In order to convey the message of Islam, dialogue
and debate become inevitable. The Glorious Qur’an
says:
“Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord, with wisdom
and beautiful preaching, and argue with them in
ways that are best and most gracious:”
[Al Qur’an 16:125]
In conveying the message of Islam to a non-Muslim,
it is usually not sufficient to highlight only the
positive nature of Islam. Most non-Muslims are not
convinced about the truth of Islam because there
are a few questions about Islam at the back of their
minds that remain unanswered.
They may agree with your contentions about the
positive nature of Islam. But, in the same breath,
they will say – “Ah! But you are the same Muslims
who marry more than one woman. You are the
same people who subjugate women by keeping them
behind the veil. You are fundamentalists etc.”
I personally prefer asking the non-Muslim upfront,
what he feels is wrong in Islam. With their limited
knowledge, whether right or wrong, from whichever
source it may be, I prefer asking directly, what they
feel is wrong in Islam. I encourage them to be very
frank and open and convince them that I can take
criticism about Islam.
In the past few years of my da’wah experience, I have
realized that there are barely twenty most common
questions that a common non-Muslim has regarding
Islam. Whenever you ask a non-Muslim, “what do
you feel is wrong in Islam?”, he poses five or six
questions, and these questions invariably fall among
the twenty most common questions.
Logical replies can convince the majority:
The twenty most common questions about Islam
can be answered with reason and logic. A majority of
non-Muslims can be convinced with these answers.
If a Muslim memorizes or simply remembers these
answers, InshAllah he will be successful, if not in
convincing non-Muslims about the complete truth
of Islam, then at least in removing misconceptions
about Islam and neutralizing the negative thinking
about Islam and Muslims that the non-Muslims
have. A very few non-Muslims may have counter
arguments to these replies, for which further
information may be required.
Misconceptions due to media:
The common misconceptions about Islam arise in the
minds of a majority of non-Muslims, because they are
constantly being bombarded with misinformation
about Islam. International media is mainly controlled
by the western world, whether it is international
satellite channels, radio stations, news- papers,
magazines or books. Recently, the Internet has
become a powerful medium of information. Though
it is not controlled by anybody, one finds a large
amount of virulent propaganda about Islam on
the Internet. Of course, Muslims too are utilizing
this tool to portray the right image of Islam and
Muslims, but they are far behind as compared to the
propaganda against Islam. I hope the efforts by the
Muslims will increase and continue to be pursued.
Misconceptions change with time:
The most common questions about Islam are
different in different periods and eras. This set of
twenty most common questions is based on present
times. Decades earlier, the set of questions was
different and decades later too, the set of questions
may change depending upon how Islam is projected
by the media.
Misconceptions are the same throughout
the world:
I have interacted with people in different parts of the
world and have found these twenty most common
questions about Islam to be the same everywhere.
There may be a couple of additional questions
depending upon the locale, the surrounding or
culture. For instance in America, the additional
common question is – “Why does Islam prohibit
taking and giving of interest?”
I have included among these twenty most common
questions, certain questions more common among the
Indian non-Muslims. For instance, “why do Muslims
have non-vegetarian food?” The reason for including
such questions is that people of Indian origin are
spread throughout the world and constitute about
20% i.e. 1/5th of the world population. Thus, their
questions become common questions asked by nonMuslims throughout the world.
Misconceptions of non-Muslims who have
studied Islam:
There are many non-Muslims who have studied
Islam. Most of them have only read books on Islam
written by biased critics of Islam. These nonMuslims have an additional set of twenty common
misconceptions about Islam. For instance, they
claim to have found contradictions in the Qur’an,
they contend that the Qur’an is unscientific, etc.
There is another set of additional replies clearing
these twenty misconceptions among non-Muslims
who have studied Islam from distorted sources. I
have also given the replies to twenty additional less
common questions among the non-Muslims.