Envisage walking down the 42nd Street in Manhattan, being one of the many people that make the avenue busy but still being unlike them. You are quite confident of not being any different from the rest just because of a tuft of hair growth on the lower part of your face. You are positive that this black beard that you have grown would not affect your relation with your fellow countrymen. After all, you have taken on their culture and traditions in order to become a part of that society. But imagine forgetting about which turn to take and taking help from a complete stranger. Conceive of greeting him with “Hello”. And just then form a picture of him frowning at you and turning away. Try to envision your facial expressions when you have been left with no choice but to question your existence in that society among those people. Can you feel the pain that would shatter your inner-self on facing prejudicial discrimination because of your religion? Now, go all out to picture the face of a Christian maid which turns gloomy when you are hesitant in giving an answer to “Assalam-o-Alaikum” said by her. Make an effort to realise the agony of minorities here in Pakistan because of the narrow-mindedness and partisanship that we, the Muslims, show towards them. Vie for finding the reasons behind religious bigotry that we are subjected to outside Pakistan and put our minorities through within this country. Let us forget about the conventional and hackneyed argument in favour of minorities of them being represented by the white stripe in Pakistan’s flag. In reality, we have actually done to them what the greenness of the flag did to the white portion — cornered them towards an edge. The foundations of this state were essentially laid on the principles of Islam, and it is that in which we look for all our answers. It is a popular opinion among Muslims that stops us from acknowledging the greetings of non-Muslims and even shaking hands with them. It is said that we have been commanded by Prophet (PBUH) in a hadith. However, any statement that negates the final verdict of Qur’an cannot be proclaimed as a hadith. Therefore, before reaching any conclusion we should all know about the following verses: “And when you are greeted with a greeting, greet [in return] with one better it or [at least] return it [in a like manner]. Indeed, Allah is ever, over all things, an Accountant.” (4:86) “O you who have believed, when you go forth [to fight] in the cause of Allah, investigate; and do not say to one who gives you [a greeting of] peace “You are not a believer,” aspiring for the goods of worldly life…” (4:94) A similar notion has convinced us of eyeing all non-Muslims as enemies. And what made us do it is the following verse: “O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you — then indeed, he is [one] of them Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoingpeople.” (5:51) But what we fail to understand is that Qur’an is not a haphazard collection of jumbled verses and that each verse has been positioned in the text in a manner that a logical link exists between all of them. Another verse from the same chapter clarifies the concept above in the following manner: “O you who have believed, take not those who have taken your religion in ridicule and amusement among the ones who were given the Scripture before you nor the disbelievers as allies…” (5:57) It is clarifying that all those who ridicule and admonish your religion should not be made friends with because, in that case, it is but natural to detest them intensely. Furthermore, had the former one been the case, God would not have asked the believers to be cautious of a group among the disbelievers and repeated the same stance in four verses of the same chapter (3:72, 75, 78, 100). “A faction of the people of the Scripture wish they could mislead you. But they do not mislead except themselves, and they perceive [it] not.” (3:69) In fact, God explicates the difference between the two parties in the under-mentioned verses: “And among the People of the Scripture is he who, if you entrust him with a great amount [of wealth], he will return it to you. And among them is he who, if you entrust him with a [single] silver coin, he will not return it to you unless you are constantly standing over him [demanding it]…” (3:75) “They are not [all] the same; among the People of the Scripture is a community standing [in obedience], reciting the verses of Allah during periods of the night and prostrating [in prayer]. They believe in Allah and the Last Day, and they enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and hasten to good deeds. And those are among the righteous. And whatever good they do –never will it be removed from them. And Allah is Knowing of the righteous.” (3:113-115). The aforementioned verse should make a Muslim doubtful of his intentions and deeds and whether he is truly a believer or not. When we emphasise on the world to not confuse Muslims with the members of ISIS, how can we foolishly confuse all non-Muslims to be disbelievers and generalise them as the worthy of our hatred? Since no one knows what lies in others’ hearts, we are not an authority to judge people on the basis of their beliefs and label them as and punish them for being a disbeliever; it is God’s job to do so. He created the whole mankind from male and female and formed tribes so that we could be identified (49:13); He expects from the believers not to be biased and unjust and to deal fairly even with enemies (5:8); and He has declared killing of one soul equal to slaying the entire mankind, until it is in exchange for another soul or any corruption done on earth (5:32). What mischief is an average denizen of this planet creating by living a mediocre life? And are these punishments not supposed to be given to individuals by state only? Before looking down on a Pakistani Christian, remind yourself of all the scornful remarks Pakistani Muslim emigrants and students have to bear because of religious extremism. Before declaring Ahmadis and apostates worthy of being killed, put a ban on accepting converts from other religions because they would be subject to a similar penalisation by their former religions. Before accusing Donald J. Trump’s policies of kindling the wave of religious extremism, racism and bigotry we should analyse the existing state of affairs in our part of the worlds. There is no compulsion in religion (2:256). Our job is to differentiate right from wrong; whether someone gets convinced or not is not our task. Preaching is not a crime anywhere in the world, but before preaching let us review and enhance our own concepts about the peaceful religion of Islam. Dr Khalid is a Fellow of Al-Mawrid, and is the author of the book Rediscovering Islam Aminah Qureshi is a student of Biotechnology