The task still to be Performed

The task still to be Performed

1985 3 March 17-18 The task still to be Performed (443) According to a report from Ottawa, Canada, in the October 25, 1984 issue of The Muslim daily (Islamabad), the Islamic Society of North America has purchased, at a price of over 1/2 million dollars, a building near Toronto that will become Canada’s first Islamic school.

The school is expected to start functioning by the end of 1984. It is situated in Mississauga, west of Toronto, a town which has a population of some 30,000 Muslims. According to Mohammad Ashraf, director of the ISNA zonal office near Toronto: “The idea is to start schools where Muslim children can study in an Islamic atmosphere.”

Institutions of this nature are being established in various parts of the western world where there is a substantial Muslim population. They are a sign of the Muslims’ awareness of the need to protect the younger generation of Muslims from encroachment of an unIslamic, worldly and sometimes godless culture.

Important though the function of such institutions undoubtedly is, it is one that falls in the category of preservation of religion, which is a task that Almighty God has promised that He Himself will perform (Qur’an, 15:9). There is another task, however, which God has entrusted to the Muslim community, and that is communication of the message of Islam to other nations of the world (Qur’an, 4:135). Institutions aimed at discharging this responsibility are sadly lacking in countries where they are most needed.

The prophethood of Mohammad, may peace be upon him, is both final (Qur’an, 33:40) and universal (Qur’an, 21:107). His religion is not the monopoly of a few nations, to be preserved within them regardless of whether it reaches others or not. If there is a need to preserve an Islamic atmosphere among born Muslims, there is an even greater need to diffuse an Islamic atmosphere among those who have not yet breathed the life giving air of the word of God, whose souls have been starved of the spiritual nourishment that the Quran provides. Institutions geared to prepare individuals for the performance of this task are urgently needed in both Muslim and non-Muslim areas of the world. Not only will they enable Muslims to discharge the responsibility entrusted to them by God: they will also guarantee the safety of Muslims from all the dangers involved in living in an alien culture; for divine protection, in both spiritual and material spheres of life will only be granted to the Muslims if they communicate the faith as God has commanded them:

“Apostle, proclaim what is revealed to you from your Lord; if you do not, you will not have conveyed His message. God will protect you from all men.” (Quran, 5:67)