Representative of the Assembly of Experts for Leadership stressed that people should talk and argue with each other with good words and avoid using bad words.

Ayatollah “Ahmad Parvaei Rik”, representative of the Assembly of Experts for Leadership, in his speech at the 37th International Islamic Unity Conference, noted that one of the issues in our religious texts is the issue of discussion and argument, reported Taghrib News Agency (TNA).
 
He mentioned the word “argument” which comes from “argue” and means dialogue among several people and said: “It is in fact a dialogue on the basis of dispute and domination over others. Even in some Arabic books, the word argument has been used to refer to wrestling when someone pushes another person on the ground.”
 
“I think it has one positive dimension and one negative dimension. If the argument and dispute between two people is aimed at realizing a right or guiding or directing for the defense of religious and Quranic values and reviving Islamic values, such an argument or dispute is accepted by our religion and religious texts and sharia”, representative of the Assembly of Experts for Leadership said.
 
“Negative dimension is opposite to positive dimension. When argument for realizing a right is considered positive, it is positive but if it is aimed at destroying others or for self-projection, or the defense of the vicious, it is a negative argument and is rejected by Sharia”, he added.
 
He noted that positive argument has been promoted by Quran where it says “Invite to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better”.
 
Parvaei stressed that “a person who doesn't know how to argue, doesn't know how to talk, doesn't know how to interact properly. The Quran has ordered us that if you encounter such a person, be tolerant, patient and gentle and do not deviate from the path of truth”.
 
He also mentioned “speaking gently” that means the response should be peaceful and said: “That is, do something so that if he has done something bad, you treat him with good behavior, this is the positive dimension of dispute and argument, the second dimension that we have, is actually briefly mentioned is the negative dimension of argument.”
 
“This means if the purpose of argument is hostility, if the purpose of the dispute is to express grace, perfection, destruction, insult, and in fact to defeat the party, this is not permissible from the point of view of the Quran and the Holy Sharia”, representative of the Assembly of Experts for Leadership added.
 
“The Commander of the Faithful, Ali Ibn Abi Talib (a.s.) says we should avoid arguments, disputes, and belligerence, because these two actually create turbidity in the hearts of religious brothers. This causes the hearts of the religious brothers to become angry with each other and it sows the seeds of hypocrisy and enmity in the hearts, so such a fight and such an argument is prohibited by the infallible households”, he continued.
 
Characteristics of a good argument
He mentioned some characteristics of a good argument which the first one is “the argument that the parties make to discover and find the right, not to fight and get stuck in predicaments”.
 
“Second, there is no imposition of opinion in the best argument. If we have a debate, we express our opinion in a logical way with a rational, Shariah, or principled argument and an argument that is supported by logic and hope to convince the other side of the right path”, representative of the Assembly of Experts for Leadership said.
 
Parvaei also noted humans should avoid ugly words and interpretations and stay away from evil temptations and said: “we need a friendly meeting for a discussion, we need a brotherly argument, for a dispute and for a scientific debate, the scientific argument should be like a debate, as we say, the students who used to debate with each other, but no offense, God forbid, no blame and no reprimand”.
 
Ahmad Parvaei Rik concluded: “there is an obligatory dispute where it is for the right, a forbidden dispute, such as a dispute in I'tikaf, such as a dispute while in Ihram, or a dispute that is for the sake of knocking down the right. We have good arguments, we have abominable arguments, and we have permissible arguments, and these are clear.”