The Political Interpretation of Islam

by what he regards as public welfare. He focuses in his discourses on those particular aspects that he thinks demand particular attention. Conversely, he either ignores or else only lightly touches upon those matters that, from the point of view of missionary imperatives, are not necessary or of particular salience at that particular moment. This way of addressing others is indeed in accordance with the shariah. Examples of this approach are to be found, in some way or the other, in the sayings of the Prophet of Islam as well as all the missionaries of Islam. Without this, it is not possible to engage in dawah work. This matter is perfectly correct to this extent. But, sometimes, religious leaders and their followers fall prey to a misconception that a leader’s utterances that stress a particular aspect are not simply a dawah imperative, but, rather, a general explanation of the deen in itself. This is where the blunder starts. For instance, a writer tells a daʿi, a missionary, that he would like to publish books on Islam, and, in that way, serve Islam. In reply, the daʿi says, “Nothing happens through books. You will sit and write, and people will lie down and read!” This reply is given in a particular context. Now, if the followers of this daʿi later come to think of it as a general principle and so abstain from using literature to serve religion, it would be tantamount to transforming a phrase that had only a temporary and