Content of the Call

or as a better system of communal living; others think that Islam should be presented as the upholder of universal truths, common to all religions; yet others have attempted to give it a philosophical form, that is to say, man’s moral awareness should serve as a basis for proving the necessity for divine law, etc. But all these approaches have a common deficiency; none of them exempt us from the obligatory duty of testifying to the truth, for the most important aspect of bearing witness is to warn people of the Day of Judgement. The reason for the question arising as regards the method of dawah work, is that we seek its answer from history, rather than from the life of the Prophet. Psychologically, we are the inheritors of post-Islamic history, in which the regular call to accept Islam used was ‘Accept Islam! O People.’ That is why the moment we think of the call of Islam, this form of address comes to our mind. But, in the Prophet’s dawah life, we find a clear gradation in his approach to dawah. The direct call to accept Islam was first used during his stay in Madinah. Prior to this, in Makkah, the wording of the call was as follows: “O people, say, ‘There is no god but God,’ and you will succeed,” “I have come to warn you of the coming day of horror,” etc. All his addresses made in Makkah were cast in this mould. His later style of address, “Become a Muslim, and be saved,” was adopted only in Madinah. In the early Makkan days, when he made his appeal to Abu Bakr, he said: “I am God’s Prophet, I invite you to come to Him.” But then after the Fall of Makkah, he made the same appeal to Abu Bakr’s father, Abu Quhafa, in these words: “O Abu Quhafa, become a Muslim, and be saved.” That is to say, the invitation to join an organized religion started in Madinah after the general introduction to Truth had been accomplished in Makkah and Islam had been placed on a sound footing. Prior to this, the essence of religion, rather than an organized form of religion, had been the basis of the Prophet’s call. If this basic point about the form of address is kept in view, all doubts come to an end. Without fear of any psychological complication on the part of the madu, the creation plan of God,