Seriousness in Carrying dawah (Invitation to Islam)
07-06-2008
Upon arriving at the firm decision to champion Allah’s (swt)
Deen, we were ordered to work towards the resumption of the Islamic way of life
via the reestablishment of the Islamic State. We understood that the Islamic
State applies Islam and carries the da’wah to the world. Therefore, we must
proceed according to a method, depending on the help of Allah (swt), the
Omnipotent, to change the existing world order. We must realize that there is no
rest from now until we meet Allah (swt), and we should be seriously involved in
the work towards achieving the noble goal that Allah (swt) has appointed the
Muslim Ummah to achieve.
To reach this goal, we must interact with the Muslim Ummah and proceed with her
in her struggle. We must make the Ummah feel that she is the one who is doing
the job. Raising the Islamic Ummah from the abyss in which she has fallen and
making her worthy of leading the world is a very serious issue. Allah (swt) has
said in Qur’an (in translation): Verily, We shall send down to you a weighty
Word (i.e. obligations, legal laws, etc.) (73:5)
Therefore, our seriousness in carrying the da’wah is a vital issue in achieving
the goal that we are determined to reach. It is our realization of the goal that
we are seeking that makes us appreciate our great responsibility. And it is our
realization of the situation of the Ummah, which is standing at the edge of its
destruction, of the torture to which the da’wah carriers are subjugated, and of
the plans that are plotted by the enemies of Islam against it after they felt
that our ideas began to interact with the Ummah, that makes us feel that our
path is full of obstacles and that we must take the issue of carrying the da’wah
very seriously, keeping in mind the saying of the Prophet (saw) when he (saw)
said to his wife, ”the time for sleeping is over Khadeejah.”
Seriousness in carrying the da’wah means that we must consider every issue
related to our da’wah to be very important and serious, even though it might not
appear that way. It also means seriousness in realizing and understanding the
idea and the methodology of carrying our da’wah as extracted from the Seerah of
the Prophet (saw) and the sources of legislation, and it also means seriousness
in looking for effective techniques to communicate with the Ummah, and
seriousness in doing our duties related to the da’wah in the best manner
possible.
We must also realize that the lack of seriousness leads to isolation and
retreat, which we always describe as being a mix of fear and desperation. The
Islamic party should be a live structure whose cells are comprised of us. The
secret of its life is the Islamic idea that we not only believe in, but we also
live our lives and perform our actions according to. This Islamic idea, that was
dead in the heart and the mind of this Ummah for a long time will naturally
start again as a cultural-religious idea. To transform such an idea into a
political idea in the minds of the da’wah carriers, they must always refer to
this idea in dealing with and explaining all the incidents that they are
confronted with, and they must make this practice a habit.
Exposing the political side of the Islamic idea is very difficult, especially in
the present state of decline in the Ummah. It requires a continuous and valiant
effort to be exerted by the da’wah carriers.
Seriousness in carrying the da’wah requires that we must carry the Islamic idea
using effective techniques to make the Ummah eager to work with us. This
seriousness makes the Ummah trust us as statesmen who are capable of leading her
in the struggle against false ideas and unjust rulers, and in carrying the
Islamic da’wah to the world. Usually, the lack of seriousness is attributed to
the exaggerated precautions taken by some brothers and sisters when addressing
the Ummah.
These exaggerated precautions emanate from the following important factors:
1- The fear of making a mistake.
2- The fear that the Ummah will not respond.
3- The fear of torture.In order to overcome the second and third factors, it is enough for us to remember that our Uswah (best role model), the Prophet (saw), was tortured for the sake of his da’wah and that he (saw) was confronted by the unbelievers. The torture and confrontations only increased the Prophet’s (saw) determination on continuing his (saw) da’wah until Allah (swt) assisted him (saw) by sending a group from a tribe called Al-Khazraj who believed in his Da’wah and championed him. This was a turning point in the life of the Islamic Da’wah. Let us read the Seerah (biography) of the Prophet (saw) where we can find his (saw) admirable response to his uncle, Abu-Taleb, who was sent by the pagans of Makkah in an attempt to convince the Prophet (saw) to leave his Da’wah, he said: By Allah, I swear, that if they (the pagans) put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand in order to leave this Da’wah, I will not leave it until Allah grants it His victory or I die for its sake.
Abstaining from carrying the Da’wah because of the claim
that the Ummah will not respond means that we have decided that we know the
Ghaib and produce our judgment in advance that the Ummah will never respond, and
this is of course, impossible because none of us know when the Ummah will
respond to our Da’wah. In this matter, we must also follow our best role model,
the Prophet (saw), who tried many times to present his Da’wah to different
tribes in the Arab Peninsula and each time his (saw) Da’wah was rejected, but
the Prophet (saw) did not take that as a reason to leave the Da’wah, instead he
(saw) kept trying until the tribe of Khazraj responded as was previously
mentioned.
Regarding the fear of making mistakes, this factor may result from the fact that
as part of this Ummah, we were not aware of the systematic and precise
disciplined thinking until we were involved in this party. Prior to working with
a group, we were talking without adhering to any rules and we were usually
lacking thoroughness. Now after we have realized that the Islamic ideology is
the secret of the life of this Ummah, and that this ideology consists of two
parts: the idea and the methodology, and that the methodology is a product of
the idea, and that we must engage in thorough thinking and study Islam in depth
to apply it correctly, we become fearful of making mistakes regarding the rules
of the idea and the methodology. This sometimes leads to fear when facing the
Ummah and eventually to the isolation of the Da’wah carriers.
To solve the above problem, we must realize the necessity of spontaneous
thinking, and we must remember that Allah (swt) will not hold us accountable for
our mistakes.
To this effect, we recall the incident involving Abu-Bakr (ra) after the
following verse was revealed: ‘Alif-Lam-Meem. The Romans have been defeated in
the nearer land, and they, after their defeat, will be victorious, within a few
years’. Abu-Bakr (ra) bet the pagans that the Romans will defeat the Persians
within three years, but the Prophet (saw) reminded him that the Qur’an mentioned
the word (bid’i) which means the number from three to nine, and he did not scold
him for his bet. Abu-Bakr, on the other hand, did not fear of falling into
mistakes when he initially said that.
Making mistakes is unpreventable, in fact, it is necessary for any Da’wah
carrier who wants to refine his political experience. If the Mujtahid was afraid
of making a mistake, he would not make Ijtihad. Likewise, if the Khalifah(ruler)
was afraid of making mistakes, he would not lead the Ummah, etc… In light of the
above discussion, we must all realize what is necessary to carry the Da’wah, and
that carrying the Da’wah seriously is mandatory upon everyone of us. We must all
devote ourselves to fulfilling this responsibility.
Submitted by a Mujahid