801.    (As mentioned): It may be that the Muslim civilians killed today [killed by all sides, but specifically by those claiming to do it for the sake of Allah] will be like the buried-alive girl who is asked why she was killed, so what will await the killers?

802.    Take a lesson from how Allah relates the work of the magicians in the time of Musa (Alayhi as-Salaam) – it was very strong magic, they actually bedeviled people’s eyes. Analogous then today with matters like secularism, human rights theory, etc., Muslim preachers should not dismiss and belittle the effect of such endeavors, but tackle them while knowing their true worth.

803.    There is no middle ground in terms of our relation with the goodness given to others: either we are happy for their situation or jealousy will settle into our hearts.

804.    One can see that there are certain tests (both with worldly and other-worldly consequences) where one simply cannot remain neutral, having no opinion or view whatsoever, and where remaining skeptical will have negative consequences, not merely inert effects. This can be seen also with respect to Islamic beliefs, one cannot remain neutral, and say they are a mere spectator but will neither accept nor reject belief– the stakes (especially for the Hereafter) are extremely high.

805.    (As mentioned): In the first century of Islam it was truly unheard of for someone to violate their oath of protection and proceed to harm someone they were bound to protect – compare this with the wanton, casual killing of civilians (mostly Muslim civilians!) by nominally Muslim groups today, and one can see this is due to an infatuation with modernity and the modern rules of warfare, not a love for strict following of Islamic norms and rules.

806.    The opponent says that the Muslims have many frightening things in our books about treatment of (certain sectors of) Muslims and (especially) non-Muslims.

It can be countered, as a rough partial answer, that not only Christians, Hindus, Jews, or other religions but even Atheist Secularists or hippy liberalists have their own writings and conceptualizations, not at all compassionate or kind to those who disagree with them. For example at a political nation-state level, the Founding Fathers of most countries could be easily presented as terrorists, without much polemicist revisionism, since the Founders’ conception of what was needed in order to achieve a new political reality did involve mass killings, ethnic cleansing, forced indoctrination, forced military conscription, mass displacements, etc. And such did not remain as mere visions, rather it was carried out as a strategy for polity creation and remains the basis of their nationhood down to the present day, even if their countries have been repackaged as ‘Democratic’, ‘Republic’, ‘The People’s Land’, etc.

807.    Continuity of society among Muslims is portrayed as a terrible thing but in honesty, if we take this route, it should then be applied to the Republicanism-based constitutional societies from their inception up to now, including absolutely everything: pederasty, slavery, killing for profit in the previous eras as well as today (referring to societies of Greece, Rome, and more recently the British, French or Dutch with their empires, and so on). However, what the opponent is alluding to is a contradiction: ‘Those of before were democratic/secular but not yet-human in their ideals, yet today we have reached this humanity”. In 50-100 years the same abstract ideological problem will still be there, even when the details are different.

808.    A clarification: The scholars of Kalam do wish for the people to go back to the Qur’an and the Sunnah, but it is their job to remove obstacles in the way, whether new obstacles or old obstacles put up by Satan, his dupes, internal caprice, etc. The truth is that these obstacles are often couched in sweet language to trick the mind, it is the job of the Kalam scholars to instruct Muslims (and others) what the proper ways of thinking are, what counts as proper evidence, and so on.

809.    Don’t put burdens on Muslims so that they totally reject Islam and declare themselves outside the fold of Islam. Yes, there is a Satanic aspect to those who push themselves until they totally leave Islam, but also a negative effect from Muslim communities at times – matters, initially of deviation, could have been handled in a better and more knowledgeable way, rather than in a rough or flippant manner, without compromising core Islamic beliefs and principles either.

810.    There is the issue of Idh’aan (true assent) being a condition of faith, that is why Abu Talib and Hercules are not counted as Muslims, even though they had knowledge of Islam being true, while knowledge plus conviction is what is required. The case of the Najashi (RAA)  for example is there, since he knew the truth and followed the message even if surreptitiously (which shows there can be further conditions for assent to be counted as true).

811.    (It was mentioned): Power is defined as the ability of one actor to make another actor do something they would normally not engage in. (Islam is not so closely married to this concept of power and its naturalistic presuppositions).

812.    (Presented as it was mentioned): The distinction between Darul Islam and Darul Harb is difficult to demarcate neatly today, as any given polity/nation-state within the current world-order may flip-flop between helping and harming Muslims in different lands based on their own (nation-state) interests, often couching their interventions [military, economic, political] in vague language, far removed from classical Islamic terminology.

