Al-Risala (English), January 1989

Dawah Activism

1989 1 January 16-28 Dawah Activism (5718) The Arabic weekly, Al-Dawah, which is published in Riyadh, has perhaps the highest circulation of any magazine of the Muslim world. I mention it because on September 12, it carried an article of considerable interest to Muslims entitled, “Shall We Leave Our Muslim Generations Who Inhabit the Western World to be Looted and Destroyed?” One very significant piece of information that it gives is that there are now about ten million Muslims settled in the West, who originally went there to study or to seek employment. The author, Dr. Abdul Qadir Tash, refers to these Muslims as “our messengers in the West” This, I think, is the most appropriate title for them, and is certainly the role in which they should cast themselves. They are not, as is sometimes imagined, poor, illiterate emigrants, but highly educated people from the best sections of the Muslim Ummah. As such, they are in a position to add a new chapter to Islam. But this will come about only when they realize their place in history, and actively undertake the great tasks to which they have been destined by their faith.

HIJRAH (EMIGRATION): A MATTER OF STRATEGY

Now, in connection with the whole question of emigration, let me just cite a hadith which has been handed down to posterity by Abu Hurayra, and recorded in the works of Bukhari, Muslim and Muwatta: “The Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, said that he had been asked to migrate to a settlement which would engulf all other places. People called it Yasrib, but it was Medina”

This Hadith highlights the importance of a principle of Islamic procedure known as Hijrah, which, in essence, means a change of position, whether in the purely physical sense of a change of location, or in the psychological sense of a change of stance. In either case, it is a deliberate strategy. An example of the former type is the Prophet’s emigration from Mecca to Medina. An example of the latter type is his entering into the no-war pact of Hudaybiyyah with the Quraysh. Hijrah, therefore, is not simply random movement from place to place, or even a softening of attitudes, but a calculated step with a definite purpose. For instance, if at any given place, the opportunities for dawah work are overwhelmingly unfavourable, it is quite in order to leave it, and go in search of some other place where the conditions are more favourable. The Quran placing the matter in the context of God’s bounty and human resourcefulness in availing of it, says, “Was not the earth of Allah spacious enough for you to find refuge therein?” Hell shall be their home: an evil fate. Unlike those are the helpless men, women, and children who have neither the strength nor the means to escape; Allah may pardon them: He is Pardoning, Forgiving (4:97-100).

The seerah of the Prophet explains his emigration to Medina and his entering into the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah in terms of the circumstances leading up to these events and the benefits resulting from the Prophet’s decision to take these steps. A stage had come in Mecca when there was so much opposition to the Prophet’s propagation of Islam, that the best course of action was to go where conditions would be more propitious, i.e. to Medina. But once there, he was harried by one offensive after another launched by the enemies of Islam, and since none of these proved conclusive, it was difficult to assess whether truth would ever prevail over falsehood. Faced with endless warfare, in which no clear victory was in sight for either side, the Prophet decided to enter into a ten-year, no-war pact with his enemies. In this way, he was able to continue his battle against polytheism, but with the difference that matters would be settled in favour of monotheism, not in the field of armed conflict, but in the field of dawah activity. This change in the field of operation did, indeed, prove very effective, for in the course of the next two years, people accepted Islam in such great numbers that it no longer became necessary to prove the superiority of monotheism over polytheism. The sheer weight of numbers was sufficient to prove who was in the wrong and who was in the right

PRESENT-DAY CIRCUMSTANCES

In today’s context, both forms of Hijrah have already taken place through God’s instrumentality. Now the need of the hour is to grasp the full implications of these far-reaching developments and to avail of such opportunities as favour the propagation of Islam.

In modern times, thanks to a change of circumstances, two of these developments are decidedly in our favour. For the first time in history, the right to religious freedom has been internationally accepted, all nations having pledged themselves in the UN forum to non-interference in matters of religion. This important common pledge is on a parallel with the signing of the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, which was, in fact, a highly strategic shift of ground. This treaty bound the militarily stronger party (the Quraish) to refraining, for a period of ten years, from interference in Muslim religious practices, such as the worship of God and the carrying out of dawah work. That is to say that the Quraish had to remain neutral in all religious matters pertaining to Muslims. This gave the Muslims a lengthy period in which to propagate Islam without any fear of their activities being disrupted.

