‘Who is better in speech than one who calls men to Allah’

We are glad that during the holy month of Ramadhan we observed our fasts and offered special prayers of taraweeh. We recited the Qur’an and studied it more than what we did during non-Ramadhan months. And we gave alms and offered Sadaqua according to our means. May Allah accept all these a’amaal (actions) of ours! But we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that all this could be possible only with the grace and compassion of Allah. For his grace and compassion, we couldn’t have done all this as all these ibadah were more difficult compared with our daily routine of ibadah in other days. It is indeed due to His great mercy, benevolence and generosity that we could do all this while still attending to our daily activities.

The Eid prayer has been ordained to express our sense of gratitude towards Allah Almighty for His grace, love and indescribable generosity that He afforded us a chance to emerge successful in observance of Ramadhan. We know that khutba (public address) is delivered prior to the prayer of Juma (Friday prayer). On the occasion of Eid prayer, however, it is ordained that Muslims prostate before the Creator for His having bestowed upon them the most valuable gift of Islam and the taufeeq of accomplishing so much of ibadah. We have been asked first to bow and thank Him and then only listen to khutba.

The Muslims have also been enjoined to proclaim that Allah is Great and to thank Him. According to Islamic scholars, additional takbeers have been included in the Eid prayer to proclaim God’s greatness in accordance with our sense of gratitude to the Almighty for His mercy. Recital of takbeers starts the moment a Muslim sets out for Eid prayer and continues till the start of the prayer. If some lapses have occurred during Ramadhan in the observance of fast or otherwise, this is the opportunity to seek Allah’s forgiveness and to resolve that such lapses shall not recur again.

The greatest Mercy of the Lord is that He gifted us the Qur’an and the most distinguished leader and ideal like Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be with him). But for His benevolent appearance on the Arab scenario, we too might have to live a life wrapped in utter darkness and ignominy. It is Allah’s immense generosity that He rid us of those demeaning social practices and grossly unjust society deeply entrenched in evil conduct – all that is devoid of higher human values and the most disgusting and degrading for man. Allah sent His messenger as a mercy for all the worlds. Before the advent of the holy messenger, the world was indulged in shirk (associating others with Allah) and kufr (darkness, going astray and not obeying His commandments). Again it is Allah’s greatest compassion that He sent his Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be with him) through whom we were emancipated from humiliation of that degrading conduct. The world then was riven in groups, tribes and clans; it had no concept of the life hereafter. Those tribes were always at war with each other; human blood was shed on the slightest provocation or pretext. There was immorality and women’s modesty was torn asunder. The dwelling houses of prostitutes and women of easy virtue attracted people of shady character who satisfied their lust there without social disapproval. Slave women were pushed into this flesh trade. In such perilous circumstances, Allah raised Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be with him) to prophethood and sent His last message (the Qur’an) to the humankind through him. The holy Messenger was commanded to organise a rebellion against such degrading and dehumanising culture. He was further ordained to make it known that this was a ‘cursed’ path to tread upon.

The human life could not swoop down to the level of the life of animals that have not been given a sense of morality. Humans were humans and ought to have a code of life. The Qur’an started showing them the correct way to live a life as it deserved. The holy Messenger started explaining to them the true meaning of Qur’anic injunctions besides practically implementing those injunctions in his pious life.

People started opposing this divine guidance. They pronounced their opposition to the divine revelation saying that they won’t subscribe to the ideology of monotheism. They said that polytheism (shirk) was all right and there was no conceptual fault with it. Likewise, they also insisted on continuing with their evil ways i.e., kufr (emerging from non-belief in one Omnipotent, Omnipresent, All knowing Allah and the Day of Judgment). They affirmed that their chosen ideology and religious beliefs were correct and that the path they had chosen for themselves was the only correct path. They firmly believed that their civilisation was a splendid one and their culture was the best. They swore by the genuinity of their cultural superiority. They boasted of their traditions wherein they stood for the superiority of their culture and fought wars to defend it. They said they would continue to stick to their tradition and would not give up the ways of their ancestors. They opposed the holy Messenger’s all efforts at reforms in all fields of life. Instead of considering the beneficial aspects of Islam they opposed its teachings tooth and nail. They organised most effective multi-pronged opposition, nay assault, on Islam and exclaimed that in the garb of Islam it was a powerful attempt to seize power. They claimed that the real aim was quite different from what was passing in the name of Allah and Messenger. They considered Islam to be a planned movement to destroy their culture and to dislodge them from ‘power’.

Here was a remarkable similarity between the stand of these Arabs and Pharaoh who warned his subjects and followers about Moses (peace be to him) who, in his opinion, wanted to divest them of their religion and rob them of their sovereignty as regards kingdom. He charged Prophet Moses with the intention of destroying their political power. Pharaoh too had exhorted his countrymen to stick to their faith and continue to observe their rituals. He had then appealed to their religious beliefs, civilisation and culture to stand like a rock – firm, unyielding, inflexible, and not to deflect from their path. However, when he and his advisers saw that right-thinking people continue to flock increasingly to the call of Moses, he resolutely instructed his men to drown the word of God in the din by raising noise pitch and suppressing it. They considered the words of God to be having the potential of wide acceptance and dislodging them from power and changing their lives.

