Argument in the Qur’an (1/8)

Humanity was created to serve and worship Allah, win His favor, receive His mercy, and attain Paradise. Believers direct their actions toward these goals by basing their life on the Qur’an’s moral teachings.

People experience many hardships while alive. To overcome them, they must act according to Qur’an’s moral teachings, for doing so will enable them to escape the traps set by satan, their main antagonist. His first strategy is to make believers forget about religion and prevent them from following the true path.

One of satan’s strategies is to incite arguments among people to divert them from the true path. Although “argument” has several connotations in the Qur’an, there is a basic common meaning: to be superficial, lacking spiritual insight, and engaging in pointless deeds. To argue means to speak when silence would be better, to prolong a discussion by creating a charged atmosphere, and to ignore what is good. Those who argue seek to undermine the truth of Islam, which Allah sent down with many proofs, as well as of the Qur’an and holy, religious concepts by attempting to prove their opposites.

Finally, an argument is a violent and unhappy exchange between a person who has fallen into difficulty and those who put him in that situation. This is the style of communication taking place between the damned, as is revealed in the Qur’an.

Arguing does not befit believers, and their respect and love for another precludes it. They do not argue with unbelievers, but speak with them only to communicate religion and while doing this they employ the most efficient and beautiful style.