Exactly similar circumstances have come into being in recent time in the wake of modern developments, e.g. the UN agreement according to which all nations of the world have signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, thus binding themselves to non-interference in bonafide religious practices, or the propagation of religious beliefs. In this way, we have all the same opportunities for dawah as the Prophet and his companions had in the 6th century after the signing of the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah at the opportune moment. I would even say that our advantages are the greater for having these opportunities open to us on a much vaster scale. If Muslims would only bestir themselves to avail of them, with a keen awareness of their true role, they could once again gain that ‘clear victory’ (AI-Fath-1) which they had in Mecca in those early days.

The other form Hijrah, that is, a physical movement from one place to another, has also taken place in modern times, but again, on a much more colossal scale. As the AI-Dawah journal points out, no less than 10 million Muslims have emigrated to the western world. Whatever their various reasons for doing so their decision to move from their country of origin to the western world has made of the latter a kind of Dar-al-Hijrah (place of migration) for Muslims of the educated classes. In the words of the hadith, Muslims have again found a “Yathrib” which they can turn into a “Medina”. That is, they can once again convert a hotbed of atheism into a stronghold of Islam.

This facet of their individual and combined potential is very important, for the western countries, especially America offer a wide field for dawah activity. This whole area is just like the town which the Prophet said he had been commanded to turn into “a centre of dawah which would engulf all other towns.” There, exactly the same conditions have come into being as prevailed in Yathrib in early times. That is to say that among the people here (in America, as well as other western countries) there has arisen, for a variety of reasons, a new yearning for true religion. This burgeoning quest for truth, coupled with the most sophisticated modern technology for the dissemination of ideas, provides us with unparalleled opportunities for the widespread propagation of the divine message. It is of paramount importance that such opportunities be recognized and exploited to the full, for the acceptance of Islam by America – given the latter’s already established Position of universal leadership – could cause a host of other countries to follow it into the Islamic fold. This would be on an exact parallel with the situation in ancient Arabia after the fall of Mecca. At this juncture, the dominant tribe, the Quraish, accepted God’s message, and words of the hadith, that America had “engulfed” all other countries.

THE EMERGENCE OF THE PROPHET

Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, may peace be upon him, was born in Mecca in 570, and died in Medina in 632. He received the first revelation in 610, whereupon he presented himself before the world as the messenger of God.

The Prophet Muhammad’s message is intended for all mankind, from now until Doomsday. The eternal and universal prophethood of the Final Prophet is explained thus in the Quran:

“We have sent you forth to all mankind, so that you may give them good news and warn them, (34:28). There is a saying of the Prophet which is even more specific: “I have been sent to all blacks and whites” (Tafsir ibn Kathir, Vol. 3, p. 539). It is equally noteworthy that the Prophet’s message was meant for women as well as men. Laying emphasis on the equality of the sexes, the Quran says, “You are members of one another” (3:195).

DAWAH ACTIVISM

It is written in the Quran that “there is a good example in God’s Prophet for those who look to God and the Last Day and remember God always” (33:21). The life of the Prophet is, indeed, an example for us to follow in the most universal sense. On this occasion, however, I wish to lay stress on his role as da’i, the dawah aspect of his life being the most important – the key, in fact, to his whole personality. The Quran makes his mission quite clear:

“O Prophet, We have sent you forth as a witness, a bearer of good news, and a warner, one who shall call (men and women) to God by His leave, and guide them like a shining light,” (33:45-46).

The real importance of the Prophet’s status lay in his being a messenger of God. This was the principal aim he kept in view in all of his activities, and, if he found it expedient to migrate, it was in order to hasten the processes of his dawah activity. It was this same sense of expediency which caused him to negotiate the Peace Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, and which later made it possible for him to bring Arabia, and then a large part of the rest of the world, within the Islamic fold. What Sir Arthur Keith has said about Egypt is true also of other countries: “The Egyptians were conquered, not by the sword but by the Quran.”

The Prophet was commanded to begin his prophetic mission by appealing to people’s awareness and intellect On this point, the Quran says, “You (i.e. Muhammad) that are wrapped up in your vestment, arise and give warning” (74:1-2). Again, on the subject of such an appeal, it is on record that once, when all the enemies of Islam had gathered at the house of the Prophet’s uncle, Abu Talib, in order to enquire what Muhammad wanted from them, the Prophet replied, “I only want a word from you. Give me this word and you will be the owners of both the Arab and the non-Arab world.” This clearly indicates that the approach adopted by the Prophet of Islam was that of dawah activism.

