The story of the Prophet Joseph who lived some 3500 years ago, appears in both the Quran and the Bible. In his time, Egypt was under monarchical rule, and the kingdom was an agrarian economy. The king of Egypt ruled as the political authority and appointed Prophet Joseph as the administrative authority. According to the Quran, the law of the land remained with the king, while the agricultural economy was under Prophet Joseph’s control. The Bible describes this arrangement in the words of the Egyptian king as: “Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” (Genesis 41: 40)
Prophet Joseph got this opportunity because of the personal bent of mind of the king as an individual. In terms of applied understanding of the Quran, one can say that in today’s age this same opportunity is available to all believers in general, because of the changed times. Democracy gives an elected ruler a few years to rule. Today, the role of government is essentially to manage the governance of a country. All fields other than governance, such as businesses, education, media and religion, are free and open to all. Every individual now has the right to do as he pleases in all the many non-governmental spheres, provided that in seeking his goals he uses peaceful methods and does not foment conflict against anyone else, whether ordinary citizens or the government.
As a result of the global changes that have taken place through the ages, the ‘best story’ has become a universal principle, an applied living guide for people today. This is a case of applied reflection and understanding of this chapter of the Quran. This same method of applied interpretation is desirable for the whole Quran. In this way, the Quran becomes a book of guidance for humanity today, whereas if the Quran is studied in the light of the earlier-cited principles of exegesis, it will only appear like a story of an age long past.
Source: Spirit of Islam November 2015
There are two levels of Quranic comprehension—the first is the Quran, and the second is the applied Quran. The first level in understanding the Quran is to know how those who lived at the time when the Quran was being revealed understood it. The second level is to try to understand what its applied meaning is in the context of the changed conditions of today.
These conditions for understanding the Quran can be helpful only at the first level of understanding. But, for the second level of Quranic comprehension—the understanding of its applied meaning in the contemporary context—these conditions are wholly insufficient. The only benefit of understanding the Quran at the basic level is that the Quran becomes an understandable book in the historical sense. But as far as the present age is concerned, the current generation will not gain any guidance from it. They may accept the Quran only as a matter of belief, but it will not be possible for them to make the Quran a living guide, although the actual significance of the Quran is its guidance meant for all times and for all people.
Source: Spirit of Islam November 2015
Yes. Today no one needs to be a scholar to perform dawah work. Everyone can perform dawah work as the present age is highly favourable to the communication of the word of God. Today we are living in an age of religious freedom, with communication facilities available as never before in human history. And we are in possession of Quran translations that are clear and in an easily understandable language as well as effective dawah literature in the form of articles, books, audios, and videos explaining Islam in the modern idiom.
All one needs to do to perform dawah work today is to make it their priority. You do not need to abandon all one’s activities and then study all the relevant subjects to become a scholar, for all these steps have already been taken. Now, without changing your life’s plan at all you can make dawah a part of your life, and fulfill your dawah responsibilities in the best possible manner.
Source: Dawah Made Simple
A dayee is like a beacon standing by the roadside as a divine guide for the wandering caravan of humanity. The Quran says: ‘Worship God alone and shun the evil one.’ (16:36) In another chapter, it records the words of the Prophet: “… hasten to God; truly, I am sent by Him to give you a clear warning” (51:50). This is the real point of calling people to God is to warn people to seek out God and shun Satan.
In this world, a man stands in between two calls: one is God’s call, and the other is Satan’s. God is the source of all goodness and calls people toward all that is good. On the contrary, Satan is the source of all evil and calls people towards it. The test of a man is that he should not fall prey to Satan’s illusion: he should instead leave Satan and run toward God.
Source: Dawah Made Simple
Dawah means inviting people to God and Truth. As the Prophet of Islam was the last prophet, the responsibility of dawah is now the duty of the Muslim Ummah. Every Muslim is charged with this mission, as God says in the Quran: “Let there be a group among you who call others to good, and enjoin what is right (marouf), and forbid what is wrong (munkar): those who do this shall be successful.” (3:104)
The fulfillment of this mission, on the individual level, however, varies with the capacity of the Muslim, including their linguistic abilities, confidence, and knowledge.
