Dawah Thinking
Acertain Kashmiri Muslim who is associated with our dawah mission, told us over the phone that on September 23, 2010, a programme had been organized by the government with the theme, ‘Public Interaction’. Senior Officers of the Indian army and local Muslims were present on this occasion. The chief guests were Mr Gurdeep Singh, General Commanding Officer (G.C.O) and Brigadier Anil Pandey. This member of our mission said that, a Kashmiri Muslim, who attended this function, criticized the government for having commercialized the problem of Kashmir. He maintained that the concerned persons were only engaged in political trading in the name of Kashmir. Upon hearing this, the member of our mission who was present on the occasion said to the complaining Muslim, ‘We have also started fruitful trading’ (as per the Quran, 61:10-11). After saying this, he and his companions started handing out the English translation of the Quran and other dawah literature as gifts to those present. They gave copies of the English translation of The Prophet of Peace and other such books to General Gurdeep Singh and Brigadier Anil Pandey. General Gurdeep Singh later made the observation in his speech that in recent years, the Kashmiris had staged a great agitation on the issue of Quran burning. Consequently, in its wake, 17 youths had been killed. Then General Gurdeep Singh took the Quran in his hand and said, “You engage in violence in the name of the Quran. Now tell me which verse of the Quran commands you to engage in violence?” At this, the entire Muslim audience remained silent.
When one is oriented towards dawah, one will avail of all such opportunities to do dawah work. On such occasions, one will gift the book of God to God’s servants. On the contrary, one who is not so oriented will consider all such dawah opportunities merely as a stage in “politics”. Hence he will bring only the gift of hatred not of love.
The Modern Age: the Age of the Madu
There was no concept of global tourism in ancient times. For in those times the means of travel and communication we have nowadays simply did not exist. But now we live in the modern age of communication, and with an in-depth knowledge of geography, people are able to undertake journeys on a large scale. The whole world has, in fact, become a global village.
From the point of view of dawah, easy access to facilities for travel has facilitated its performance. It is not just the passengers who have become mobile, it is the madu who are on the move everywhere. Prior to the age of modern communications, there was an unbridgeable distance between the dayee and the madu. Now with speedy transport systems, the madu himself is coming to the dayee. And for a variety of reasons, many gaps have been bridged between the dayee and the madu. In this respect, we can aptly call the modern age the age of the madu.
While this state of affairs prevails all over the world, it is more common in tourist spots. One of these is the State of Jammu and Kashmir. It is estimated that the number of tourists in J&K is almost equivalent to its population. Therefore, this State has a special opportunity to communicate the divine message to its visitors. The easiest way is to give them copies of the Quran and other books on Islam. The tourists, that is, the madu, are approachable in every part of the State. If the spirit of dawah is alive in the Kashmiri Muslims, they will find innumerable opportunities for dawah work in their own immediate vicinity.
One of the two best things
The mission of calling people to God is a divine mission. The Quran describes such a mission as “one of the two best things.” (9:52). That is, such a mission is destined to achieve “one of the two best things”. The first “best thing” is ideological, while the “second best” is practical. In other words, the true divine mission will surely meet with one success or the other -- either success in dawah work, or success in bringing about a revolution.
In present times, in all those places which have been the hub of the culture of violence in the name of Jihad, people are duty-bound to make every effort to rectify the situation, that is, to make those who stoop to violence aware of their error, to call upon them to shun violence and adopt a peaceful course, to tell them that their actual duty is to convey to people the message of truth and not to engage in confrontation with them; to impress upon them the fact that their duty, being believers, is to treat non-Muslims as madu and not as enemies; and wherever they live, to work towards promulgating the culture of peace, and not that of hatred and rivalry. Such a campaign is necessary not only in Kashmir but also in other Muslim areas.
We can start this kind of campaign with conviction, for such a campaign is destined for success. For those who engage in such a mission are destined to achieve one of two objectives; either they succeed in making people accept their message, so that they are willing to make practical changes in their lives, or they manage to convey their message to people and receive a great reward from God for this work. This is what has been called in the Quran one of the two best things, that is, either success in dawah work in the ideological sense or success in bringing about a revolution in the lives of the people in the practical sense.
Madu, not ‘others’ -- not ‘they’
People generally divide human beings into ‘we and they’, but this is not the way of Islam. The way of Islam is to look at non-Muslim human beings as madu. When we divide people into ‘we and they’, “we” become objects of love, while “they” become objects of hatred. This is the real problem of present- day Muslims. They have forgotten the reality that ideologically they are dayees and all other human beings are their madu. No one is “they”; all human beings must become “we”, i.e. their own. Muslims regard other nations as their rivals, whereas if they regarded other nations as madu, they would feel that all human beings are their own. Once the Prophet, seeing the funeral of a Jew, observed: “Jews are also human beings like us.” (Sahih al- Bukhari, Hadith No.1312).
If Muslims adopted this Sunnah of the Prophet, they would look upon all as their own. The Kashmiris would find the Hindus to be their own, the Arabs would find the Israelis to be their own, the Muslims residing in Western countries would find the Christians to be their own.
Regarding others as their own means becoming their well- wishers. A businessman sees everyone as his customer. Due to such thinking, friendly behavior comes naturally to every businessman. Similarly, if Muslims regarded themselves as dayees and others as madu, a feeling of well-wishing would be engendered in them. A friendly culture would be fostered among them for all human beings, as a result of which their worldly interaction would also be set right and, in the Hereafter, they would be held deserving of God’s blessings.
The Power of Ideology
In 1917 a socialist revolution was brought about in Russia. Prior to this, Russia had been ruled by monarchs called Czars. The communist party at that time waged an ideological war against the ruling Czar, which spread rapidly all over the country. Britain regarded this as a dangerous trend. Therefore, a British delegation, headed by colonel FM Bailey, was sent to Russia. This delegation, in the guise of a group of merchants, reviewed the situation in Russia, and on its return presented a report to the British government, one of the sentences of which was as follows:
“Communist ideas are far more dangerous than the entire army of the Czar.”
There are a number of events of this kind in history which show that the power of ideology is far greater than military power. The history of Islam is a clear example of this reality. In ancient history the success of Islam has always been attributable to its ideology rather than to the sword or military power.
For instance, in the thirteenth century, the onslaught by the Tartars vanquished the Abbasid empire. This onslaught was so severe that the military power of the Muslims proved totally ineffective against it. From that moment onwards the ideological power of Islam grew in strength, and within half a century the majority of the Tartars had accepted Islam; the erstwhile enemies of Islam then became the friends of Islam.
This ideological power of Islam has been described thus by an orientalist: “The religion of the Muslims has conquered where their arms had failed.”
