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- ٠46 Miscellaneous topics - Al-Rahma Channel
Forward:
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of Creations, and may Allah have peace and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad. Dear spectators everywhere, Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh (May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.)Welcome to this special episode of your favorite TV show, “The Gathering of Mercy”. May Allah the Almighty make it mercy upon us and account it a righteous deed in our scale of Hasanat ( the reward from Allah recorded for performing a good deed, and accounted for on the Day of Judgment) when we meet Him. O Allah, give us faith, honesty, success, acceptance and guidance. You are the Best Disposer of affairs.Today episode is about the topic around which the following ayah revolves:
((And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."))
Also Almighty Allah says:((Invite (mankind, O Muhammad) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better.))
And He says:((Say (O Muhammad): “This is my way; I invite unto Allah (i.e. to the Oneness of Allah_Islamic Monotheism) with sure knowledge.))
This is a call for all people to act upon Allah's Order. It is the key of the human soul who was innately created to do good deeds and avoid evil ones. The Da'wah is what cleanses the heart and purifies the soul, straightens the thought and refutes the falsehood by the strong argument it makes.What a wonderful word it is! And what a great righteous deed which makes you closer to Allah the Almighty: It is the Da'wah (from Arabic da'a, meaning "call, invite," referring to the Islamic mission, the "call" to submit to Islam); it is the path our Messenger Muhammad, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, followed. It is the way by which you come to know Allah, His commandments, His reward and punishment. The Da'wah has religious duties, virtues, characteristics and a method. We are in need to know more about this path and its method, even more than our need to food and drink. Thus, let us dear brother discover what the Da'wah is all about. The Da'wah is essential for the whole world to keep in order. Otherwise, people's life will be chaotic. We are discussing in this blessed meeting today how the Da'wah can be performed in the best manner. Our guest for this meeting is one of the leading scholars of the Da'wah; he is the well-known dignified scholar Dr. Muhammad Rateb An-Nabulsi. Welcome!
Dr. Nabulsi:
May Allah bless you and make you of use to people.The Interviewer:
We are pleased to have you as our guest in this meeting; it is great honor to invite you to this show. May Allah bless you. Dignified teacher, I would like to discuss with you one of the crucial issues. Namely, the Da'wah within the existing conflicts and under these circumstances, as a lot of talks about it can b heard here and there and a lot of styles of missioners, orators and speakers can be noticed. All of them have been criticized without exception and many people have referred to the positive points and the negative ones of their positions. We need to have a clear vision about all this, so we would like you first to introduce to us the importance of the Da'wah.The Importance of the Da'wah:
Dr. Nabulsi:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, The Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah and may Allah's peace and blessings be upon our Master Muhammad, upon his folks, his companions, his descendants, and those who allied with him and followed him, and may You be pleased with them and us, O Lord of the Worlds.Let me refer to a precise fact: the Favor of Allah's Word on His creations' sayings is just like His Favor on His creations. Listen to this ayah, please:
((And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."))
It seems that this ayah indicates that:((And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."))
This is what makes Prophet Muhammad, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, the Master of all creations, Allah's beloved and the Master of Adam's children. Allah the Almighty says:((O Prophet (Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him)! Verily, We have sent you as witness, and a bearer of glad tidings, and a warner))
This Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, is the master of all Prophets and all creations. He was the only one who reached Sidrat-ul-Muntaha (a lot-tree of the utmost boundary over the seventh haven beyond which none can pass.) Our Prophet Muhammad, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, is infallible in all that he conveyed from Allah, in word and deed and in what he approved of. Also, he made him outstanding in his noble qualities and characteristics. However, Allah the Almighty told him:((And had you been severe and harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from about you.))
Allah is addressing the Master of creations, Allah's beloved and the Master of Adam's children:((And had you been severe and harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from about you.))
