Self-Reform & 'Dawa' - IV

 

Dawat-i-Illallah: Muslims & The Truth

 

The Holy Quran presents the steadfast pursuit of truth as the central stand of Islam, even as it views Kufr as the supreme falsehood. It calls on the believer not to cover truth with falsehood or to knowingly conceal the truth. Truthfulness was the first qualification of the Holy Prophet (pbuh), and it remains the final saving grace of those who would be his followers. No man can claim to be a Muslim if he is a liar.

 

It is recorded that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) has stated that four categories of men and women stand excommunicated from the fold of Islam: those who lie, those who bear false witness, those who break a trust reposed in them, and those who commit adultery. All are guilty of crimes that the Quran includes in the term “falsehood”. And how do we believers of today fare in the light of this first criterion of Islam?

Self- Reform & 'Dawa'- III

 

 '...Like I was telling you, the Promised Messiah (as) had great love for the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)… Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as) gave testimonies about the spiritual power or force of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). He says that he also was alive because of the spiritual power of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). And it is a fact that in respect to time, he had come 1300 years after Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). And geographically speaking, he came in such a place which was far away from Arabia, but despite it all, it is through the spiritual force of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) that he was alive. That is indeed an extraordinary force.

You were amazed how someone could have reformed himself just by approaching the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). But here, someone who came 1300 years after him, he swore in the name of Allah that if he was alive, it was surely due to the sheer spiritual force of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). He claimed that he received this life – directly [in a way of speaking] from the Holy Prophet (pbuh).

Reforming Self and the World- II

 

 Self Reform & Tabligh/ Dawa- Part 2

 

Allah says in the noble Quran: 

And who is better in speech than one who invites to Allah and does righteousness and says, "Indeed, I am of the Muslims." [i.e., one who submits himself completely to Allah]? [Fussilat 41: 34]

 

So, in the context of good deeds and invitation to Allah, we must keep in mind that it is good deeds [of people] that give heights [higher grades or status] to invitations to Allah. The ranks of such people increase before the eyes of Allah, because they are people who make every effort to give the message of Allah, to invite people to the one God Who created this universe.

 

So what better invitation there can be than to invite people to Allah? That is, it's such a beautiful invitation that the world can raise no objection against it. Even those who will not believe in this message, they may not believe but they will not be able to have any objection against you. At the very least they will bow their heads and listen to your message. They will say: You see! We will never believe in Allah, but we must admit that the one who calls us to Him is a very good person.

 

So when you make this invitation, then Allah says it is a better one [a much better invitation]. But what gives heights [higher grades] and honour to this invitation? It is good deeds. If there are not the right deeds that accompany this invitation, then sometimes the invitation will have the opposite effect. This is when people will say: Look at this person! He calls others to Allah but look in what a bad situation he is. He's like a bald man who sells medicine to grow hair!

Reforming Self and the World

 

Self Reform & Tabligh/ Dawa- Part 1

 

Today I will talk to you about a very important subject: The Invitation to Allah. I will speak on this subject just as the Quran says that the invitation to Allah begins in your own homes. As long as we do not invite our own beings to Allah and respond favourably to that invitation, then there will be no [doing of] good deeds. And if there are no good deeds, then the invitation to Allah will become something meaningless.

 

So, see the excellent condition put forward by the Quran to embellish “Invitation to Allah” [Dawat-i-Illallah]. We have been commanded to invite others but also to invite our own selves as well. Indeed, if you invite your own selves to Allah, it is then that you will get the right to invite others as well; otherwise, that latter invitation would be in vain. There is a saying in English as thus: ‘Physician, heal thyself!’ Therefore, people [in the world] could say: ‘Oh, is it you who has come to cure others? Go and cure yourself first!’

 

So, as much as a person makes his own reform, he gains the equivalent opportunity to invite people to Allah. But you can’t wait for your own reformation to invite others. This is the important point that I want to make you understand today. A person cannot say that until he makes his reform completely, then the Quran does not give him the right to invite others to Allah. This is a wrong reasoning because self-reform is something that is continual.