In the long history of the action taken by reformers, various methods of activism have come to light, some violent and some non-violent; this is true equally of the present day as of the past. The Prophet’s method, however, was always that of dawah activism, that is, making use of influence rather than force, swaying the heart rather than vanquishing the body, taking the guise not of rival and adversary, but of well-wisher and sympathizer, loving his rivals instead of hating them, loving to the extent that prayers simply poured out of his heart for the people.

A GOD-CENTRED LIFE

The message of the Prophet of Islam” to sum it up, is that of God-centred living. Man is of such a nature as to crave a focal point around which his life should revolve. No one is free of this compulsion. But, usually, people centre their attention on such worthless objective as material gain, political power, self-glorification, sexual enjoyment, etc. The Prophet, however held that the achievement of such goals is not the real answer to the satisfaction of man’s needs and urges; such things afford only temporary solace; they cannot give one a wholesome sense of fulfillment throughout the entire course of one’s life.

Man is limited in a variety of ways. That is why he makes worldly and not spiritual ambitions the permanent centre of his life. It is because of his limitations that he continues to pin false hopes on one or more of these ephemeral goals. Sooner or later he begins, in consequence, to suffer from a feeling of severe frustration. His initial successes prove hollow and his life ends in futility.

The Prophet of Islam held that, for man, the only real and permanent centre of his existence was the Supreme Being – Almighty God. The Quran says: “Those who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of God, for without doubt, in the remembrance of God do hearts find satisfaction” (13:28). At another point, the Quran puts these words in the mouth of the Prophet: “Therefore flee upto God, I am a manifest warner to you from him” (51:50).

Those who adopt God-centred living are beckoned by the Quran to a heavenly abode and given glad tidings: “O soul at peace, return to your Lord, joyful and well pleased. Join my servants and enter my Paradise” (89:27-30).

God, being man’s Creator and Sustainer, is the only valid object of man’s attention; as such he deserves to have man’s life built up around Him.

MAN CUT DOWN TO SIZE

According to the Prophet of Islam, man has been given his freedom in order that he may be put to the test. Man will pass this test only if, of his own free will, he can make himself subservient to his Maker. To illustrate this truth, Sahih Muslim has recorded a hadith passed on to him by Abu Masood AI Badari. It seems that one day Abu Masood was beating his slave when the Prophet happened to pass by. The Prophet said to him, “You should realize, Abu Masood, that God has more power over you than you have over this slave.” Abu Masood trembled so much on hearing the Prophet’s words that the whip fell from his hand.

It is clear from this incident that before the Prophet addressed these words to him, Abu Masood had thought of himself as the owner of the slave and, therefore, as his superior. But, on hearing what the Prophet had to say, he realized that this conception of his relationship with his slave was quite artificial, because all men are equal in the eyes of God. And there can be no one greater than God. What the Prophet did, in effect, was to remind him of this reality. This served as a warning to him. All of a sudden, a veil was removed from his eyes: his greatness was reduced to nothing, and he found himself on the same level of existence as his slave.

This incident shows us the kind of man the Prophet wanted to shape, i.e. a man cut down to size, a man completely free of all artificial feelings of disparity and superiority. There are various ways of describing a believer but the most precise definition must always include the idea of being shorn of all illusions of grandeur. It is only a man who bas been cut down to size who can see life with perfect objectivity. It is only such a man who can acknowledge the truth, without jealousy or arrogance proving an obstacle. Free of such complexes, he will go through life doing as he ought and refraining from wrongdoing.

PRESERVING THE MUSLIM IDENTITY

An acute problem facing the Muslims living in America and other western countries is that of preserving their Islamic identity. From one generation to the next, the influence of the atheistic civilization of the west becomes increasingly potent. The present generation are at a complete loss as to how to save themselves form this cultural onslaught. But the solution to this problem lies neither in complaining against it, nor in returning to their countries of origin and leaving the western world behind them.

They must stay where they are counter the erosion of their identity with dawah. That is sole valid solution to this problem. The unwilling da’i will soon find himself relegated to the position of the mad’u (member of a congregation, a simple recipient of the ideas and culture of others) and that is surely too high a price to pay for the purely material advantages of the west.