Allah is addressing the Master of all creations and the one of noble traits, so how would be the case of any normal man, who is not a prophet or a messenger? How would be the situation of a missioner who was not sent the Divine Revelation? Musa, may Allah have peace upon him, was one of the Messengers of strong will (there are many Prophets and Messengers of Allah, about twenty-five of them are mentioned in the Quran; out of these twenty-five, only five are of strong will: namely Muhammad, peace and blessing be upon him, Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses) and Isa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary)). Yet, Allah the Almighty told him:((“Go, both of you, to Firaun (Pharaoh), verily, he has transgressed (all bounds in disbelief and disobedience and behaved as an arrogant and as a tyrant*And speak to him mildly, perhaps he may accept admonition or fear (Allah)”.))
Allah the Almighty is our Creator, and both everything is in his Hand, but He never intends the relation between Him and His creatures to be made by compulsion, because:((There is no compulsion in religion.))
We are all under His command, our life, death, success, etc; everything is in His Hand. Nonetheless, Allah does not want His relation with His creations to be based on compulsion, but rather He wants it to be based on love. Listen to the following ayah, please:((…whom He will love and they will love Him.))
Now, listen to this ayah, please:((But those who believe, love Allah more (than anything else).))
Indeed, Allah does not want the relation to be based on compulsion because if He had willed, all people would have believed, as revealed in this ayah:((And had your Lord willed, those on earth would have believed, all of them together.))
The compulsory faith never makes us happy, because it does not draw us closer to Almighty Allah. Only the voluntary faith elevates you high in the Sight of Almighty Allah. Therefore, the relation between Allah and His creations should be based on love.Islam is a Perfect Religion:
There is another precise point I would like to pay your attention to: Islam is a perfect religion and it is tawqeefi ]It is not permissible to worship Allah, may He be exalted, through any act of worship unless this act of worship is proven in the Shar'i texts (Qur'an and Sunnah) to be an act of worship that was prescribed by Allah.[ This religion is from Allah the Absolute in His Comprehensiveness and the Absolute in His Knowledge. Hence, nothing should be added to it nor should it be deleted from it. No modifications should be made to this perfect religion. Modifications can be made to the style used by missioners while they are calling people to submit to Islam. No changes should be made to this religion; neither to its noble ayat nor to its As7adeth. I would like to tell those who are calling to renewing Islam that Islam can never be renewed. We can only renew the religious speech if we want. Dear brother, we should know the difference between religion and the religious speech. For example, I can convince people about a certain religious point by telling them about contemporary stories and events and by giving them examples from our daily life whether it is scientific, social or psychological. All these varied efforts can be done to renew the religious speech, but you cannot renew Islam.
Let me clarify this point by giving you the following example: when someone builds a new room in his apartment, we cannot say that he renews the whole building. The structure of the building does not change if someone changes the interior design of his apartment. Also, the structure of the building will remain as it is if it is painted. Painting it does not mean that its foundation and structure change. Thus, we can renew and develop the religious speech not the religion.
Dear brother, whenever the religious speech is successful both a Muslim and a non-Muslim accept it, but whenever it is weak, the Muslim will be the first one to reject not only the religious speech but also the religion itself. I was told that a French man embraced Islam because the one who called him to Allah was successful in his religious speech.
The Interviewer:
Dr. Nabulsi, I would like our dignified teachers, Islamic missioners, Islamic scholars and students to pay attention to the extremely important messages that you send; let them be careful about the style they use in their religious speeches before they call people to know Almighty Allah. They should always remember that Almighty Allah addressed our Prophet Muhammad, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, who is the best creature on earth and who was infallible, saying:((And had you been severe and harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from about you.))
Dr. Nabulsi:
Our Shiyukh s should be wise and reasonable when they invite people to know Almighty Allah. I was told what happened to a French man who embraced Islam. He spent six month with a contemporary Sheikh learning the Islamic rulings on water eligible for Wudu (Wudu is the partial ablution necessary before making any prayer.) He was fed up with Islam and decided to forget all about embracing it, but later on he met another dignified scholar- I think he is Sheikh Muhammad Abdu, and told him about the six months he spent. This Sheikh summarized that period in few words telling the French man, “The water you can make Wudu from is the one you can drink.”
