DAKWAH AS WEAPON
Oleh: Nuim Khaiyath
Khutbah at
Melbourne Uni 30-10-09
Monash Uni 13-11-09
Bros./Sisters in Islam: May Allah (swt) be pleased with us on this auspicious day and forgive us all our sins.
Muslims are notoriously inadequate in marketing the great religion of Islam.
As if this inadequacy is not enough, some of our Muslim brothers are compounding this weakness by their gung ho bravado and ill-advised, reckless plots.
The Australian media, including Melbourne, such as The Age and The Herald Sun, have emblazoned dazzling headlines on the front pages the trial of five young Muslim males, arrested for plotting to blow up a military base in the outskirts of Sydney. Their telephone conversations were tapped and presented as evidence in court.
One alleged conversation runs like this:
“By Allah, I’ve never seen Melbourne like this, the fire coming to them, no water, the water storage is empty. They are copping hard man. Thanks Allah.”
The headline of that story is “Burning With Hate.”
They were reported as gloating at the suffering of many innocent people during Black Saturday 7 February this year (2009), when the day temperature soared to 47 degrees and the wind speed reaching to 150 km an hour, in the state.
And in this state also reside many, many good Muslims.
So if some non Muslim in this country subsequently behave unsympathetically to us Muslims, we can’t blame them just like that. If some non-Muslims have a very low opinion of our religion, we also can’t blame them. As it is, many, many non-Muslims in this country and elsewhere believe that Islam is a religion of hate and hatred, and that Muslims believe that all non-Muslims must be wiped out. Worse, many non-Muslims deduce that the Islamic God, Allah (swt), is impotent, and is unable to preserve His religion.
And we feel indignant and resentful at their belief, unaware that we are also to blame.
Bros. and Sisters in Islam - May Allah (swt) be pleased with us and forgive us our sins on this auspicious day.
Recently American Muslim leaders prepared a hand-out, sort of Islam in a nut shell, to be disseminated to various non-Muslims. Apparently this hand-out was most welcomed by many- many recipients who felt that the prejudices about Islam had been based on misguided information of this religion. For your benefit, allow me to read the hand-out to you in full. It is not very long and is titled:
*THE TRUTH ABOUT ISLAM.*
Islam means “submission to the Will of God (Allah”. In its ethical sense Islam signifies “striving after the ideal”. A Muslim is one who submits to the Will of God (Allah). “Islam” and “Muslim” derive from the same word as the Arabic for “peace”. The traditional Muslim greeting is “Peace be unto you.”
Islam offers hope for salvation to the righteous and God-fearing of all religions. Muslims believe in the Divine Revelation of many prophets including Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, but do not believe that God (Allah) assumed human form. The Qur’an, Muslims believe, is God’s (Allah’s) Word and Final Revelation to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Revealed over a period of twenty-three years. The Qur’an was compiled and distributed to distant lands within twenty-five years of the Prophet’s death in 632 A.D. This is the only Qur’an recognized by Muslims.
Comprising laws, moral precepts and narratives. The Qur’an’s timeless text remains an inspiration and guide for more than one-fifth of humanity. Together with the Qur’an, the epitome of Classical Arabic, Muslims’ lives are guided by the examples and sayings of The Prophet. Thousands of sayings have been attributed to The Prophet. Some are accepted as authentic, some traced to The Prophet’s companions, some are the subject of debate. Some examples:
“The first thing created by God (Allah) was the intellect.”
“The most excellent Jihad is that for the conquest of self.”
“The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of the martyr.”
“One learned man is harder on the devil than a thousand ignorant worshippers.”
“Riches are not from an abundance of worldly goods, but from a contented mind.”
“Reflect upon God’s (Allah’s) creation but not upon His nature, or else you will perish.”
“Ho who wishes to enter Paradise at the best door must please his mother and father.”
“No man is a true believer unless he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.”
“When the bier of anyone passes by you, whether Jew, Christian or Muslim, rise to your feet.”
“The thing which is lawful, but disliked by God (Allah) is divorce.”
“Modesty and chastity are parts of the Faith.”
“Heaven lies at the feet of mothers.”
“Women are the twin-halves of men.”
“Actions will be judged according to intentions.”
“That which is lawful is clear, and that which is unlawful likewise, but there are certain doubtful things between the two from which it is well to abstain.”
“The proof of a Muslim’s sincerity is that he pays no attention to that which is not his business.”
“That person is nearest to God (Allah) who pardons him who would have injured him.”
“Yield obedience to my successor although he may be an Abyssinian slave.”
“Assist any person oppressed, whether Muslim of non-Muslim.”
“The creation is like God’s (Allah’s) family…the most beloved unto God (Allah) is the person who does good to God’s (Allah’s) family.”
