Page 123 - The Vision of Islam

The Vision of Isla m

or as a better system of communal living; others think that Islam
should be presented as the upholder of universal truths, common
to all religions; yet others have attempted to give it a philosophical
form, that is to say, man’s moral awareness should serve as a
basis for proving the necessity for divine law, etc. But all these
approaches have a common deficiency; none of them exempt us
from the obligatory duty of testifying to the truth, for the most
important aspect of bearing witness is to warn people of the Day
of Judgement.
The reason for the question arising as regards the method of
dawah work, is that we seek its answer from history, rather than
from the life of the Prophet. Psychologically, we are the inheritors
of post-Islamic history, in which the regular call to accept Islam
used was ‘Accept Islam! O People.’ That is why the moment we
think of the call of Islam, this form of address comes to our mind.
But, in the Prophet’s dawah life, we find a clear gradation in his
approach to dawah. The direct call to accept Islam was first used
during his stay in Madinah. Prior to this, in Makkah, the wording
of the call was as follows: “O people, say, ‘There is no god but God,’
and you will succeed,” “I have come to warn you of the coming day
of horror,” etc. All his addresses made in Makkah were cast in this
mould. His later style of address, “Become a Muslim, and be saved,”
was adopted only in Madinah. In the early Makkan days, when he
made his appeal to Abu Bakr, he said: “I am God’s Prophet, I invite
you to come to Him.” But then after the Fall of Makkah, he made
the same appeal to Abu Bakr’s father, Abu Quhafa, in these words:
“O Abu Quhafa, become a Muslim, and be saved.” That is to say,
the invitation to join an organized religion started in Madinah
after the general introduction to Truth had been accomplished
in Makkah and Islam had been placed on a sound footing. Prior
to this, the essence of religion, rather than an organized form of
religion, had been the basis of the Prophet’s call.
If this basic point about the form of address is kept in view,
all doubts come to an end. Without fear of any psychological
complication on the part of the madu, the creation plan of God,
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