Islam is a Complete Method:
I think that every era has its own specific nature, and as you can see things have changed. People nowadays prefer simplification, reasoning and practice. Thus, the successful missioner is the one who explains the religion in a simplified manner addressing both people's hearts and minds. After all man is made of mind which thinks, heart which loves and body which moves. The mind is fed by knowledge, the heart is fed by love and the body is fed by eating and drinking. Imagine our dear brother how successful the religious speech will be if it addresses both the mind and the heart!Allah the Almighty addresses the mind when He says:
((O man! What has made you careless concerning your Lord, the Most Generous?))
And He addresses the heart when He says:((Who created you, fashioned you perfectly, and gave you due proportion.)).
When we call people to Islam, we should address the mind sometimes to feed it by knowledge, and the heart other times to feed it by love. The love I mean here is the love for truth, the love for Allah and the love for righteous deeds. This is the kind of love which makes us elevated. Thus, neither the mind nor the heart should be neglected in every religious speech. In fact, matters of the worldly life should not be neglected either. When issues related to the worldly life were neglected, secularists started to protest against religion.I always say that our Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, introduced to us the complete method; the absolute perfect one. When the Islamic scholars focused only on Fiqh and neglected the purification of the ownself which Allah ordains in the following ayah:
((Indeed he succeeds who purifies his ownself (i.e. obeys and performs all that Allah ordered, by following the true Faith of Islamic Monotheism and by doing righteous good deeds).))
The Sufis emerged to concentrate on purification. They exaggerated in their focus and exceeded the limits, so the Salafists came to call to turning back to the Noble Quran and Sunnah. When matters of the worldly life were neglected, secularists came to focus only on issues related to the worldly life. Dear brother, Islam is a complete method, so we cannot focus on some issues and neglect the other ones. All these matters should be taken into consideration.The Prophet has individual infallibility, Whereas his Ummah has a collective one:
The Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, introduced to us the perfect method. This method is perfect because we are recommended to abide by it. Furthermore, it can never be wrong, otherwise Allah would not order us to follow and apply it. Our Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, is individually infallible, whereas his Ummah is collectively infallible as it is indicated in the following Hadith:((Verily, my nation will not agree upon misguidance, so if you see differences then follow the greatest majority.))
Indeed, the Ummah of our Prophet Muhammad, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, will not agree upon misguidance. This can be noticed in our daily life; when a depraved book is published, you find that the whole Ummah denounces it. On the other hand, when a decent book is published, all are silent. This is called a unanimous consensus on silence, because this book is reliable. People will raise their voices to defend the good when something unacceptable in Islam is promoted or published. This is the meaning of making this Ummah collectively infallible; it is one of the blessings of Allah that whenever there is a call to make misguide people and deviate them, we can always have who criticizes it and proves its falsehood.Unlike his Ummah, Our Prophet Muhammad, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, is infallible in all that he conveyed from Allah, in word and deed and in what he approved of. This is why Allah Almighty recommends us to follow his path. Our religion is absolutely true and we should give equal attention to all matters it is concerned with. When Islamic scholars focused only on Fiqh which is undoubtedly important, but it is still one part of Islam, Sufis emerged and called to concentrate on the neglected purification, and on the sincere contact with Allah.
Sufism existed in the era of the Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, but it needed no name at all. In his age, you can find the same matters Sufis are calling to the purification of the ownself, the sincere contact with Allah and the true devotion. The content of their call existed although they had no name, while nowadays it has a name but no content. You see how ironic their situation has become.
Islam is a Moderate Religion:
Dear Brother, we agreed that the Prophet introduced a perfect method to us. Sometimes we call our religion 'a moderate religion;' this expression has never existed, but it has been coined to differentiate between the true Islam and extremism. Scholars want to make it clear for all people that Islam is not an extremist religion, so they call it a moderate religion. I would like to repeat the point I mentioned previously; when the Fuqaha' (they are experts in Fiqh focused on Fiqh and ignored purification, the Sufis came to call to focusing on purification, straightness, sincerity, contacting with Allah…etc. When both groups neglected the worldly life, the Secularists came to focus only on the worldly life. The right thing to do is applying the religion as it was revealed. It is a Divine Method, so we are supposed to implement it with no addition or deletion.
