Page 55 - Communication and Argument in the Qur'an

Adnan Oktar 53

the other of you will be crucified and birds will eat his
head. The thing you asked about is foreordained.”
(Surah Yusuf: 36-41)
As we see, Yusuf (as) first presented religion and then
answered their questions. If he had interpreted their
dreams first, perhaps they would not have been interested
in listening to what he said about religion. Musa (as) used
a similar style when speaking to Pharaoh:
(Pharaoh) asked: “What about the previous genera-
tions?” He (Musa) replied: “Knowledge of them is with
my Lord in a Book. My Lord does not misplace, nor
does He forget.” It is He Who made Earth a cradle for
you and threaded pathways for you through it, and sent
down water from the sky by which We have brought
forth different types of plants. (Surah Ta Ha: 51-53)
Just as Musa (as) and Yusuf (as) communicated the
message intelligently, so believers must be intelligent,
deliberate, and direct in their conversations. They must be
in control of its general course and know how to direct it so
that the listeners will not be able to divert it to other topics.

12. Waiting for a listener’s first reactions and
choosing the appropriate method
One way to direct a conversation is to find out what the
listener believes and then choose the most appropriate
subject and style. This allows the presenter to learn what
the listener already knows and to avoid giving useless
information. The Qur’an describes how Musa (as) used this
delicate technique:

Harun Yahya