The Glorious Qur’an is the “Conclusive Proof” (hujjat Allah al-Balighah, Qur’an, 06:149) to set to bolder relief the differences and the consequent conflicts which were bound to arise amid humankind by dint of the fact that human beings, at the very outset, were bestowed with freedom of conscience and expression so as to make best use of the faculty of reason which had been declared as the mark of distinction between humankind and the rest of creation. However, more often than not, ignorance has led numerous people, both at the individual as well as the collective level, to give vent to their arrogance to satisfy their bigotry in the name of “freedom of expression” knowing very little or totally nothing that the arrogance of all sorts has been always torn to shreds by the Divine Argument (the Qur’an) throughout the ages.
The expression of any nonsensical behaviour vis-à-vis the Qur’an cannot affect its sublime glory as the Divine Document for the guidance of whole humanity. Such a person assumes that he is expressing himself because of the modern world’s “enlightening free spirit” knowing nothing about the fact that God has Himself ensured the freedom of conscience of humanity in the very Qur’an which he is showing his anger against. Had such a person paid any heed to the fact that God has enshrined the honour and respect of human person in the Qur’an, he would have never exhibited such a behaviour.This is how the Qur’an upholds the honourable status of man which has been bestowed to him by God Almighty: “We have honoured the sons of Adam.” (17:70)
Clearly, this honour which has been “showered” on humanity by God demanded that man’s position, as a rational and intelligent being, should also be “honoured” and “respected” and thus, nothing should be thrust on him against his will. The Qur’an has declared time and again that man is free to believe or to stick to disbelief with respect to what has been enshrined in the Qur’an. The Qur’an, after mentioning the creation of man from “nothingness” bluntly declares: “We showed him the Way: whether he be grateful or ungrateful.” (76:03) In spite of the fact that the Ultimate Truth is from God and with God, He has declared the freedom of man in these words: “Say, the Truth is from your Lord; let him who will, believe, let him who will, reject (it).” (28:29)
This doesn’t, however, mean that man has been put into any confusion by having been given the choice of thought and initiative. This shouldn’t and couldn’t have been the case from the Supreme Intelligent Being or God Almighty. Again, the Qur’an, in this regard, says that freedom of conscience for human beings emerges from enlightenment and knowledge rather than fromutter ignorance. The Qur’anic words, in this regard, are: “Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Falsehood: whoever rejects Falsehood and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks.” (02:256)
All the Prophets of God, from Adam (‘AS) to Muhammad (SA‘AS) were thus commissioned by God to explain and elaborate the Guidance and Truth which was enshrined in all the Divine Books and finally in the Qur’an. None of these Prophets had to do any kind of “policing” on behalf of the Compassionate and Merciful Lord of the Worlds. So, all these Apostles of God argued with their adversaries on the basis of “conclusive arguments” and, as such, they never tried to thrust anything on those who didn’t accept the Truth. In this regard, numerous examples could be cited from the Qur’anic text. For example, this is how the Prophet Ibrahim (‘AS) argued and dumbfounded his adversary, the emperor of a great dominion: “Abraham said: My Lord is He Who gives life and death. He said: I give life and death. Said Ibrahim: But it is Allah that causes the sun to rise from the East: Do then cause it to rise from the West. Thus was he confounded who (in arrogance) rejected Faith.” (02:260) This also shows that the Prophets (‘AS) never argued for the sake of argument or for the continuation of clash of world-views. Rather, their argumentation was aimed at explanation and elaboration of the Truth leaving it to their opponents (or the people in general) whether to accept it or not. Moreover, their aim was never to ask their people to accept and follow those ideas which they themselves had no idea to follow. The Prophet Shu‘ayb (‘AS), in this regard, thus addresses his people: “I wish not, in opposition to you, to do that which I forbid you to do. I only desire (your) betterment to the best of my power.” (11:88)
This goes without saying that no Prophet in any age made it his mission to coerce people to become a “single community” of believers. There are numerous verses in the Qur’an to this effect. However, as the benefactors of humanity, the Prophets (‘AS) indeed yearned that people should shun their antagonism vis-à-vis the True Path. Nevertheless, they were at once instructed by God that they shouldn’t agonize themselves with something which was outside the ambit of the commission of their responsibility. This perspective of the mission of Prophets (‘AS) has been thus highlighted by the Qur’an in multiple verses, such as: (1) “If it had been thy Lord’s Will, they would all have believed,- will you then compel mankind, against their will to believe!” (10:99) (2) “Yet no faith will the greater part of mankind have, however ardently you do desire it.” (12:103)
However, does it mean that human beings (whose distinction is intelligence and communication), for the sake of artificial “calm” and “peace,” should have stopped talking or arguing with each other? Or, was it necessary for human beings to stop communication of ideas through dialogue? Let it be clear that this was neither possible nor plausible.This is because nothing could be thrust, not even peace, on any human being against her/his will and if it is done, it brings clash and conflict not peace. Moreover, when God, the Absolute, the Supreme Being, didn’t thrust His Universal Will on human beings giving due space and respect to their reason and intelligence, how can human beings thrust their wishes and whims on one another?
Therefore, God kept the Prophetic Mission alive to be carried on without deviation from the Prophetic pattern. And, this pattern includes “wisdom, best way of admonition and gracious reasoned argumentation” as its intrinsic principles. These principles have been highlighted by the Qur’an as: “Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful admonition; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious.” (16:125) Be it clear here that “argumentation” doesn’t exclude the methods employed in philosophy, logic and mathematics, although the philosophical methods, as per Ibn Khaldun, silence the adversaries of Truth but don’t always convince them to accept the Truth!
However, an upholder of Truth is never allowed by the Qur’an to work on the principle of “tit for tat!” That is to say, if the antagonist uses invectives (abusive language) against different components of Truth or even against the Ultimate Truth Itself, still the follower of Truth has to base his arguments on the Truth and the constituents thereof. The Qur’anic instruction in this regard goes like this: “Revile not ye those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest they out of spite revile Allah in their ignorance.” (06:108) How, the Prophet Muhammad (SA‘AS) himself abided by this instruction can be understood from the fact that when his adversaries called him Mudhammam (that is “someone condemned”), he simply responded, that “they utter inappropriate things about Mudhamnam, but I am Muhammad, the Praised One!” This is because the Prophet Muhammad (SA‘AS) had the conviction that he, as the Representative of Truth and the Qur’an, as the Document of Truth, were both Invincible!
(The author is Assistant Professor at HED J&K. Feedback: [email protected])
