Peaceful Islamic Mission

Today two important events happened in India and abroad. Khaja Kaleemuddin participated in an event organized by some people, in which he distributed the Quran to people. He sent a message saying that while he was giving the Quran to people, an unknown person came who gave 1,000 dollars as appreciation and then he disappeared. I am sure that this person was an angel and had come from God to give the message that this work was happening in accordance with God’s will.

In India the leading newspaper The Times of India, carried a report by a senior journalist of Mumbai of the dawah meet that was organized by CPS in December 2014. The title of the report is Peace Mission. This is an introduction to our mission. According to the content of the report, Islam is a peaceful dawah mission.

The modern age brought printing press, communication, modern science, and civilization. God gave Muslims an opportunity to spread the message of God, but as far as I am aware, in the entire Muslim world there is not even one person who did this task. Our mission is for the first time doing this task by, for example, publishing books such as The Prophet of Peace and English translation of the Quran. Also the literature of our mission presents Islam in an idiom that addresses the modern mind. The above two incidents show that CPS mission is the sole mission which has been given importance by the West. Islam has find entry in the positive sense in the western media through this mission. Other Muslims’ activities are such that the western media has to portray Islam as a threat to the West. On the contrary, CPS mission is the only mission which is taken by the western people as an introduction to the Islamic ideology. Other Muslims are only regarded as a threat to the West.

The first verse of Chapter al-Furqan reads: “Blessed be He who has revealed the criterion [the Quran] to His servant that he may warn the nations.” (25:1) This verse tells that God had revealed the book so that it could reach the whole of mankind. But, no movement or individual in the Muslim world can be given credit for this task. All of Muslim world is engaged in enmity toward the West, they consider the West as an enemy of Islam. All Muslim movements have either not reached the West or if the West has noticed it, it is as threat to them. However, CPS is the only mission which the modern mind of today has taken seriously and which it is studying and researching. God has given a blessing to CPS members. That is, God had given a gift to all mankind through the Prophet Muhamad. Whole of history and the entire universe had to date been waiting for this book to reach all mankind. Nobody knew what the purpose of life is. God had created mankind so that he proves himself deserving on this planet earth and can be given entry to Paradise in the Hereafter. Nobody stood up with the mission to make man aware of this great reality. All Muslim leaders stoop up with political issues. However, this was not what God had wanted nor was history waiting for such movements. So, God gave the blessing to CPS by making it stand up with that message which history had been waiting for.

All Muslim movements were centred on gaining political power for Muslims. But this is not what God desired. God is the Lord of all mankind. He wanted all of mankind to know the creation plan, that is, why He created the world, sent prophets, preserved the Quran and the Sunnah. Why was all this done? It was done for mankind to know the creation plan of God, live accordingly and gain entry to Paradise in the Hereafter. All these things were done not for Muslims to gain political authority in the world, rather it was for every individual to discover His Creator, then live according to God’s right path, develop in him the rabbbani or divine personality and thus become a deserving candidate for Paradise. According to the Quran, Paradise is the high society which will be a collection of prophets and truthful people from all of history. (4:69) God wants each person to know the reality of life and lead his life in accordance with divine principles. This truth is being conveyed to people only through the CPS mission. CPS is trying to use all means of communications to spread this message to people at a global level.

According to a Hadith, God says: “I am with a person’s expectations (guman) about Me, so he should have good expectations of Me.” (Bukhari) With reference to this Hadith, I pray to God that those members of CPS who have dedicated themselves to this task without any personal interest, I pray that these members be accepted by God. They are active throughout the world without getting any material benefit in return. God will take the help of secular people for the spread of His message. (Bukhari) This Hadith has come true in the twenty-first century as the entire age has become a supporting age for the mission of God. The entire world is ready to offer support, directly or indirectly, to the cause of God. For example, there is a culture called the conference culture in this age. Our companions avail of this culture by presenting the Quran to people on these occasions.

Two great events were to happen in history. One has been mentioned in the Quran and the other in the Hadith. First, scientific discoveries came to the support of God’s religion. The Quran says about this: “We shall show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves, until it becomes clear to them that this is the Truth.” (41:53) All the scientific discoveries have come to the support of Islam. CPS members have got the opportunity to avail of these discoveries. Today I am speaking at Delhi and my voice is reaching everywhere in the world. This has happened for the first time in history in the modern age. Earlier this phenomenon was never possible. But through the modern means of communication and technology my voice is potentially reaching every corner of the world. Muslims have made very bad use of this technology. They have used it for their militancy and hate culture. But, CPS alone is using it for the positive purpose of spreading the word of God to the people of the world.

One of our CPS companions had held a book stall of our books at a city in India. A person came to him and asked him why there was a crowd in his stall as compared to the stalls of other people which seemed deserted. Our companion replied that it was because CPS presents Islam in the idiom of the modern times, while others speak in tradition terms that do not address the modern mind. The CPS members do not take the credit for anything, they attribute everything to God. We feel that we can do nothing, rather it is only God who is helping and doing everything for us. God wanted few individuals to stand up for this task. God always helps invisibly through angels, but He wants human beings to be the ones to perform this task.

