Rereading the Interpretation of "There is no compulsion in religion"in the Light of the Theory of Coherence and Continuity of the Qur'an and Its Relation to Freedom of Religion and Belief

The Quranic sentence "There is no compulsion in religion" has been interpreted differently by commentators in different periods. Some has taken it as the permission for freedom of belief from the verse and some has considered it in conflict with the verses of fighting and apostasy. The distinction and diversity of the commentators' understanding of the verses of the Qur'an is related to the mental presuppositions of the commentator from one hand and from the other hand to the historical factors and the intellectual and philosophical atmosphere of each period; as wiewed today due to the modern philosophy that human freedom in accepting religion has been known to be people`s undeniable right. This article has tried to re-interpret the above Qur'anic sentence in the framework of the theory of coherence and continuity of the Qur'an. Based on the theory of coherence, the interpretation of the verses should be based on the general spirit of the Qur'an and in relation to all the main elements and concepts of the text of the Holy Qur'an. This study has shown that the mentioned sentenc confirms the right to freedom of belief and choice of religion for human beings and the rulings related to fighting and jihad in the framework of the theory of Qur'anic coherence should not be considered contrary to this Qur'anic doctrine. According to some commentators, it is related to special historical-social conditions.