Through Force or Faith? — Page 46
?— A Reply to Pope Benedict XVI 46 ْمُهَلَمَع١۪ َّمُث ىٰلِا ْمِهِّبَر ْمُهُعِجْرَّم ْمُهُئِّبَنُيَف اَمِب اْوُناَك َنْوُلَمْعَيَو اَل اوُّبُسَت َنْيِذَّلا َنْوُعْدَي ْنِم ِنْوُد ِهّٰللا اوُّبُسَيَف َهّٰللا اًۢوْدَع ِرْيَغِب ٍمْلِع١ؕ َكِلٰذَك اَّنَّيَز ِّلُكِل ٍةَّمُا And revile not those whom they call upon beside Allah, lest they, out of spite, revile Allah in their ignorance. Thus unto every people have We caused their doing to seem fair. Then unto their Lord is their return; and He will inform them of what they used to do. ( S u rah al-An‘ a m, 6:109) In this regard, The Promised Messiah as says: God, through the Holy Qur’an, has cultivated refined and respectful etiquettes. He admonishes: … اَل اوُّبُسَت َنْيِذَّلا َنْوُعْدَي ْنِم ِنْوُد ِهّٰللا اوُّبُسَيَف َهّٰللا اًۢوْدَع ِرْيَغِب ٍمْلِع … In other words, do not even abuse the idols of the non-be- lievers lest they abuse your God out of ignorance. ( S u rah al-An‘ a m, 6:109) Now consider that this is the Quranic teachings despite the fact that it treats idols as of no significance. Yet God teaches the Muslims to abstain from insulting even the idols and admonishes them instead to adopt a course of gentle persuasion lest they [the idolaters] should be provoked, in turn, to abuse God. The Muslims would then be responsible for such abuses. ( Paigh a m-e- S ul h , R uha n i Khaz a ’in vol. 23, pp. 460–461) 1 1. This reference text also appears in A Message of Peace, edition 2, pp. 32– 33, published in 2007. [Publisher]