Let us concentrate
here on the most fundamental and earliest Quranic injunction in this context.
The Holy Prophet was ordered:
And warn thy tribe,
near kindred (26:214)
Just try to think
what a man will do even today if he is commanded to communicate an important
message to his relatives and family members. The Prophet (SAW) took recourse to
the best and most effective way ever conceivable. He invited all the members of
his clan - Banu Hashim – to his place for a meal. Thus after entertaining about
forty of them, he very gently started to present the teachings of Islam before
them.
He had hardly started
his discourse when the profane and nonsense talk of Abu Lahab intervened and
the gathering dispersed without hearing Prophet’s talk. Just think how much
apparently disappointing and nerve – shattering this experience might have been
for him. However, there is no question of real disappointment for a person who
calls people to Allah. He again arranged a feast and addressed them after the
meal. We know from reliable reports that from amongst the whole gathering only
one boy Hadhrat Ali vowed to help him (SAW) in his Divine mission. Just
visualize the prophet calling his kinsmen and family members to Allah and no
one paying heed to him except a lad! In fact Hadhrat AIi (RAA) was already his
own kith, as he lived under his patronage. This means that these two feasts
were really of no avail. Such were the occasions
on which numerous
Qur’anic verses were
specifically revealed for consolation and solace:
And wait patiently
for the judgement of thy Lord; for assuredly thou art before our eyes. (52:48)
And endure thou with
patience; and verily thy patience is possible only with the help of Allah. (16:127)
So now declare openly
that which thou art commanded. (15:94)
Accordingly,
following the custom of those days, the Prophet stood up on the mountain ‘Safa’
and addressed the people at the top of his voice thus:
“0, people! I warn you
of a danger; assemble at once.”
When the people
gathered near him, he
delivered his ‘Sermon of the
Mountain’ by saying,
“0, the community of Quraish! Will you believe me if I
tell you that an enemy troop is rushing from behind the hill?”
They all said,
“Why not, we have always found you truthful”.
Thereupon the Prophet said in a
moving tone,
“If you do not believe in Allah and worship Him alone, grievous
punishment would befall upon you”.
In response however, the people were very
much flared up, and it is reported that on this very occasion Abu Lahab had
uttered these words:
May you face
perdition, you called and assembled us for this!
At this juncture the
Surah Lahab was revealed to the Prophet stating that not the hands of Muhammad
(SAW) but the hands of Abu Lahab had perished. The perdition of Abu Lahab,
though decreed by Allah and as such a ‘fact’ of AIam-i-Amar was yet to appear
after a few years in the world of temporal events.
At the time of the Prophet’s
preaching at the mountain Safa, it looked as if he were addressing and putting
his message before the deaf and the dumb as not a single one
of them responded
to his call
favourably. If we
analyze this ‘Sermon
of the Mountain’, we come to
realize that the most important argument presented in this was People’s
confession of the proclaimer’s truthfulness and trustworthiness. Moreover, it
also very graphically clarifies the position
of a Divine
prophet vis a
vis the People. Standing on a mountain, a prophet can look on both sides
of it; whereas people standing at the foot of the mountain are unaware of the
situation at the other side. Ordinary men are short-sighted and their
perception is restricted to only the phenomenal world, and even in this realm
to the apparent aspects of reality. Their gaze cannot penetrate the inner and
hidden core of physical entities. As the Qur’an says:
They know but the
outer (things) in the life of this world: but of the end of thing (or the
hereafter) they are headless.(30:7).
A Prophet - a Divine
Messenger - on the other hand, not only has a knowledge of the inner reality
and true significance of spatio-temporal world, his gaze even goes beyond, to
have a look of other-worldly things, the objects and happenings of the
Hereafter.
This is how the fold
of Da’wah expanded gradually. The Prophet (SAW) addressed gatherings of people
on innumerable occasions. He also approached them individually and sounded out
his call of Islam. He even visited them at their places and left no stone
unturned in executing this duty. Whenever he came to know that a caravan or
some strangers had arrived in Makkah, he would go to meet them and present his
teachings to them. This also explains very clearly and significantly the
difference between the Da’wah Work on the one hand and his day - to - day
teachings on the other.
A teacher usually does not take such pains as a
missionary worker i.e. a daaee (one who invites people to Allah) takes. Teacher
is a person who is eagerly sought and respected by his students. Students come
to him in order to quench their thirst for knowledge and wisdom. On the
contrary, a daaee is always on the look out for those to whom he can preach his
message. He knocks at every door and visits every hearth and hamlet in the hope
that he may find a person who would listen to him sympathetically. Most of the
people not only turn a deaf ear to him, they also ridicule and manhandle him.
Despite all this, he prays to Almighty Allah at night with utmost humility and
begs favourable change in the attitude of the people.
It is reported that
Prophet Muhammad (SAW), used to pray, “0 God I beg Thee that either Umar bin
Khattab or Amr bin Hisham may enter the fold of Islam (so that he could help
him in his mission).” One should also here bear in mind that a daaee has most
sensitive heart in his bosom which feels misery, pain and agony over the
negative attitude of the people. This was much more so in the case of the
Prophet (SAW). He was so much grief-stricken by persistent rejection of his
Da’wah that he started looking much older than his age. So much so that Allah
had to console him as well as warn him lovingly thus:
It may be that thou
tormentest thyself (0 Muhammad) because they believe not. (26:3)
Yet it
may be, if
they believe not
in this statement,
that though (Muhammad)
will torment thy soul with grief over their foot steps. (18:6)
Ta’ Ha, We have not
revealed unto thee (Muhammad) this Qur’an that thou shouldest be distressed.
(20:1-2)
