Through Force or Faith? — Page 47
Principles to Promote World Peace 47 This is the ordinance of Islam for the maintenance of peace and harmony in the society and in the world. To retaliate filth with filth is like putting filth on oneself. If the opponent says some- thing and you reply to them by maligning their idols, they can malign God in return. By giving this extreme example, Muslims have been cautioned that whenever they talk, their discourse should have prudence. It is not that they should show coward- ice and be sanguine, but rather they should always be guided by the Quranic directive of ‘Dispute with sensible argument’ ( S u rah an-Na h l, 16:126), and that they should always keep this directive in mind. By giving this extreme example, Allah, the Exalted, taught us that if due to our ill-advised response, non-Muslims malign God, then every Muslim who has jealousy for God above everything else will be offended; as it should be. So due to our wrong choice of words, we will be responsible for the abuse of God by others. Similarly, if we abuse the elders of others, their higher ups and leaders, they in turn may also commit excesses. That is why it is reported in the traditions that the Holy Prophet s as said, ‘Do not slander your father’. Someone asked who would slander his parents. The Holy Prophet Muhammad s as said, ‘When you abuse someone’s father, he will abuse your father and it will be as if you abused your own father’. This is the Islamic teachings to promote goodwill that ‘shirk’ [associating partners with God], which is so extremely abhorrent to God, and about which Allah, the Exalted, says that He will not pardon its punish- ment for those who commit ‘shirk,’ it is directed to address them within the boundaries of decency. The command for you is that your morals should be such that they should present the correct