Through Force or Faith? — Page 232
?— A Reply to Pope Benedict XVI 232 Similarly, God says: َو ِلُق ُّقَحْلا ْنِم ْمُكِّبَّر ْنَمَف َءٓاَش ْنِمْؤُيْلَف َّو ْنَم َءٓاَش ْرُفْكَيْلَف And say, ‘It is the truth from your Lord; wherefore let him who will, believe, and let him, who will, disbelieve’. … ( S u rah al-Kahf, 18:30) This verse further reinforces the contention that God Almighty does not impose anything on man coercively. Instead, God says that man is given the right of choice between good and evil. This is the very intent of God that man should, by his freewill and by his effort and hard work, recognize his Lord, believe in Him, and become His obedient servant. Where God says, ‘If I had willed, all would have believed,’ it only means that it is God’s desire that man should believe on his own, and by doing so, he was declared by God to be deserving of the best reward. The impression that one gets from the writings of Imam Ibn H azm is as if God intends to impose His will on man. These verses of the Holy Quran are sufficient to repudiate it. In this context, Quranic teachings is per- fectly reasonable and logical. It must be remembered that Islam is the faith of moderation which teaches avoidance of extremes in all matters ( S u rah al-Baqarah, 2:144). Therefore, in the light of Islamic teachings, as propounded above, the command to commit idolatry or its desirability can never be ascribed to God under any circumstance. The Holy Quran clearly dictates against it. If Imam Ibn H azm did in fact present the views of coercion, his views are not acceptable to us. By quoting Imam Ibn H azm, the Pope has selected a school of thought of Muslims called ‘ Za hiriyyah, which has no adherents in