We may develop the methodology adopted in the religious speech and make it suitable for our age. Let me elaborate; in the past, the religious speech was delivered in the Masjid and heard by about five thousands. Nowadays, the speech can be heard by millions because of the internet. Hence, the methodology adopted in the religious speech has been developed. Each era has its own methodology; such a point is referred to in the following ayah:
((Thus have We made for every Prophet…))
Islam is a perfect Divine Method, which we are required to apply. We should give it a rational explanation to attract people to it. Moreover, we have to be kind and good to the addressees. These are some of the points which I wanted to highlight concerning the issue of Islam is a moderate religion.The Interviewer:
Having discussed all these important points with you our dignified teacher, we move to another issue; the Da'wah. As we all know, it is Fard 'Ayn (individual duty) [it is an act that is obligatory for Muslims individually - each will be rewarded for performing it, or punished for failing to perform it. An example is the five daily prayers, for which Muslims are individually responsible,] so we would like you to tell us about the proper style that should be adapted while calling people to Islam. I mean the very style which enables people to get benefit from the moral lessons and stories mentioned in the Noble Quran and Sunnah.The Style of Da'wah:
Dr. Nabulsi:
Before I go into details, I would like to shed the light on an important fact: people believe what they see not what they hear. You may give your son a hundred lessons on truthfulness, but the minute you lie before him, all your lessons will be in vain. Similarly, the mother who gives her daughter many lessons about truthfulness but lies to her husband in front of her daughter, will make her lessens useless. The daughter will throw away all those theoretical lessons, because she knows very well that her mother visited her neighbor, and that she did not tell the truth to the father when was asked about that. This is very dangerous, because the daughter will forget all about the lessons her mother taught her.
Indeed, people believe what they see; they will never care about what you tell them if your actions contradict your sayings. It is enough for them to see how truthful you are to believe you. You call people to Allah by your honesty, truthfulness and loyalty. The true believer calls people to Allah by his straightness and perfection. I call this "The Silent Da'wah;" someone's actions call people to Allah instead of his words. You may admire someone because of his honesty, truthfulness and modesty. The way he deals with you is considered a silent Da’wah
Dear brother, your virtues and morals are Da'wah. When An-Najashi the king asked Ja'afar about Islam, Ja'afar answered him saying:
((We were people of ignorance, worshiping idols, eating dead meat, doing fornication, cutting relations with our kinship, wronging our neighbors, and our powerful eating the weak. We used to be that way until Allah sent us a Messenger of us whom we knew his relations, honesty, truthfulness, and abstinence. He called us for Allah to worship Him alone, and leave off what we used to worship, like our fathers, of stones and idols. He commanded us with to be true with our speech, return the deposits, and be kind to our kinship and neighbors. He prevented us from what is wrong and from bloods, and forbad us from fornication, telling lies, eating the money of the orphans, and accusing the chaste wives.))
Acts of Worship are Ritual and Transactional:
I keep repeating that acts of worship are of two types: ritual acts of worship, and transactional ones.. I believe that we will not be able to yield the fruit of the ritual acts of worship, unless we perform the transactional ones properly. This explains why sometimes man feels that there is a screen separating him from Almighty Allah while he is praying. Listen to this Hadith: It was narrated from Thawban that the Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, said:“I certainly know people of my nation who will on the Day of Resurrection with good deeds like the mountains of Tihaamah, but Allaah will make them like scattered dust.” Thawban said, “O Messenger of Allaah, describe them to us and tell us more, so that we will not become of them unknowingly.” He (peace be upon him) said, “They are your brother and from your race, worshiping at night as you do, but they will be people who, when they are alone, transgress the scared limits of Allaah.”
Do you know dear brother who the bankrupt among us is? The answer is in the following Hadith which was reported by Abu-Hurairah:((The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, asked: “Do you know who the bankrupt are?” They said, “The one without money or goods is bankrupt.” So the Prophet said, “The bankrupt are those from my nation who come on the Day of Resurrection with prayer, fasting, and charity, but comes also insulting, slandering, consuming wealth, shedding blood, and beating sh3er. They will each be given from his good deeds; if his good deeds run out before the score is settled, their bad deeds will be cast upon him, then he will be thrown into the Hellfire.”))
