The “Mansukh”
Recently, Indonesia was astonished by a suicide bomber from a terrorist in one police department office, a sub-sector office of Astana Anyar. As a person appointed by my company to liaise with them, I got an elaborate story regarding the issue firsthand. Most of the information was negligible, such as the kind of expression the culprit had when he died and how the corpse ended up cutting his legs. However, one story stands out in my mind: a verse from the Quran that he put in front of his motorbike, showing the foundation of his terrible action.
It mentioned a Quran verse: 9:29, which says: "Those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day26 - even though they were given the scriptures, and who do not hold as unlawful27 that which Allah and His Messenger have declared to be unlawful, and who do not follow the true religion - fight against them until they pay tribute out of their hand and are utterly subdued."
Based on what is written, I think he (falsely) considered the police department defiant and the enemy of Allah SWT, which was total nonsense. I did not see a correlation between them and what he had been through before his action. Maybe someone out there brainwashed him that killing himself was glorious and one of the good actions.
Regardless of his reasons, I wanted to point out that the verse written in it is in the ninth chapter of the Quran, At-Taubah, the one and only chapter without "Bismillahirrahmanirrahim" before it begins. "Bismillahirrahmanirrahim" means "In the name of Allah the Most Merciful and the Most Beloved." But have we ever truly pondered why this is the only chapter without Bismillah in it?
The most compelling argument for me is coming from Ust. Nouman. He said that every time Allah gave an Adzab (punishment) to people, He stopped His love for a while before re-continuing his endless love for humankind, like in the story of Pharaoh and the people of Noah AS when they were drowned in the sea. Allah SWT chose not to help certain people because of their wrongdoings, but it was more important since it gave lessons learned for the rest of the world and time.
Ust. Nouman continued his lecture, telling us that the same thing also applied in At-Taubah. A chapter, which came very last of the Quran, showed an Adzab for the enemy of our Prophet PBUH. The context was when Muslims conquered Makkah, the Kaafirun(s) were given four months either to accept Islam or to be expelled from the holy city. If the Kaafirun did not make one of those circumstances, either still being a Kafir or in Makkah, Muslims were allowed to kill them whenever and wherever the Muslims saw them. Based on the context, it makes sense that At-Taubah revelated without Bismillah in it; At-Taubah is a form of punishment for the Kaafirun. Most of the verses talk about how cruel the Muslims could be to the Kaafirun, which is basically a lesser punishment for Kaafirun rather than Allah SWT sending the punishment Himself.
However, those kinds of verses were maybe becoming the foundation of terrorist organizations when they wanted to brainwash and mislead people to join their armies. They had strong reasons to convince the culprits (or maybe the victims) to follow their order to bomb the police's offices.
Ust. Nouman then said about a concept named Mansukh. The word means "to repeal or do away with (a law, right, or formal agreement)." In other words, one order from Allah SWT that is written in the Quran can be changed with another order that came later. Allah SWT put both verses before and after being Mansukh (changed) so that people could benefit from all circumstances after the Quran finished revealing.
For example, the law prohibiting alcohol came in three times in the Quran. The first one came to limit people from drinking alcohol in excess. The second one was forbidding people from doing Shalat in drunk. And the last one was saying that alcohols were the drink of Satan. If Allah SWT wanted to, He could tell it since the first time the verses about alcohol revelated. But He chose to show them one by one so that people could understand that changing the habit of drinking, or other bad habits, require time and effort to stop.
In this case, the Mansukh of the verses within chapter At-Taubah was the context and the period given, which means that it only applied at some point at that time (like the concept of Adzab), and after that, it expired. Therefore, we were not allowed to harm Kaafirun - which the terrorist considered police as - after the period given came to an end. Other verses advocate the issue in which Allah said that we should be kind to other people, whether they are Muslims or not, or when Allah said that we should call them to the straight path.
By the statement given and the knowledge from Ust Nouman, I wanted to conclude that this action is unlawful to Muslims. We condemn such terrible acts, and I suggest every Muslim have a right and comprehensive understanding of how to perceive verses in the Quran to avoid making people afraid of being Muslim.