Through Force or Faith? — Page 239
Chapter 6 — Islam: Knowledge, Wisdom, and Rationality 239 Ireland, or the Thirty Years’ War fought among Europeans. Such an approach misleads one by taking him away from real facts. The Importance of Arguments and Reasoning in the Holy Quran Islamic teachings are full of knowledge and wisdom, and rational arguments are of fundamental value in its preaching and propaga- tion. The Holy Quran states: ُعْدُا ىٰلِا ِلْيِبَس َكِّبَر ِةَمْكِحْلاِب َو ِةَظِعْوَمْلا ِةَنَسَحْلا َو ْمُهْلِداَج ْيِتَّلاِب َيِه ُنَسْحَا Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation and argue with them in a way that is best… ( S u rah an-Na h l, 16:126) This instruction of the Holy Quran contains all the qualities that should be adopted to invite a person to one’s religion. ‘Goodly exhortation’ includes sound reasoning, pious advice, good man- ners, and use of polite language. The instruction is that instead of trying to defeat an opponent, the objective of dialogue should be truth, goodwill and sympathy for the other party. In another verse, Allah says: ُةَنَسَحْلا َو اَل ُةَئِّيَّسلا١ؕ ْعَفْدِا ْيِتَّلاِب َيِه ُنَسْحَا اَذِاَف ْيِذَّلا َكَنْيَب َو ٗهَنْيَب ٌةَواَدَع ٗهَّنَاَك ٌّيِلَو ٌمْيِمَحَو ْنَم ُنَسْحَا اًلْوَق ْنَّمِّم ۤاَعَد ىَلِا ِهّٰللا َو َلِمَع اًحِلاَص َّو َلاَق ْيِنَّنِا َنِم َنْيِمِلْسُمْلا َو اَل يِوَتْسَت And who is better in speech than he who invites men to Allah and does good works and says, ‘I am, surely, of those who submit?’