 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم والحمد لله رب العالمين الصلاة والسلام على أشرف الخلق وعز المرسلين أب القاسم محمد وعلى آل بيته الطيبين الطاهرين رب الله سبحانه وتعالى بلس all the prophets from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad the last messenger and his household one of the important topics that I would like to talk about today is Islam through the perspective of dialogue and tolerance because those are some important tools for any civilization to exist even your body if it has so many antibodies particles in it no matter how strong it is is going to come to a point and vanish because it is fighting everything around it in addition to the external germs bacteria viruses it has inside killer cannot tolerate its own cells civilization could be something very similar when I consider a powerful lasting civilization like Islam has been there for about 1400 years and it has been carrying the same core beliefs and ethics there is something here I have to consider I cannot just follow the media and say oh Islam is you know violent movement Islam has no tolerance when it comes to different opinions or ethnicities just name it this is not accepted this is not accepted for simple reason because otherwise this civilization would vanish will never exist because if it is creating enemies all over the places and that's not happening Islam was spreading all over the places among 4 or 5 people nowadays one of them is Muslim and only 30% of those about 30% of those people are Arabic people so Islam started in Arabia but yet the majority of Muslims are non-Arabic 30% are Arabic and the rest like about 70% are non-Arabic so if were to be a violent civilization that does not open or does not have a place for tolerance if it were to be a civilization that encapsulate its ideas and deprive the rights of freedom of speech and the freedom of practice and so many other good human rights this religion this civilization will never exist if this civilization when I say civilization I does not mean the irresponsible behavior of certain groups or some Muslims I don't have to deal with that when I say civilization I'm talking about the objective view of Islam from its pure resources and authenticated ones not just any civilization any talk any book any speech any irrational or minor group I don't have to deal with that I deal with the core authenticated resources and one of them is the Quran Islam did not say everyone is my enemy and it has to be terminated never ever as a matter of fact when I look at the Quran the constitution of this civilization and that the book all the Muslims they considered holy and sacred and never been altered إننا نحن نزلنا الذكرة وإننا له لحافظون we delivered the message and we are protecting it we are protecting the Quran the constitution of the message if I look at this pure authenticated constitution of Islam I don't see in any Quranic verse الله سبحانه وتعالى God the Almighty is saying a certain group of people is your enemy go and terminate them no or go kill it we don't have this we don't have any call in the Quran that consider a human is an enemy or a race is an enemy that you have to get rid of we don't have this but we have a very obvious enemy إن الشيطان لكم عدو فتخذوه عدو your enemy is the devil Satan that means your enemy is ignorance your enemy is untruthful ways and beliefs this is your enemy not a human being and that's why we have so many narrations like the one was narrated by Imam Ali الناس الصنفان people are two kinds it's either a brother in faith or a brother is a fellow human so you have to have this kind of bond brotherhood the only time Islam start considering enmity is if you are fighting me then as a self defense I have to fight you if that's the only solution and we gave so many examples that the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم صفرت from Quraish for so many years and he did not just initialize fight against them he was patient with them for about 10 years and even when he became very strong he did not go and revenge he did not go and look after them to terminate them as a way of revenge it was very rational very moral so all this now let's see did really Islam did really Islam consider the dialogue and has this tolerance with others definitely yes examples from the Quran let's start from the Quran before we start talking about any other things when the Quran look Islam did not just respect you even if you have a different opinion it also give you the freedom to analyze talk, think the freedom to prove and disapprove even if you were to be a disbeliever who might deny the Almighty God very clearly when أحد من المشركين this is when Islam was very strong it was not weak very strong but yet if those disbelievers if one of your enemy came to you Prophet Muhammad asking you about Islam asking to have a shelter asking in a very civilized way or he has some wonders about Islam help him give him your hand support him when أحد من المشركين استجارك فأجره help him out وابلله ماما that means give him what he is asking you as shelter wise protect him why? because he can listen to the message so he has time to think analyze in another word give him a source of freedom where he can think and it is opposite to them and it is opposite to the media nowadays nowadays if you do not agree with me you are going to get killed and then the media look at the Muslims they kill the Christians they are killing Muslims and the Christians they are killing a human being they are killing innocent people what's happening is not Islam and they are trying to spread it they are sword and weapon it is a way that they are killing Islam under the name of their all personal verdicts and fatah which has nothing to do with Islamic belief another way we look at it when we see the prophet or the Quran when start guiding us how to deal with non-Muslim people when some verses we have when it comes to talking to Christians and Jews do not say oh you go to Hellfire I'm going to heaven I'm right you are wrong no no no no does not have to be that way it was very very rational way to open a rational dialogue to come to a rational solution when