If Muslims living in the west can be made aware of how damaging their negligence has been, and can be persuaded once again to make their lives dawah-oriented, they should be able not only to play a great role in the history of Islam, but also to reconstruct the glory of their lost identity.

THE PRINCIPLE OF A VOIDANCE

Another very important dawah principle in Islam is that of avoidance. The Quran commands us to “keep to forgiveness, and enjoin justice, and avoid the ignorant” (7:199).

In the books of Sahih Bukhari and other books of Hadith, an event has been recorded which illustrates this principle. It seems that while the Prophet was sitting with his companions in the mosque at Medina, an illiterate, uncouth villager entered the mosque and began to urinate. Enraged at such sacrilegious behaviour inside the mosque, the Prophet’s companions wanted to punish the man. But the Prophet stopped them from doing so, saying, “Leave him alone. Wash the place with water. You have been sent to make things easy for people, not to make them more difficult” This was surely a supreme example of restraint.

Avoidance, or the exercise of restraint, would appear to be just another name for doing nothing, taking no action. But the fact is, avoidance in itself is a great and positive act. By exercising self-control, one makes the other man come face to face with his own conscience. The result of the Prophet refusing to take action against the ignorant villager was that the latter felt ashamed of his mistake, and told such stories of his own shortcomings and Muhammad’s magnanimity when he went back to his village that his whole tribe finally converted to Islam.

Becoming a da’i means becoming a man with a sense of purpose. For a purposeful man, the principle of avoidance is an absolute necessity. This means that in advancing towards our objective, we must avoid all irrelevancies. This is a great piece of wisdom without which worthy objectives can never be attained, and without which no man can ever become a true da’i of God.

GRADUALNESS

Reform, when carried out in the truly prophetic manner, is achieved gradually, in easy stages, whether it is aimed at individuals or at groups. In this way, there is no risk – at any point of its becoming unpalatable to uninformed or recalcitrant minds. If the way is to be paved towards successful reform, there are two principles which are worth bearing in mind. One is that before even attempting to root out evil practices, efforts should first be made to influence the minds of the wrongdoers. This prophetic method is well illustrated by one particular tradition of the Prophet which was narrated by his wife, Aisha, and subsequently recorded by a Sahih Bukhari. By her account, the Meccan verses in the Quran, which mention heaven and hell, were the first to be revealed, and it was not until people’s hearts had softened towards Islam, that God’s commandments on what exactly was lawful and what was unlawful were conveyed to people.

The verses which gave warnings of hell and glad tidings of heaven caused people to be so predisposed in favour of Islam that when the Quran later laid down guidelines for what should and what should not be done, they had no compunction about following them. The first principle, therefore, of prophetic gradualism is to ring the changes at the mental level before trying to achieve anything on a grander scale. Only when people’s minds have been suitably influenced should commandments, such as those banning drinking, be communicated to them.

Even after an intellectual revolution, when the time is ripe for a more far-reaching type of revolution, the prophetic method does not favour a sudden and total change of the status quo. Change at this point must still be gradual.

At this second stage, as at the first, targets must be set which are relatively easy for the addressee to accept. The changes mooted should be such as he is already willing to undertake. Only at a later stage, after making all due concessions to circumstances should steps be taken to effect more radical changes. The Prophet’s life abounds in examples of this unhurried and gradual approach. One very good illustration of it was his treatment of a group of six non-Muslims who came to Medina from the city of Taif in 9 A.H. In the course of their conversation, which has been recorded in detail in books of Hadith. this group professed their willingness to accept Islam, but with two reservation: firstly, that they would not be required to pay zakat and secondly, that they would not engage in jihad. Now, zakat and jihad are inescapable obligations for Islamic devotees, yet the Prophet accepted the conditions laid down by these men from Taif, and admitted them into the fold of Islam. When others of the Islamic faith questioned his acceptance of such conditions, he set their fears at rest by saying that once they had converted to Islam, they would, in time, begin to pay zakat and engage in jihad, thus fulfilling their sacred responsibilities.

A study of the Prophet’s life shows that gradualism is a necessity, without which a revolution on the prophetic pattern can never be achieved.

