The Message or A Cry of Anguish — Page 13
THE MESSAGE OR A CRY OF ANGUISH 13 Despite being confronted with harsh and abusive language in verbal debates, they never sent any memorial to the Government and patiently continued instilling their misconceptions into the hearts until this strategy resulted in thousands of new converts to Christianity in our country. We are not opposed to the idea that the Government should be requested in a general manner to restrict debates and writings within certain limits, and to ban such unbridled freedom and foul language that might lead to unrest between peoples. Indeed we are the prime movers of this proposal. In our previous memorial, we had already outlined as to how and with which means this wor- thy objective can be achieved. Yet we are against such a memorial which is not presented in a general manner, and which stresses on punishing an individual whose main objections we have yet to answer. For, in keeping with the teaching of the Holy Quran, it was our duty to have set aside the vulgar language of a foul- mouthed person and to have answered his principal objections as Allah the Almighty says, جَادِلْهُمْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ In fact, it is quite dangerous and perilous if we leave the objec- tions of a critic unaddressed, for in that case they will continue to spread like the germs of the plague, giving rise to thousands of doubts in the hearts of the people. Even if the Government somewhat punishes such an abusive person those doubts will not reduce. Observe, those who criticise Islam such as the author 1. Sūrah an-Nahl, 16:126 [Publisher]