Islam: The Ideological Superpower

Muslims number more than one billion today. If you go round the world to study the minds of Muslims inhabiting various regions, you will probably come to the conclusion that Muslims all over the world share the feeling that the history of Islam has reached an impasse. Despite enormous sacrifices, no way out is in sight.

It is our firm belief that Islam offers guidance at all times and in all situations. Therefore, it must certainly be able to offer us clear guidance on the present state of affairs. The history of Islam does indeed provide us with two very clear examples of bringing into play the dawah power of Islam.

1. The first guiding example recorded in the early period of Islamic history is that of Sulh-e-Hudaybiyya. As we all know, the Prophet of Islam was compelled to migrate from Mecca to Medina. The majority of Muslims followed him. Consequently, Medina became a centre of Muslims. However, later events took a more serious turn. The opponents of Islam now started armed onslaughts against the Muslims. Yet after several full-scale wars and many minor armed conflicts, the balance failed to tip on any side. Apparently, the history of Islam had reached an impasse.

At this critical juncture, according to the Quran, the Prophet of Islam was shown the straight path in this matter (48:3-4). This meant creating an atmosphere conducive to peaceful dawah work by ceasing armed conflicts altogether. Accordingly, the Prophet in the 19th year of his prophethood entered into a peace treaty with his Arab opponents. This step put an end to the state of war. This event is referred to in the history of Islam as Sulh-e-Hudaybiyya. This peace treaty changed the area of encounter between Islam and its rivals from the battlefield to the Dawah field.

This peaceful activism brought incredible revolutionary results. The power of peace proved itself far superior to the power of war. This treaty rendered possible a widespread interaction between Muslims and the opposing group in a normal atmosphere. In this way, the peace treaty cleared the path for the direct propagation of Islam to take place. The opponents came to accept Islam in such great numbers, that ultimately, by numerical power alone, Islam became the victor.

According to Imam al-Zuhari, Sulh-e-Hudaybiyya was the greatest victory in the history of Islam. Prior to this whenever Muslims and their rivals had encountered one another, fighting had ensued. But after the reconciliation, the state of war ended, and peace prevailed. Now former antagonists began meeting one another in a normal, tension-free atmosphere. This interaction naturally led to an exchange of ideas. Whenever anyone heard anything of Islam that he found appealing, he would, without fail, enter its fold. That is why, in a mere two years after the signing of Sulh-e-Hudaybiyya, such a large number of people entered the fold of Islam as had never before been witnessed. (Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, vol. 4, p. 170)

This great increase in terms of numbers made Islam a; majority religion in Arabia, which greatly facilitated its dominance throughout the land.

2. The second well-known example of the caravan of
Islam having reached an impasse came about with the emergence of the brute force of the Tartars in the first half of the thirteenth century. Muslim power was almost completely destroyed by it. It seemed as though the journey of Islam had once again reached a point from which there could be no further advancement.

At exactly that point in time, the ideological power of Islam made its appearance. Muslims, being in no position to take up arms, re-channelized their energies by silently engaging themselves in peaceful dawah work among the victorious Tartars. This act of dawah verified the dictum of the Quran that, through dawah, the opponents of Islam would become its supporters and friends (41:34).

Historians have acknowledged this event in quite clear terms. Philip K. Hitti, for instance, remarks, in his famous book, The History of the Arabs:

“The religion of the Muslims had conquered where their arms had failed.” (p. 488)

3. Now in the twentieth century the history of Islam appears once again to have reached an impasse. Enormous numbers of sacrifices on our part have yet to succeed in taking forward the caravan of Islam.

According to al-Imam Malik, the state of affairs of the Muslim Ummah will be reformed only by following the same course of action as that followed by the Muslims of the first phase in order to ameliorate their situation. In the light of this observation, it can be safely said that we must once again opt for this tested method of the past. We must take such steps as will put an end to the hostility prevailing between Muslims and non-Muslims. This would result in a normal situation in which peaceful interaction between Muslims and non-Muslims could fruitfully take place. Hudaybiyya symbolizes the greatness of the power of peace as against the power of war. Today, once again, we need to follow a course of action which will create a similar set of circumstances.

As soon as this happens, the ideological power of Islam will at once appear in its full force—which is undoubtedly eternally invincible. Afterwards the virtues of Islam will begin reaching people automatically through exchange and interaction. Then it will also be possible to perform dawah work properly. Under the influence of their own nature people will start joining the ranks of Islam. And there is no doubt about it that the greatest strength for any group depends upon its manpower.

Muslims can be weakened and subjugated at any point in time. But Islam is an ideological superpower forever. It has the capacity to conquer the greatest power on earth through dawah. It is the need of the hour to produce conditions, on a universal scale, conducive to the dissemination of the word of God. It is necessary to bring into play the ideological power of Islam in order that dawah work may be set in motion in the full sense of the word. And then, certainly, Islam will emerge as the dominant and conquering force, and Muslims of the world too will receive their place of honour and glory along with Islam.