Yesterday, a chat on facebook with a "friend," who claimed to work for an NGO in India run by a "famous Islamic scholar," lead me to ponder over it for the rest of the day. This friend, let's call him RS for the sake of convenience, started by asking me if I had ever read the Qur'an with meaning and what did I make of it. Good question, I thought and simply answered that Islam means total submission to the Almighty and the Qur'an is there to guide me in that.

I don't know how correct or incorrect I was, Allahul Alam, but RS certainly thought I couldn't be more wrong and hence, said that I had 'belittled' the Qur'an and Allah. I demanded on knowing where I had gone wrong, for such heavy accusations had to have some justifications. What followed was a lengthy mutual advisory session on how RS thought I didn't know anything about my religion and wondered from where on earth I got my lessons in Islam (incorrect, according to RS), and I repeatedly asking him to justify the unfortunate accusations he had leveled against me, they weren't any wee charges after all.

I ask for Allah's forgiveness in whatever transpired in that chat – He knows best as to who was closer to the truth. The point that I want to make here is when you go out to give a piece of your mind to your Muslim brothers/sisters get your lessons in order first, and second, be gentle in your manner.

The internet has opened up a whole new culture of debates – one that is more knowledgeable, vehement and polarizing. Knowledgeable because as you type, within seconds, you can also look up information on the net and support your claim with the relevant link. However, be cautious of websites giving out ambiguous information.

Vehement because generally people are more candid on the net than they are in real life and end up saying things they wouldn't say otherwise fearing consequences.

Internet debates are polarizing because you have all sorts of websites, forums validating your views – for or against – hardening your conviction and increasing the schism even between two initially like-minded people. An idea I learnt from here.

We live in such politically-charged environments, where each one of us seems to have an 'opinion' on everything that eventually, necessarily politicizes it. Unlike political ideologies and the like, there are no two or more than two ways when it comes to Islam, except a few contentious topics which should be best left to the scholars to debate. Truth is absolute here. Hence any argument around it is either right or wrong.

I don't know if I should have discussed my religion with RS in the first place. Should I have persisted with him after his uncomfortable remarks? Should I, if faced with a similar situation, indefinitely defend my ideas about Islam (which for me are the truth and Allah Knows Best) or just quit because the other person has such a rigid frame of mind?

FYI:

Islam in Arabic means submission. That's why a person who submits is called a Muslim in Arabic (coming from the same root word) – because he submits to the Will of Allah. Allah mentions about Prophet Ibrahim AS in Surah Baqarah, verse 131:

إِذ قالَ لَهُ رَبُّهُ أَسلِم ۖ قالَ أَسلَمتُ لِرَبِّ العٰلَمينَ

When his Lord said to him, "Submit (Aslim)!" He said, "I have submitted myself (Aslamtu) to the Lord of the 'Alamîn (mankind, jinn and all that exists)."