This is the heart of the ayat.

This is the heart of the ayat. The truth must become evident to the Christian. My presentation of the truth, even from the Christian Scriptures, may well be evident to me. But it may not immediately be evident to the Christian to whom I am speaking. Therefore, I must wait “until Allah accomplish his purpose.” During that waiting time I must continue to find ways of making truth evident to the Christian, while at the same time forgiving and overlooking his attempts to take me off the right path.

The attempt of the person of Christian background to take me off the right path may well be other than doctrinal. It may be something less obvious than the Trinity. The “selfish envy” that motivates such behaviour may well focus on behaviour. The argument may be implicit that, living in a non-Muslim country, I have the duty to conform for the sake of peace. Perhaps I should dress in a different way, or eat in a different way in order to avoid trouble.

I once came into conflict with the officials of a certain Western country where I was living because of the Islamic behaviour of my daughter in school. One of them informed me that if I wished to live in the country, I had to conform to the conditions ruling there. My appeal to the fact that the country had laws granting religious freedom was actually met with the argument that such freedom referred to the religious majority.

The Qur’anic injunction in such cases is 1) to make the Islamic position as clear as possible, and 2) to be forgiving and overlook in insult until such time as “Allah accomplishes his purpose. 1.2 Expect Resistance Even if you were to bring to the people of the Book all the Signs (together), they would not follow your Qibla; nor are you going to follow their Qibla; nor indeed will they follow each other's Qibla.

If you after the knowledge has reached you, were you to follow their (vain) desires, --then indeed you would be (clearly) in the wrong. Qur’an 2:145 The second Qur’anic principle is to expect resistance of the truth. The passage states first that all the evidence should be presented. But it goes on to stress that even after all of the evidence is presented, the Christian is likely to reject it. The wording of the Qur’an does not suggest that we are not to present the evidence.

It does imply, however, that presenting the evidence is enough. It discharges us of our duty.