but I cannot guarantee 100% accuracy as I have no involvement in this site).

Another thing to bear in mind is that the first document is based upon one of the four schools of Sunni Islamic thought, there are overlaps but they are not all the same. Again, I'm just giving one example of something I refer to when I'm looking for this type of information.

A final caveat is that I am not qualified to enter into debates about what is contained within these documents, so if someone decides to start copying and pasting stuff and then start asking me to explain/defend/whatever it I'm not going to do this.