Beware of Argumentation

“The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) heard some people arguing outside his apartment, one of them saying, ‘Did not Allah say so and so?’ and the other saying, ‘Did not Allah say so and so?’ So he came out angry and said, ‘Is this what I have ordered you, or is this what I was sent with, that you should set one part of the Book of Allah against some other parts?’” So he forbade them from argumentation. [Ahmad]

Al-Hasan al-Basri said, “The wise man does not argue or seek to overcome with stratagem rather he propagates his wisdom. If it is accepted he praises Allah and if it is rejected he praises Allah.” [Ibn Battah in Ibaanatul-Kubraa]

Do not seek to invent a means of replying to the innovators, since you are ordered to face them with silence and not to open yourself up to them. Do you not know that Muhammad ibn Sireen, along with his excellence, did not reply to a certain innovator about a single question and would not even listen to him recite a verse from the Book of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. He was asked (as to why he would not listen to the innovator recite from the Book of Allah). He said, “I fear that he would twist it and that something of that would fall into my heart.” [Ad-Daarimee]