Imagine an Arab of the desert sitting
with the illiterate Prophet once, and thereafter came to believe in Islam and call for
it.
"How has this happened?
What has occurred in this one sitting interview is equal, in the opinion of all thinkers, to
the whole body of miracles
which the Glorious Qur'an has mentioned and which have occurred to the honored
Prophets of Allah. This is because anyone who familiarizes himself
with and knows the abundance of the water of multi branched knowledge, which runs and
flows out of the sea of Islam, and wants to scoop or drink up,
will assume an attitude of meditation and thinking in such a way that this very question
will come to his mind: How could this bedouin understand,
believe in and carry Islam to people just after he has held one meeting with the
Prophet
.
That can be explained if
we refer to what happened with "Tufail Amro Al-Awsisi" when he told the Prophet: "I have heard your fair remark,
so expose your mind." Al Tufail reported that the Prophet proposed Islam to him and recited the
Qur'an. He swears by Allah that he has never
heard a better word or a matter which is more fair, so he submitted to Allah immediately
after this meeting, declared his Confession of Faith and said unto Allah's Prophet:
"I'm a man compliant in my tribe. I'm turning back in order to summon them unto a belief
in Islam."
I don't want to explain this
point any further because I have not intended to do so in the preface, but I hope I can
develop it in the book itself so that I can, by Allah's Power and
Might, penetrate into knowing one of the secrets of this one-sitting interview which took
place between the bedouin and the greatest
Prophet.
As a matter of fact, when man
established certain foundations he inevitably intended to accomplish construction and
completion. Of course, man does not proceed to lay certain limited foundations unless he
is, in their light,
determined to construct and build. When this limited foundation is material, such as
laying the foundation of a building with certain boundaries, it is obvious to every observer
that the designer's intention is to accomplish construction and completion.
In the same way, if the limited foundation is spiritual, such as defining one's relationship in
regard to worldly life and life in the Hereafter, it is clear that one intends to construct and
follow the basis of this limited foundation.
Islam has a limited view point.
It says that anything which man senses, feels, and does is matter;
and if this sensation, feeling, or action springs from Allah's imperatives and interdictions,
then matter and spirit are fused. If man thinks deeply, he will infer that Allah is the First
and that He alone is the Last, and that He too is the One Who asks man to
carry out his imperatives and interdictions which form the spiritual side of life.
For instance, the tree which
one looks at is matter, but if it is viewed as being made by a creator, then this is the
spiritual side of the tree. Likewise, the performance of the ritual prayer is a material act,
but if that performance is associated with the imperatives
of Allah, the spiritual aspect of the act is revealed. In a like manner, if one pays money to
the poor, money is matter; and if free-will offering is not done as a result of the Sharia’s
imperatives, alms giving remains a material act. But if it is practiced with Allah's
imperatives in mind,
payment intervenes matter with spirit. In the same way, we can speak of every action
which man does.
According to this analysis,
Islam combines matter with spirit. In other words the Muslim state is worked out in
relation to religious teachings in which the
sacred and secular are not separate. Opposed to Islam, however, is socialist - communism
which is based on a belief in absolute materialism, and a denial of religion, that is a denial
of the spirit.
Likewise democratic capitalism, contrary to Islam, is founded on the separation of religion
from state, or spirit from matter.
In accordance with this limited
definition of Islam, a Muslim is one who holds the basic divine discipline of thought and tries to be
constantly constructive and progressive. The constructor is one who sets up a new thing,
introduces a new idea, solves a new problem, explains ancient thought and finds out the
conformity or non-conformity of that thought with a new actuality.
After Construction follows
Progress. The progressive person is one who always moves in the ascending order by
possessing the ability of understanding, the tact of influence, the clarity of
vision, and the instinct of self-assertion.
For this reason, one who
carries specific principles is not satisfied with holding them, but acts in order to spread
them and endeavors to apply them, for he is the carrier of a message and
the qualities of the missionary apply to him. The difference between him on the one hand,
and the Mufti, scholar, preacher and teacher on the other, is great.
The Mufti is one who issues
'fatwa', so people ask him about the Islamic rulings on specific actions which they
themselves or others do.
The scholar is one who is
concerned with searching for knowledge in books but does not issue fatwa; Yet if he is
asked about any problem, his reply is nothing but a personal judgment.
The preacher is one who
reminds people of life-after-death, the punishment of Allah, the Heavens and the Day of
Judgement.
The teacher is one who teaches
individuals abstract knowledge, regardless of its reality, circumstances and
applicability.
These four professions are
different. Although they have some traits in common, they are not wholly alike.
The carrier of Da'wa does not possess the trait of the Mufti because he does not issue
fatawah, nor does he examine the actions of individuals in order to give Islamic rulings, he
is rather
a politician who takes care of people's affairs in terms of the Law of Allah. He does not
possess the qualities of a scholar either, because his work is not the quest for knowledge in
books; in fact, searching for knowledge is a means to his job,
politics; and to his purpose; which is seeking Allah's favor, the most High, the Supreme
Being. Likewise, the missionary is not a preacher who reminds people of the Hereafter
and turns them away from this world, but is precisely one who takes care of their affairs,
instructs them in temporal matters, and makes their aim in life the good work which gains
Allah's consent in the life to come. Again, he is not a teacher although he cultivates people
with ideas and rulings.
Therefore, giving absolute knowledge is not his job; but his aim rather lies in acting in
accordance with the ultimate ideas and rulings of Islam. Thus he gives knowledge linked
with context and circumstances, and in doing so he is neither an educator nor a scholar but
a politician who is engaged in conducting, directing and administering the affairs of the
people. Of course politics is a series of actions, not mere education, and what we truly
need is deeds, not mere academic debates.
This book, which I present,
defines the qualities of the missionary and the method of carrying the message of
Islam:
- The formation of personality which presents itself by,
A) differentiating between concepts and
information,
B) understanding behavior
C) differentiating between mentality and
psyche set-up. This subject gives a
living example of the process of the
construction of new thought.
- The theory of the "nation's sovereignty" and the "nation as a source of authority."
This subject shows you how to deal with a new subject through both understanding and
planning.
- Facts about firms in the democratic and Islamic systems. This subject indicates
correspondence between ancient thought and a new
reality in some points and non-correspondence in other points.
- Relatives. The fourth and the last subject is confined to explain the validity of
ancient thought and the outcome of its embodiment
which displays the missionary's great influence understanding, self assertion, and clarity of
vision.