The Qur’an says ‘these disbelievers asked their fellowmen not to listen to the Qur’an and if the Qur’an be recited somewhere, drown its voice by raising powerful counter-voices so that their own voices remain dominant and prevent the Qur’an from being listened to.’ Obviously, man’s failure to put forth acceptable, strong arguments in favour of his unjust stand, does result only in adoption of such means. They exhorted their followers to ensure that the message of the Qur’an is suppressed and not allowed to be heard unhindered. The followers were urged to trample under their feet those who recite the Holy Qur’an and propagate Islam lest the Qur’an’s eloquence and heart-capturing power should appeal to its audience.

Should all these attempts fail to achieve the desired effect, the practitioners of shirk and kufr were asked to arrange for their cultural programmes wherein prostitutes, singers and narrators of fabulous tales would be invited so as to gather people to entertain themselves by their charming performances and listening to their attractive themes and ecstatic voices, thereby preventing people from hearing the message of divine revelation. Pointing to such grossly errant conduct, the Qur’an wonders that there are people in this world who purchase these mean and debasing things in oppositions to the divine guidance contained in the Qur’an. All this continued to happen.

Under these heart-breaking and trying conditions Allah instructed his holy Messenger to proceed with his work un-deflected bearing all ridicule while acting with patience, fortitude and courage. The Almighty assured the Messenger that ultimately God and His Messenger will emerge victorious and domineering as has been pre-destined.

You have a glorious past which is a witness to the fact that within a short span of a few years the world underwent a glorious revolution and no more remained what it was before the revelation of the Qur’an. It was transformed into a shape desired by Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be with him) and his companions. The miraculous transformation released the world from the treacherous control of their enemies (who were worst enemies of humanity and powerful agents of exploitation). The changed world adopted Islamic beliefs, morals, ethical standards and civilisation. The Qur’an called its followers to mould it according to Islamic principles. This did happen.

We are the followers of the same beliefs and seek guidance from the same book that brought about this unbelievable revolution in society. And we are the followers of the book which has assigned the believers the role of being custodians of the world to manage its affairs justly in accordance with the divine guidance and prophetic instructions. Consequently, the Ummah was directed to ensure that Islamic ethics, beliefs, philosophy and civilisation prevailed over the tyrannical ways of heartless rulers who robbed humanity of its goodness and degraded it.

The Ummah that was brought into existence through the teachings of the Qur’an, spread throughout the large parts of the world. The centres of civilisations of the world came under its control, reinforcing its philosophy, and pushing the frontiers of their civilisations to newer and unexplored areas. Consequently, the bearers of the divine revelation continued to hold sway over the world affairs for centuries despite thousands of lapses having been there.

Today again we find that the world has reverted to its old ways as it were at the time of revelation of the Qur’an. Despite the loud claims of explosion of knowledge in all fields and the pride displayed in modern culture and civilisation, there is wide prevalence of ignorance, and abysmal depths of wayward conduct of humans. It is abundantly obvious that the world is divided into two camps; there is a group of powerful nations on one hand, and, on the other, a group of weak nations. The former group wants to impose its thinking, civilisation, moral values, economy and its hegemony on the latter group of weak nations. Moreover, the strong nations want to capture and exploit the resources of the weak nations and rob them of their sovereignty and liberty. It is the extreme form of exploitation and subjugation which the history has seen.

The pertinent question is whether this tyranny shall continue or ought to continue? We all shall undoubtedly say that this must not continue. God willing, this tyrannical world order with perish. Islam wants to dismantle this apparatus of tyranny in whatever form and wherever it exists, wants to establish justice and protect everybody’s rights and replace modern unclean civilisation by a just, benevolent and healthy civilisation based on equality, brotherhood and mutual respect, full of peace and devoid of bitterness, crookedness and distrust.

Islam wants a civilisation drawing its inspiration and strength from divine injunctions instead of man setting for himself a code of conduct in life according to one’s will, arbitrarily. But opponents of Islam say it is impossible in the modern world at this point of time. They assert that only their civilisation and culture will withstand the assault of present-day problems. In support of their contention, they argue that their present-day Godless civilisation has made rapid strides in different fields of human activity. They look down upon Islam and ask contemptuously what Islam is. In their opinion Islam teaches terrorism, it promotes trampling of human rights, leads to eruption of riots, and secures collision of one nation against another. They charge religion in general of being the root cause of conflict and consequent anarchy and disorder and once again want to repeat the same story of disruption and destruction. They do not want even a reference to Islam, saying they are not prepared even to hear its name.