A king once had no heir for his throne, so his courtiers went out one early morning to search for whom to seat on the throne. They decided that they would make king the person they first sight. They went out and saw a woodcutter cutting a tree. They all said to him that he would be their king from then on. The woodcutter was completely surprised. Similarly, God sent some angels to search for those who had put their faith entirely on God and lived with a complete sense of humility. God then asked the angels to give them the blessing of becoming those persons who should stand up for the cause of God. They would then receive the credit in the Hereafter of being those persons who stood up to convey God’s word to mankind. People are being born in this world, they live just like animals and then die without knowing the truth. Muslims had the word of God with them, but they initiated war and violence against others. Thus, other people are unable to think that Muslims have any peaceful or positive message for them. People think that Muslims are working for some community-related issues of theirs and that they have no message for others. Thus, the world is living and dying in a state of unawareness. God wants people to know what the reality of life is and what would happen to them after death. CPS has no worldly concern. Its sole goal is for people to know the truth about life.

God had opened up new means of communication for Muslims to utilize it for spreading the word of God, but they have instead used these for spreading violence. Thus, people have developed the impression that Islam is a religion of violence.

Questions and Answers

Q1. Someone said that hifazat-e-din (defence of religion) is more important than ishaat-e-din (conveying the message of God). They refer to this Hadith for justification of their statement: “Paradise is under the shade of sword.” (Bukhari) Please comment.

A1. According to a Hadith, “Paradise is under the shade of sword.” (Bukhari) This Hadith is valid for the time when the Prophet and his Companions were at war with their opponents. The opponents had attacked the Muslims with a huge force, so to make his Companions not lose their courage, the Prophet said the above words of encouragement. Generalizing this Hadith, and applying it to a time other than war, is indeed a wrong interpretation of the Hadith.

Q2. Muslims sometimes say that other good works are also important. Only dawah work is not the work that Muslims should engage in. Please comment.

A2. Muslims should not decide on their own which work is good or not. The right way of thinking is to understand which work has been made a responsibility for Muslims by God. The Quran says: “Thus We have made you a middle nation, so that you may act as witnesses for mankind, and the Messenger may be a witness for you.” (2:143) In the light of this verse, it becomes clear that the followers of the Prophet have to carry out the task of dawah which the Prophet carried out. If the Muslim community does not perform this task, then its being ummat-e-muhammadi (followers of the Prophet Muhammad) would become doubtful.

Q3. Is it right that Muslims should not greet others on their festivities?

A3. There is nothing unlawful about wishing others on their festivals. We should wish and greet others. This is a matter of cultural experience about which there is nothing unlawful. Once, a group of people came to the Prophet of Islam in Medina from Yemen. They had not accepted Islam yet. When they saw the Prophet, they did not greet the Prophet by saying Assalamalaykum. Rather, they said: “Mayham.” This was the word used by the group of people in their region. The Prophet replied to them with the same greeting. Had the Prophet said Assalamalaykum to them, they would have not been happy. This shows that the Prophet has deep well-wishing for others in his heart.

Q4. If there is a pious Muslim who hates non-Muslims and does not do dawah work, will he be considered pious in front of God?

A4. Hating others has no place in Islam. Every person is a creation of God, so hating God’s creation is undoubtedly unlawful.

Q5.  A suicide bomber said those who do not engage in jihad are not innocent and therefore need to be killed. Please comment.

A5. The person who has made this comment is ignorant. Jihad means peaceful struggle for dawah. Killing people is not jihad at all.

Q6. What does Islam say about its collective teachings?

A6. Some teachings of Islam are related to the individual, for example, belief in God, behaving morally and so on. These are to be followed by every individual. The other teachings are those that pertain to law. For this, Islam says that only those laws will be enforced which are acceptable to the society. No one has the right to enforce laws on people by force. For further details, please read the tradition by Aisha in Bukhari.

Q7. What is ghazwa?

A7. Ghazwa doesn’t meant fight or war. Ghazwa means journey for dawah. For war the word used by the Quran is qital. And the Quran also states the conditions under which qital is applicable. Qital is not an absolute teaching; it has to be engaged in only for defence.

Q8. Is qital applicable in today’s times?

A8. Qital is not applicable in today’s times. All fuqaha say unanimously that in qital only combatants have to be killed and not non-combatants. Today’s age is one of weapons of mass destruction. Therefore, if one uses the weapons of modern times, one would inevitable kill non-combatants. Thus, war has become irrelevant in today’s times. We only have the option of peace. The option for war does not remain at all.

Q9. What is the Islamic stand on apostasy?

A9. Irtidad or apostasy is an issue that Muslims have created themselves. The Quran does not say at all that one who is an apostate should be killed. Verse 2:217 of the Quran informs that one who apostatizes from religion will die a natural death. The Quran does not say anywhere that such a person should be killed. Also, there is a relevant incident from the life of the Prophet. A group of Muslims migrated to Abyssinia in the early period of the Islamic mission. One of the persons, Ubaydullah bin Jahash was also part of the group. He converted to Christianity after going to Abyssinia. When the Prophet came to know of this, he did not demand that Ubaydullah be killed. Religion, therefore, according to Islam, is a matter of one’s own choice, and there is no punishment for anyone who chooses to follow the religion of his or her choice.