A dayee (addressor) is an individual who invites others to God and the Truth. A madu (addressee) is the one called to God and the Truth. The successful dayee introduces man to God and His Creation Plan with all sincerity and well-wishing. A dayee is an individual who invites people to God and the truth and makes them aware that they have to bring about an intellectual awakening in themselves so that they may, in recognizing these two demands, control their ego and strengthen the subtle voice of their conscience. Avoiding Satan’s temptations, they may become travelers on God’s path, which will take them to Paradise. This was the mission of the prophets. A dayee takes up this mission in the hope of being given a very special reward in the form of eternal Paradise.
Source: Calling People to God
Dawah work has been termed in the Quran as ‘calling people to God.’ (The Quran, 41:33). In other words, dawah work aims at bringing people closer to their Creator and Sustainer. ‘Calling people to God’ tells them that the only right way of life for them on this earth is to become true believers in God.
Man has only two ways of leading his life in this world: the self-oriented and the God-oriented. A self-oriented life is one in which all activities center on oneself. Such a life is led according to man’s thinking. He follows his whims and desires. To him, fulfilling personal interests and ambitions is the standard to measure human success.
On the other hand, a God-oriented life is one in which man considers himself subservient to God. He moulds his feelings and emotions according to God’s commands. To such a person, a successful life is one in which one lives and dies in accordance with God’s pleasure.
Calling people to God means warning man of the evil consequences of the self-oriented life, inviting him to adopt the God-oriented life. The most authentic and reliable source of knowledge of the divine teachings on both types of life has been preserved in the Quran. Presenting God’s Message in the form of the Quran to people is another name for calling people to God.
Source: Calling People to God
The Quran is not a religious book in the limited sense of the term. It is a Book that tells people about the creation plan of God, and the scheme of things of the One who has created the entire Universe. This is not a matter of religion alone. The Quran is not a book of jurisprudence or a book of dos and don’ts about rituals. The Quran informs people about the laws of nature. It is not a book of Muslims; it is a Book of God. So, it becomes imperative that it be taken to all mankind.
Considering that the Muslims are bearers of the Quran and their most important task is to communicate God’s Message to humanity, it is unconscionable that they appear to take so few practical steps towards its effective propagation.
Realising this, Goodword Books has prioritized translating the Quran into different languages. In addition, they publish and distribute these translations worldwide. Muslims can fulfill their dawah responsibility of presenting the divine message to all humanity by using these translations of the Quran along with Islamic literature produced by CPS International.
Source: The Seeker’s Guide
Every book has its objective and the objective of the Quran is to make man aware of the Creation plan of God. That is, to tell man why God created this world; what the purpose is of settling man on earth; what is required from man in his pre-death life span, and what he is going to confront after death. Man is born as an eternal creature. When God created man as such, He divided his life span into two periods, the pre-death period, which is a time of trial, and the post-death period, which is the time for receiving the rewards or punishment merited by one’s actions during one’s lifetime. These take the form of eternal paradise or eternal hell. The purpose of the Quran is to make man aware of this reality. This is the theme of this divine Book, which serves to guide man through his entire journey through life into the after-life. This is why it is important to share the message of the Quran to all people of the world.
Source: God’s Creation Plan
The Muslim community has been called ‘The Middle Nation’ in the Quran: “We have made you a middle nation, so that you may act as witnesses for mankind, and the Messenger may be a witness for you.” (2:143)
This verse speaks of the role of Muslims as dayees. It explains that they have received the divine religion through God’s Messenger. Therefore, they now must communicate God’s message to every generation in every age. The word ‘witness’ (shahid) in this verse is equivalent to dayee.
