The Da’wah To Islam by Sheikh Ahmad Mahmoud

The doubt that crops up in some people’s minds stems from the fact that the existing situation now is different to that of the time of the Messenger 􀁕. In the time of the Messenger 􀁕 the division of societies was primitive (tribes and clans). As for today the divisions are more complex and interlinked. A tribe used to be on the level of a state; its people were counted by the thousands. Today, they are counted by the millions or tens of millions. The da’wah used to involve inviting the kuffar to Imaan. As for today, the da’wah to the Muslims in origin is to resume the Islamic way of life. In the time of the Messenger 􀁕, the superpowers such as Rome and Persia did not intervene in the da’wah of the Messenger 􀁕 in Makkah. Today the leaders are tied to the politics of the superpowers; in fact they are their puppets. It is the superpowers that plot against Islam and the Muslim, and so on and so forth.

The people who have these doubts say the following; “How can we adopt the method of the Messenger 􀁕 when many issues have changed?

Doing this would be rigidity and inflexibility, and we are not forced to adhere to it. What is important is to realise the greater objectives of the da’wah, which are the application of Islam via an Islamic state and realising the ‘ubudiyyah (servitude) to Allah 􀀬.” To explain the correct understanding of how to look at this issue, we say that the Shar’ee rule is always revealed relevant to a reality for whose sake this Shar’ee rule has come. When the reality changes, then the Shar’ee rule relating to it changes. If the reality does not change, then the Shar’ee rule stays as it is. Regarding the reality, what one considers is its fundamental attributes and not its outward forms.

Society consists of a group of people who believe in common thoughts, from which arise the emotions of acceptance and approval of whatever agrees with these thoughts, and emotions of displeasure and anger for that which goes against them. Then a system is established, which applies these thoughts and forbids their violation. Thus, the people live the life they are convinced of and they are content with.

The reality of society may take different forms. It may be primitive or complex, but every group of people is organised by common thoughts and emotions, who are ruled by a system that is from the same nature of these thoughts, whether the people were in the form of a tribe or a modern state, and whether they are counted by the thousands or millions.

Irrespective of these, it is a society, because the attributes that make up a society are present and they did not change.

The Messenger 􀁕 worked to bring about an Islamic society, and that happened via the establishment of Islamic thoughts, emotions and systems. He 􀁕 followed the Shar’ee method that establishes the Islamic society. All his actions used to be focused in this direction. In Madinah he moulded the believer individuals, who formed the majority of its inhabitants. In their minds, he established fundamental thoughts about Islam, which gave rise to a homogenous set of emotions. When he migrated to them and established the system, the Islamic society was formed. It took a simple form in the beginning, and then it changed to a society that needed organisation and a (state) apparatus.

As for the claim that the superpowers did not intervene (in his 􀁕 time)

and now they intervene and prevent the establishment of Islam. We answer this by saying that this does not change the method, but it makes following the method more difficult. This requires additional culture and work in the da’wah, which takes into consideration this (new) reality.

Thus the block engages in international politics, so as to know the policies of superpowers, and understand what they plot against us and implement via their agents and puppets, such that we can counter it.

As for the claim that the Messenger 􀁕 mainly concerned himself with the subject of Imaan, and dealt with only a few rules in Makkah our response is; the fact that he dealt with ahkam, even if they were few, indicates the order to concern oneself with the Shar’ee rules in the da’wah. Furthermore, we have to observe that the work in Makkah was the call to people to enter into Islam. As for today, the da’wah is amongst the Muslims, who have the Islamic ‘Aqeedah, and the Shar’ee rules have all been revealed to them. They have now become responsible, before Allah 􀀬, for the whole of Islam and not just for the Imaan only. Hence, the Muslim who died in Makkah was only responsible for what was revealed until the time of his death. As for the one who dies today, Allah 􀀬 will ask him about the whole of Islam. That is why the da’wah needs to be comprehesive and it needs to call for the resumption of the Islamic way of life, because we are not a new call or a new deen.

Similarly, the one who studies the reality of the Muslims today, will see that their problem is not the loss of the Islamic ‘Aqeedah, but the lack of the linkage of the Islamic ‘Aqeedah with the thoughts of life and legislative systems. Hence the ‘Aqeedah has lost it vitality. All of this was due to the effect of the western thought on the Muslims, the thought which the disbelieving western states guard and work to maintain and concentrate, through implanting regimes subservient to them, laying down education curricula and utilising the media to spread this thought.

Therefore, it is imperative that one presents Islam correctly, completely and comprehensively, such that the significance of the ‘Aqeedah and Imaan appears as a fundamental thought from which the rules emanate, and on which the viewpoint about life is determined; and then to present the thoughts about life through this ‘Aqeedah. That is done by asserting the fact that the Creator and al-Mudabbir (Sustainer of all affairs) is Allah 􀀬, and that the judgement only belongs to Him I and to Him will return the affairs of the dunyah and akhirah. When the Imaan and rules have been made incumbent on the Muslim, the power of the truth and its vitality will become clear for him, and also the strength of the kutlah (block) in understanding and calling to Islam, and its ability to generate change.

That is why the da’wah today is a call to Muslims to resume the Islamic way of life, via the establishment of the Islamic State. The basis of this da’wah is the Islamic ‘Aqeedah, which is given in its political sense, by making it controller of all the actions, according to the orders and prohibitions of Allah 􀀬.

Thus, what has changed is the (outer) form. As for the esence it has remained as it is, and has not changed. Hence the rule of working to establish the Islamic State has not changed either, and likewise nor has the method to acheive this changed.