THE TASK OF GLOBAL DAWAH

Professor Arnold wrote this about the settlements on both sides of the river Niger in West Africa. The river Niger is about 4,180 kilometres long and flows through five African countries―Guinea, Mali, Niger, Benin and Nigeria. This example illustrates the rapid spread of Islam in those times and it can be assumed that it was similar in many other countries as well. This spread of the Islamic message of God came to a standstill in the 19th century at the same time when the discovery of the printing press and modern means of communication had opened the doors to the large scale global dissemination of the dawah message. The reason was that these new possibilities in the 19th century coincided with an alleged “problem”, that is, the domination of the western nations (western colonialism) over Muslim countries. At that time, the entire Muslim population succumbed to negative reaction. They began a hostile campaign against western civilization and western colonialism. Some involved themselves indirectly in this communal campaign through their speeches and writing directed against the West, while others directly engaged in a violent and armed conflict as a self-proclaimed jihad. This state of affairs remains till today. All dawah opportunities are being wasted while Muslims are engaged in a futile communal and political battle. Now, the time has come as a final warning for Muslims all over the world to totally abandon all such offensive activities and dedicate themselves totally to the true Islamic work of dawah. o All dawah opportunities are being wasted while Muslims are engaged in a futile communal and political battle. The time has come for Muslims to totally abandon all such offensive activities and dedicate themselves totally to the true Islamic work of dawah.