Success in the Sahara
Al-Risala (English), August 1988, p. 7
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.
Success in the Sahara
1988 8 August 7-8 Success in the Sahara (691) In every failure lies hidden the scope for new success. This is an eternal principle of Islam, of which many practical examples are to be found in its history. One such instance relates to those Muslims for whom the door of Spain was closed in the 15th century. It was these same Muslims through whom the door of Islamic Dawah was opened in Africa to Berber tribes.’
Professor T.W. Arnold writes in this connection that “the Berbers, shut up in their mountain fastnesses and jealous of their independence, successfully resisted the introduction of the Arab element into their midst, and thus the difficulties in the way of their conversion were very considerable. Some unsuccessful attempts to start a mission among them had been made by the inmates of a monastery belonging to the Qadiriyyah order, Saqiya al-Hamra, but the honour of winning an entrance among them for the Muslim faith was reserved for a number of Andalusian Moors who were driven out of Spain after the taking of Granada in 1492. They had taken refuge in this monastery and were recognised by the shaykh to be eminently fitted for the arduous task that had previously so completely baffled the efforts of his disciples. Before dismissing them on this pious errand, he thus addressed them:
“It is a duty incumbent upon us to bear the torch of Islam into those regions that have lost their inheritance in the blessings of religion; for these unhappy Kabils are wholly unprovided with schools, and have no shaykh to teach their children the laws of morality and the virtues of Islam; so they live like the brute beasts, without God or religion. To do away with this unhappy state of things, I have determined to appeal to your religious zeal and enlightenment. Let not these mountaineers wallow any longer in their pitiable ignorance of the grand truths of our religion; go and breathe upon the dying fire of their faith and re-illumine its smouldering embers; purge them of whatever errors may still cling to them from their former belief in Christianity: make them understand that in the religion of our lord Muhammad – may God have compassion upon him – dirt is not, as in the Christian religion, looked upon as acceptable in the eyes of God. I will not disguise from you the fact that your task is beset with difficulties, but your irresistible zeal and the ardour of your faith will enable you, by the grace of God, to overcome all obstacles. Go, my children, and bring back again to God and His Prophet these unhappy people who are wallowing in the mire of ignorance and unbelief. Go, my children, bearing the message of salvation, and may God be with you and uphold you.”
The missionaries started off in parties of five or six at a time in various directions; they went in rags, staff in hand, and choosing out the wildest and least frequented parts of the mountains, established hermitages in caves and clefts of the rocks. Their austerities and prolonged devotions soon excited the curiosity of the Kabils, who after a short time began to enter into friendly relations with them. Little by little the missionaries gained the influence they desired through their knowledge of medicine, of the mechanical arts, and other advantages of civilisation, and each hermitage became a centre of Muslim teaching. Students, attracted by the learning of the new-comers, gathered round them and in time became missionaries of Islam to their fellow-countrymen, until their faith spread throughout all the country of the Kabils and the villages of the Algerian Sahara. (The Preaching of Islam, pp. 128-130)
The above extract shows that there are two distinctly different types of events associated with the mediaeval history of Spain. One is the tyrannical expulsion of Muslims from Spain by the Christians. The other is the great feats performed by those expelled Muslims in calling people to Islam. Present day Muslims, are highly knowledgeable about the former aspect of Spanish history. But few are aware of the latter aspect. How strange are those who can see the dark too well but fail to see light.