TO PRAY IS TO TAKE ACTION

Prayer is a positive action. The Prophet often had recourse to prayer in situations which would have driven lesser men to negative reaction. According to lbn Ishaq, such a situation arose during the Meccan period when a recent convert, Tufail ibn Amr AI Dausi, went back to his tribe, the Daus, to call them to Islam, only to meet with attitudes of haughtiness and defiance. Tufail ibn Amr then came back to the Prophet and asked him to curse the tribesmen for their intransigence. The Prophet, on the contrary, raised his hand and started praying for them in these words: “O God, guide the Daus tribe along the right path, O God, guide the Daus tribe.” Then he said to Tufail ibn Amr, “Now go back to your tribe and call them to the faith again, and deal with them kindly.” (Sirat ibn Hisham. Vol. I, p. 409)

To offer up such a prayer and to give such advice were not the simplest of matters. To do so, the Prophet had to convert a negative attitude into a positive one. He had to turn his feelings of disgust into well-wishing and love. Where Tufail ibn Amr had looked only to the present, the Prophet looked to the future and made him see the situation from this point of view.

Du’a (the invocation of blessings) is, in one respect, a request for something from God. In another respect, it is the correct formation of one’s own psychology. It brings about, within one, an awakening of spiritual power. When Tufail ibn Amr, returned to his tribe with this new psychology, it was as if he himself had become a different human being, and was, therefore, able to be far more effective in calling his tribesmen to the true faith. The result, as might be expected, was that the whole tribe converted to Islam.

In a society whose members become one another’s well-wishers – to the point of praying for one another – a positive psychology will definitely flourish. There is no greater necessity for a healthy society than that of mutual regard and esteem.

A UNIQUE ADVANTAGE

Dr. Nishi Kant Chattopadhyaye, who was born in the second half of the 19th century, was a highly educated Hindu with a profound urge to seek the truth. In his quest for knowledge, he began to make a study of the world’s religions. But he found no satisfaction in his studies for the simple reason that none of these religions bore the stamp of historical authenticity. It was only when he took up the study of Islam that he felt he was dealing with verifiable historical facts. As he put it, in his book, Why I Have Accepted Islam (1904), “Oh what a relief to find, after all, a truly historical prophet to believe in” (p.10).

The birth and growth of Islam are established facts which have been recorded in the greatest detail in the annals of history. Its credibility, therefore, has never been in question. This is what gives Islam a special, inner power which causes it to grow, and accounts for its spread throughout the centuries even in the absence of any systematized or enforced propagation.

In modern times, however, an artificial obstacle has been placed in the way of its further expansion, namely, the agitational politics engaged in by Muslims under the banner of Islam. Wars have been waged and violence has been practised in the name of Islam with the result that Islam has come to be bracketed along with terrorism.

Modern man is weary of war and all the violence which it entails. He is desperately searching for peace. Is it possible then that he could turn to Islam when its very name evokes a picture of the horrors of war? It is hardly surprising that modern man has been turned away from true religion. If Islam is to continue to spread in the way it did in the past, its image must be so refurbished that no shred of suspicion is attached to its name. The only way in which this can be achieved is for Muslims to give up all forms of agitation and violence. It should also be the duty of those Muslims who are not themselves actively involved in such negative activity to condemn and dissuade those who are. They should publicly brand all such actions as un-Islamic, so that people’s hearts may once more be opened to Islam.

DAWAH CENTRE

One of the commandments of the Quran is as follows:

‘And if anyone of the idolaters seeks asylum with you, grant it to him, so that he may hear the word of God. And then convey him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know’ (9:6).

This shows that it is God’s will that there should be Dawah Centres in Muslim localities where the unenlightened may safely stay. In practice, this means accommodating them and providing them with every facility for the study of Islam. It means making books available to them in different languages, and giving them every opportunity to meet Muslims so that they may have fruitful discussions on the subject of Islam. This is one of the most effective ways of bringing the word of God to mankind.

In modern times, Islamic Centres have been set up allover the world, and especially in western countries. There is no town worth the name which does not have such a centre. This ought to provide a solid infrastructure for dawah activity, but in most cases these centres function only as “Islamic Community Centres.” Muslims should realize that this development is too inward-looking and should make efforts to make their centres the pivot of outward-looking dawah-work. It is only a question of having true zeal for such work, and these centres can be effectively transformed.

