that is sound and the person still wants to argue and will not accept it, then debate with him—do not simply walk away. Yet debate with him in the manner that is best: in your tone, in the way you present the evidence, and in the cogency of your reasoning. If he marshals a proof against you, try to invalidate it; but if refuting that proof would take too long, move on to another proof and do not get bogged down in fruitless wrangling. Shift instead to an argument he cannot contest.

Look at Abraham, peace be upon him, when a man disputed with him about Allah: “Have you not considered the one who argued with Abraham about his Lord because Allah had granted him kingship? When Abraham said, ‘My Lord is the One who gives life and causes death,’ he replied, ‘I give life and cause death’” (Qur’an 2:258). How did that stubborn debater claim to give life and cause death? He would bring a man who deserved execution and say, “Do not kill him,” and bring another who did not deserve execution and say, “Kill him.” By this sleight of hand he labeled his actions “giving life” and “causing death.”

Abraham therefore said, “Indeed, Allah brings the sun from the east; so bring it from the west” (2:258). He did not bother to argue over the claim “I give life and cause death,” for had he done so he would have said, “You do not truly give life or cause death—you merely employ a means that results in death, namely killing, or you remove the cause of execution so the person is spared.” Instead, he shifted to a challenge the opponent could neither act upon nor answer: “Indeed, Allah brings the sun from the east; so bring it from the west.” The man was left dumbfounded, and so the verse concludes: “Thus the disbeliever was confounded, and Allah does not guide…"