813.    There are different methods when people deal with sinners: Mudaahanah (flattery) or Mudaaraah (gentleness). The first is for Nafsani needs (for e.g., the lower ego trying to get an advantage from this sinning person by telling him that no, the action done is not a sin at all), the latter for Deeni objectives (i.e. being gentle until the truth can be brought out to the currently sinning person).

814.    (As mentioned): What to say about a society which actively seeks to push its recently-released prisoners back to jail? It seems to be the worst congregation of social decay with capitalism rolled into one, and says much more about such societies than it does about the incarcerated.

815.    Interesting note: people coming out of prison may not be able to understand instructions even after reading them. Why would that be so? Because they were not in the society or context that would make them understand these instructions and implement them smoothly. Besides the issue of incarceration and recidivism, this matter does have a more direct relationship to Islam and the proper interpretation of its texts, its message, the founding of Madhaahib, how, when, and where texts can be interpreted, etc.

816.    A note mentioned about others’ political systems: Democracy is based on education more than anything else, which is why very terrible people and terrible things have indeed happened when an electorate mesmerized by propaganda, simple information, and desperation have voted in certain politicians to take the reins of power.

(And if someone says that it is this very freedom to choose whatever the electorate wishes that defines democracy, the response is that then the political superstructures will always be a few years away from totally dissolving, and the “choices of the people” will then be redundant, since then any fiercely non-democratic system can establish and entrench itself within a short period of time).

817.    When looking at the opposition from non-Muslims remember that not everyone wants Muslims to succeed; that is, many are not opposing Islam because they benevolently want Muslims to become “good secularists”, but rather many really do hate Islam and Muslims out of spite and do want them caged, starved, bombed, and so on. By the way, Islamic ethics does not allow for us to hope for the Kufr of someone just because we dislike that person now; the rules are quite strict in this matter, and hoping for the Islam of everyone is hoping for their eternal success.

818.    (As was mentioned): The spirit is truly free-seeking, hoping to return to its homeland, which is the presence of Allah. Yet we can and do shackle it with materialism and the desires of the Nafs (lower self). (Theological points would need to be clarified about this statement, but basically this is what the true soul of every person innately wishes).

819.    It is in fact emotional (not rational) to promote hard metaphysical scientism, since one is denying a priori the existence of everything other than the material realm- so it is, in a sense, promotion of a “scientism mythology” even before the observations are presented and discussed.

820.    (As mentioned): In the deeper understandings, we see that there are three books: the written, the witnessed and the hidden (corresponding to the Quran, the Outer Creation, and One’s Inner Self). All of these are in unison when properly calibrated.

821.    We Muslims say that the Prophetic Sunnah is objective reality; the more we as subjective beings mold ourselves on the Sunnah, the more we will objectively experience Divine Favors. There are absolutely no two ways about this.

822.    Many ‘Ulamaa, when authoring their Seerah works, began the life of the Prophet (ﷺ) from his creation, not from his earthly birth. This point is crucial in understanding a lot of the spiritual poetry written for the love of the Prophet (ﷺ), in order that one not harbor ill thoughts about the authors of such works (poetry or otherwise).

823.    Someone might say the world (or Universe, or material existence) created itself. But look at the ‘it’ in here: they are giving it existence and ability to create, while saying it does not exist, a big contradiction.

824.    The early believers prayed not to be a Fitnah (tribulation) for the disbelievers- meaning that the disbeliever would be rejecting Islam due to something the believer did, or they would get punished badly in the Afterlife due to torturing the believers, or some other similar action.

So look at this and compare it with the situation and mindset of some groups or individuals today, who jump at the chance of saying the non-Muslim interlocutor will definitely be in Hellfire, and that the Hujjah (evidence) was presented to them after a 5 minute discussion but was rejected. We are not talking in here about the theological evidences for what makes belief obligatory, but rather about the attitude the Muslim should take with regards to the non-Muslim and the potential of his eternal salvation when discussing Islam with the non-Muslim.

825.    Social sciences are guiltier in driving people towards atheism or agnosticism than even the natural sciences; people wish for a certain organization of human life- this is why some will be clever enough to push for an Atheist or Humanist agenda in conjunction with the “discoveries of science”, not merely due to an unanchored “lack of belief”.