37. PREACHING AND ADMONITION (Concluded)

God said

And [so, O Prophet,] if they belie thee, say: “To me [shall be accounted] my doings, and to you your doings: You are not accountable for what I am doing, and I am not accountable for what you do.” -- Q.10: 42

Call thou [all mankind] unto thy Sustainer’s path with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and argue with them in the most kindly manner. Hence if you have to respond to an attack (in argument) respond only to the extent of attack leveled to you, but to bear yourself in patience is indeed far better * -- Q16:125,126
*The stress on kindness and tact and, hence, on the use of reason alone in all religious discussions with adherents of other creeds is fully in tune with the basic, categorical injunction mentioned in verse 2: 256 (last Friday) The believers are admonished to observe self-restraint while arguing with people of another persuasion, and never to offend against decency and intellectual integrity.

Endure, then, with patience [all that they who deny the truth may say] – always remembering that it is none but God who gives the strength to endure adversity* -- and do not grieve over them, and neither be distressed by the false arguments which they devise ** - Q.16: 127
* I.e., it must never be allowed to become a source of spiritual arrogance and false self-righteousness.
**Lit., “all that they are scheming”, i.e., by inventing false and irrelevant arguments against God’s messages.

And do not argue with the followers of earlier revelation otherwise than in a most kindly manner – unless it be such of them as are bent on evildoing …. Q.29: 46

O you who have attained to faith! Why do you say one thing and do another? Most loathsome is it in the sight of God that you say what you do not do! - Q.61:2,3.


Prophet said

1. “I saw during the Night of Accession some men whose lips were cut with the scissors of hell-fire. I inquired: Who are these O Gabriel? He replied: These are the preachers of your people who used to enjoin good to (other) men but forget for themselves”– H: Sharh-i-Sunnah N: Anas/ Baihaqi in Shu`bil Iman.

2. Ibn Masud narrated: The prophet used to take care of us in preaching by selecting a suitable time, so that we might not get bored. – H: Bukhari.

3. “Whoever amongst you sees anything objectionable let him change it with his hands; if he is not able to do so, then with his speech; and even if this he is unable to do, then condemn it at heart: this is the weakest form of faith.”-- H: Muslim. N: Abu Saeed al-Khodri.