Monday, July 16, 2007

Islam Defends Tolerance And Freedom Of Speech

Islam Defends Tolerance And Freedom Of Speech

Islam is a religion which fosters freedom of life, ideas and thought. It has forbidden tension and conflict among people, calumny, suspicion and even having negative thoughts about another individual.

Islam has not only forbidden terror and violence, but also even the slightest imposition of any idea on another human being.

There is no compulsion in religion. Right guidance has become clearly distinct from error. Anyone who rejects false gods and believes in God has grasped the Firmest Handhold, which will never give way. God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (Surat al-Baqara: 256)

So remind, you need only to remind. You cannot compel them to believe. (Surat al-Ghashiyah: 22)

To force anyone to believe in a religion or to practice it, is against the spirit and essence of Islam. Because it is necessary that faith be accepted with free will and conscience. Of course, Muslims may urge one another to keep the moral precepts taught in the Qur'an, but they never use compulsion. In any case, an individual cannot be induced to the practice of religion by either threat or offering him a worldly privilege.

Let us imagine a completely opposite model of society. For example, a world in which people are forced by law to practice religion. Such a model of society is completely contrary to Islam because faith and worship have value only when they are directed toward God. If there were a system that forced people to believe and worship, people would be religious only out of fear of the system. What is acceptable from the point of view of religion is that religion be practiced in an environment where freedom of conscience is permitted, and that it be practiced only for the approval of God.

Islam Denounces Terrorism

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Then why are islamic converts threatened with death in so many islamic countries?
And why can a christian be killed in Saudi Arabia for the crime of praying?

Abu Daoud said...

Thank you, and sorry for the delay: the answer is that leaving Islam is not included within the scope of Islamic tolerance and freedom.

That is, religious freedom does not extend to that action--according to Islam.

Religious freedom extends to other people becoming Muslims, and to Muslims changing mosques, say, or schools of jurisprudence. But to leave Islam is an affront to the holiness and soveriegnty of God and warrants death.

Such a terrible action (apostasy) is outside of the bounds of tolernce.

Abu Daoud said...
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