The Language of Dawah

the sovereign power of God rather than that of men.” The Quran itself provided an important basis of the Prophet’s preaching work. Whenever the Prophet met anybody, he would recite a passage of the Quran to him. Often phrases like, “He made mention of Islam, and read some of the Quran to them,” or “He presented the message of Islam before them, and recited to them a passage of the Quran,” recurred in traditions concerning the Prophet’s preaching mission. The Quran possessed extraordinary magnetism for the Arabs. Even some of the direst enemies of Islam used to steal up to the Prophet’s house at night, put their ears to the wall, and listen to him reciting the Quran, The sublime style of the Quran used to have the most profound impact on the Prophet’s people. Take the case of Waleed ibn Mughira, who once came to the Prophet on behalf of the Quraysh. When the Prophet read him a passage of the Quran, Waleed was so impressed that he went back to the Quraysh and told them that the Quran was a literary work of such unsurpassable excellence that it overshadowed everything else. Recitation of the Quran was, in those days, a common method of preaching Islam. When Mus’ab ibn Zubair was sent to Madinah as a preacher, he used to “talk to people, and recite a passage of the Quran to them.” That was why people came to know him as “AlMuqri,” the reciter of the Quran. During his time in Makkah the Prophet’s preaching was always conducted on a purely rational level based on highly logical standard set by the Quran. The Prophet’s opponents, on the other hand, could offer only abuse and opprobrium in reply. Sensible people in Makkah could not help but come to the conclusion that Muhammad’s opponents had nothing concrete to offer in support of their case. According to Ibn Jarir, it came to the point where some of the nobles of the Quraysh even planned to call a meeting to talk to the Prophet, their intention being “to excuse themselves as far as he was concerned.” That is, to assure him that they had nothing to do with the base tactics employed by the Prophet’s direst enemies.