The Liberal Charge: “You are not tolerant.” The Translation: “You do not tolerate the precise things that I tolerate.” One of the definitions of “tolerance” in the English language is: “An allowable amount of variation of a specified quantity, especially in the dimensions of a machine or part.” Manufactured parts are never exactly the same. If a factory produces, say, 100,000 pistons, no two pistons will be exactly equal. There is always variation but that variation has to be within a specific tolerance. If a specific piston is beyond tolerance, it is deemed dysfunctional and has to be trashed.

Liberals pretend to be infinitely tolerant and accuse others of being intolerant when in reality their tolerance has limits. Infinite tolerance, of course, is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. The difference is liberal tolerance is ultimately based on whims and haphazard cultural beliefs whereas Islamic tolerance is based on hikma and guidance.

If we go back to the example of the manufactured mechanical part, if the tolerance levels are not correctly calibrated, the resulting parts will be dysfunctional and useless. Similarly for human beings. The right kind of variation is tolerable, but not all kinds of variation can lead to a functioning, healthy human being. And who would know better about human health, function, and well-being — in the truest sense of those words — than the Creator and Maintainer of humankind?