Al-Risala (English), April 1988
Al-Risala (English), April 1988, p. 2
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.
“God Will Protect You From All Men”
1988 4 April 2-3 “God Will Protect You From All Men”(542) Apostle, proclaim what has been revealed to you by your Lord. If you do not, you will surely fail to convey His message. God will protect you from all men. (Quran, 5:67)
“In the hours of its political degradation, Islam has achieved some of its most brilliant spiritual conquests: on two great historical occasions, infidel barbarians have set their feet on the necks of the followers of the Prophet–the Saljuq Turks in the eleventh and the Mongols in the thirteenth century and, in each case, the conquerors have accepted the religion of the conquered.” (T.W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, p.2)
How does one explain the paradox of the conquerors having “accepted the religion of the conquered” particularly when the arrival the Mongol hordes of Genghis Khan and Hulagu were so cataclysmic in their effect? A contemporary historian, Ibn Athir observed: “If one were to say that such a calamity had not occurred since the creation of Adam until the present day, it would not be an exaggeration.” Philip Hitti in his History of the Arabs tells the same incredible tale:
“Hard pressed between the mounted archers of the wild Mongols in the East and the mailed knights of the Crusaders on the west, Islam in the early part of the 13th century seemed forever lost. How different was the situation in the last part of the same century. The last crusader had by that time been driven into the sea. The seventh of the Khans, many of whom had been flirting with Christianity, had finally recognized Islam as the state religion – a dazzling victory for the faith of Mohammad. Just as in the case of the Seljuks, the religion of the Muslims had conquered where their arms had failed. Less than half a century after Hulagu’s merciless attempt at the destruction of Islamic culture, his great-grandson Ghazan, as a devout Muslim, was consecrating much time and energy to the revivification of that same culture” (p.488).
The Muslims had indeed been helpless before the savage might of these merciless warriors, and it was clearly the power of the spiritual message they carried that finally saved Islam from extinction. History had proved over and over again the compelling truth of the verses of the Quran revealed when the Prophet of Islam was in Medina:
“Apostle, proclaim what has been revealed to you by your Lord. If you do not, you will surely fail to convey His message. God will protect you from all men (5:67).
When the early Muslims had to communicate the divine message, the future for them lay behind an impenetrable veil. When they sacrificed their property and even their lives, they had no means of knowing whether their sacrifices were all in vain, or whether they would bear fruit in the near or remote future. All they had to carry them through was their unshakeable faith in God and His Prophet. In comparison to what they underwent, the task before us is an easy one. We have only to conduct ourselves according to a principle whose worth has already been established by history. Where our predecessors succeeded in the face of great difficulties, cannot we too take up the burden of divine mission, with the same courage and zeal?