Islam was talking to the Christian and Jews in the time of the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم as well as in every period what did he say قل يا أهل الكتاب تعالأوا إلى كلمة سواء بيننا و بينكم the Christians and Jews the Quran used to refer to them as the people of the book which is a way of respect that means Quran respected the previous holy books the Bible the New Testament the Old Testament respected knowledge respected the sources of knowledge though I might differ with it though I claim you have some stuff wrong in it though I claim it got altered yet I respect that you have source of knowledge and then since you are the people of the book since you believe in God that I believe in as a Muslim since you believe in the prophets that I believe in as a Muslim like Abraham, Moses, Noah Jesus, peace be upon them so since your morals are very similar to mine since your core believes in its essence is very close to mine since you believe in the Creator and I believe in the same Creator since you believe that God is there to help a human race to guide a human race and that's why he sent them messengers and prophets and books and I believe in the same thing so why we Muslims and Christians or Jews why don't we come to a common ground this is the Quran it's not my statement let's come Muslims, Christians, Jews let's come to a common ground where we worship God and do not associate partners with them at least we share this much of belief let's look at it as a strong point because humanity is in need of us as believers because we the believers we have to protect others we have to guide others we have to help others we have so many problems to talk about we have so many problems to solve we have so many challenges as believers since we care about a human since Allah SWT cares about a human being so why don't we come to a common ground to a common ground where we show the mercy of God through our efforts and through our good faith and behave it's not good enough to say I believe in a merciful God but yet when it comes to practical practical behave then you are different to human we have so many problems to solve we have so many dysfunctional families high divorce rates drugs problems crimes people care less about environment care less about others rights care less about life care less about natural resources care less about other human fellows they are care less about so many things why don't we start educating people helping people supporting others helping the need the needy ones why? let's come to a common ground that's the first sign of a dialogue Islam made and that's why we saw the prophet SAW opening so many debates and dialogues with other religions when Nassara Najran the Christian of Najran came to the prophet they came to his mosque and they they practiced their Christian rituals in his mosque and no one offended them and no one discriminated against them and no one considered what they are doing as a sign to be punished no the prophet left them and he tolerated that and this is another example and even the Christians of Najran even they disagreed with the prophet they believed in Jesus but they did not believe in Muhammad SAW as a prophet yet the prophet did not say you are infidels go kill them no no no that's not accepted this is the real practice practice of Islam another ayat we have so many verses from Quran when you talk to them when you debate others when you enter with an argument with those who do not agree with you make sure to pick the proper words to use the proper style وجادلهم بالتيهي أحسن this is from Quran when you are talking to them when you are debating them pick the proper words use the perfect, the better or the best style that you can afford there is no place to shout there is no place to hate there is no place to say bad word there is no place to downgrade others you have to respect others that's another Islamic verse so when it comes to dialogue Islam showed us all those beautiful images even from the beginning when we talk about a human race from our Adam till this moment because maybe we had different Adams maybe before our Adam we had so many Adams our Adam the Prophet Adam the first human of our race in this planet الله سبحانه و تعالى when he created him he gave us so many good lessons look at so many Quranic verses important ones he was going to create Adam then the angels said اتجعلوا فيها من يفسدوا فيها الله سبحانه و تعالى is showing us the importance of respecting others opinion he is creating Adam and he knows what's going to happen and he is the only present and all knowing yet he told the angels about this in you in the creature that he is going to create though he is not in need of it but to show us how to communicate with others it's a lesson for us otherwise الله will not document this in the Quran he is documenting this documenting this in the Quran it is in the Quran to teach us even if you are the big boss even you are the top notch guy in the country even if you were to be the president the head of the family the head of your company yet that does not mean you are better than others in a way in a superior way it is your opinion or my opinion even if you believe you are right give a place for keep a place for dialogue and what we call nowadays kind of like brain storming do not say I know even Allah who is the only knowing as I said the all knowing yet he gave us a lesson he talked to the angels when he came to earth خليفة I'm going to have a vice-german a human الله is beyond time الله is beyond place الله is not like any materialistic things that we know الله is beyond our understanding but out of his mercy now people they are going to argue why Allah created Adam this is not our subject but out of his mercy he created he created this human he called it Adam he told the angels about and he let the angel to show their objection the angel said they say according to some narrations they say that the angel knew that this a human is going to ruin earth co-wapt earth شد the blood how did they know because they so similar Adams before him close to his setup features attributes so they concluded it's going to be like the previous