Pathology and Harms of Debate from the Quranic and Narrative Perspectives

Throughout the history, one of the widely used methods by Imams or their students for the religious teachings when they were faced by Islam’s opponents was debate. Debate is not merely used to silent the other side, nor is it used to force Muslims to religious and cultural arguments between different sects of Islam. However, debate is the foundation of Islamic unity and a method to achieve common grounds and truth. The study was based on a descriptive-analytical method and was written in a tactful manner to answer the following general question that “what are the factors which cause the harms of debate, their consequences, and factors for avoiding such harms?” The results indicated that the most important factors for such problems are selfishness, ethnic prejudice, arrogance, ignorance, and so on. Also, their most important consequences are hypocrisy, deprivation from Imam’s help, and so forth. These practical principles can be used as a framework and guideline in order to prepare a proper debate avoiding its possible harm.