Quran: Book of Dialogue
Studying the verses, one can find that Islam pays special attention to dialogue and has used it as a good tool to establish relations with other cultures and religions.
Dialogue between angels and God, God and prophets, and prophets and people point to this fact.
Therefore, one can consider Islam as the approach to dialogue and the Quran as the book of dialogue because this holy book has mentioned proper methods for establishing dialogue.
Verse 18 of Surah Az-Zumar described those who listen to others and follow the best remarks as those of understanding: “who listen to the Words and follow what is finest of it. These are they whom Allah has guided. They are those of understanding.”
The Quran also names come virtues for dialogue such as observing politeness, avoiding pride, having peace, having forgiveness, showing kindness, and refraining from backbiting.
On the Day of Judgment, there will be a dialogue between man and God.
Dialogue is an opportunity to transfer concepts and is a ground for achieving spirituality and perfection. One should never ignore and abandon it.
The more concepts are transferred in a dialogue, the more we have helped to strengthen human relations, grow, and achieve a divine place.
Stories that have been mentioned in the Quran are the best examples of the importance of dialogue in Islam because they both narrate the life of prophets and recommend others to hold dialogue.
The Quran also acknowledges that some dialogues may end up in conflict but it never proposes for stopping dialogue. Rather, it asked humans to follow a moderate line in the dialogue, as the approach of prophets, to prove the right and reject the wrong.
Raising one’s voice is also part of the dialogue and sometimes it cannot be avoided. However, according to narratives, these discussions should not happen because of having a strong bias in favor of something. Dialogue should help humans move towards growth and enable them to see the good aspects of the discussed topic.
Therefore, the Holy Quran talks about dialogue not about quarrels as it recommends people resolve differences through peaceful means.
