Through Force or Faith? — Page 228
?— A Reply to Pope Benedict XVI 228 Surely, Allah will not forgive that a partner be associated with Him; but He will forgive whatever is short of that to whomsoever He pleases. And whoso associates part- ners with Allah has indeed devised a very great sin ( S u rah an-Nis a ’, 4:49). And it exhorts man to shun idolatry in every form: اوُبِنَتْجاَف َسْجِّرلا َنِم ِناَثْوَاْلا َو اْوُبِنَتْجا َلْوَق ِرْوُّزلا …. Shun therefore the abomination of idols, and shun false speech ( S u rah al- H ajj, 22:31). The Holy Prophet s as and his companions were so severely per- secuted that one shudders even by reading about it, only for renouncing idolatry and preaching against it (Refer to Chapter 2 and 3 of this book). So, how can an injunction to idolatry be ascribed to God according to Islamic precepts? Thus, it is quite clear from the Holy Quran that Islam does not teach that God goes back on His word, or that God does not always tell the truth, or that God enjoins idolatry. It is such a seminal and fundamental principle that even a Muslim child is well aware of it. The Pope may or may not have read the Bible but Muslim scholars read the Holy Quran all the time and many even know the entire text by heart word for word. Then how is it possible that Imam Ibn H azm was unaware of this fundamental Islamic precept? After delineating this point, we shall now present what Ibn H azm actually said. Imam Ibn H azm’s statement needs to be seen in the backdrop of his works that he wrote in defence of his