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Dealing With Those Who Speak Abusively About Islam

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Seekersguidance.org

Answered by Imam Afroz Ali

Question: Assalamu Alaikum,
How should we react when someone abuses Islam or Islamic practice? Some people have the habit of blaming Islam for everything.  It really makes me sick and I want to reply them in the same way, but I feel like that isn’t right.  Can you please guide me on this please?

Answer: Praise Be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, The Compassionate, The Merciful. And, may the peace and blessings of Allah descend upon the Prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions, and their followers.

Assalām Alaikum,

Thank you- this is an important question and reality we do need guidance on, because such situations are becoming more prevalent. And it would help in understanding how to respond and deal with such situations, is to also consider why such situations are now prevalent.

Its prevalence is primarily due to ignorance, i.e., those who do abuse Islam and what it asks us to do, as well as blame Islam for human weaknesses and failures, in reality may not understand the various aspects of Islam and therefore react and blame Islam or fail to act in accordance with Islam’s Guidance.

Life can be frustrating for people, and indeed for Muslims (we are but only human!), and without appropriate knowledge, action can be futile. Imam Ghazali makes this point in his popularly known Treatise, “O My Beloved Son” that “… knowledge without action is vanity, and action without knowledge is insanity.”

Furthermore, countless Scholars of this Noble Path to Allah have made it clear that true felicity, happiness and success, only arises through authentic knowledge and acting by it, and which is attained in the Hereafter. So, knowledge regarding Islam as a Way which leads to the pleasure of Allah must be learned properly, otherwise one will blame and be prejudiced against what they do not know.

It would be understood that one must realize that the exhortation towards sound knowledge is not only to the other, but to ourselves as well: we will not be able to advise others appropriately if we ourselves do not possess sound knowledge. Allah has revealed in the Qur’an:

Here you are – those who have argued about that of which you have little knowledge; but why do you argue about that of which you have no knowledge? And Allah knows, while you do not. [3:66]

That being said, let us return to your question regarding how we respond to people who act contrary to Islam and also blame it for the wrong that humans may do. The foundations of the answer to this lie in the excellent Prophetic Examples, and there are five key principles we ought to apply to ourselves when engaging with people in such situations:

1. Being sincere and have sincere concern

The Messenger of Allah, upon whom be peace and blessings of Allah, said, “This Religion is nothing but having sincere concern (for others).” In other words, before even intending to engage and respond, one must be sincere in the intention that they only seek goodness for the other person when giving them advice, and that our actions is to reflect the best qualities in getting the other to understand better, rather than intending to argue (as it is said, doing a tit-for-tat to what they may say and argue about it), or intending to prove the other wrong.

One must be true in their advice, wise in their words and sincere in their concern. In addition, sincerity is directly connected to intention, so purify one’s intention. Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said, “How often it is that a small action is made great by its intention, and a great action is made small by its intention.”

2. Present Good Character

The Messenger of Allah, upon whom be peace and blessings of Allah, said, “I was not sent but to perfect character.” Good character can mend many things that even words of truth cannot. Good character is good conduct towards others, intending good for them and avoiding harm against them.

3. Love For The Other What You Love For yourself

The Messenger of Allah, upon whom be peace and blessings of Allah, said, “You truly do not believe until you love for your brother (or sister) what you love for yourself.” Known as the Golden Rule, this advice from the Prophet, upon whom be peace and blessings of Allah, is fundamental to all human interaction. We must not treat others the way we would not want to be treated.

We must not make judgements upon others the way we do not to be wrongly judged. Despite our errors and shortcomings, we always seek to be a better person, and so facilitate whatever means is necessary for others to be a better person.

In the context of your question, this may mean making time to invite the person to meet over a warm meal in order to first build an understanding of each other, and afterwards having the trust of each other to find out what the real causes are behind one’s wrong behavior.

You showing sincere concern, through good conduct and positive initiative to understand the other person’s frustrations will surpass any amount of counter arguments you could present to the same person.

None of these means the negative forms of political correctness, but a respectful firmness and gentleness in approaching the matter, that once you both understand and trust each other, it will be acknowledged by the other that your direct advice is not meant to hurt the other, but a legitimate consideration one must make regarding their contention with Islam.

4. Remain Silent

The Messenger of Allah, upon whom be peace and blessings of Allah, said, “Part of a person’s good observance of Islam is that he leaves alone that which does not concern him.” Numerous times we become concerned with what truly does not concern us. Seeing or hearing a wrong has many permissible responses from the Believer in Allah and the Last Day; it is not only somehow addressing it directly.

Sometimes matters may not even be within our right to be speaking out about. Other times, our speaking about the matter would bring greater harm (refer below regarding harm). And other times, it is best to move on if the other is being rude and argumentative out of their own ignorance. Allah has revealed in the Qur’an about this:

And the servants of Allah The Most Gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, “Peace!” [25:63]

5. Remove Harm

The Messenger of Allah, upon whom be peace and blessings of Allah, said, “There is neither harming nor returning of harm.” What this means is that we must never initiate harming others, and most importantly that when others do harm or offend us that we must never return or respond in a harmful way.

Therefore when others argue about a matter, abuse Islamic practices and behave inappropriately, we must not join them in the same manner at all. To the contrary, we must avoid doing so, and only return in a better and constructive manner that will remove the harmful action and pave an alternative towards goodness and benefit.

So, after explaining to others who may be behaving inappropriately, there is no need to engage oneself in offensive behavior but to make supplication for the offender and to remove oneself from being harmful to the situation further.

I pray that these five foundational principles assist you in relation to your question.

Here are some related resource that may further help:

i)    Discussion & Disagreement, by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

ii)    How Do We Respond, by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

iii)    Controlling The Tongue, by Imam Zaid Shakir

This answer was collected from Seekersguidance.org. It’s an online learning platform overseen by Sheikh Faraz Rabbani. All courses are free. They also have in-person classes in Canada.