Crusades, as they say, may have ended centuries ago but the crusading spirit is alive still. Innumerable polemics written against Islam and slanders against the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and the Holy Quran are a practical manifestation of the same.

Muslims have been putting in their efforts to launch an academic Jihad against this spirit. But in these times when the World Wide Web paradigm has exposed the innocent minds to this ever rising crusading onslaught there is a necessity to arm and enable each one of the Muslims to take up this challenge. In the following lines I give certain points that will, Insha’Allah, help you understand the roots of the lies against Islam and, if a little effort is put in, enable you to expose them.

Following reasons explain as to how certain people are able to make allegations against Islam and why naïve Muslims are taken off-guard. I am confident that if a person has adequate knowledge, he can easily make a rebuttal to all the slanders against our Noble Faith considering the following points. So, here you go;

1- Taking a single Ayah or a Hadith in isolation from the rest of Islamic rubric (rest of the Quran and other Ahadith).

2- Isolating an Ayah or a Hadith from its context.

3- Ignoring the fact that not all Ahadith are authentic; infact some are termed as weak and some even as fabrication by Muhaddithin (Masters of the Sciences of Hadith).

4- Extensive use of the traditions from history books like those of Al-Tabari, Ibn Ishaaq and Ibn Sa’ad etc which contain raw material about early Muslims and include numerous unauthentic narrations. Infact their compilers didn’t take the amount of care as is done in Hadith compilations. (Scholars did their best either not to narrate unauthentic narrations or to mention their weakness when they dealt with narrations of legal and juristic importance but not so with those merely of historical import).

5- Disregard to the fact that not all the narrations that may have connected chains of trustworthy narrators serve as evidence. One needs to take into account what other narrators relate about the same issue and compare with different narrations before making an inference or deduction.

6- Indifference to the delicacies and subtleties of the Arabic language. A single word or phrase may have quite different meanings in different contexts.

7- Not understanding the peculiar environment and culture of 7th A.C. Arabia especially when it comes to the life of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and his companions.

8- Ignoring the fact that’s it’s the Arabic text of the Quran and Ahadith that matters and not the translations and commentaries.

9- ‘Overlooking’ the fact that when it comes to explanation and commentary, no single or a certain group of scholars is an absolute authority in the House of Islam. Opinion of any scholar, however erudite, may be rejected or ignored subject to valid reasons.

10- Referring to the deeds of ordinary Muslims and putting the blame on Islam. Such an attitude is absolutely wrong. Only the deeds of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), understood in the right context, represent the Islamic Faith. What if we see the Christian religion in light of the doings of the likes of Hitler?

These are the polemic tactics, assessing each of their arguments against these points will lead us to answer them in a profound manner.

Hope all this will be helpful!

INDEED ALLAH KNOWS THE BEST!!