A dangerous emotional call: ‘We respect all religions’.

Sometimes we hear some brothers say that islaam has taught us to respect others’ religion. We can understand what these brothers mean, but this claim is not correct. ‘Another religion’ is different from ‘the followers of another religion’. It is true that the followers of another religion should be dealt with in a way that they can witness the beauty of islaam and can be attracted by its message.  It is not permissible to swear at them, beat them, mistreat them, rob them or kill them.  This should be our attitude towards  ‘the followers of another religion’.

As for our view against ‘another religion’, it  must be  firm and strict:

All other religions besides islaam are  mere falsehood, because they are nothing except kufr, which is the most disgusting thing in the sight of Allaah. ,  

Has islaam taught us to respect kufr?

Has islaam taught us to respect the most disgusting thing in the sight of Allaah?

So, islaam has never directed us to respect others’ religion.  In contrast, it has taught us to save people from false religions.

Yes, we have a Quranic teaching which forbids us from wrongly speaking of the Ilaah (deities) of the mushrik . Why? Because this is not Da’wah, but rather a  provocation  to make the kuffaar more fanatic and to speak wrong of Allaah. We are compelled to respect this teaching as it is, that is, not insulting the Ilaah (deities) of others so that others do not insult Allaah. For instance, one should not tell any non-muslim that the photograph of his deity  is ugly, but one is allowed to tell it to his  child so that he sees how disgusting shirk is. If we were supposed to respect other religions, we would not be allowed to tell that to our children.

The one who has concluded from this ayah that islaam has taught us to respect others’ religion is wrong. Where does the ayah mention respect? Instead of saying what is not true on islaam, we should use words which do not contradict islaam, like:

            ‘Islaam has not taught us to insult the religion of others.’

            ‘Islaam has not taught us to wrong non muslims.’

Respecting kufr, falsehood and deviancy, has never been among the teachings of islaam.

Author: Abu Layla Shabbir
Translator: Najaah & Ilyaad Abu Ibraheem