Is it permissible to argue about religion and hold public debates in front of people?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is it permissible to argue about religion and hold public debates in front of people, as is happening today on some channels in debates, as the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) did when he refuted his opponents in front of people regarding the issue of sorcery?
Answer:
There is no doubt that if a person has the ability and has knowledge, and evil is manifesting itself to people and confusing them, then it is necessary that he has knowledge and has proof, and that he clarifies it for people and debates these people. He debates these people. Yes. He refutes their evil. Because if they were left alone, they would spread evil to people and confuse them. Yes, so this is among the best jihad in the path of Allah, yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is it permissible to argue about religion and hold public debates in front of people, as is happening today on some channels in debates, as the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) did when he refuted his opponents in front of people regarding the issue of sorcery?
Answer:
There is no doubt that if a person has the ability and has knowledge, and evil is manifesting itself to people and confusing them, then it is necessary that he has knowledge and has proof, and that he clarifies it for people and debates these people. He debates these people. Yes. He refutes their evil. Because if they were left alone, they would spread evil to people and confuse them. Yes, so this is among the best jihad in the path of Allah, yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل تجوز المجادلة في الدين والمناظرات على الملأ أمام أعين الناس؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.