Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
1- There is nothing wrong in Shari`ah regarding holding online dialogues with the People of the Book about questions of belief.
2- But this is to be done by a person who is knowledgeable about the teachings and principles of Islam as well as about the beliefs and different creeds of the People of the Book.
3- This person should do this for Almighty Allah’s sake and adhere to the proprieties that should be followed while using online messengers. May Almighty Allah guide those people to the right path.
Sheikh Ahmad Bin Hamad Al-Khalili, Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman, states:
Islam is a tolerant religion that opens the way for reasonable dialogues with others. Allah Almighty says,
{And argue not with the People of the Scripture unless it be in (a way) that is better, save with such of them as do wrong; and say: We believe in that which hath been revealed unto us and revealed unto you; our Allah and your Allah is One, and unto Him we surrender.} (Al-`Ankabut 29: 46)
According to this verse, having discussions with the People of the Book in a reasonable and convincing way may be a cause to guiding to the right path those among them whom Almighty Allah wills to guide.
But it should be kept in mind that he who holds online dialogues with them must be a knowledgeable person who is well aware of the different aspects of the subject he is handling with them, so that he may achieve positive results.
Should a person who is not knowledgeable hold online dialogues with them, the result would be negative.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.