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Dr. Shabir, welcome to
"Let the Quran Speak."
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- Pleasure to be on.
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- We are looking at
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misunderstood verses of
the Quran, Dr. Shabir.
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And the verse we're looking at
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is from chapter eight verse 67.
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And this is the translation.
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It's Abdul Majid Daryabadi's
translation. It goes like this.
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It behoveth not a prophet
that he should have captives
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until he hath greatly
slaughtered in the land.
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Ye seek the gear of the world,
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while Allah seeketh the hereafter;
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and Allah is Mighty and Wise.
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- Hmm. Yeah, it's an old
translation, obviously.
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I mean,
(Safiyyah laughs)
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it's a fairly modern
translation, but it's put in old-
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- Old English. Yes.
- Old English.
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What this translation is
saying basically is that...
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Well, let me start with the Arabic.
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Let's do that. Right?
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(Shabir speaks Arabic)
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It is not fitting for a prophet,
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and I would rather go
with the past tense here
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and explain why.
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So it was not fitting for
a prophet to have captives,
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until he had first decimated
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or caused massive slaughter in the land.
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You wish to have the goods of this world,
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but God desires for
you the life hereafter.
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And then the following verse,
which was not quoted yet,
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says, "Okay, go ahead and
enjoy what you have taken."
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Had it not been for a writ from God
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that already preceded,
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a great punishment
would have afflicted you
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due to what you have taken.
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But go ahead and enjoy what you have taken
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as being halal and good for you.
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- So at first glance,
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this doesn't sound like
a very peaceful verse.
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- No, it doesn't sound like that
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the way it has been understood,
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and even that you can
see at first impression.
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So the classical commentary
on this generally says
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that the Prophet Muhammad,
peace be upon him,
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at the end of the Battle of Badr
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had to decide what to
do with the prisoners
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that the Muslims had
captured from the other side.
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So he asked his companions,
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"What are we gonna do
with these prisoners?"
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And because this was
the first major battle,
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they had some skirmishes previously,
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but you know this major
battle, capture prisoners,
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what are we gonna do
with the prisoners now?
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So Abu Bakr, close
companion of the Prophet,
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peace be upon him, the
soft-hearted one said,
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"Okay, we can release them for a ransom."
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Umar, who is known to
be like a tough person,
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he said, "No, we should kill them all."
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So now the Prophet
Muhammad, peace be upon him,
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went with the opinion of Abu Bakr.
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So that means they're going
to release the captives
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for a ransom.
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But the next day, when Umar
visited the camp of the Prophet,
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peace be upon him,
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he saw that the Prophet and
Abu Bakr were there weeping.
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So he wants to know why.
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And the Prophet, peace
be upon him, explained.
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Because of their decision
to release the captives,
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the punishment from God had
actually been descending
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upon the Muslim community and
came as close as the trees.
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But then, God lifted that punishment
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and God revealed these
verses to the Prophet,
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peace be upon him, saying
basically that it is not right
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for the Prophet to have
taken the captives,
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he should have first committed
mass slaughter in the land.
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There was a previous writ,
by which God prescribed
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that they will not be punished.
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And therefore, God has
lifted the punishment.
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And now he has made it
permissible for them
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to go ahead and enjoy the ransom money
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that they have taken for
releasing the captives.
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The whole story is convoluted,
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because it seems more
likely that the Prophet,
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peace be upon him, released the captives,
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and later on people are
reflecting on what had happened.
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And they don't like that the
Prophet, peace be upon him,
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released the captives, and
they came up with this story
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to say that he should not
have released the captives.
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So the story justifies itself.
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So, you know, okay, so it's a fact known
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that he released the captives,
but he shouldn't have.
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So where does the shouldn't have come in?
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Well, God would've punished them.
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But God didn't punish them.
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You see? So the story goes like this.
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But coming back to the verse
now, you say at first glance,
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yeah, it sounds like this
is a very violent verse.