creatures that's according to some narrations anyway here the point is الله سبحانه وتعالى though he is الله the Almighty God the only knowing the all knowing the only present العالم الخلير yet he opened source of a dialogue with the angels gave him a freedom of speech to talk, object, analyze when they tried to God when he told them about this a human being they replied oh God اتجعلوا فيها من يفسدوا فيها are you going to create someone who is going to corrupt and shed the blood in this beautiful earth what did Allah سبحانه وتعالى said then I know what you do not know he did not say be quiet I am God you are not God this is another way how to be polite with others even if you feel you understand more than what they do and the story continue when Allah سبحانه وتعالى when Allah سبحانه وتعالى ordered the angels to make sujood they all made the sujood as a sign of submission except one being Satan the devil he was from al jinn he was not an angel he was from al jinn different kind of creature was different creature Allah سبحانه وتعالى ordered him he disobeyed because we believe that the angels do not disobey God but he was not an angel well this is some different and other religions maybe God did not say oh you are a bad guy get out of no no no no Allah even he even devil disobeyed Allah Allah سبحانه وتعالى gave the opportunity to the devil to defend himself to defend his opinion to defend his reasoning to defend his decision why you are not submitting to me like other angels and he had no powerful evidence so this is another another way we look at it from the Quran how to open dialogue and tolerate other people and this is what Allah the Almighty taught us this is a sign a powerful sign from al Quran and so we have so many other ayat that talked about talking to people in a proper way opening dialogues with others tolerate others even when it comes to religion and Islam said it very clearly لا اكره في الدين لا اكره في الدين I do not force you to be Muslim it is up to you it is up to you whether you want to be a believer or you want to be a disbeliever it is up to you but you hold responsibility you are responsible about your calls you are responsible about your judgment you are responsible about what is going to happen to you in this life and hereafter when it comes to blessing and when it comes to less support and less help from Allah سبحانه وتعالى the generous the merciful فالنشاءة فاليؤمن ومنشاءة فاليكفر this is another sign when the prophet used to deal with the disbelievers لكم دين اكرم وليا دين I have my religion and you have your religion that's so did Islam opened the door for dialogue yes definitely that's the first thing to do the first thing is to let the others think, talk and analyze and even some Quranic verses we have when the prophet used to argue with the non-believers he did not say oh you non-believers go to hellfire I don't want to talk to you we gave you so many examples it's up to you yes the Quran told them if you deny on purpose the prophet if you deny on purpose the message of Islam and you have no evidence and you have no proof you are going to get those consequences but after what after he said show me your evidence think use your intelligence why you are listening to this and that why you are worshipping idols why you are worshipping stones don't you pay attention show me this evidence show me that proof and they were careless and they they did not want to listen and they did not want to follow any rational approach show them those consequences it's not just oh you don't believe oh you are dead oh you didn't go to hellfire no وما كنا معذبين حتى نبعثة رسولة if I deny send you a messenger if I deny prove to you that you are wrong if I deny have enough energy, knowledge and power to argue with you to deal with your questions to answer your questions then it's not your problem it's my problem Allah will never punish those who have strong evidence and they think it is the right way we are talking about those who deny the truth those who know for a fact they are wrong and they insist that they are right and others are wrong we are dealing with such kind of group or group of people those who are not willing to listen not willing to hear other opinions this is very dangerous this is very dangerous fact and this is a main obstacle when it comes to changing the society helping the society improving the society integrating the society because if you do not let me to talk if you do not give me the freedom of the speech if you are all the time isolating me and you are not willing to listen to me and you do not give me any chance or opportunity to prove my point then there is no way I can help you changing your society or improving your community or integrating what you are going through and there is no way for prosperity or development and that's why Islam insisted insisted on freedom of the speech because this is the key to change this is the key to improve this is the key to develop this is the key to convince you which is right and which is wrong this is the key to show you the right path from the wrong path through the freedom of speech through dialogue if you do not believe in Allah if you do not believe in Quran if you are a disbeliever in this or that okay show me your proof this is Islam let's open a dialogue let's talk about it show me your evidences I do not just say no you are wrong and you have no right to tell me I am wrong right away and even the Prophet when he was arguing with the disbeliever this believers what did he tell them when now or it is either we the believers our right could be right or you are wrong or you could be right or wrong there is a truth let's go search for it let's approve let's use our rational thinking and through that we can come to a real perfect tolerated society you might not believe in what I believe but you respect me because I am a man of approve I am a man of logic I am a man of faith I am a man of message I am a man of principles you might not agree with me 100% but you are going to show me respect after that أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم آخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته