Witness to Truth

The Essence of Religion Prophet had particularly addressed himself through speeches, and by interacting, with both individuals and groups. Beyond conveying the message to them, nothing further was attempted. That is why all the expressions, used in the Quran for the order to convey God’s message fully, are synonymous with making them aware of God’s Creation Plan for man. (Quran 15:94, 16:44, 21:109, 7:79, 7:35, 17:106, 29:51, 34:28, 3:193, 61:7, 5:67, 14:5). Baihaqi relates that, according to Mughira ibn Shuba, one day when the Prophet was explaining Islam to Abu Jahl, the latter said: “Muhammad, won’t you stop criticizing our idols? What you want is that we testify to the fact that you have conveyed the message, so we do bear witness that you have conveyed it!” The Prophet repeatedly asked his companions to bear witness to the fact that he had fully conveyed God’s message to them. Imam Ahmad relates that, according to Tha‘alaba bin Ibad AlAbdari, once when the Prophet stood up to give a speech, after praising God, he said: “O, people, I ask you on God’s oath to point out to me if I have fallen short, to any degree, in conveying God’s message to you.’ People stood up and said, ‘We testify that you have delivered God’s message to us. You have done full justice to the task as a well-wisher of your Ummah, and you have fulfilled your responsibility.” The da‘i starts his Dawah work in this very spirit, keeping in view all the requirements of wisdom and well-wishing. He wants to convey his message to the people to the maximum possible extent. The events that unfold subsequently do not depend on the Dawah work but depend rather on the response of the madu for whom this task of bearing witness has been performed. This is why we cannot determine what sets of circumstances will prevail after the Dawah work has been done. Neither can we hold any particular example to be the absolute model for bearing witness. The da‘i may breathe his last, having invited people to accept the Truth all his life, without achieving any positive result. There may also be a confrontation between the da‘i and mad‘u (congregation), and the latter may, individually, or with the aid