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This is why I preferred
the past tense translation
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as reflected by Laleh
Bakhtiar in her translation.
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It could grammatically work
that way, (speaks Arabic),
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could be, it is not right for a Prophet.
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But (speaks Arabic) is
past tense grammatically.
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And it seems that it's the
past tense that is meant here:
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it was not right for previous prophets.
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In fact, Muqatil ibn Sulayman,
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one of the earliest
commentators on the Quran,
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whose commentary we have having
come down to us to this day,
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was writing in the middle of
the second century of Islam.
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He died about around the year 150.
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And he said that this verse
was about previous prophets.
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It was not right for
the previous prophets.
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They did not have this
latitude to take prisoners.
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They had to decimate the land.
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Interestingly, about the same time,
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ibn (indistinct) was writing
his Seerah of the Prophet.
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He also died at around the
year 150 of the Hijrah.
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And in his Seerah
commenting on this verse,
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he also said this was about
the previous prophets.
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Now we know from the Bible,
for example, in Joshua 6:18,
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that this is what they had to
do, according to the Bible,
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they had to decimate the population.
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They could not take prisoners.
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And Joshua is warning the people,
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"If you take anything from that
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which has been dedicated for God,"
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this was their idea by
killing the prisoners,
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this is like a sacrifice to God,
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and nobody can take anything
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from this sacrificial offering to God.
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It's called a herem or
haram in the Hebrew.
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It seems that this is
what is being warned about
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in the Quranic verses,
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that if you had not gotten
this revelation from God,
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and we should add here Surah 47:4,
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which permits Muslims to take
prisoners and release them.
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You don't have to kill them,
but why would you kill them?
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You know, the battle is
ended. You release them.
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Had it not been for the fact
that God revealed this message
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to this Prophet Muhammad,
peace to be upon,
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especially Surah 47:4,
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this is what you would've ended up doing.
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You would've followed
the previous prophets,
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especially since it is known
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that the Prophet Muhammad,
peace be upon him,
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generally followed the Jews in particular,
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but what is known from
the prophets in general,
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because he thought that
obviously this is, you know,
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the religious system,
unless he got a revelation
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that specifically guides
him in a new direction.
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So now the Quran is saying,
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look, you are being guided
in a different direction
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and had it not been for the fact
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that God is guiding the
Prophet, peace be upon him,
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to release the prisoners,
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then you would not have been
able to take any ransom,
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you would've had to kill the prisoners.
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And what you have taken now is ransom,
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would've invited great
punishment upon you.
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So this is reflecting back
on the book of Joshua,
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the kind of punishment that
Joshua spoke about there,
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because Joshua is saying,
"Look, if you take anything
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from what has been dedicated
to God, then the punishment
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that should have been inflicted upon them
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is gonna be inflicted upon you."
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So this is what the
Quran is warning about.
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And now saying, God has
made permissible for you
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to take the ransom and to let
the prisoners go free alive.
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And this is a new direction.
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So the verses actually are pointing
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towards a peaceful coexistence,
even with your enemies.
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And it's not a violent,
as may first appear.
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- So what the classical
commentators are saying is
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the complete opposite, right?
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It's saying, "Prophet Muhammad,
this is a message for you."
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So, they're saying that
the Prophet Muhammad,
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peace be upon him, should
have killed the prisoners.
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But he didn't.
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And God almost punished
him and his people,
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but for some reasons, known best to God,
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some writ that God had
prescribed for himself,
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maybe because he said,
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"My mercy is going to proceed my wrath,"
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or because he promised the people
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who participated in Battle of Badr,
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that they will be forgiven no matter what.
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So for whatever reason,
God lifted the punishment
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and God has now made it permissible.
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So yes, now we are permitted
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to exchange the prisoners for ransom.
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But this was not the initial intention.
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Initial intention was to
kill off the prisoners.
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That's what they're saying.
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And obviously this is a misunderstanding.
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Alright, thank you for that, Dr. Shabir.
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- You're welcome.
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