62. Why Allah prohibits His Messenger ﷺ and the believers from insulting the false deities of the idolaters?

بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِٱلرَّحِيمِ

Answer: Because the disbelievers in turn will insult Allah their Creator because of their ignorance about Allah. "And insult not those whom they (disbelievers) worship besides Allah, lest they insult Allah wrongfully without knowledge." (Al-Anaam, 6:108).

Malsaid al-Suddi said: “Some chiefs of the Quraysh planned: ‘Let us go to Abu Thalib and ask him to forbid his nephew from reviling our idols, for we feel shame to kill him after he passes away and drive the Arabs to say: ‘He used to defend him but once he passed away, they killed him’.

And so Abu Sufyan, Abu Jahl, Al-Nadr ibn al-Harith, Umayyah and Ubayy the son of Khalaf, ‘Uqbah ibn Abi Mu‘ayt, ‘Amr ibn al-‘As, Al-Aswad ibn al-Bukhturi went to see Abu Talib.

They said to him: ‘You are our master and chief, but Muhammad has harmed us and harmed our idols. We would like you to call him and warn him against speaking ill of our idols. And from our part, we will leave him alone to his Allah’.

The Prophet ﷺ went when he was called. Abu Talib said to him: ‘These are your people and cousins!’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ, asked them: ‘What do you want?’ They said: ‘We want you to leave us alone with our idols and we will leave you alone with your Allah’. Abu Talib said: ‘Your people are being fair with you, so give your consent’. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ: ‘If I agree to this would you agree to give me one sentence, if you were to utter it, you would rule over the Arabs and non-Arabs alike’

Abu Jahl said: ‘Yes, by your father, we will give it to you and also give you ten other things like it; but what is it? He said: ‘Say: there is no god but Allah!’ They refused and expressed their aversion at this proposal, upon which Abu Talib said; ‘Son of my brother, ask for something else, for your people are wary of this’. He said: ‘O uncle, I am not one who would ask for other than that. If they were to place the sun in my one hand and place moon in my other hand, I would not ask for anything other than that’.

The chiefs of Quraysh said: ‘You would better stop reviling our idols or we will revile you and revile He Who commands you’. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse. Insulting the idols of the idolators, is not a big sin. But insulting their deities will lead to a bigger evil. It leads to:

◆ Increase the disbelief of the disbelievers.

◆ Make the disbelievers aggressive.

◆ The disbelievers react wrongfully on their own           Creator and Sustainer without knowledge or with

   the ignorance of the Truth.

◆ Provoking others to sin

◆ It makes people further away from the Truth instead of bringing people closer to it.

So the followers of the Prophet ﷺ have been advised not to lose their balance in zeal while preaching. When engaged in discussions of religion with the non-Muslims they were asked to keep proper limits and advised to refrain from offending against the creeds, their leaders and their objects of worship.

Thus Allah made fair seeming to the idolaters loving their idols and defending them, likewise We made fair seeming to every previous nation the misguidance they indulged in. Allah has the most perfect proof, and the most complete wisdom in all that He wills and chooses.

It is not only in religious matter but also in general discussions with others, we have to be careful, otherwise something will happen as a result of what we say or do today.

الحمدلله