Calling people to God is a solemn responsibility of a Muslim. This noble task of calling people to God is performed directly as well as indirectly. The direct means of this missionary task is to address the people through spoken or written words. The indirect means comprises of the good conduct of the Muslims in society that influences other people to ponder over the message of Islam. Both of these approaches may or may not yield the desired result. What might be the reason when the call towards the truth of Islam fails to elicit a positive response? The reason the Islamic message does not get across, people say, is that it is not backed up by actions. Most people can only be won over by a practical model; intellectual discussions and rational proofs are not enough.
This is an idealistic thinking. The problem is, we are not in a position to say to others: “Look, here is an Islamic individual; here an Islamic home; here an Islamic community.”
Today I would like to say a few words about dawah or dawah ilallah. The Quranic word for dawah is al-inzar. The Quran says: “Arise and give warning.” (74:2). Inzar literally means to warn. In other words, it means giving the most serious news to people. What is the serious news? It is news about akhirah, or Hereafter. People generally know only that news which is political in nature. They believe that political news is great news. Some think that material news is great news, while there are others who think that family related news is great news. But, if you read the Quran you will find that almost every page of the Quran is about akhirah or an-naba’ ul-azim, or “great news” (38:67). The Quran was revealed to give this serious news.
What is the Serious News?
Why is this news serious? Because man is born on the planet earth. He lives here for some sixty or seventy years. Then he is destined to die. Every man and woman are destined to die. (3:185). If you consider this reality of human life, you will admit that all those news that are related to the present world are not great news, rather they are small news. When we think of the post-death period of life, that is, the eternal period, we will say without any doubt that the greatest aspect of life is that the pre-death period is very short, while the post-death period is eternal. Thus, it is but natural that any news that pertains to the pre-death period is very small news. That which pertains to the post-death period is big news or serious news.
What are the other details of this news? According to the Quran, man is born with numerous desires. But everyone dies without being able to fulfil these desires. Although everyone has a cherished goal in his mind, no one is able to achieve this goal. The Quran tells us that the concept of goal is there in your mind, but the destination for its fulfilment lies in the Hereafter, that is, Paradise. In other words, it means that we are born as seekers of Paradise. But Paradise lies in the world Hereafter, which is our true habitat. This is the most serious aspect of human life. These days people are used to saying: “right here, right now”. But this is living in falsehood, because these words are without meaning. If this world is not our habitat, then how can this phrase ever have any meaning?
Dawah is Hereafter-Oriented
All studies and observations and the statement of the Quran compel us to believe that although man was born in this world, his habitat lies in Paradise. The most important aspect of life is to know how to achieve that goal. This is the task of dawah or the task of a dayee. Dawah means trying to make people aware of the fact that they have to prepare themselves as deserving candidates for Paradise. This is the only task of dawah. Dawah is a non-political and non-material activity. Dawah is to tell people the fact that they have to prepare themselves not for this world, but for the Hereafter. That is, to make oneself a deserving candidate for Paradise, wherein one can fulfil all of one’s desires.
Greatest Joy of Paradise: Intellectual Fulfilment
It is not only the problem of fulfilling of desires. The most important aspect is that man is born with numerous potential. Our mind has numerous potentials. But in this world we are unable to completely unfold our minds. Even the great scientists like Newton and Einstein were able to unfold their mental potentials up to 1 or 2%. So what is the use of this kind of mind? This is the most important question. The Creator has given us a mind that has unlimited potential. But the present world is limited, therefore here we cannot unfold our potential. Then what is the purpose of a mind with such high potential?
A dayee tells people that if you prepare yourself as deserving candidates for Paradise, you will then be settled there and be able to unfold your mind’s potential in an unlimited world. A verse in the Quran says about Paradise: “A Paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth.” (3:133). This means that the whole universe is its campus. Paradise is so vast that the whole of universe is its campus. This statement is not in quantitative terms, rather it is in qualitative terms. It refers to the qualitative possibilities of Paradise. It means that if God Almighty blesses us with Paradise, we will be able to unfold our mind in the complete sense of the word. You know those who unfolded their minds up to 1-2% were filled with thrill. Now you can imagine the thrill that would come when you will be able to fulfil your mind’s potential to the fullest extent.
Paradise is not for mere material fulfilment. More than that it is for the development of the mind. The greatest pleasure for a human being is to discover something. Discovery gives you the greatest pleasure. The scientists, for example, when they discover something new are filled with joy or thrill. Thus, the greatest thrill is to discover something new. This is the greatest aspect of Paradise. That is, there we will be able to find opportunity to fulfil our mind unlimitedly. We will get continued thrill or joy.
