As well as the conditions to test your sincerity against (see previous post), Imam Ghazzali (may Allah have mercy on him) specifies ten evils of debates, as follows:
"(1) Envy... A debater is never free from envy and hatred. Envy is a burning fire. One who falls in it gets punishment in the world...
(2) Pride...
(3) Rancour [i.e. a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will]. A debater is seldom free from the evil of rancour...
(4) Back-biting... A debater ascribes to his opponent foolishness, ignorance and stupidity.
(5) Declaration of self-purity...
(6) Spying and prying into the secrets of [one's] adversary...
(7) Hypocrisy. A debater expresses his friendship for his adversary outwardly but he cherishes hatred for him inwardly...
(8) To turn away from truth. The most hateful thing to a debater is to reject the truth revealed to his adversary and thus he takes to deception and deceit...
(9) ... show and battering [flattering?] the people in an effort to win their favour and to mislead them. Hypocrisy is the greatest disease with which a debater is attacked and it is a major sin.
(10) Deception. Debaters are compelled to deception."
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