4:140-When God's Signs/Revelation Were Insulted or Mocked in Your Presence, do not sit with them.

When God's Signs/Revelation Were Insulted or Mocked in Your Presence

4:140 It has been sent down to you in the book, that when you hear God's signs being rejected and ridiculed in, then do not sit with them until they move on to a different subject; if not, then you are like them. God will gather the hypocrites and the ingrates in hell all together.

Note:

We are not permitted to kill or punish people for their insults and mockery of God's revelation and signs. Any aggressive behavior against those people is against God's law that recognizes freedom of choice, opinion and their expression (2:256; 4:90; 4:137, 140; 10:99; 18:29; 25:63; 88:21. Also see 28:54). In verse 4:140, the Quran recommends us to protest passively those who indulge in mockery of our faith by leaving their presence. Furthermore, it recommends us not to cut our relationship with them; we should turn back in peace and continue our dialogue when they come to their senses and are able to engage in a rational discourse.

Those who react with violence against those who insult the tenets and principles of islam, are not following the very system they claim to defend. The Quran does not recognize the "fighting words" exception recognized by Western jurisprudence. Specific false accusation against a person, however, is not included in expression of opinion, since it is defamation and it can harm a person in many ways. Insult to someone's values or heroes, however, only harms the person who indulges in such an ignorant and arrogant action.

The only unforgivable sin, according the Quran is the sin of associating other partners/idols with God. God allows this biggest sin to be committed in this world. He fulfills his promise to test humans by giving them free choice. He condemns those who deprive others from exercising that freedom of choice. Who then, in the name of the same God, can force others from any expression of their belief or disbelief?

In contrast to what the warmongering Crusaders, Sunnis and Shiites wish to portray, Muhammed was not a man of violence but a man of reason and peace. Numerous verses of the Quran and a critical study of history will reveal that the portrait of Muhammed depicted in Sunni or Shiite hearsay books is fictional; a fiction created by the propagandists of rulers of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties to justify their atrocities and aggression! He and his supporters were threatened and tortured in Mecca for their criticism of their corrupt and unjust theocratic system. They were forced to leave everything behind and emigrate to Yathrib (today's Medina). There they established a peaceful city-state, a federal secular democracy, among its multi-religious diverse citizens. Nevertheless, the Meccan oligarchy did not leave them alone to enjoy peace and freedom; they organized several major war campaigns against the coalition of muslims, Christians, Jews and Pagans united under the leadership of Muhammed. In all the wars, including Uhud, Badr, and Handaq (Trenches), the monotheist reformers fought for self-defense. They even dug trenches around the city to defend themselves from the aggressive religious coalition led by Mecca's theocratic oligarchy. Muhammed's message, which promoted reason, freedom, peace, justice, unity of children of Adam, appreciation of diversity, rights of women and slaves, and social consciousness, soon received acceptance by the masses in the land. Yet, after ten years in exile, when Muhammed and his supporters finally returned to Mecca as victors, he declared amnesty for all those oppressors and warmongers who inflicted on them great suffering, who maimed and murdered many of their comrades, all because the muslims had questioned the teachings and culture they inherited from their parents. However, guided by the teachings of the Quran, Muhammed chose forgiveness and peace; he did not punish any of his bloody enemies. After all, he was one of the many messengers of islam, peace and submission to God alone(edip).