There won’t be any ageing, disease, boredom or accident in Paradise. There you will find all kinds of items of food and drink. But, this is not the only thing that you will find in Paradise. The greater thing is that you will get the opportunity to exercise your mental potential or intellectual potential in an unlimited manner.
In this world we read books, observe things through microscopes and telescopes, and so on. In Paradise there will be more than these things: perfect kind of microscopes and telescopes, and perfect kinds of encyclopaedias and so many other things. Also, there would be no boredom or limitations. There shall be unlimited scope for discovery or attaining intellectual development. This would be far more than any food or drink. Intellectual items or the discovery items of Paradise would be far more important compared to food and drink.
Dayee Must Prepare Himself
This is the task of a dayee. A dayee tries to tell people that what you want or try to find in this world is to be attained in the Hereafter. People die in despair in trying to achieve what they want to achieve in this world, because this world is not meant for fulfilment. A dayee tells people to take lesson from other’s despair, read the Quran, Hadith, life of the Prophet and his Companions. Through this study you will be able to find the truth with the capital T. You will be able to discover the purpose of your life and understand the meaning of life. This is the purpose of dawah and the task of a dayee.
Dawah is not an announcement. It is not to simply make people recite “la ilaha ilallah.” These are reduced forms of dawah. Dawah is the greatest exercise, the greatest plan, and one who is a dayee embarks on this goal.
A dayee must prepare himself. The Quran says: “I have been commanded to be the first of those who submit.” (6:14). What does this mean? It doesn’t mean the recitation of the kalima. It means to prepare yourself as a true dayee. Dawah begins from the dayee. There are two parties in dawah: dayee and madu. But dawah begins from the dayee, as the dayee first of all makes himself competent for this task. And then he tries to address the mind of the madu.
All these things have been mentioned in the Quran, I am not saying them from out of my mind. I have learned of these things after the study of the Quran. The Quran gives us the details of dawah: the nature of dawah, the parties involved in dawah, the pre-death period and the post-death period, and so on. I have discovered all these things from the Quran. If you want to do dawah work, first of all you have to prepare yourself. Otherwise, you cannot do dawah properly.
Even the Prophet was commanded to prepare himself. All the Companions tried to prepare themselves on these lines. A Companion said: “We first learned iman (faith) and then we learned the Quran” (Ibn Majah). This means: ‘We first prepared ourselves, then we stood up for dawah work.’ This is the right order of doing dawah work. If you try to do dawah without preparation, then it is like putting the cart before the horse. Don’t take the risk of non-acceptance of your dawah by God Almighty. If you are sincere about dawah, you have to study the Quran from this angle. People generally read the Quran for sawab or reward. This is good, but this kind of recitation cannot suffice for dawah work. For doing dawah, you have to go to the deeper meaning of the Quran. You have to deeply study the life of the Prophet and the Companions. Without such deep study you cannot understand the deeper aspects of Islam and the deeper meaning of dawah work.
Dawah is a complete culture. Dawah is a complete discipline. Dawah is a great planning. It requires you to dedicate yourself to this task. Dawah requires you to make it your sole concern. Only then you will be able prepare yourself, otherwise not.
Dawah involves a great blessing from God Almighty. A dayee will be given Paradise. A dayee will find the blessing of God in the Hereafter. For a dayee there are many rewards. But all these rewards are destined for a true dayee. So make yourself a true dayee.
Questions and Answers
Q1. Why are people not interested in the topic of intellectual development?
A1. This problem exists everywhere, not only in India but also in the developed countries. Why is this so? Because people know of only one thing, that is, to earn money and achieve a high social status.
Q2. What is the meaning of this prayer: “Rabbana atina fidduniya hasanah wa fil akhirati hasanah wa qina azaban nar.”
A2. The translation of this prayer is: “O God, give us the good of this world and the good of the Hereafter, and save us from the fire of Hell.” The portion of prayer which is “save us from fire” implies “grant us Paradise”. The second part of the prayer in which you say give us ‘good of the Hereafter’, it means give us Paradise in the Hereafter. Now what is the ‘good of the world’? In this context it means to help us to develop ourselves as deserving candidates for Paradise.
Q3. Why was the Prophet called “mad”? Was it because he called people towards Paradise?
A3. Not only because he used to call towards Paradise, but because of his entire ideology. Prophet’s entire ideology was different from that of the people of Mecca. Prophet’s ideology was Hereafter-oriented while the Meccans were totally worldly. Therefore, they couldn’t understand the Prophet’s ideology at all and started to call him majnun, or mad.