This means that the transactional acts of worship are basic in this great religion. You cannot perform the ritual worship properly unless you perform the transactional ones successfully. This means that gaining a very small amount of money illegally detaches you from Allah.I hope that we pay more attention to the transactional acts of worship, because it is essential in our religion. Actually, both acts of worship complete each other. Obeying Allah means that you should refuse ill-gotten money, seek Halal earnings (lawful earnings,) raise your children in accordance with the morals and ethics of Islam…etc
In fact, man cares a lot about the minute details of his life such as the safety of his existence, the perfection of his existence and the continuity of his existence. The safety of his existence can be maintained by being straight; he never accepts ill-gotten money, never lies, never steals and never does whatever is Haram. His happiness in the worldly life can be attained by performing righteous deeds like feeding an orphan, reconciling a husband with his wife, putting an end to misunderstanding between two people…etc. The continuity of his existence can be achieved by raising up his children to become righteous. Man's straightness saves him from Allah's punishment, his righteous deeds elevate him in the Sight of Allah, and raising up his children to be moral and righteous assures him the continuity of his existence. It is man's nature to love his safety, perfection and continuity of his existence.
Once, I gave a lecture in America, and I told the attendants that "If you have the high position of President Clinton, the wealth of Onassis and the intelligence of Einstein, you will be the most miserable father if your son is not as you wish." The good son is really a blessing which is referred to in the Noble Quran as "Comfort of eye." This ayah is understood well by those whose children are comfort of eye to them.
The Interviewer:
Masha Allah! May Allah reward you Dr. Nabulsi. Now, let us move to another point: depending on wisdom and fair preaching in the Da'wah.
Inviting people to Islam by Wisdom and Fair Preaching:
Dr. Nabulsi:
I always keep saying that the Islamic missioner is a walking Islam. This missioner is referred to in the following Hadith:((A person who has the following characteristics has perfect chivalry and justice: one who doesn't oppress the people in his dealings with them; one who doesn't lie when he talks to the people; one who doesn't act opposite to what he promises. It is incumbent to act like a brother with him; support his justness; respect his manliness; and not gossip about him.))
If you talk about idealism, people make fun of you thinking that it does not exist. Let me tell you that idealism does exist in Islam; it is real in our religion, but it has been fading away. Idealism were applied by the Companions, may Allah be please with them all. Read their biographies, you will find out that their idealism was real.It is said that an ideal person is the one who lives in a moral ivory tower. I would like to differentiate between the moral ivory tower and the mental one. Those who live in the mental ivory tower prefer to detach themselves from what is going on. They do not like to know about the sufferings of other people, their problems and their miserable status. This tower and those who live in it is not favored in Islam. Unlike this tower, the moral one is preferable in our religion. People who live in their moral ivory tower are keen on keeping themselves safe from falling down in people's common muddy shallows. They detach themselves from their deviations, sins and disobedience. However, they never keep themselves away from trying to solve their problems and make their situation better. This is exactly what the real believer should do. He lives in his moral ivory tower, but never lives in the mental one.
The Interviewer:
Let us now move to the characteristics of the Da'wah.
The Da'wah is Fard Ayn and Fard Kifaya:
Dr. Nabulsi:
Allah the Almighty says:
((By Al-Asr (the time)* Verily, Man is in loss. Except those who believe (in Islamic Monotheism) and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth (i.e. order one another to perform all kinds of good deeds (Al-Ma'ruf) which Allah has ordained, and abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds (Al-Munkar) which Allah has forbidden,), and recommend one another to patience (for the sufferings, harms, and injuries which one may encounter in Allah's Cause during preaching His religion of Islamic Monotheism or Jihad, etc.))
