Leniency in Such Matters Is Weakness

Next lesson: Saʿd refused to be lenient in his ruling, because he knew that leniency in such matters is weakness. It's not a sign of mercy or compassion; it's a sign of weakness. And in such situations, the only medicine is to be firm. So the perception that some Muslims have — that Muslims should be lenient with their enemies, because we don't want to give Islam a bad image, we want people to say that we are tolerant and peaceful, we don't want them to say that Muslims are terrorists — this is a sign of weakness and failure. We can see today some of the Muslim leaders speaking soft words, but that only adds to the aggressiveness and the arrogance of the enemy. So one needs to use the right instrument at the right time. Sometimes it's the pen, sometimes it's the sword, sometimes it is … of the Qurʾān, and sometimes it is the sulṭān, the authority of the Islamic khalīfah. And ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān says, inna Allāha la-yazaʿu bi-l-sulṭāni mā lā yazaʿu bi-l-Qurʾān: sometimes Allah can fulfil some of the objectives of the religion through the sulṭān, through the authority, Muslim authority, that cannot be fulfilled through the Qurʾān.