Preservation, Updating, Dawah

Preservation, Updating, Dawah A ddressing the Prophet Muhammad  God Almighty has declared: We have sent you forth as a mercy to all mankind. (21:107) Similarly, the Quran states: Blessed be He who has revealed AI-Furqan (the criterion), that is, the Quran, to His servant, so that he may be a warner to all mankind. (25:1) In another chapter the Quran says: “We have sent you forth to all mankind, so that you may give them good news and warn them.” (34:28) These passages in the Quran tell us that the Prophet Muhammad  was sent for all humanity and for all present and future generations. He was appointed by God Almighty to give a divine lead to all mankind, and this process has to be continued, generation after generation, till the last day of the world. During his lifetime he fulfilled this duty directly and, after his death, this task has to be continued indirectly through his Ummah. The task to be performed by later generations has been divided, basically, into three categories: (a) Process of Preservation, (b) Process of Updating, (c) Process of dawah. The goal of the first process is to keep the book brought by the Prophet intact in its original form, generation after generation. There must be no human interpolations and none of its parts should be destroyed. The first major step in the process of preservation was undertaken, after the passing away of the Prophet, during the life of the first Caliph, Abu Bakr Siddiq. At that time tens