Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 269
DIVINE REVELATION AND RATIONALITY. There is no compulsion in religion. Surely, the right way has become distinct from error; so whosoever refuses to be led by those who transgress, and believes in Allah, has surely grasped a strong handle which knows no breaking. And Allah is All-Hearing,. All-Knowing. 7. All the same, the categoric prohibition to change another person's faith by force does not deprive anyone of his right to change others through persuasive arguments and dialogues, so long as it is free from even a whisper of threat. Let alone permission, it is the bounden duty of every believer to invite mankind to the path of God with wisdom and goodly persuasion: أدْعُ إِلى سَبِيْلِ رَبِّكَ بِالْحِكْمَةِ وَالْمَوْعِظَةِ الْحَسَنَةِ وَجَادِلْهُمْ بالتِيْ هِيَ أَحْسَنُ 16:126. Invite to the path of thy Lord with wisdom and comely admonishment and dispute with them in the best of manners. . . 8. T. HIS IS the Divine global plan for the conquest of human ideas and ideologies by Islam. Can anyone detect even a particle of irrationality therein? The steaming stinking breath of the fundamentalist, as he exhorts the sentiments of the Muslim masses and stirs them up to wage bloody wars against the non-believers has never been observed in the conduct of prophets and those who follow them. He draws his authority entirely from his own distorted vision. His attitude is as alien to the Quran as disease is to cure and venom is to elixir. The number of verses exhorting Muslims to make the best use of reason, rationality and scientific investigation as mentioned by Dr. Mohammad A'ijāzul Khatīb of Damascus adds up to 750. 263