The Re-Planning
of Dawah
Calling people to God or dawah work is the most important mission of Islam. There are two phases of dawah from the beginning of the advent of Islam to the emergence of science and after the emergence of science to the 21st century. Prior to the age of modern science, dawah work was based on miracles as arguments. This has been called in the Quran as Bayyinat (The Quran, 57:25). In the second phase, dawah work has to be based on scientific evidence in respect of arguments. This scientific evidence is what has been referred to in the Quran as signs in the universe and in the creation of man (41:53). The Quran states: “We shall show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves, until it becomes clear to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that your Lord is the witness of all things?” (The Quran, 41:53)
Modern science is nothing alien. This is indeed another name for the discovery of the hidden realities in nature. These hidden arguments were placed in nature, so that when the time came, these should be discovered and used in favor of Dawah by way of argument.
Now the final time has come when these arguments should be employed in favor of dawah and that great work is to be performed on the basis of scientific arguments, which has been called in the Hadith ‘Shahadat-e-Azam’, the great witness (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 2938).
In present times this work of dawah has already been started on the basis of scientific arguments. The writer has studied the subject in detail and has written a number of books on this topic, one of these being, ‘Mazhab Aur Jadeed Challenge’ (God Arises) which was first published in 1966. This book has been translated into many languages. For instance, in Arabic it is titled ‘Al-Islam Yatahadda’ (1970) and in English ‘God Arises’ (1988), etc. Much work has been done on this subject by Christian scholars, for instance, a book has been published comprising of articles written by forty American scientists with the title ‘The Evidence of God in An Expanding Universe.’ This book was published for the first time in 1958 from the USA. Later on, this book was published from Egypt in 1987 with this title “Allahu Yatajalla fi Asril Ilm.”
Another book worth mentioning on this subject has been published with this title “The Bible, the Quran, and Science”. This book, first written by Dr. Maurice Bucaille in French, has been translated into English and other languages. In Arabic its title is “At Torat wal Injil wal Quran wal Ilm’’ (Beirut, 1986). However, much still remains to be done to complete this task. Modern scientific research has provided us with a new framework by using which it has become possible to prove or establish the teachings of Islam by the accepted academic or scientific standards of the time.
Modern Science, in reality, is the theology of Islam. It has provided us with the data on which we can base Islamic teachings by the accepted standard of the time.
Looked at from this aspect, the modern scientific age is the fulfillment of a prediction made in the Quran: “We shall show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves, until it becomes clear to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that your Lord is the witness of all things?” (The Quran, 41:53).
In this verse of the Quran, the signs of the universe and the creation of man implies that in future the laws of nature would be discovered through scientific study. By these discoveries it will become possible to establish or prove Islamic realities at a high rational standard. In other words, this means that in future, such facts will be discovered on the basis of which it will become possible to compile the theology of Islam on the accepted basis of argument.
