A Qur’anic verse was distorted into an incitement to fight non-Muslims

Evidence

An example of a verse about jihad that was misrepresented by the meme is: “The Jews call ‘Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah’s curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!” 36 The writer of the Islam Watch post interpreted this verse to mean: “The Jews and the Christians are perverts; fight them.” The creator of the meme took this interpretation and represented it as a translation. In fact, the verse does not say anything about fighting, but the post writer’s interpretation makes it sound as if that is what is being expressed here. — Asena Karipek, Portrayals of Jihad, 46

Categorization

• DEFINE: Shows the concrete difference between translation and interpretation that many readers miss when encountering viral religious content.
• SEED: Angle: a fact-check piece tracing a single distorted verse from source text to meme, demonstrating how interpretation gets laundered as translation.
• XREF: connects to: An epic poem converted Muhammad into a powerless idol to justify crusade conquest — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 126; The Qur’an references jihad in several places. It carries different meanings based on context. For example, some verses deal with jihad in warfare. Extremist and terrorist Muslims often use these verses to justify aggressive holy war against non-Muslims. They freely declare jihad and justify attacks and murders of all who do not join their campaign. For example, according to a 2016 study conducted by the Carter Center, a non-governmental organization devoted to advancing human rights and alleviating human suffering established by Jimmy Carter in 1982, two of the verses most utilized by ISIS to justify violent jihad are from Surah Tawbah.; Al-Baghdadi uses this verse to justify attacks on non-Muslims, especially in the West. However, various Qur’anic commentators have interpreted this verse as a reference to a pre-Islamic king who ordered his subjects to kill believers who would not abandon their monotheistic faith. (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Medieval depictions of Islam as heresy served to justify violence and resist conversion #corroborates (0.55) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 139
• Islam threatened Christianity because it mounted a rival revelatory claim #corroborates (0.50) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 64
• State rhetoric authorizes ordinary people to persecute Muslims #corroborates (0.50) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 342
• Anti-Muhammad tropes were repurposed to attack domestic political figures #qualifies (0.45)