Importance of Understanding Context

THE ART OFCLEAR THINKING If the relationship between two social groups is that of rivals and adversaries, then their relations will be established accordingly. In such a situation, one group might justifiably launch an agitation, for the law of the land permits them to peacefully launch such protests against the government or other groups. An example of this might be a movement of workers against capitalists for demanding certain rights. What is right and what is wrong in this matter can be determined by the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah. Therefore, when we look at this matter in the light of Islamic teachings in this regard, we find that the status of Muslims is that of dayees and those of non-Muslims is that of madu. This relationship between dayee and madu is a very delicate one. This means that the status of the dayee group is that of givers and that of madu is that of takers. It is the demand of this relationship between dayee and madu that Muslims have to sedulously refrain from indulging in the politics of protest and demand. Such activities will harm the process of normalization of relations between Muslims and non-Muslims. This delicate relationship requires that the members of the dayee group must solve their own problems through their own positive efforts. From this clarification, one can gauge that what I had said about inviting people to God has been taken out of context by the writer, and referring to it, he sought to link it to another, unrelated context. In this way, the actual objective of my argument has been made to appear to be completely different.