Islamic Da‘wah in a Changing World

Islamic Da‘wah in a Changing World

1990 11 November 7-9 Islamic Da‘wah in a Changing World (1026) The world we live in is changing from day to day. The Soviet empire is crumbling. The U.S. has abandoned its role as universal master. The Berlin wall has been demolished by the very people who built it. The Cold War has come to an end. The super powers have put their guns down, admitting that warfare is no solution to human problems.

Western thinkers have coined a new term – ‘endism’, which means that all ‘isms’, all ideologies, all systems, have exhausted their credibility as modern man’s ideal.

Muslims generally see these changes as going against them, as a danger, in fact, to Islam. This kind of thinking, as I see it, is quite wrong and is no doubt against the teachings of Islam. The Qur’an says: “with every difficulty there is relief” (94:6). The means that difficulty and relief inevitably co-exist. They have been ordained inseparable.

Granted that modern changes have brought problems in their wake for Muslims, but these changes have also created new opportunities. And fortunately the opportunities far exceed the problem.

When we look at that matter from this angle we find many positive and hopeful aspects in the situation, for although the modern world is witnessing great changes. Those changes are going mostly in favour of Islam. This is the most important aspect of our new world.

There are many examples which clearly indicate that the present changes greatly favour Islam. Here, we shall give just two examples, the one, theoretical, and the other practical, which should suffice to make the point.

At the beginning of the present century, a British scientist once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and the sun, in turn, orbits around the centre of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise. The scientist gave a superior smile before countering with “What is the tortoise standing on?” “You’re very clever, young man: very clever,’ said the old lady, “but it’s turtles all the way down.”

This picture of our world as an infinite tower of tortoises was seen by the scientists as ridiculous. But the alternative presented by them was also a kind of infinite tower with the difference that the tortoises were replaced by causes. The scientists’ assumption was that there was always a cause behind every event, and so on. Thus the chain of causes is infinite in length.

Then came the theory of the big bang. With this, the theory of an “infinite tower of causes” lost its validity, as this theory suggested that a sudden explosion had marked the beginning of the universe rather than an infinitely continuing process of causes and effects,

Stephen W. Hawking, a well-known scientist of modern times, has calculated the rate of the expansion of the universe after the big bang. Providing details of this calculation, he writes:

“The initial rate of expansion would have had to be chosen very precisely for the rate of expansion still to be so close to the critical rate needed to avoid recollapse. This means that the initial state of the universe must have been very carefully chosen indeed if the hot big bang model was correct right back to the beginning of time. It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us” (p.134).

This means that the scientific study of the universe has strengthened religious belief rather than weaken it. Such discoveries have opened up opportunities for performing Islamic da’wah with far greater effectiveness.

Now take the practical aspect of the changes. Here also we find clear indications that the present changes are only paving the way for Islamic da’wah on an unprecedented scale.

Let us see for instance, what is happening in the socialist world. In one of his writings, Karl Marx had said that religion was the opium of the masses. But today, the socialist Russians are themselves saying that Marxism itself was the worst kind of opium of the mind created by Karl Marx.

Just a few years ago, it was well-nigh unthinkable to carry a copy of the Qur’an inside the Soviet Union. But, today, Aeroflot has been engaged to airlift one million copies of the Qur’an from Jeddah to Moscow.

In its March 1990 issue, Time magazine gave detailed report on the religious position in the Soviet Union. It said: “Some 55 million Soviet Muslims enjoy the fruits of new religious tolerance.” The strange but meaningful title of this report was “Karl Marx makes room for Mohammad.”

I do not feel the need to go into further details. I should only like to say that the present changes taking place in the world today have opened up for us great new scope for Islamic da’wah. But we must remain very alert in order not to miss these opportunities.

The foregoing arguments suffice to show that the changes taking place in the present world have opened up new vistas to Islamic da’wah. These changes have made it possible for Islam to be presented more forcefully and effectively to the world. The most important task ahead of us is to have a thorough understanding of these changes and then to avail of them in an organized and disciplined way.

I would propose for this purpose the formation of a committee of scholars who would be entrusted with going into the matter in depth, and then carving out a well-planned scheme. All possible resources should be utilized towards this end.

This is undoubtedly a historic task. History awaits the advance of certain dedicated individuals towards this goal so that it can give them resounding credit for having spread the message of Islam to mankind in this modern age. Those who can prove themselves worthy of such historic credit will be the most fortunate of men.