The Significance of Calling People to Tread the Path of God

and every community received God-sent ‘warners’ who arrived in succession (23:44). The purpose of sending prophets was so that mankind might have no excuse before God. (4:165). It was not enough, therefore, for the prophets to obey God’s commandments in their personal lives; it was also essential for them to convey God’s message to the whole of mankind. The Prophet Yunus communicated God’s message to a hundred thousand people in Nineveh (Iraq), but he inadvertently committed the error of leaving his people before his task was fully completed. God considered this mistake so grave that he caused a fish to swallow him, and he was not released until the realization finally came to him that he must return to his people. The truth is that a prophet’s prophethood is not genuinely established until he has performed the duties of prophethood to the letter. (5:67) Similarly, a community (ummah) will be entitled to be called the people of a prophet only if they become his representatives, passing on God’s message to the world as brought by the prophet. There is no doubt that the followers of the prophet have the same responsibility as the prophet has: the only difference is that the prophet is responsible as an individual, while his followers are responsible as a group. The prophet has personally to bear the burden of such responsibility. It is not incumbent upon each individual from amongst his followers to perform the duty of calling upon people to accept the Truth. If a group sets itself calling people to the path of God then the rest of the people may be exempted from this task. But these people will certainly be required to support the da‘i, in whatever way possible. If they, far from supporting the da‘i, create obstacles in their path, they will certainly be punished by God. The Quran asks: “Why, then, does not a party from every group come (to the Prophet) in order to acquire a deeper knowledge of religion and to warn their people …” (9:122) The responsibility of bearing witness to the truth before the world, under the guidance of the Prophet, is clearly established by the Quran: