The Call of Dawah in the Modern Age March-April

of the oneness of God and warn people of the Hereafter. The Quran specified that “it is not right that all the faithful should go to war at once. A band from each community should stay behind to instruct themselves in religion and to admonish their men when they return, so that they may take heed.” (9:122) There are, of course, a number of madrasas and educational institutes for Muslims, in different parts of the world. But not one of them is devoted to the specific purpose of training and educating people with purely dawah requirements in mind. And true dayees, whose motivating force is to serve the cause of God, can never be turned out by merely having classical literature and modern sciences imparted to them, no matter how well qualified their teachers may be, or how high the standards of their chosen institute of learning. It is a matter of the greatest urgency then that an institute of an appropriate nature should be established, whatever the cost of setting it up and running it may be in terms of today’s economy. It is only after having been satisfactorily trained in such an institute that dayees will be able to effectively disseminate the message of divine religion and bring people to an understanding of what awaits them in the Hereafter. It is imperative, however, that such trained individuals should not only be equipped with knowledge of religion, but that they should also be imbued with a sense of purpose. Knowledge unaccompanied by a sense of purpose is no better than a meaningless accumulation of information. But when knowledge comes with the inner illumination of high intention, it is raised to the plane of divine realization. It is only devotion to a noble cause which can produce the high thinking and fine character which will enable trainees to perform their duties towards the call of God. And it should not be forgotten that such sincere and dedicated people are needed in the attainment of worldly as well as religious goals.