Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 124
124 AHMADIYY AT each one of them that you may prosper. Satan desires only to create enmity and hatred between you by means of liquor and gambling and to keep you back from the remembrance of Allah and from Prayer. Will you, then, desist?' (5:91-2). Another error into which the Muslims had fallen since sometime before the advent of the Promised Messiah, and were deeply involved in, was their assumption that the Holy Quran made it obligatory upon them to have recourse to the use of force for the propagation of Islam. This was an emormity that constituted a grave affront to the Holy Quran and its teachings, and amounted to a confession that Islam could not successfuly appeal to human reason and could not persuade intelligent people to accept it by virtue of its inher- ent qualities of truth and wisdom. The Quran has laid great stress on freedom of conscience. For instance, it proclaims: 'There shall be no compulsion in religion, for guidance and error have been already distinguished' (2:57). Again it says: 'Proclaim: This is the truth from your Lord, then let him who will, believe, and let him who will, disbelieve' (18:30). Faith is a matter of conscience, and conscience cannot be forced. A person may be compelled by pressure, coercion or force to say that he believes, but p. e cannot be forced to believe. Faith is bestowed by God alone, and even He does not force anyone to believe. How then can anyone else bring about faith by force or compulsion? This is pointed out by the Holy Quran: 'If thy Lord had enforced His Will, surely all those on the earth would have believed, without excep- tion. Wilt thou, then take it upon thyself to force people to become believers? No one can believe, except by Allah's leave' (10:100-1). Again it is said: 'Tell them: 0 ye people! the truth has indeed come to you from your Lord. Then whoso follows the guidance, follows it only for the good of his own self, and whoso errs does so only to his own detri- ment. I am not appointed a keeper over you' (10:109). This leaves no doubt whatever that the Quran does not permit recourse to any type of force or compulsion for the purpose of making a person affirm faith in Islam, yet it does