This means that the Da'wah is one of the pillars of salvation. I do not agree with those who consider the Da'wah Fard Kifaya (collective duty) [it is an act that is obligatory for the Muslim community collectively - if it is sufficiently carried out by some members of the Muslim community, then other Muslims do not have to perform it.] I insist on considering the Da'wah Fard 'Ayn (individual duty) [it is an act that is obligatory for Muslims individually - each will be rewarded for performing it, or punished for failing to perform it. An example is the five daily prayers, for which Muslims are individually responsible.]The first evidence is Surat Al-Asr:
((By Al-Asr (the time)* Verily, Man is in loss. Except those who believe (in Islamic Monotheism) and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth (i.e. order one another to perform all kinds of good deeds (Al-Ma'ruf) which Allah has ordained, and abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds (Al-Munkar) which Allah has forbidden,), and recommend one another to patience (for the sufferings, harms, and injuries which one may encounter in Allah's Cause during preaching His religion of Islamic Monotheism or Jihad, etc.))
Dear brother, recommending one another to the truth is D'awah. It is one of the pillars of salvation according to Surat Al-Asr.
Listen to the second evidence, please:
((Say (O Muhammad): “This is my way; I invite unto Allah (i.e. to the Oneness of Allah_Islamic Monotheism) with sure knowledge, I and whosoever follows me (also must invite sh3er to Allah i.e. to the Oneness of Allah_Islamic Monotheism with sure knowledge)).
This means that he who does not invite sh3er unto Allah, does not follow the path of our Prophet Muhammad, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him.These are two evidences which prove that the Da'wah is Fard ‘Ayn. You can call people who you know to Islam according to your ability and knowledge. You can call your brother, your friend, your neighbor, your family in law...etc. If you attended a Friday Sermon and you were very impressed, you can mention it before one of your relatives when you are invited to have launch in his house. Remember that the Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, said:
((Convey from me even a single verse.))
In brief, the Da'wah is Fard 'Ayn on every Muslim, according to the limits of his knowledge, and among the people who he knows. However, having deep knowledge about the religion and devote oneself to it is Fard Kifaya.
The Interviewer:
Now, we come to the characteristics of the Da'wah:The Characteristics of the Da'wah:
1-Getting yourself Acquainted with the Commander is Prior to Knowing the Commandment:
Dr. Nabulsi:
The first characteristic is: acquainting oneself with the Commander is prior to knowing the commandment. If you know the Commander, who is Allah, through knowing His Oneness, Wholeness, Omnipotence, His Most Beautiful Names and Lofty Attributes, you will never hesitate to obey His commands.
Let me give you an example to explain this point. Sometimes, when a citizen receives a letter from a man of a lower position asking him to come to a certain place on the next day at 10.00 a.m. he may not care about it, and he may decide not to go there. However, his reaction to a similar letter sent by a prominent official will be totally different. He may not be able to sleep thinking about what will happen on the next day. Why is his reaction different in the second case? Simply, because the second order is sent by a powerful, while the first one is by an inferior man. This is the point; when you know who really the Commander is, you will devote yourself to comply with his commands.
We were taught at school at school that if you know who the commander is before knowing the command, you will comply with it, whereas if you keep ignorant of your commander you will not care about his orders. This explains why you find some people looking for a weak Fatwah (A legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar.) to escape complying with Allah's orders. Those people claim that the current cicrumstanses require such kind of Fatawah. Actually, they would never have dared to ignore His orders, had they known Him. Imam Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, has an interesting saying concerning this:
"Don't look at how small your sin is, but rather look at the greatness of the One you are sinning against."
The main problem is that people lack knowledge about who the Commander is. Therefore, I suggest that the religious education should be based on introducing the Commander before teaching Allah's commandments. Religious courses should get students well-acquainted with Allah through referring to His creations, and Signs of creations in the Noble Quran which have scientific implications. This makes it easier to the students to know their Commander.
The Interviewer:
Dignified teacher, may you give us an example of Allah's Signs, please?
