END MISUNDERSTANDINGS THROUGH SOUND ARGUMENTS

The following article appeared in June 10, 2022 edition of SPEAKING TREE of Times of India (https://www.speakingtree.in/article/ end-misunderstandings-through-sound-arguments). In Islam, blasphemy is a subject of intellectual discussion rather than condemnation, protest and retaliation. Several verses in the Quran show that ‘abuse of the Prophet’ is not a subject of punishment. Instead, sound arguments should be presented to address the mind of people. God sent more than one lakh prophets to different regions. Their contemporaries almost always responded negatively by using abusive language. (The Quran 36: 30, 16: 101, 7: 66) However, the Quran does not prescribe physical punishment for them. Rather the Quran commands the Prophet to refrain from using abusive language in retaliation: “But do not revile those they invoke instead of God, lest they, in their hostility, revile God out of ignorance.” (The Quran 6: 108) There are many such verses in the Quran guiding us that we have to abstain from negative reactions until the last moment in such situations. Incidents that are termed today as abusing the Prophet were prevalent during the life of the Prophet. When the Prophet presented his message before the Arabs, they misbehaved with him. Here are some of the epithets given to prophets as mentioned in the Quran: “a liar” (40: 24), “possessed” (15: 6), “a fabricator” (16: 101), and “a foolish man” (7: 66). However, nowhere does the Quran prescribe any physical punishment for these offences. It clearly shows that ‘abuse of the Prophet’ is not a subject of condemnation or seeking punishment; rather, it is a subject of removing their misunderstanding through sound arguments in order to address their mind. In other words, peaceful persuasion should be used to help the person understand the truth of the matter rather than trying to punish him.