I amended and enlarged an old Poem I had written quickly featuring a play of discourses between a narrator and many interlocutors of differing faiths, beliefs and political persuasions. The old poem was called a ‘Converse of Wisdom’, but I decided to rename it ‘Converses of Wisdom’ to illustrate the many conversations being had, and how each line was the converse of the other. Of course, it could be said that the poem guides one to deal with interlocutors who make arguments which are the converses of wisdom.
Converses of Wisdom
The Skeptic said, “What if you are wrong?”
I said, “What if I am right?”
The Atheist said, “How is there a Creator?”
I said, “How is there a Creation?”
The Christian said, “Love God and worship Jesus”
I said, “Love Jesus and worship God”
The Jew said, “God will always keep his covenant with us”
I said, “Have you always kept your covenant with God?”
The Buddhist said “The purpose of life is to discover Enlightenment”
I said “Enlightenment is to discover the purpose of life”
The Polytheist said “I only worship gods that they all might hear me and intercede with God”
I said “I worship no gods but the only all-mighty God, who hears all without intercessors”
The Secularist said “Politics, wars and killing for religion is bad”
I said “Politics, wars and killing for material things is evil”
The Evolutionist said “The universe created life by itself, without need of God”
I said, “Did the universe create itself without need of God?”
The Democrat said “The majority must rule”
I said, “But what will rule the majority?”
The Nationalist said “The Nation comes first, before God”
I said “God was first, before the Nation”
The Conservative said, “It is best that the right thing to do is to preserve and obey our culture”
I said, “The best culture to preserve and obey is doing the right thing”
The Patriot said “I support my country, right or wrong”
I said “A country has no right to be supported in wrong”
The Liberal said “Humans should be individuals only, free from oppression, and equal”
I said “You ‘free’ Individuals only from their humanity, to oppress each other equally”
The Communist said “The world is only matter, and society is the highest good”
I said “A society that is only worldly, has no higher good that matters”
The Zionist said “Palestinians desire the end of Israel’s existence”
I said “Desire for the existence of Israel, has ended Palestine”
The Neo-Conservative said “I believe the West is the superior Civilization”
I said “Your belief makes you the inferior Civilisation”
The American politician said “We resist only terrorism and those who use violence”
I said “You only use violence to terrorise those who resist”
The French Secularist said “We have banned wearing the Niqab to free women”
I said “You have banned women’s freedom to wear the Niqab”
The Islamophobe said “I hate Islam, and fear for my safety from Muslims”
I said “I fear for the safety of Muslims, from those who hate Islam”
The Feminist said “Women should be valued, and treated identically to men because they are equal”
I said, “Men and women should be treated with equal value, but are they identical?”
The Radical Feminist said, “We do not want Women to be told what to do by sexist men”
I said, “You want women to be told what to do by sexist women”
The Post-Modernists said, “There is no absolute truth”
I said, “Is that an absolute truth?”
The Pacifist said “The just way is to be peaceful”
I said “To be peaceful to the unjust, is injustice to the peaceful”
The Utilitarian said, “Always choose the lesser of two evils”
I said, “Then your choices will always be evil”
The Ascetic said “Leave worldly affairs, and seek God”
I said “Seek God in your worldly affairs”
The Conspiracy Theorist said “I believe ‘They’ control the World”
I said “That belief controls your world”
The Defeatist said “Do nothing, for the evil is too strong”
I said “Evil is strong because you do nothing”
The Millennialist said “Keep away from the cause of politics, until God sends a righteous leader”
I said, “Only unrighteous leaders will be sent to those who keep the cause of God away from politics”
The Fatalist said, “Change not our backward state, it is God’s will!”
I said “A state of backwardness is God’s will for those who change it not”
The Apocalyptist said “A great evil and falsehood has arrived to claim people and show – now are the end times, restrain your hands and know”
I said “To claim to know the end times have arrived, is a great falsehood contrived, to restrain the hands of the people, the greater evil”
The Pragmatist said “Ideally, you should embrace compromise”
I said “You should embrace an uncompromisable Ideal”
The Extremist said, ‘Extreme times, calls for extreme measures’
I said, ‘Extreme times comes from extreme measures’
The Secular Reformist said, ‘We should reform revelation to fit the times”
I said, “We should reform the times to fit revelation”
The Ex-Muslim said, ‘I had enough of Islam and left after I learnt more about it and the world’
I said, ‘You left Islam because you didn’t learn enough about it or the world’
The ‘Moderate Muslim’ said “The truth is, only following Islam moderately makes you a good person”
I said “Then you are only moderately truthful, and moderately a good person”
Abdullah al Andalusi 
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