RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND CONVERSION

psyche is the feeling that their achievements have been the result of their own personal deliberations. Their opinions and beliefs are their own. This freedom of choice leads to their development as fully integrated personalities. Compulsion Impermissible According to the Quran, ‘There is no compulsion in religion.’ (2: 256) This verse expresses a fundamental principle of Islam. If a person believes in the truth of something, he has every right to proclaim it, provided he supports it with logical arguments. His task is complete once he has described his belief clearly. But he has no right to compel others to accept it. Freedom for All Likewise, the Quran states: ‘Say, the truth is from your Lord. Let him who will believe it, and let him who will reject it.’ (18: 29) This states that truth should be accepted or rejected by one’s own decision, and not by imposition. The resulting belief is valid, since it is the outcome of one’s own conscious decision. Forcing its acceptance upon unwilling or unprepared individuals is the negation of truth. Truth is acceptable only when man’s reason, his intellect, attests to its being so. Imposition of a truth is the recognition of force. It is an insult to truth itself if people are bludgeoned into accepting it. A preacher’s mission is to convey the truth to the members of his congregation. Once that is done, he has fulfilled his religious obligation. It is not his task to compel others to accept what he says. It is significant that in the Quran, God thus admonishes the Prophet: ‘Remind them, for you are only one of the warners. You are not at all a warder over them.’ (88: 21-22) This shows the respective roles of the preacher and his audience. It is the task of the preachers to convey the word of God, but his audience have the right to reject his message. The most that the preacher can do to convince his audience that he brings them the truth is to offer them logical arguments. Real, live, human beings can never come into existence in an atmosphere of blinkered constraint.