Mercy in Disagreement

FREEDOM OF THOUGHT to continue and, ultimately, to turn every believer into a person capable of original and independent thought. Blame and fault-finding are wrong. In fact, they reflect a kind of pettiness that is without doubt among the worst of moral traits. But intellectual disagreement, which arises from sincere thought and reflection, is a blessing—and a necessary condition for the progress of humanity. To the extent that it would be accurate to say that a society without disagreement is also a society without progress. The human mind is like a locked treasure. What unlocks this treasure is precisely this: difference of opinion. Through disagreement, the mind develops—until an ordinary person can grow into an exceptional one. Today, the question is not whether we should disagree or not—because disagreement already exists at all times, at every level, and in every matter of religion. The real question is how to explain the presence of the many disagreements that have existed in religion from the very beginning until now. In other words, the issue is how to understand the existence of disagreement—not whether it should continue or not. For instance, if one begins studying the Quran using a reliable commentary—such as the 13th-century renowned Andalusian Islamic scholar, Abu ‘Abd Allah Al-Qurtubi’s Al-Jami‘ li Ahkam al-Qur’an— one encounters a remarkable example right at the outset. As the commentary on Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim begins, Al-Qurtubi (d. 1273 CE) notes: “There are twenty-seven issues discussed in this verse.” In other