Dr. Nabulsi:
When an astronaut crosses the atmosphere and reaches the space, he shouts loudly: “ I became blind, I can't see anything. What happened?” To explain what really happened, let me compare this to what happens on the earth. On the earth there is what we call “the dispersion of light”. It is a phenomenon which happens when the atoms of the air are exposed to the sunlight. These atoms reflect the light to other atoms, so the light spreads everywhere. In the space, there is no air and no such atoms to reflect the sunlight, so darkness is everywhere. This is why the astronaut says that they become blind. Believe it or not, this darkness is referred to in the Noble Quran. Listen to this ayah, please:
((And even if We opened to them a gate from the heaven and they were to keep on ascending thereto* They would surely say: “Our eyes have been (as if) dazzled. Nay, we are a people bewitched”.))
Every Prophet was sent to his nation with a miracle granted by Allah to prove that Allah sent him. All the Prophets who were sent before Prophet Muhammad, may Allah have peace and blessings upon them all, were given concrete miracles; Musa, may Allah have peace upon him, could with Allah's Will make a dry path in the sea, and Ibrahim, may Allah have peace upon him, was thrown into the fire, but it could not burn him. All the previous Prophets, may Allah have peace upon them, were given concrete miracles, because each one of them was sent to his people only. Unlike them, our Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, was to all mankind, and he is the last Prophet after whom there is no other Prophet. Thus, His miracle should be special and continuous to reach the last people on earth. That is why the miracle he was given is not concrete, but rather it is scientific. There are one thousand and three hundred ayat in the Noble Quran which contain rules that have been discovered recently. This proves that He Who has created this world is the One Who has revealed this Noble Quran; therein lies the miracle.It is worth mentioning that our Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, has hundreds of sayings on almost everything, except on the Signs of creations mentioned in Quran and their scientific implications. Do you know why? Because had the Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, explained those signs to his companions in a simple way that they could understand, we would have denied those simple explanations. We have state-of-the-art technology which proves that those signs have more complicated scientific implications, so we would have been unable to believe those explanations. Also, had the Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, explained the complicated meaning of them,, his companions would have understood nothing. As if those signs were left deliberately unexplained until this time to be rigorous evidences for Allah’s creations that this Noble Quran is His Word.
Let me give you another example of the scientific implications. Studies in embryology have indicated that the sperm determines the gender of the embryo (male/female) and not the female egg. This scientific fact which has been discovered recently is referred to in the following ayah:
((And that He (Allah) creates the pairs, male and female* From Nutfah (drops of semen male and female discharges) when it is emitted;))
There are many other facts about the scientific miraculousness. For instance, the distance between the earth and the nearest hot star is four light years. In these four light years, the light travels an incredible distance. Let us calculate this quickly: the light travels three hundred thousand kilometers per second (300 000 km/s). This means that in one minute, the light travels the same distance multiplied by sixty (300 000X60). In one hour, the light travels this distance multiplied by another sixty (300 000X60X60). In one day, the light travels the same distance multiplied by twenty-four (300 000X60X60X24). In one year, the light travels the same distance multiplied by three-hundred-and sixty-five (300 000X60X60X24X365). In four years, the light travels the same distance multiplied by four (300 000X60X60X24X365X4). If man wants to travel this distance by his car, he will spend fifty million years travelling! He will spend all these years only to cover the distance between the earth and the nearest hot star. How many years we need to travel the distance between the earth and the Pole Star which is four thousand light years far from us? How many years we need to travel the distance between the earth and the Andromedia Galaxy which is two million light years away from us? How many years we need to travel the distance between the earth and the new discovered galaxy which is twenty-four thousand million light years away from us? Listen what Allah the Almighty says about the setting of the stars in the Noble Quran:((So I swear by Mawaqi (setting or the mansions, etc.) of the stars (they traverse)* And verily, that is indeed a great oath, if you but know.))
Dear Brother, if you want to be pleased in the worldly life, you should seek the Islamic knowledge, if you want to be pleased in the Hereafter, you should seek the Islamic knowledge and if you want to be pleased in both of them, you should seek the Islamic knowledge. The Noble Quran contains one thousand and three hundred Signs of creation with scientific implications; each of them is a rigorous evidence which proves that the One Who has created this amazing universe is the same One Who has revealed the Noble Quran. How dare you disobey Him? How dare you not seek His love and satisfaction? How dare you not seek His Paradise or fear His Hellfire? You should know who Allah is. You should know who the Commander is before knowing His command, because if you don't, you will not obey Him, and you will be indifferent to His orders.
