CHAPTER SIX — Modern Possibilities

Modern Possibilities were great opportunities for Islamic success in the field of Dawah. He wrote: “Europeans are willing to accept Islam if it is offered to them in the best way. They have made a comparative study of Islam and other religions and have found a great difference between the simplicity of creed and deed (code of conduct) of the former and the reverse of the latter. The nearest to accepting Islam are the Americans, for there is no hereditary or atavistic enmity and hatred between them and Muslim communities as there is between Muslims and Europeans.” (Jamaluddin Afghani: Talif Mehmood Aburya, Cairo, 1966, p. 213) Syed Jamaluddin Afghani’s special disciple, Mufti Mohd Abduhu,’ says that when he was in Paris, in 1884 with his master, he proposed to leave politics and propagate religion away from government eyes. Thus he expected result-oriented work within ten years while a political trial of strength was wasting their best powers. The reply of Jamaluddin was: “Yon are a defeatist” (Ibid., p. 50). This shows that perhaps Syed Jamaluddin was not as keen about Dawah work as he was about Jihad. Two revolutionary occurrences of the nineteenth century are highly significant from the Islamic point of view. One was the correction of the 700-year old orientalism, which in fact amounted to the practical recognition, by the West, of the truth of Islam. The other was the birth of higher criticism, which virtually meant proving all religious books, except for the Quran, historically undependable. Thus the nineteenth century afforded a surprisingly favourable academic ground for Islamic Dawah. It was at that same period that the movement of freedom of thought began in earnest in Europe. This was to end the ancient religious persecution forever. It now became possible for the first time in history to propagate the true religion in absolutely peaceful conditions. The Islamic call could have been taken up most effectively in this new set of circumstances. But it was during this period, in the 19th century, that all our reformers launched themselves, for no apparent reason, into political battles with the