Page 119 - The Vision of Islam

The Vision of Isla m

and every community received God-sent ‘warners’ who arrived in
succession (23:44). The purpose of sending prophets was so that
mankind might have no excuse before God. (4:165). It was not
enough, therefore, for the prophets to obey God’s commandments
in their personal lives; it was also essential for them to convey
God’s message to the whole of mankind. The Prophet Yunus
communicated God’s message to a hundred thousand people in
Nineveh (Iraq), but he inadvertently committed the error of leaving
his people before his task was fully completed. God considered
this mistake so grave that he caused a fish to swallow him, and he
was not released until the realization finally came to him that he
must return to his people.
The truth is that a prophet’s prophethood is not genuinely
established until he has performed the duties of prophethood to
the letter. (5:67) Similarly, a community (ummah) will be entitled
to be called the people of a prophet only if they become his
representatives, passing on God’s message to the world as brought
by the prophet. There is no doubt that the followers of the
prophet have the same responsibility as the prophet has: the only
difference is that the prophet is responsible as an individual, while
his followers are responsible as a group. The prophet has personally
to bear the burden of such responsibility.
It is not incumbent upon each individual from amongst his
followers to perform the duty of calling upon people to accept the
Truth. If a group sets itself calling people to the path of God then
the rest of the people may be exempted from this task. But these
people will certainly be required to support the da‘i, in whatever
way possible. If they, far from supporting the da‘i, create obstacles
in their path, they will certainly be punished by God.
The Quran asks: “Why, then, does not a party from every group
come (to the Prophet) in order to acquire a deeper knowledge of
religion and to warn their people …” (9:122)
The responsibility of bearing witness to the truth before the
world, under the guidance of the Prophet, is clearly established by
the Quran:
118