Mouhanad Khorchide writes: “The great dilemma of Islam today is that its self-image as a religion of submission, which only sees people as objects of obedience and not subjects of love, has become a matter of course.” (p.10) 

“In many Islamic countries, for example, it is religiously forbidden to demonstrate against social injustice or against corrupt regimes. And it is precisely the scholars and religious institutions recognized in these countries who pronounce such bans – in the name of Islam.”

According to Korchide, the main message of Muhammad is Sura 21,107 would be: “God has sent you, Muhammad, exclusively as mercy for all worlds”. Only a few years after Mohammed’s death, however, something was felt. The message of mercy had become the legitimation of power and tyranny, Korchides said.

The Islamic rulers had started to adorn themselves with religious titles in order to justify their power in the name of the saint and to suggest to the people that they were God’s representatives on earth. In his name they would speak that they were his mouthpiece, which is why they had the right to be obeyed unconditionally and to be submitted to them in the name of Islam.

Even today, Muslim rulers use precisely this rhetoric to justify their rule, which is usually not legitimized by the people. Because with a religion of love and mercy that preaches spirituality and ethical principles as well as principles of freedom and equality, it is much more difficult to justify authoritarian power structures than with a religion of submission, as far as Khorchide in the book “The betrayal of Islam” (p.10 & 20).

The big question is whether, according to Muslim tradition, Muhammad had not already undergone a change when he realized that his message was not well received in Mecca and that he had to flee to Medina. Or does Khorchide want to say that the militant verses in the Koran were added later?

In Matthew 20: 25-26, Jesus says: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant”.

Update follows. Previous posts on this topic Manipulated Islam June 11, 2021 https://jesus-news-israel.net/manipulated-islam

Mouhanad Khorchide is head of the Center for Islamic Theology at the University of Münster Germany.