What is Islam
01- The Holly Kalimah
02- Salaah (The Prayer)
03- Zakaah
04- Soum (Fasting)
05- Hajj
06- Taqwaa (Piety)
07- Honesty in Dealing
08- Social Conduct & Mutual Relations
09- Good Manners & Nobel Qualities
10- Love of Allah, Nabi (SAWW)
11- Preaching & Propagation
12- Constancy
13- Jihad
14- Martyrdom
15- Life after Death
16- Heaven & Hell
17- Zikr
18- Dua
19- Durood Shareef
20- Taubah
PREACHING AND PROPAGATION
Essential
as it is for us to affirm faith in Allah (Subhaanahu Wata'aalaa) and
the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam) and to follow with
righteousness and sincerity the straight path of Islam, it is also
important that we strove earnestly to guide the others, too, to the
path of the faith who are ignorant of it or who may be unwilling to
adopt it on account of prejudice or spiritual malaise. As Allah
(Subhaanahu Wata'aalaa) has placed on us the duty of being His pious,
devout and faithful servants so also has He made it obligatory for us
to work among His other creatures as well towards the same end, that
is, towards making them also His pious devout and faithful servants.
That is what is meant by the service of faith and its preaching and
propagation.
This work is so great in the sight of Allah
(Subhaanahu Wata'aalaa) that for it He sent down thousands of Prophets
into the world. The Prophets bore tremendous hardships and went through
the severest of trials and privations to carry out their mission. They
worked for the moral and spiritual reform and uplift of mankind. May
the eternal blessings of Allah (Subhaanahu Wata'aalaa) be on them and
on their companions and supporters.
The glorious chain of
Prophecy and Apostleship ended with the last of the prophets, Prophet
Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam). Through him also Allah
(Subhaanahu Wata'aalaa) proclaimed to the world that no more prophets
would now be raised up for the guidance of humanity. The celestial
mission shall now be carried on by those who had accepted his guidance
and the religion he had brought with him into the world.
In
sum, after the termination of the luminous line of Apostles the
responsibility for preaching and propagation of faith and religious
instruction and reform of mankind has fallen wholly upon the shoulders
of the followers of the sacred Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam).
This honour, indeed, is unique. In the Holy Quraan, the very object of
the raising up of Muslim has been defined as nothing but this:
You are the best of Peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong and believing in Allah. [III:110]
The
Muslims were, thus, superior to a1l peoples and communities for the
simple reason that they, in addition to adopting for themselves the
path of faith and righteousness, were charged with the special duty of
striving to bring others also to practise what was right and to avoid
what was wrong. It was because of this that they were given the
distinction of being the "Best of Peoples". It is also evident from the
above verse that should the Muslim fail to discharge the function they
would not only forfeit the claim to the distinction but would also
render themselves liable to be punished by Allah (Subhaanahu
Wata'aalaa) for neglecting the duty. He had assigned to them. Let us
take an illustration: suppose a company of sentries is posted in a town
by the Government to check the immoral activities of its citizens and
the sentries not only fail to perform their duty but, what is more,
they themselves begin to indulge in the transgressions they were
required to suppress. Now, will they be retained in service and
rewarded by the Government or taken severely to task by it for their
negligence and misconduct? It will, certainly, not be improper or
unjust if they were punished more severely than the other offenders.
The conditions prevailing in the entire Muslim world today are so
extremely deplorable that what to speak of the preaching of the faith
and the correction and reform of others, not more than five or ten per
cent of Muslims themselves are true to Islam and do good deed and
abstain from what is evil and prohibited. In these circumstances, it
becomes our primary duty to carry out the mission of moral and
spiritual reform and guidance among our own people, among such sections
of them as have drifted mournfully away from the path of faith and
moral uprightness.
One of the reasons for it is that those who
call themselves, or are known as Muslims, whatever be the practical
state, have, after all, forged a link between themselves and Allah
(Subhaanahu Wata'aalaa) and His Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam)
and the Faith, and become members of the Muslim brotherhood or Ummah,
through the acceptance of Islam. Solicitude for their moral and
spiritual well-being is our first responsibility in any case in the
same way as the responsibility of looking after the welfare of his own
children and near relations is greater on a man than that of looking
after the welfare of others.
And, secondly, before everything
else, it is the actual condition of Muslims from which the world will
generally judge about Islam, and the spectacle of degeneration that
Muslims, on the whole, present these days is such that it cannot be
expected to make a very favourable impression on anyone in respect of
their faith. The non-Muslim world is not likely to think very highly of
the excellent teachings of Islam as long as Muslims remain what they
are today. On the other hand, it is a feeling of revulsion and dislike
which non-Muslims usually get about Islam when they look at the lower
degree of moral and spiritual level into which the Muslims have sunk.
