The Call of Dawah in the Modern Age March-April

Working towards the normalization of relations Islamic dawah at the present time, i.e. communicating the message of God, is so great a task when contemplated on a global scale that enormous resources and highly favourable conditions are required if it is to be a success. Such resources are available and such conditions do exist in Muslim countries, but can be of avail only when national regimes do not set themselves up in opposition to the call of Islam. Even where the situation is entirely favourable, dawah can be successful only if the dayees have no political axe to grind under the guise of missionary activity. In 1891, the Japanese emperor Megi (1868-1912) sent a message addressed to Sultan Abdul Hamid II of Turkey, requesting him to send Muslim preachers to Japan in order to introduce the Japanese to Islam. Sultan Abdul Hameed chose Syed Jamaluddin Afghani for this important assignment and assured him of full official support in this venture. This same Syed Jamaluddin Afghani, who commanded such great respect and was assured of all official support by the king, was later on imprisoned by the same king. He even died in prison. The reason being that Syed Jamaluddin Afghani was involved in a political conspiracy aimed at dethroning the Sultan, whom he considered an agent of Western imperialism. A man, who could have started a new chapter in Islamic history by introducing Islam to Japan, ended up by merely adding his name to the prison records. This is true of all Muslim rulers. If you engage yourself in Islamic dawah, they are ever ready to extend their full support to you, but if you wage political campaigns directed against them, they refuse to co-operate.