THE LAST WORD
Muslims are tasked with the duty of calling people to God. Their worldly success and salvation in the Hereafter both depend upon the performance of this task.
The entire history of Islam proves that dawah is its greatest power. Islam is exactly in accordance with human nature. If it is brought to man in its original form, it addresses his heart and mind directly. It compels man to acknowledge its veracity. It has the power to conquer the hearts and minds of the people. But for this power to materialize, all the psychological obstacles must be removed between Islam and its addressees. The Muslims of the first phase knew the secret of this reality.
That is why they adopted the way of tolerance and adjustment in all the countries they went to and in the countries that they conquered. They gave full freedom to the local people to practice their religion. They knew that any conflict, controversy, or religious coercion, would only make their addressees obdurate. Due to this feeling, they would refuse to accept something they would otherwise have readily accepted.
The well-known historian Henry Thomas Buckle (1821-1862) clearly acknowledged this wisdom and strategy of the Muslims of the first phase.
“Instead of holding themselves apart in proud isolation, they gradually melted into the mass of the population, employing all their superiority of intelligence and civilization for disseminating the message of Islam and making such skillful compromises in the doctrines and practices of their faith as were needed to recommend it to the people they wished to attract.” (p. 409)
Professor Arnold has shown in great detail in his book, The Preaching of Islam, that the Muslims of the first phase adopted total religious tolerance everywhere. In spite of having gained political power, they never indulged in religious controversies with non-Muslims.
This inherent power of Islam to appeal to hearts and minds can rise even today provided that present Muslims put an end to all national or communal controversies which they are indulging in with their non-Muslim neighbours in every country. These communal controversies, wrongly termed jihad, are the greatest obstacle to dawah work.
Every human group has a system of beliefs and a system of political power. The Muslims of the present times are behind other nations as regards a system of political power but as regards a belief system, they are still more powerful than all other nations. But the Muslim leaders all over the world are in confrontation with other nations in the political field. Consequently, they have been fated to experience little other than defeat and destruction. If they put an end to this futile confrontation and address other nations in the field of belief and ideology, then they will soon see that their defeat has been turned into a story of victory.
A person may be a qualified doctor but if, instead of practicing medicine, he starts indulging in meaningless activities, then everyone will criticize his behaviour and advise him to lead an honourable life as a doctor.
The same is the case with the Muslims of the present times. Muslims are, in actual fact, dayees. They possess such truth as no one else does. Of all the religious groups, they are the only ones who have unadulterated religious truth, who have a historical religion in the full sense. Islam is the only religion that has a historical base.
In this respect, the most important task for Muslims is to exert themselves to call people to God. But the Muslim leaders, by waging unnecessary battles in the political field, have turned the Muslim rulers into their enemies. Consequently, in almost every Muslim country the opportunities for dawah work have been ruined. Our unwise Muslim leaders are wholly responsible for this state of affairs. For them, Islam is only a subject of confrontation with the rulers, and this has caused Islam to be perceived as a danger to their political rule by the Muslim rulers.
The situation is no different in those countries where Muslims are in a minority. Here too, the Muslim leaders are doing the same as the Muslim leaders in the countries where the Muslims are in the majority. In both cases, they are fighting equally futile battles, such as have destroyed all the opportunities for dawah work. The only difference is that the battle being waged in Muslim countries is to establish Islam as a political power, while in other countries the battle is being fought to establish the Muslim identity.
Both these movements are undoubtedly based on falsehood. The greatest proof of this is that despite there being a huge number of concerned individuals and ample resources, these movements have been a total failure. It seems that this is the decree of God. Even if they gain the support of the whole world, they will meet with nothing but failure.
The truth is that there is only one religious duty for the Muslims and that is calling people to God. Their worldly success and salvation in the Hereafter both depend upon the performance of this task. This is the work which has been destined for them by God. If they rise to this task, they will be held deserving of having the greatest share in God’s blessings. If they do not rise to this task, there is great fear and apprehension that they will be subject to God’s wrath and chastisement. All the present activities in the name of Islam are not going to save them from the wrath of God.
