13. Divine Protection
Before the conquering of Makkah (8 Hijri) the situations of Madinah were not safe for the believers. Therefore, at night, the Companions kept vigil on the house of the Prophet. One day, the Prophet leaned out of widow and said: ‘O people, return to your houses, God has taken the responsibility of my protection.’
The Prophet said this to his Companions on the basis of a verse which was probably revealed to him that very night. This verse is as follows:
‘O Messenger, deliver whatever has been sent down to you by your Lord. If you do not do so, you will not have conveyed His message. God will defend you from mankind.’ (5:67)
According to this verse of the Quran, the secret of God’s protection lies hidden in conveying of the message sent by God to the people. This is the promise of God. This promise was apparently made by God to the Prophet but every person or group will deserve this divine promise who performs dawah work on the pure Prophetic pattern. This is an eternal promise for the true dawah workers. It is not restricted to a particular period of time.
This verse of the Quran clearly shows that calling the people to God is the responsibility of the followers of the Prophet and its God’s responsibility to protect them from the people. In other words, no any other action can ensure the protection of the followers of the Prophet. If in any period of time the followers of the Prophet feel unprotected from other nations of the world they should introspect themselves instead of making protest against the other nations because this would definitely mean that they have left the task of dawah (calling people to God.)
The duty of conveying the message of God has been termed as God’s help in the Quran. (61:14) and it has been also described that who will perform dawah work will certainly receive God’s help. (47: 7) This is an eternal guideline for the followers of the Prophet. The members of the ummah or Muslim community should plan their actions on dawah ilallah. All worldly affairs should be of secondary importance to them. If they discharge the duty of dawah, such circumstances will emerge as will solve their worldly problems. On the contrary, if they make the worldly issues the target of their actions, they will achieve nothing of them.