It has always been like this. People have always formed their opinion,
good or bad or indifferent, about a religion from the actual moral and
social state of its followers.
In the past when Muslims used to
be true Muslims, observing strictly the postulates of their faith,
people were attracted towards Islam simply by seeing them. Whole
nations and communities were converted to Islam in this way. But since
the Muslims are only in name; their conduct and morals grew un-Islamic
and their hearts got bereft of faith and righteousness the world has
developed a prejudice against Islam itself.
In fine, we should
realise the truth of it clearly that the daily life o Muslims, their
social, moral and spiritual conduct and behaviour, is the biggest
testimony and the chief measuring rod with regard to Islam. If the
practical life of Muslims is good, the world will form a good opinion
about Islam, and if it is bad, the opinion the world will acquire about
Islam will also be bad. In later case, the preaching of Islam among
non-Muslims is destined to be fruitless. Hence, the success of all the
efforts aimed at the propagation of Islam among non-Muslims as well is
dependent on the condition that Islamic life. i.e., the life of faith
and righteous action became the chief attribute of the entire Muslim
community. From this point of view also it is necessary to strive first
for the guidance and reformation of Muslims and to launch the struggle
with all our might for popularising the values of Islamic life among
them before we turned our attention to others.
Islam has given
the task of religious preaching, reform and guidance the name of
Jihad-i-Akbar, the great Jihad. If it is undertaken in the right
spirit, with sincerity and selflessness and solely for the sake of
winning Divine approbation, this work, definitely, is a great Jihad in
the sight of Allah (Subhaanahu Wata'aalaa).
Many people suppose
that that Jihad means only a war which is waged in the path of Allah
(Subhaanahu Wata'aalaa) and according to the rules and instructions
laid down for it in the Shariah. But this is not correct. The truth is
that whatever endeavour that can be made at a particular time for the
preaching and propagation of Islam and the moral and spiritual
correction and guidance of mankind is the Jihad of the age.
The
Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam) remained in Makkah for about
twelve years after the mantle of Apostleship had fallen upon him.
During this period the Jihad of the Prophet (Saliallahu Alaihe
Wasallam) and his Companions consisted altogether in adhering
steadfastly to the faith inspite of the terrible persecution unleashed
on them by the enemies of Islam and in doing all that lay in their
power, openly as well as secretly, to spread the Divine message of
Islam and to reform morally and spiritually those who lived around them.
To devote oneself to the noble task of guiding the ignorant, the way
ward and the thoughtless to the straight path of Islam and of bringing
them nearer to Allah (Subhaanahu Wata'aalaa), to spend one's time and
money on it, and to sacrifice one's comfort, all this, in any case, is
Jihad in Divine estimation. In fact, it is the Jihad of the present age.
The rich reward that awaits those in the Hereafter who engage
themselves in this lofty endeavour as well as the dreadful punishment
that is going to fall to the lot of those who neglect it and do not
participate in it can well be imagined from the Traditions we give
below:
"A person who guides another to a deed of virtue shall
receive the same recompense for it as the doer of the deed and there
will be no reduction in the reward of the doer himself because of it."
What the Tradition means is that suppose ten persons, or even five,
were reformed through our effort and they came to believe in Allah
(Subhaanahu Wata'aalaa) and the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam)
and to observe the Divine commandments they began to offer the Salaah
and to carry out other religious duties and avoided what was wrong and
forbidden then the reward they will earn on it jointly will be granted
to us alone also. A little thought will show that there is simply no
other way in which a person can win so much reward - the reward of the
prayers and other pious and virtuous deeds of hundreds of men.
Another Tradition of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam) says:
"By the Almighty in whose power lies my life, do not neglect the duty
of enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong. Remember if
you neglected your duty it is quite possible that Allah might send down
His punishment on you and then all your prayers and supplications will
avail you nothing."
Brothers! Some of the most enlightened and
spiritually evolved divines of our day are of the view that the
disasters and humiliations that Muslim have been facing for a long
time, and the troubles and difficulties they are caught in universally
these days and which do not seem to abate or relent a bit inspite of
all their pathetic petitions to Allah (Subhaanahu Wata'aalaa) and
prayers etc., are due mainly to the very reason that they have ceased
to discharge the function they were raised up for and for which they
were made wholly responsible after the termination of Prophecy and
Apostleship. Evidently, when a watchman fails to perform his duty he is
dismissed from service and castigated sternly for his negligence. Let
us resolve solemnly that we shall be found wanting no more in the
discharge of our duty. Allah (Subhaanahu Wata'aalaa)'s help will be
with us. He has promised:
Allah, certainly, will aid those who aid His Cause. [XXII:40]