It was the responsibility of the followers of Prophet Muhammad to pass on the truth they had received from the Prophet to others. The same responsibility devolved upon the ancient people of the Book. That is, making the message of God clear to people. (The Quran, 3:187)
The Call to God is all a matter of responsibility, and without doubt, there is no responsibility more significant than this. The Prophet of Islam is called the ‘seal of the Prophets’ in the Quran (33:40); therefore, no other Prophet will come after him. The followers of Prophet Muhammad must fulfill their responsibility of conveying the divine message to their contemporaries in every age till Doomsday. It is the duty of every Muslim, and he must perform it on a priority basis.
We should remember that conveying God’s message to humanity is to be done in a clear and understandable style to the addressees, which is retained in their minds or makes a lasting impression on their minds. In the modern era, we need to make Islam understandable to people in the language of today, i.e., modern, scientific idiom. Only by fulfilling this dawah responsibility to our utmost can we be held eligible in God’s eyes to be called the ‘Middle Nation’.
Source: Calling People to God
Calling people to God has been referred to in the Quran as ‘helping God’ (61:14), since it is a task that is seen as desirable by God Himself and is performed by servants of God. When a believer follows the commands of God relating to worship, morality, and deals justly with people, he proves his servitude to God. But the case of dawah is different. According to the Quran, dawah work is performed so that humanity may have no excuse or argument against God (7:164).
‘Helping God’ in this verse (61:14) means giving oneself wholeheartedly to the divine mission so humanity might have no argument against God on the Day of Judgement.
Prophet Muhammad was undoubtedly the messenger of God to the whole of humanity. But he lived in this world for a limited period. After his demise, this mission had to be carried forward indirectly by his followers, the Muslim ummah. It is, therefore, incumbent upon the Prophet’s followers to carry out this mission from one generation to the next and, in presenting the message of Islam to people of every age and time, bring people closer to God so that no one can stand in front of God on Judgment Day and say, ‘I was unaware.’ This exigency has opened up the opportunity for man to perform this great divine task. Those who come forward to carry out this divine mission of dawah work will receive special succour in this life and will be held deserving of great honour in the life Hereafter.
Source: Calling People to God
Ibn Ishaq (the Prophet’s earliest biographer) said that when the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace) came to the Companions and reminded them of the dawah work, he said: ‘God has sent me to the entire world as a blessing, so you should carry out this responsibility on my behalf. God will show His mercy to you.’
There could be no greater honour under the sun than to be engaged in a mission which is directly God’s own mission. It is like working on behalf of God Almighty. It is indeed such a great honour that a greater honour than this one seems impossible.
Dawah, which in the Quran is called ‘warning and giving glad tidings’, is directly the mission of God. So that men might have no argument with God, this task was passed on to the people themselves. Moreover, the testing of humankind, if it is to be deemed both effective and valid, should not be done by means of some miracle, but should rather be performed by human agency. That is why God wants this divine work to be performed only by human beings.
This exigency has opened up the opportunity for man to perform this great divine task. Those who come forward to carry out this divine mission of dawah will receive special succour in this life and will be held deserving of great honour in the life hereafter.
When a believer says his prayers, he understands that he is declaring his humility before God. On the other hand, when he performs dawah, he feels as if he is actually performing a task of none other than God Himself. There could not be a more thrilling experience for a believer than to feel that he is engaged in God’s own work, that he is implementing his Lord’s plan.
Source: Dawah Made Simple
In present times, the condition of the people is that they turn to God and pray to Him when they face a problem in their lives but in dawah work, they become totally unaware of the importance of dua. Whereas dua is related to dawah work in the same way as it is related to other matters of the world. The fact is that dua is an essential part of dawah work. Without dua the task of calling people to God cannot be performed in an effective way.
Dua is not connected only to the madu, rather it is connected to the dayee himself as well. A dayee should constantly make prayer to God for him. He should constantly pray to God to make his dawah effective for the madu. He should constantly pray to God to create such conditions for him as are conducive to performing dawah work in a better way.
