Review of David Marshall, God, Muhammad and the Unbelievers (Curzon: 1999)

What does the Qur’an say about unbelievers? Moreover, what does it say about the relationship between God and unbelievers, and what Muhammad’s attitude to unbelievers should be? These are the questions at the heart of David Marshall’s painstaking study of the Qur’anic data on unbelievers. Now ten years old, this book remains important for its clear and careful analysis of the relevant verses. Marshall also focusses on the question of what punishment unbelievers are likely to encounter, and whether it will occur in this life or the next.

Adopting the traditional dating of Qur’anic suras as Meccan and Medinan, the author traces a shift in the responses to unbelief not just by Muhammad, but also by other Qur’anic prophets, such as Noah and Abraham. This shift is from a complex reaction to a more straightforward one (108). The complex reaction is a combination of grief and concern for the unbeliever mixed with warnings of judgment. This reaction gradually simplifies to become an attitude of detached hostility (106). There are repeated commands from God not to feel sorrow for unbelievers (111), although God commands Muhammad to forgive them (113). Sūrat al-Tawba 9:3 says ‘God is quit of the idolaters and so is the Messenger’, that is, Muhammad’s responsibility and sorrow for them should cease. A parallel to this development is found in the life of the Qur’anic Abraham. Sūrat al-Tawba 9:114 states that he is also now ‘quit’ of his idolatrous father, in contrast to Abraham’s earlier role (Sūrat al-Mumtaḥana 60:4) as an exception to the position of being ‘quit’ of unbelievers.

Regarding punishment, in Mecca there are repeated warnings that unbelief will be punished, but these do not involve believers as instruments of punishment. In Medina, however, permission is granted for the Muslims to fight against unbelievers. The Battle of Badr is the turning point in this transition (134), and after Badr the believers become instruments of divine punishment. One of the key developments in Medina is that Muhammad and the believers are called to identify more closely with God’s hostility to unbelievers. Consequently, the Medinan phase of Muhammad’s life, unlike the Meccan, stresses, ‘the communal participation in God’s triumph over the unbeliever’ (181).

Marshall tackles a potentially controversial subject, and is heavily dependent on the traditional classification of Qur’anic suras as Meccan and Medinan, which some have recently challenged. As with any book, readers might take issue with specific conclusions drawn. Yet the work achieves what any good academic study should, namely the presentation of evidence in a clear and dispassionate manner, with the author’s assumptions and methods clearly outlined. Of course, the Qur’anic material alone does not provide the final and definitive answer to questions which also require analysis of subsequent developments in Islam. Yet without a clear grasp of this data such discussions lack a firm foundation. Helping to build this foundation is Marshall’s particular contribution.