Bihar Anjuman believes in self-help rather than charity

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Dawah: Are We Wasting Our Precious Resources on It? [Part-2]

by Shakeel Ahmad

When we talk of Islamic Dawah (inviting people to Islam), what do we really invite them to? Surely, to the five pillars of Islam! What are these five pillars for? Nobody should doubt the importance of these pillars, which serve as a strong support-base for the building that the invitee will ultimately construct over these pillars. Are pillars, alone, enough, for a building – a contractor once told me he was not interested in executing building contracts because they have hundreds of items to do? Hundreds of items, but just a few pillars! Pillars of Islam purify us (faith or eiman, prayers, fasting, zakat, hajj, all of them are just for purification, and perhaps no more), build our character, and prepare us for carrying out the responsibilities of a Muslim. Only water can quench our thirst, and only Oxygen can keep us alive – that is the mechanism devised by Allah. Similarly, we can become capable of fulfilling our responsibilities, and delivering acceptable results, only when we purify ourselves through the five pillars of Islam. By any means, can these pillars alone truly justify the purpose of our existence?

school-building

Imagine an engineer who spends sixteen years in preparing himself, academically, to deliver some tangible products to the society, finally spends just praying and fasting, confining himself to a room, doing no work at all! Of course, zakat may not be due on him, nor is Hajj obligatory on him, because he does not earn anything. Are the resources of the society spent on preparing this Allah-fearing person, to bring about some good to the society, well-spent? He says this is the only way to bring him spiritually closer to the Almighty, and to purify him. I guess some of you would consider this as a subconscious attempt at committing suicide, since he will not even be able to earn a living for himself. There is, of course, no question of raising any offspring or earning a living for his family. Is he anywhere closer to the teachings of Islam? A Muslim is not allowed to live a life of seclusion, his spiritual closeness to Allah comes through the efforts he makes towards the zikr, prayers, fasting, giving away zakat (earn so that he may pay sadaqah and zakah), and do good deeds.

Will Allah not ask what we did in this world, other than worshipping Him [please check Quran, 17:36, for an answer]? In His Book of guidance (Quran) - the operations manual for technical people, like me, Allah commands us to race with each other in performing good deeds [Quran, 5:48].

Throughout this operations manual, we are urged and commanded to do good deeds [e.g., in Quran, 2: 25, 2: 62, 2:82, 2:110, 2:215, 3:57, 3;172, 4;16, 4:124, 4:146, 4;149 …. - we have just covered four Surahs] - and this is apart from giving away part of our earnings in charity (sadaqah or zakat). We are urged to establish a system that can impart justice, promote peace, goodwill, and everything that is good, and stop all that is evil (Quran, 3;104, 3:110, 3;114). It is not difficult to understand, then, that the main purpose of purifying ourselves is to be able to follow God's operations manual - act honesty on its clauses (commandments), that is, implement them in our own lives and preach them to others. We can clearly see that the Dawah (invitation) includes inviting people to do good deeds, not merely to purify themselves by following the five pillars of Islam - that is, to make the best use of whatever talent, energy, strength, power, resources, etc., Allah has bestowed them with. Let's now turn to the question that has been raised in part-1 of this article: why is our Dawah ineffective (or, not as effective as that by others)? Before we try to answer this question, let's also keep this in mind that many of those who accept Islam mention that they do so not because of the actions of Muslims, but because of the inspiration and learning they receive from Allah's operations manual.

Don't we all believe in the axiom "actions speak louder than words"? The best way to make people understand is through action. For example, if I ask people to do good deeds, what would they understand as "good deeds"? If we do those good deeds as our normal way of life, and show them by way of examples, they not only understand the term easily, but also know that we walk our talk! If I ask my son to stop smoking because it is harmful, but continue smoking myself, would my words be effective? Is there an iota of doubt that my Dawah (invitation) to quit smoking would carry no impact, and would actually be a sheer waste of my time and effort (resources), unless I quit it myself (better still, if I have never touched a cigarette, myself)? That's one part – preventing what is evil. A more important part is doing something good. For example, if I ask my son to say Salam to whoever he meets, and I don't do it myself, would he internalize this and turn it into a habit? "Be the change you want to see in the world", Gandhi is believed to have said, and possibly learnt from the Quran:

How is it that you enjoin others to follow the Right Way, but forget it yourselves, though you read the Scriptures? Have you no sense at all? [Quran, 2:44]

leper

Now, we invite others to Islam, areligion that focuses on spreading knowledge, but we hardly build quality academic institutions for that! Similarly, we invite others to Islam, a religion that focuses on caring for all human beings, but do not build quality hospitals, do we have a chance to be heard? If we invite others to Islam, a religion that focuses on helping every human being through charitable deeds , but do not have institutional mechanism to help the needy, the downtrodden, the oppressed, those under the burden of debt (please go through the examples of tribal areas, cited in Part-1 of the article), would people be ready to pay any attention to our preaching? If we accept that actions speak louder than words, we must also accept that people will be more attracted towards those who are known to deliver the best. In marketing terms, reputation or brand image will make the product sell much more easily. What about the poor products, then, or the manufacturers carrying bad reputation or poor brand value (even if they try to deliver a quality product)? Is it any surprise, then, that we are losing the race in the area of Dawah, as well?

Coming to how spending on Dawah may be a waste of resources, let's take the example of a person who manages to produce an electrical bulb which does not light up. Should we consider his efforts, and the resources that he spent on his work, as a waste or not? If he was the person inventing the bulb, his efforts may prove to be worthwhile at some point of time, in the future, but if a tested technology was available, along with an operations manual, and he did not use either of them, was it not a waste? Some brothers are tempted to produce the argument that results are not in our hands; therefore, we need not care for the outcome, rather continue with our efforts. If we agreed with the argument that results are not in our hands, what do you suggest? Should we continue to do whatever we do, in the shoddy ways we are currently doing? Suppose, I need to reach Chennai, and I hire a bullock-cart, do not buy a route-map to Chennai, start my journey towards the Himalayas, and continue with my sincere efforts to reach Chennai, will I ever be able to reach Chennai? Allah says, don't you have sense (Quran, 2:44; 3:65; 10:16; 21:67; 28:60)? Should we not seek knowledge, and learn the best ways of doing what we intend to do, before we start (Quran, 17:36)? Can we justify our role as the "best of the nations, raised for the benefit of mankind" (Quran, 3:110), by pursuing mediocrity? How long shall we remain deaf, dumb, and blind - are we void of wisdom (Quran, 2:171)? When shall we start applying our minds according to the Message of Wisdom (Quran, 3:58)? 

Write to bakhabar@biharanjuman.org

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