The same is true of madu. A dayee is a true well-wisher for his madu. this feeling of well-wishing compels him to pray to God for him constantly. One accepts the dawah only with the permission of God. This is with God’s help that one is guided to accept the message of Truth. All these things require that a dayee should continually pray to God for the guidance of his madu. The Prophet called people to God in the day and prayed to God for their guidance in the night.
Source: Calling People to God
The Quran states: “Call to the ways of your Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation and reason with them in a way that is best. Your Lord knows best those who have strayed away from His path, and He knows best those who are rightly guided. If you want to retaliate, retaliate to the same degree as the injury done to you. But if you are patient, it is better to be so. Endure with patience; truly, your patience is possible only with the help of God. Do not grieve for them, or feel distressed because of their plotting, for God is with those who are righteous and those who do good.” (16:125-128)
Dawah work requires a high degree of seriousness and well-wishing. The feeling of being answerable to God compels man to play the role of a dayee and communicate the divine message. He gives the divine call to people because he is sure that if he fails to do so, he will be held accountable before God on the Day of Judgement.
Bearing this in mind, he naturally adopts that method of doing dawah work where he calls to the way of God with wisdom and fair exhortation and reasons with the addressees in whatever way is best.
By wisdom is meant logic or argument. No dawah work can be effective in the real sense unless it makes full concessions to the addressee’s mind. A call that does not make a concession to the addressee’s mind is an unwise call.
Sometimes it happens that we want to convey the message of God to an individual but apparently, he looks indifferent to it. What should we do on such an occasion? On such occasions, we should adopt the principle—where there is a positive response there is dawah work and where there is no positive response there is dua. That is, in such situations, we should pray to God to guide him to the right path.
Source: Calling People to God
The spirit of dawah is honesty and well-wishing. Honesty means nothing should be added to or mixed with the divine message. Well-wishing here means that those who witness Truth must be impelled, even on a purely unilateral basis, by a concern for the genuine well-being of the madu, those whom they call towards God so that the latter can have no reasonable ground to deny this call.
According to a tradition, the Prophet of Islam once asked some of his Companions to undertake a journey to convey the message of Islam. He said: “Make it easy for people. Do not create difficulties for them. Give them good tidings and do not say such things as turn them away.” (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 1732)
This means that when you convey the divine message to the people, it should be in the spirit of well-wishing. You should address them in a manner that is acceptable to them and is not difficult for them to follow. The act of dawah is a two-way affair. On the one hand, the dayee is a true bearer of the word of God, who strives to address the mind of the addressee by making every concession to him. Dawah is not a mechanical announcement. It is entirely an act of love and well-wishing.
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.
Source: Calling People to God
The programme of Islamic mission includes mainly two points—dawah and patience. Dawah means to convey the divine message of the Quran to all the people and patience means to adopt the method of acceptance in the existing situation in all other matters. This is what is called accepting the status quo. Patience is essential for carrying out dawah work. It is the law of nature itself that here, in this present world, a man always faces unpleasant situations. If a dayee will argue the other people in every unfavourable situation he will find no time to do dawah work. On the other hand, the favourable atmosphere between the dayee and madu will come to cease which is essential for a dayee to do dawah work.
Therefore, a dayee should always keep positive psychology. This is one of the essential conditions of dawah work. Without this dawah work cannot be performed. Patience is, in fact, the price of dawah work. Only after paying this price of patience, that thing comes to emerge as is called dawah. Patience, in other words, is the same thing that is called customer-friendly behaviour in the terminology of commerce. A businessman adopts the method of unilateral forbearance. Similarly, a dayee also adopts the method of unilateral forbearance in preaching the message of God to the people. This madu friendly behaviour is what is called patience.
