Page 27 - The Vision of Islam
P. 27

The Vision of Isla m

          example, according to which we have to convey the divine message
          to mankind.” (Ibn Jarir, Vol. 4, p. 227)
             First and foremost, the aim of sending prophets into the world
          is to inform people of the message of Truth in public and in private
          (71:9). This is to enable them to learn about the scheme of creation
          of the universe and its ultimate end; so that what is unseen they
          may have foreknowledge of before the present world comes to an
          end, when the unseen will become the seen. It is our responsibility
          to make people aware of the life hereafter, and to warn them—they
          being the creations of the one God—that all of them are bound to
          appear before Him to give an account of their deeds.
             Some people believe in presenting Islam to non-Muslims as
          a better worldly system. But this assumption is based on false
          premise. For, if Islam were presented fundamentally in the form
          of a better worldly system, acceptance of Islam would appear
          to the addressee as simply a way of solving the problems of this
          world. That is to say, the aim of Islam would appear to be to offer
          the means to save people from political and financial sufferings,
          whereas what the prophets actually came to do was to make people
          aware of God’s Creation Plan for man.
             “He lets the  spirit descend at His behest  on those of His
          servants whom He chooses, that He may warn (them) of the Day
          of Meeting.” (40:15)
             The final stage of this Dawah task, from the point of view of
          the  mad‘u (congregation) is his acceptance of the invitation and
          his moulding of his life accordingly. But from the point of view
          of the da‘i, the final stage of his task is his delivering the divine
          message to the people and, his conveying the truth with complete
          clarity to his listeners so that there should be no excuse left for
          anyone to plead ignorance. Thus the standard criterion for the
          fulfilment of  Dawah work for the prophets was only this. They
          were not held responsible for anything further. All those nations
          who are mentioned in the Quran as having rejected the message
          of the prophets and as having incurred the punishment of God for
          their disobedience, were those very nations to whose subjects the
                                        26
   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32