Al-Risala (English), March-April 2000

Tolerance means, in essence, to give consideration to others. In social life, friction between people does occur in every society, differences arising from religion, culture, tradition and personal tastes persist. In such a situation the superior course of action is to adopt the ways of concession and largeheartedness without any compromise of principle. That is to say that the pious man should be a man of principle as far as he himself is concerned, but should be tolerant towards others. He should judge himself in the light of the ideal but in the matter of his fellow men he should show tolerance and broad-mindedness. This being inseparable from human gentility and nobility, Islam aims to produce this fine human quality of gentlemanliness by preaching tolerance. □ The Call of Dawah in the Modern Age G od has assigned a whole series of duties to Muslims, ranging from turning themselves into true worshippers of their Creator to working towards the reformation of backsliders. All of these responsibilities are entirely binding upon them. But their primary religious obligation is to convey the message of God’s true religion to all non-Muslim nations. This should not be seen in the context of a purely national struggle, but as a global obligation handed down by the Prophet to Muslims everywhere, to be fulfilled after the termination of his prophethood. God has associated with the task of Dawah work all kinds of goods in this world and in the Hereafter for the Muslim Ummah. According to the Quran, the way to protect themselves from