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political islam 443violate the principles of fairness and justice, they must fear the wrathof the media and the enquiries of investigative journalists whoserevelations will certainly cause the public to demand a politician’sresignation if the allegations are found to be true.It has not escaped our attention that many of our honourablescholars have disapproved of our irenic stand against other religiouscommunities. Their view is that the use of violence against non-Muslim-Believers is always legitimate because of the fact that theyare infidels and idolaters. They maintain that shirk idolatry, in thesense of ‘false worship’, is a form of íulm as we are told in the Book(‘…“O my son! Join not in worship (others) with God: for false worship(la-íulm) is indeed the highest wrong-doing”’ Luqm§n 31:13).Infidelity is by any account a form of íulm, as the case of the peopleof Thamud makes unmistakingly clear (‘…We sent the she-camel tothe Thamud to open their eyes, but they treated her wrongfully( fa-íalamå)…’, Al-Isr§" 17:59). Given such clear textual evidence theyargue that it is legitimate to oppose the infidels and idolaters byforce.Our response to this is as follows: First, idolatry is—as 31:13 tellsus—an act of worship of other than God (i.e., it is not a refusal tobelong to a specific religious community), and infidelity—as we hearin 17:59—is an act of denial, rejection, or disbelief. Both forms ofíulm are wrongdoings against a person’s own soul, not against anyoneelse, as we hear in the Book: ‘They said: “Our Lord! We have wrongedour own souls. If you forgive us not and bestow not upon us yourmercy, we shall certainly be lost”’ ( Al-A#r§f 7:23). In contrast, theíulm that Allah ordered us to fight is wrongdoing against other peoplebecause they are denied personal freedom, in particular the freedomof religion.Second, to believe or disbelieve in God is a choice that Allah hasleft to human beings to make for themselves, by free will and safefrom any form of compulsion (‘Say, “The truth is from your Lord”;let him who will believe, and let him who will, reject (it)…’, Al-Kahf18:29). This point is emphasised more than once in the Book:And have patience with what they say, and leave them with noble(dignity).* And leave Me (alone to deal with) those in possession of thegood things of life, who ( yet) deny the truth; and bear with them fora little while. ( Al-Muzzammil 73:10–11)