Source: Dawah Made Simple
Patience is indispensable in carrying out dawah work; it is simply not possible to perform dawah work without exercising patience. The more a dayee remains patient, the more successful will he be in performing his duties.
Dawah work is a delicate process through which effort is made to de-condition the minds of human beings. Man cannot be likened to a piece of stone. If you want to change the stone, it will not show any reaction; it will accept all such moves without demur.
But man is a living being. He has feelings, and emotions of all kinds and that is why changing a human being is possible only when he is willing to change himself. Without this, it is impossible to affect any transformation in him.
Even when the madu’s behaviour is provocative, the dayee should not become provoked. When the dayee remains patient, he helps the madu to engage in introspection. Patience renders dawah work truly effective.
Source: Dawah Made Simple
Addressing the Prophet of Islam, the Quran states: “Endure with patience; truly, your patience is possible only with the help of God. Do not grieve for them, or feel distressed because of their plotting.” (16:127)
This is God’s guidance for a dayee. When a dayee faces opposition from the madu, he is enjoined to exercise patience for the sake of God. Being patient means refraining from taking any reactionary measure in the hopes that God will solve the problem in a far better way.
There are two kinds of people in the world; those who depend on men and those who place their trust in God. The former can never remain patient. It is only the latter who have the resilience to suffer all kinds of bitterness and complaints. What they will receive from God is of far greater value than what they will ever receive from their fellow creatures. The dayee has to suppress the urge to react, so that he may refrain from a retaliatory course of action. A dayee has to trust God in all circumstances. Addressing the Prophet, the Quran says: “O messenger, deliver whatever has been sent down to you from your Lord. If you do not do so, you will not have conveyed His message and God will protect you from the people.” (5:67)
That is to say, God will grant His special succour and the opponents will not be able to harm the dayee. God will take care of everything. He will solve all the problems faced by the dayee because he is engaged in God’s work.
Source: Calling People to God
During the last days, there will appear great opportunities by availing of which it will become possible to perform the most significant role of conveying the divine message ever performed. This call before Doomsday is not going to be performed miraculously. Instead, it will be performed through the ‘cause and effect’ process. It seems, today, the opportunities for this Final Divine Call have fully come into existence. Through modern means of communication and technology: books, television, radio, Internet, and social media, the divine message can be taken to worldwide.
Another aspect to consider is that the coming of the end of human history is no simple matter. It is directly linked with divine law. The present world was not given to man by right or reward, nor was it accidentally acquired. Man was placed here to be tested. After completing the test period, man will lose any justification to live in this world. It is just like being in an examination hall. The candidate can come to the hall for a limited period to take the test. When this time is up, he has to hand in his paper—whether he has completed it or not—and leave the room. The same is true of man’s stay in this world, only on a larger and more complex scale.
It is, therefore, incumbent for some people to rise, fully avail themselves of these opportunities, and communicate the divine message worldwide.
Source: The Alarm of Doomsday
Yes. This introduction of God’s word will occur through known global communication and technology. For the first time, global means of communication and technology have become available to man, making it possible for him to do dawah work on a greatly enlarged scale. In the age of the computer, for the first time in human history, it has become possible for every individual, home, and office to have a computer or smartphone. All kinds of information are being posted on the Internet and social media, and now at any place in the world, in any office or home, one can access complete information regarding Islam in one’s language.
Source: The Alarm of Doomsday
A prediction is made in a hadith about global dawah: “There will be no house, big or small, in which God will not cause the word of God to enter.” (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 23814)
The entering of the word of God into every home is, in fact, an indication of the approach of Doomsday. The word of God entering every home means that the message of the Quran will enter every home. What is the message of the Quran? It is to make man aware of God’s creation plan, according to which the present world has been built for a limited period. A time will come when this world is ended, and then Doomsday or the Day of Judgement will occur. All human beings will be resurrected and presented before the Creator of the universe. Then, according to the record of their deeds on earth, their final fate will be decided.
Source: The Alarm of Doomsday