If someone calls Islam a philosophy of life whose appeal is not restricted to this or that person, but extends its message to the whole humanity all over the world, they rejected this plea. They are not prepared to even give a patient hearing to the claim of Islam and the remedies it suggests to the ills afflicting our society. The message of the Qur’an to unlettered Arabs, its immediate addressees, was “who is better in speech than one who calls (men) to Allah, works righteousness and says ‘I am of those who bow in Islam’.” (41:33)

It was further announced that the call of Islam is universal and is not restricted to a particular nation, tribe, person or country. That the universality of Islamic call lies in its cutting across barriers of caste, class, region or time makes it far more superior, far more comprehensive, far more pervasive, and morally higher than the one resorted to by the non-believing Arabs. The Qura’nic assertion was not merely theoretical but it was demonstrated unambiguously in action by the Holy Messenger who did what he professed and preached. It was for everyone to see that the Messenger was meting out better and humane treatment to both his friends and bitter enemies alike. They must have, in all fairness, preferred such a call to every other call as it was more pious, more rewarding, more sacred. Such a message alone had the right to be spread, heard in attention and complied with. It was for them to ponder wisely how any other message could be preferable, more weighty, adoptable and beneficial over this message which beckoned the entire mankind to rise above differences, big or small, which cause dissensions, conflicts and even worst crimes such as bloodshed. The Messenger not only preached this philosophy but acted accordingly. Wasn’t the proclaimer’s pride in claiming himself to be a Muslim a proof in itself of the genuinity of his message?

The people might have been worshippers of their nation or ardent supporters of their tribe or clan, adorers of their self-seeking worldly leaders but they turned a deaf ear to the pleadings of God’s Messenger who proclaimed that he was but a servant of God and bowed before Him only. They turned a blind eye to his pious conduct also.

The call of our time is that you rise and propagate this message which is to secure allegiance of humanity to one true God. It is not a call to promote and proclaim loyalty to some grand emperor, head of government, some block of powerful people, a group, federation or nation. Each of us being creation of God and therefore His servant, must be obedient of His commands.

The holy Messenger and his companions proclaimed at the top of their voice that “who is better in speech than one who calls (men) to Allah, works righteousness and says ‘I am of those who bow in Islam’.” (41:33) Ultimately the world had to admit its correctness but alas today we Muslims in the world number in thousands, lakhs and millions but this message is not being raised from anywhere. It appears as if we lack the courage and the guts to declare to the whole world with all the strength at our command that there cannot be anything better than Allah’s obedience and surrender before him. We fall short in mustering courage to say that in proclaiming this we do not call anybody to ourselves, our community or clan, or our country (for any self-aggrandisement) but we exhort the humanity to come to God and adopt the ways of a faithful.

You are aware that Muslims today number approximately one hundred and fifty crores with their governments in over three dozen countries but still nobody has the courage to proclaim: “Who is better in speech than one who calls (men) to Allah, works righteousness and says ‘I am of those who bow in Islam’.” Is there any philosophy, view-point better than inviting people to Allah? All your philosophies and points of view are such as to divide people in different groups, setting one group against the other, promoting excesses depriving people of their genuine rights. This must come to an end. The Muslim Ummah despite its large numbers is so terrified and devoid of courage that it cannot raise its voice in favour of Islam from any quarter. The Muslims are present in every nook and corner of the country. If the voice from every part of the country calls “Who is better in speech than one who calls (men) to Allah, works righteousness and says ‘I am of those who bow in Islam’,” people will have the code of conduct prescribed by Islam which we are calling them to.

I feel such an effort will change the entire scenario of the country. If all the Muslims were to raise their voice, and from every corner at that, to call people under shelter of one God and to obey Him, I feel it will not be possible for anyone to divert the countrymen to any other way of life or show a different path. We have to impress upon the invitees that there is no other way guaranteeing success either for you or for us. Then this path alone will be the path to be taken by all of us. Still, for argument’s sake, if people do not flock to this path and chart out a different course of life for themselves, our call to the path leading to God Almighty will continue to reverberate and resound in atmosphere. Even if one were to die in this attempt, it will be our mutual good fortune. Talking about such dedicated servants of God, the Qur’an says whatever promise these people did with God, they fulfilled it. They never retreated. We have also committed ourselves to Allah. That must be fulfilled.

If this large population comprising 15 to 20 crores were to rise with this message of God, it will be no wonder if the world becomes yours; you will lead it and will not be the followers. You shall not be at the beck and call of others, doing their bidding. Instead the world will be at your call.

How many of us are aware of the message which was given to us. We were asked to lead the world. You are duty-bound to tell them that the ‘straight path’ is the one which enjoins people to live as God’s servants, obedient and submissive. Any other path is wrong. Is such a large population as lives in India are prepared to do it? If the community is ready to undertake this task, rest assured God’s promise is also going to be fulfilled and God’s support and favour will be on your side. Surely the path is arduous. Nobody can say that all the obstacles in your path will be cleared no sooner you pronounce this divine revelation. Indeed there may be difficulties at every step. Still the need of the day is that such courageous and adventures people come forward, men of action who may raise this voice that this only is the righteousness which can lead both you and us to salvation.

I wish that each one of us, in every part, in every nook and corner, everywhere it be the gospel that salvation lies in adopting no other path than the one shown by the Almighty’s book and under the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be with him).

I request you to take this message and keep raising this slogan: “Who is better in speech than one who calls (men) to Allah, works righteousness and says ‘I am of those who bow in Islam’.”