Adnan Oktar A9 TV; November 13th, 2012

There is no compulsion in religion. No one can be forced to perform prayers, fast and give alms. Those can only be done most sincerely and willingly.

A Muslim would want people from all faiths to live happily; he/she thinks about everyone and says "my brothers/sisters come first," and never puts himself/herself before others.

In our religion, here is no compulsion against Christianity and Judaism. They will be able to live by their religion everywhere.

One feels pity for the irreligious, so why are you attacking irreligious? You cannot pull an irreligious person towards your own religion by force. You have to give them freedom, you cannot interfere with their beliefs. You cannot drag them towards your own system, your own moral values. Unless they do harm to anyone, you cannot interfere with their values. You can only interfere with them if they do harm to you in person, to your environment or the society; in which case you would have a right to do so. But even then it would be within the framework of law and justice system.

Yes to freedom of thought! No to insults and revilement! No Turkish court is sentencing anyone because of their ideas. The offence people are sentenced for, are slanders and insults.

Stating an opinion is one thing, slandering is another. There is law and there is a legal system. We will not let anyone slander and revile.

No one accepts insults when they are aimed at their own persons. Yet they strive to present insults aimed at believers as normal.

Freedom of speech is for expressing ideas, not for cursing.

The best thing to do is to voice ideas without giving rise to an environment of conflict.

It is a beauty for youngsters to be free in their beliefs. No one is obliged to accept any idea, let everyone be free.

We cannot impose our understanding of morality to others, we cannot interfere anyone’s beliefs.

Targeting the happiness of people is the characteristic of the system of the Mahdi. The system of the Mahdi is not oppressive, it would interfere with anyone else's faith or opinion. Everyone will be free. A very devout center will present love to everyone.

If you exert pressure, people would feel abased. You would make people who normally would not consume alcohol start consuming alcohol, you would cause people who would normally perform their prayers, stand apart from prayers; things that would not normally happen would start to happen. I mean oppression would disrupt a person’s balance.

There is no violence in the Qur'an; the only condition war in which is considered acceptable in the Qur'an is defense. When a persecutor attacks, we defend ourselves. There is no persecution, no pressure in the Qur'an. You simply defend yourself when attacked by persecutors. The verse is explicit. God says; "There is no compulsion in religion." (Surat Al-Baqarah; 256) God also tells us to say; "O you disbelievers! You have your religion, I have my religion." ( Surat Al-Kafirun; 6) How do you come up with compulsion with these verses?

One might be an atheist. Being an atheist is a crime in the Sight of God, not before His servants. You cannot interfere with that. In the verses of the Qur'an, God says; "Say; you have your religion and I have my religion." One might be an atheist, one might be devout, one might have another religion; all are possible. God says "There is no compulsion in religion."

Saying "I do not like the opinions of this person, so I will bomb him," is not acceptable. You simply talk to him, explain things to him and if he doesn't acknowledge the truth, it is all you can do. If he does acknowledge the truth, that would be great. There is no compulsion in religion. There is no such method of knocking sense into a person with bombs and weapons.

Making religion difficult is a cruelty inflicted upon the whole world. That is because people suffer anguish when they become estranged to religion.

Some people think that they would get even closer to God as they complicate religion. Actually you would end up in Hell for failing to give an account for keeping people away from God's religion. One should show people the ease in religion, just like God has revealed.

Religion is love, it is relief, beauty, exhilaration and joy. It enables you to use the blessings of God legitimately in the most beautiful manner. An understanding of religion which claims that it is an offense to turn right or to turn left, to look upwards or to look downwards, is not acceptable. That would devastate people make them psychopathic and cause them lose their sanity. It is cruelty to complicate religion. And they are carrying out this cruelty without being aware of it.

I would never intervene in anyone's way of clothing and I would never ostracize a person due to his or her dress. I have respect and love for all.

I would never intervene in anyone's way of living. They may all live as they like as I have respect for all points of view.

According to the Qur'an, everyone can practice his own religion as he pleases. The verse says “You have your religion and I have mine”. Consequently, a Muslim should never exert pressure on anyone.

What befalls on Muslims is to preach Islam. According to Islam, exerting pressure and compulsion is unlawful.

When Mahdi (pbuh) appears, people assume that bigot mindset, fanatic mindset would appear a hundred times harsher than before. Actually the bigot mindset will disappear a hundred times more profoundly than before when the Mahdi (pbuh) appears. Democracy will come, love will come, peace will come, economic welfare will come and so will justice.

Allah tells us that if there is an attack against a Muslim, all the Muslims should form a union and stand out against that altogether as a whole. As a characteristic of a Muslim, Allah has deemed that an obligation upon Muslims. (Surat Ash-Shura, 39)