RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Professor Arnold mentions another incident which took place during the rule of the Abbasid Caliph, al-Mamun (813-833). When al-Mamun came to know that the enemies of Islam declared that it owed its success to the sword and not to the power of argument, he summoned a great assembly of the leaders of all the religious bodies of the period. In this meeting, the Muslim doctors defended their religion against the imputation, and the unbelievers acknowledged that the Muslims had satisfactorily proved their point. Professor Arnold goes on to say: “Al-Mamun himself was very zealous in his efforts to spread the faith of Islam ... but he did not abuse his royal power by attempting to force his own faith upon others.”

One of the eminent participants in the great inter-religious assembly held in Baghdad, was Yazdanbakht, a leader of the Manichean sect who had come from Persia. He held a disputation with the Muslim theologians, in which he was utterly silenced, so impressed was he by Islam’s power of argument. The Caliph then tried to induce him to embrace Islam. But Yazdanbakht refused, saying, “Commander of the Faithful, your advice is heard and your words have been listened to; but you are one of those who do not force men to abandon their religion.” Far from resenting the ill-success of his efforts, the Caliph furnished him with armed bodyguards, that he might not be exposed to insult from the fanatical populace.

Under Islam there is freedom for every thought as well as respect for every thinking man, irrespective of the fact that his thinking may be different from ours. Islam not only grants freedom of thought, but also respects the upholders of all schools of thought.