A shopkeeper once opened up a business in old Delhi. There he had a frequent visitor belonging to that locality. Whenever he came, he would speak ill of the residents. At first, the shopkeeper tried to check him gently from saying such negative things. However, he did not stop. Finally, one day the shopkeeper stood before him with folded hands and said: “Miya Sahab (Sir)! You will do me a great favour by not visiting my shop anymore. Because the people you talk ill of are my customers. If your negativity affects my heart and I also start bearing ill-will towards them, I cannot become a successful shopkeeper. Because shop-keeping takes love, not hatred and disparagement.”
In present times, all the so-called activists engaged in reading and writing on Islamic issues are being told by Islam, albeit in silent language, to do it a favour: stop writing and speaking about it. Because all their writings and dialogues are negative in content, this negativity is constantly destroying all the available opportunities to convey God’s message peacefully.
In present times, the Muslim speakers and writers appear to be unaware of this reality, which an ordinary shopkeeper had learnt from day one. Our writers and speakers claim that they are doing dawah work and call themselves dayees with pride. However, they are engaged in writing and speaking such things as sow the seeds of hatred, aversion and hostility in the madu or non-Muslim communities.
In the present world, the writings and speeches of the Muslims can be summed up by such words as complaint and protest. All of them are engaged in expressing ill-will against one or another group of non-Muslims. Some are engaged in exposing the misdeeds of western orientalists, while some are engaged in exposing the Jews. Some are engaged in revealing the oppression of the colonial powers, while others are engaged in revealing the aggressive activities of crusading nations. Some are busy revealing the plots of Christian preachers, while others are busy exposing the secret plots of Hindu revivalists. In the same way, others are lamenting the efforts of others to put an end to the communal identity of the Muslims.
From the perspective of dawah, all such activities are wrong. They are unlawful. All those people who are being targeted in this way are the ones upon whom we have to perform our duty of dawah. For us, they are all made. Antagonistic speeches and writings do nothing but engender hatred between the Muslims and the madu groups. Moreover, when hatred engulfs the heart of the dayees, they cannot perform dawah on the madu.
The action of peacefully conveying the divine message to others arises from love and well-wishing. It cannot come out of a heart filled with hatred and enmity for others. This is why the Quran commands the dayee to remain patient and unilaterally adopt the way of avoidance of conflict. Dawah and patience are interdependent. Those who are unable to remain patient in the face of the madu’s provocations will never be able to perform the task of conveying God’s religion to His servants.
Despite advice to the contrary, all the Muslim speakers and writers devote themselves to lamenting against the injustices of other communities. As such, they are far from the teachings of Islam. Satan wants to intensify the bitterness between the dayee and the madu so that, at least, the dayee no longer has the incentive to work in the interests of the madu. Rather than completing God’s plan, it is an attainment of Satan’s target. This is what is being achieved by the speakers and writers of today.
