When inviting others to Islam, Muslims must use the best
possible way and manner. Allah said (S 16 A125): "Invite
mankind to the way of your Lord with wisdom and
beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are
best and most gracious." This verse is talking about the
correct style and manner of presenting Islam. But some
people confuse between style and content. They think
that the use of wisdom and good manner entitles them to
distort the content of the message, to approve of
deviations, to give the wrong answers or hide part of the
revelation. They take style beyond its legitimate domain,
beyond the way in which the message is presented, the
appearance of the speaker, his gestures, the way he
gets in touch with those he is calling and the means he is
using to call them. They shy away from part of the
revelation and hide it. Verses like: "Say, O Muhammad,
to those who disbelieve: 'You will be defeated and
gathered together in Hell, and worst indeed is that place
to rest.' " are considered too rude and violent to be
mentioned.
The conduct of the Prophet, sallallahu alaihe wa sallam,
in differentiating between style and content is
enlightening. His message has always been the same:
believe in Allah and believe in His messenger. There
were fundamentals he never accepted to negotiate:
believers will go to Paradise, disbelievers will go to Hell,
the religion of the disbelievers is false, Truth is Truth,
falsehood is falsehood, Good should be sought, evil
should be rejected, the attributes of those who are loved
by Allah, the attributes of those who are disliked by Allah.
But no matter how hard the Truth was, the manner in
which he declared these facts was always marked by
modesty, humility, compassion, kindness, patience,
forgiveness, love and truthfulness because these
manners help the people who are called to Islam to
accept the message.
The disbelievers were irritated by the Prophet's
persistence on the content of his message and its
substance, and his refusal to negotiate any part of it while
at the same time presenting it in such a graceful manner.
They wished he would compromise with them. But Allah
forbade him to: "So obey not, O Muhammad, the
deniers. They wish that you should compromise in
religion out of courtesy with them, so they too would
compromise with you." (S68 A8-9). They proposed to
meet him halfway; that they worship his Lord one day
and he worships their gods the next day. The matter was
resolved by Allah's revelation (S 109 A1-6): "Say: 'O
disbelievers! I worship not that which you worship, nor
will you worship that which I worship. And I shall not
worship that which you are worshiping, nor will you
worship that which I worship. To you be your religion,
and to me my religion." The disbelievers tried to
convince the Prophet to deviate from the Truth that was
revealed to him. But Allah revealed (S 17 A73-75):
"Verily, their purpose was to tempt you away from that
which We had revealed unto you to substitute in Our
name something quite different, and then they would
certainly have taken you as a friend! And had We not
made you stand firm, you would nearly have inclined to
them a little. In that case, We would have made you taste
a double portion of punishment in this life and an equal
portion after death, and then you would have found none
to help you against Us."
The content of the Islamic message does not change
because we were not the ones who have chosen it.
Allah has decreed it and ordered us to convey it to
mankind as it is. If we change it or distort it because our
mere opinions tell us that it would not be accepted
otherwise, we would be betraying the trust.