Islamic law is based upon the Qur’an, examples and sayings of The Prophet, consensus among the learned, analogical deduction and individual reasoning. Islamic society comes closer than any other society to the ideal of democracy. All persons are equal before God (Allah); goodness is the only criterion of worth. There is no priesthood in Islam; even a child, with greater knowledge of the Qur’an than his elders, may lead them in prayer. To become a Muslim one needs only profess “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of God (Allah).”
Bros. and Sister in Islam:
In a nut-shell that is Islam. How beautiful. There was no mention of violence, of destruction, and rampaging, of killing.
It is incumbent upon us, it is our duty as Muslims, to propagate those indisputable points about Islam, adding, just to make it more poignant, that “There is no coercion in Islam.” (Al Baqarah (II), Verse 256). And that your religion is yours and my religion is mine.
But to be effective and believable, Muslims all over the world must propagate this concertedly and act accordingly. We must be prepared and courageous in condemning those wrong and misguided actions perpetrated in the name of Islam, if they are indeed against the teaching of our religion. He does not believe who does live according to his beliefs.
It is high time for Muslims all over the world to take up “arms” - I use the word “arms” in this context in its figurative meaning, not literal.
We know that enemies of Islam have spinned the word jihad to mean any action by Muslims, especially intended against them, rightly or wrongly. And in the media the word jihad is always given a misleading meaning, put in parenthesis - holy war.
Now in Arabic I believe the word for war is “qital” - so holy war should contain the word qital almuqaddis, perhaps, not jihad.
Jihad is striving, mainly against the self.
It is unfortunate that in writing about the history of Islam and the strivings of the Prophet Muhammad (saw), even Muslim historians have the tendency to put emphasis on the battles and wars undertaken by Rasulullah (saw).
In his booklet titled “The true meaning of Jihad”, brother Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, says, that in his entire mission of 23 years, the Prophet Muhammad (saw) only 3 times participated in battles, and the sum total of that fighting was no more than one and a half day. And it is important to stress here that all those battles were in self defence.
And wherever possible the Prophet Muhammad (saw) opted for avoiding fighting in favour of a peaceful resolution; such as digging a trench to deter the enemies from trying to cross over; or, in the case of the Hudaibiyyah pact, accepting all the conditions imposed by the Qureishi people of Makkah and abandoning his intention to worship at the Ka’ba; and in the case of the liberation of the holy city of Makkah by leading an overwhelmingly huge army of 10-thousand fighters to “shock and awe” the Jahiliah into surrender without a drop of blood being shed.
It is interesting and instructive to revisit the introduction to the Book of 100 by the American Michael Hart who says that in a conversation, the 17th century French thinker Voltaire says that we should admire he who conquers others with ideas, not sword. That is why, according to Michael Hart, he places the Islamic Prophet Muhammad (saw) on the first rank, number one, as the most successful leader in the history of humankind.
Because the Prophet Muhammad (saw) conquered humankind (at least now a fifth of humanity) with the idea of Islam. Not with the sword or bow and arrow, but mainly and principally with an idea.
In Surah Yunus - the Tenth Surah, verse 25, Allah (swt) says:
*Wallahu yad’uu ila daarissalaam
Wa yahdi man yasyaa’ ila shiratinn mustaqiim(in).*
In the meaning:
(But Allah does call to the Home of Peace; He does guide whom he pleases to a way that is straight.)
The Prophet Muhammad (saw) himself in his supplication, addresses Allah (swt) with the word PEACE again and again - Allahumma Antas Salaam and so forth.
And of course DAARISSALAAM is jannah, paradise, the abode of peace. So the goal of every Muslim is the Abode of Peace, not Daaril Harb - the Abode of Violence.
Again, this time in Al Furqaan - Surat no 25 verse no 52, Allah (swt), says:
*Falaa tutdi’il kaafiriin
Wa jaahidhum bihi jihaadan kabiiraa.*
In the meaning:
(Therefore listen not to the Unbelievers, but strive against them with the utmost strenousness, WITH THE QUR’AN.)
Meaning DAKWAH - fight them with dakwah, with the content of Al Qur’an.
And even in dakwah, we are enjoined to be polite to them - bil hikmati wal mauzatti hasanah. So our arms, our weapons, are dakwah.
In Annisa, Surah No 4, verse 128, Allah (swt) says:
*Wa shulhu khairuun.*
In the meaning:
(Reconciliation is better.)
Bros. and Sisters in Islam. May Allah (swt) be pleased with us on this auspicious day, and forgive us all our sins.
In conclusion, every time we talk about Islam, we go back to its very basic principle, its forte, its entire purpose, a mercy to all creatures.
*Wa maa arsalnaaka illaa Rahmataal lil ‘alamiin.*
So bros. and sisters in Islam, lets undertake dakwah wherever and whenever possible. To this end we have to delve more deeply and more frequently into the teaching of this great religion, make our linguistic ability more proficient, and with Bismillahir rahmanir rahiim - we enter into discussion with them in a most polite and courteous manner.#