[T-Rock]

A religious scholar that I am acquainted once made some good points to me:

…"There is no compulsion in religion" (Qur'an 2:256)…

If he practiced Islam my guess would be he was practicing Taqiyya… It’s one of the most widely used verses in the Qur’an to appease the ears of the Kafiroon. The average western Kafir are oblivious to the doctrine of nasikh wal mansukh. The verse of the sword, Sura 9:5 abrogates Sura 2:256..., as evidenced by Ibn Kathir:

Allah says: "There is no compulsion in religion", meaning: do not force anyone to embrace Islam, because it is clear and its proofs and evidences are manifest. Whoever Allah guides and opens his heart to Islam has indeed embraced it with clear evidence. Whoever Allah misguides blinds his heart and has set a seal on his hearing and a covering on his eyes cannot embrace Islam by force...hence Allah revealed this verse. But, this verse is abrogated by the verse of "fighting...Therefore, all people of the world should be called to Islam. If anyone of them refuses to do so, or refuses to pay the Jizya they should be fought till they are killed. This is the meaning of compulsion. In the Sahih, the Prophet said: "Allah wonders at those people who will enter Paradise in chains", meaning prisoners brought in chains to the Islamic state, then they embrace Islam sincerely and become righteous, and are entered among the people of Paradise
(Tafsir of Ibn Kathir, Surah Al-Baqarah, ayat 253 to 286, Surah Al-Imran, ayat 1 to 92, abridged by Sheikh Muhammad Nasib Ar-Rafa‘i [Al-Firdous Ltd., London, 1999: First Edition], Part 3, pp. 37-38)

Islam's core texts, the Qur‘an, Hadith, and scholarly [ulema] consensus hasn’t changed much in 1400 years.. Shariah doesn’t change.

In fact, the Qur’an, as well as the Shariah makes clear the purpose of Islam:



Fight those who believe not in Allah or the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Sura 9:29)

Islam and The Objectives of Jihad

o9.0
(O: Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada, signifying warfare to establish the religion.

o9.1 Jihad is a communal obligation (def: c3.2). When enough people perform it to successfully accomplish it, it is no longer obligatory upon others.

o9.6 It is offensive to conduct a military expedition against hostile non-Muslims without the Caliph’s permission (A: though if there is no Caliph (def: o25), no permission is required.
(The Reliance of the Traveler. Pgs 599-609)

w4.0 THE FINALITY OF THE PROPHET’S MESSAGE

(1) Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) is the last prophet and messenger. Anyone claiming to be a prophet or messenger of Allah after him or to found a new religion is a fraud, misled and misleading.

(2) Previously revealed religions were valid in their own eras, as is attested to by many verses in the Holy Koran, but were abrogated by the universal message of Islam, as equally attested to by many verses of the Koran. Both points are worthy of attention from English-speaking Muslims, who are occasionally exposed to erroneous theories advanced by some teachers and Koran translators affirming these religions’ validity but denying or not mentioning their abrogation, or that it is unbelief (KUFR - Kafiroon) to hold that the remnant cults now bearing the names of formerly valid religions, such as “Christianity” or “Judaism,” are acceptable to Allah Most High after He has sent the final messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) to the entire world (dis: o8.7(20).
(Reliance of the Traveller)

The penalty for Kufr = DEATH

c2.5 The unlawful (haram) is what the Law-giver strictly forbids. Someone who commits an unlawful act deserves punishment, while one who refrains from it out of obedience to the command of Allah is rewarded.

(3) and unbelief (Kufr), sins which put one beyond the pale of Islam (as discussed at o8.7) and necessitate stating the Testification of Faith (Shahada)…

f1.3 Someone (who knows Islamic Jurisprudence) or denies something…which there is scholarly consensus…is executed for his unbelief…

O4.17 There is no indemnity for killing a non-Muslim…

O8.3 If he is a freeman, no one besides the caliph or his representative may kill him. If someone else kills him, the killer is either disciplined (def17) (O: for arrogating the caliph’s prerogative and encroaching upon his rights, as this is one of his duties).

(A: though if there is no Caliph (def: o25), no permission is required.

O8.7 (7) to deny any verse of the Koran or anything which by scholarly consensus (def: b7) belongs to it, or to add a verse that does not belong to it;

(2) to intend to commit unbelief, even if in the future…

(3) to speak words that imply unbelief…

(14) to deny the obligatory character of something which by the consensus of Muslims (ijma’, def: b7) is part of Islam…

(19) To be sarcastic about any ruling of the Sacred Law;

(20) or to deny that Allah intended the Prophet’s message (Allah bless him and give him peace) to be the religion followed by the entire world (dis: w4.3-4) (al-Hadiyya al-Ala’iyya (y4), 423-24)

(Reliance of the Traveller - A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law)