This quality reached its perfection in the messengers, peace and blessings be upon them all. Look, for instance, at Shuʿayb—how refined his manners were with his people and how he pursued every avenue to call them, even while they hurled abusive words at him and responded with a most appalling (1) hostility. Yet he, peace be upon him, continued to show forbearance, overlook their offences, and speak to them as though nothing but kindness had ever come from them toward him.

What lightens the burden of cultivating this trait is that:
• Whoever attains it has secured a tremendous share of good.
• Its possessor will enjoy with Allah the highest ranks and everlasting bliss.
• One is dealing with communities whose dispositions are so deeply rooted that uprooting them is harder than tearing immovable mountains from their bases; they have long been trained upon doctrines and ideologies for which they have sacrificed wealth and life, preferring them above all else.

Do you imagine that such people will be convinced merely by hearing, “These doctrines are false and corrupt,” or that they will forgive anyone who attacks them? By no means—by Allah! They need to be treated through the diverse methods to which the messengers called:
– They are reminded of Allah’s favors and that the One who alone bestows blessings must be singled out for worship.
– The countless particulars of those favors—too many to enumerate—are set before them.
– They are shown the deviation, corruption, confusion, and contradiction rife in their creeds—defects that shake beliefs and call for their abandonment.