TRAINING COURSE

As well as being centres of dawah activity, the existing centres can fulfill the important role of providing a training ground for dawah workers. As the Quran puts it, “It is not right that all the believers should go at once. But why should not a party of every section of them go forth, to become learned in religion and to warn their people when they return to them, so that they may take heed” (9: 122).

It should be quite feasible for Muslims in all localities to visit these centres in small groups at pre-arranged times and for fixed periods to receive regular training in dawah-work. Then when they return to their homes, or indeed, wherever they live, they will be able to function as true du’at.

DAWAH LITERATURE

It is said in the Quran that God has taught us through the pen (96:4). This means that in the propagation of religion, the pen – or, in other words, literature – is of fundamental importance. It has, indeed, been found in the past that books have played an important role in the work of dawah. In modern times, the effectiveness of this role has been increased many times over by the invention of the printing press. This has permitted the centres of dawah activity to remain static, while their influence reaches out far and wide.

With regard to the type of literature which is employed, the Quran specifies that it should be in the language and style of the community to which it is addressed. “And we have sent no Messenger but in the language of his own people, in order to make things clear to them.” (Quran, 14:4).

There is now in existence a considerable body of literature, either in the original or in translation, which is suitable for dawah work. What appears to be lacking is the will to put it to good use.

One very important guideline must be kept in view when using literature for dawah work, and that is to avoid texts which present Islam in a political light. Modern man is in no need of a political system. What he craves is a faith which will not only provide him with a dependable moral code, but which will bring peace to his soul. The basic literature which we should use in dawah-work should consist of translations of the Quran and the Hadith, after which we may add texts in a more contemporary style to suit the modern mind. The best literature is that which presents Islam as a spiritual matter and not as a political system.

DAWAH FUND

It has to be conceded that not all Muslims can involve themselves directly in dawah work. It is not everyone who has the capacity or the leisure to do so. However, it is quite possible for everyone to have some indirect involvement.

By indirect involvement, I mean that everyone should decide to donate a part of his income to the dawah fund. If all Muslims are agreeable to indirect participation of this kind, several benefits will ensue. One will be that everyone will have a keen sense of involvement in a noble cause. Another will be that this steady financial backing will ensure no disruption in the work. Perhaps the greatest benefit will be the strengthening of the community spirit among Muslims. It will be felt that dawah work is not in the hands of just a few individuals but is the responsibility of the entire community. Such united efforts are certain to receive the blessings which it is God’s will to shower upon them.

LIGHT FROM HEAVEN

The dawah feat performed by the Prophet of Islam has been acknowledged by all historians. Certain aspects of his achievements have been given greater or less importance according to the predispositions of different writers, but here I shall quote only the words of Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) taken from the second lecture in his book, Heroes and Hero Worship. On the subject of “The Hero as a Prophet,” he writes, “To the Arab nation it was as a birth from darkness into light; Arabia first became alive by means of it A poor shepherd people, roaming unnoticed in its deserts since the creation of the world: a Hero-Prophet was sent down to them with a word they could believe: see, the unnoticed becomes world-notable, the small has grown world-great; within one century afterwards, Arabia is at Grenada on this hand, at Delhi on that; – glancing in valour and splendour and the light of genius, Arabia shines through long ages over a great section of the world. Belief is great, life-giving. The history of a Nation becomes fruitful, soul-elevating, great, so soon as it believes. These Arabs, the man Mahomet, and that one century, – is it not as if a spark had fallen, one spark, on a world of what seemed black, unnoticeable sand; but lo! the sand proves explosive powder, blazes heaven high from Delhi to Grenada! I said, the Great Man was always as lightning out of Heaven; the rest of men waited for him like fuel, and then they too would flame” (p. 103). Carlyle sees the bringing of the light of divine guidance to the world as the action of a “hero”. But the Quran stresses, not his being a great hero, but the excellence of the personal example he set: “Assuredly there has been an excellent example for you in the messenger of God” (33:21).

Let us follow this excellent example of the Prophet of God, and raise ourselves and our community on the strength of it. Let us once again stand before the world as the conveyors of God’s message, so that the world may once again be bathed in the divine light of its Creator. May the Almighty bless us in this divine mission.

“And that is no great matter for God.” (Quran, 14:20).

This paper was presented to the Fourth International Sirah Conference held under the auspices of the Islamic Society of Orange County, California, U.S.A. (December 23-24, 1988)