2- Being an Exemplary is Prior to Becoming a Missioner:
The second point is: being an exemplary is prior to becoming a missioner. When a patient sees a doctor, he does not care whether this doctor is straight man or not. All he cares about is how excellent this doctor is at medicine. However, when it comes to the Islamic missioner, things are totally different. People care about how straight the missioner is to see if he applies what he calls them to do or not. How can a missioner call people to obey Allah, while he himself disobeys Him? What a shame! This reminds me of the following poem:
Comply with Our command, so We make you close to Us. We generously reward those who love Us.
If you ask Us for our protection, We will protect you from evil people.
Never leave Our remembrance for sh3er'sake, and keep loyal to Us, so
you will be granted all contentment and happiness.
Let Us take care of your affairs, and believe that closeness and alienation are in Our hand. How embarrassed will I be if He asks me:
“O Slave! Haven't you read Our Book?”
Don't you feel ashamed? Have not you have enough evidence? Don't you fear Our blame the Day We meet you?
Isn’t it time to give up committing sins
and go back to the Divine Method?
Our beloved have made Our love a school of tradition, and the teachings of their school never go against Our Divine love
If your eyes sees Our beauty that they have seen,
you will not turn your back on Us for other's sake.
If your ears hear Our nice words,
you will e get rid of your arrogance and come to Us.
If you taste the least of Our love,
you will excuse him who loved Us to death.
If you feel the affection of Our closeness to you,
you will die for longing for Us.
Our love, easy you say? No way! Claim otherwise and, we would say
No idea about us you have; nay easiest in love is a die-cast demise
But hardest than slaying is over one's flight we agonize
Before calling people to submit to Allah, you should be an exemplary. You have to be patient before asking people to be patient, and you have to be the first one who gives Sadaqah (a charitable deed) to the poor and the needy before asking sh3er to do so. I would like to repeat what I have said earlier: people cares about what they see not what they hear.
3-Benevolence is Prior to Illustration:
There is another point which missioners should take into consideration. They should bear in mind that benevolence is prior to illustration. You can always open up people's heart by being benevolent to them, so they will open up their minds to your illustration. You can be benevolent to sh3er by caring for them. If your brother is poor, help him to find a job. Also you can help him by finding a religiously committed young man for his daughter to marry. When people see your good deeds and know how caring you are, they will listen to you whenever you tell them about Islamic teachings. A missioner should take the role of the father, the guide and the teacher. If you care about people's affairs, you will courage people to believe you when you tell the truth. On the other hand, when all you care about is being an eloquent orator who people like his speech, and forget about caring for them, your attendants will not be touched by your sermons.
I keep saying that being an exemplary is prior to becoming a missioner. Our Prophet, may Allah have peace and blessings upon him, used to be the first one who applied the things he asked people to do, and he used to be the first one who avoided things he forbade people from doing. I would like to address you fathers, msh3er, teachers, directors and whoever occupies a high position in society: You should be the first to abide by what you ask people to, otherwise people will make fun of you and will criticize whatever you say.
The Interviewer:
Let me remind the spectators of the characteristics we have discussed so far: getting oneself acquainted with the Commander is prior to knowing the command, being an exemplary is prior to becoming a missioner and benevolence is prior to illustration.Dr. Nabulsi
I repeat again: you can open up people's heart by your benevolence, so they will open up their minds to your illustration.
4- Invitation is Prior to Intimidation:
Now, invitation is prior to intimidation. When a father discovers that one of his children does not perform his prayers regularly, he may say, "I will hit you." Another father may react in a different way; he tells his children, "I will reward who performs his prayers regularly." Notice the difference between the reactions of the two fathers. We should always depend on invitation before intimidation in the Da'wah.
The Interviewer:
May you elaborate this particular point, please?
Dr. Nabulsi:
In the Noble Quran, there is a balance between the description of the people of Paradise and the one of the people of Hellfire and between the worldly life and the Hereafter.. When a missioner wants to call people to submit to Allah, he should pay attention to such a balance. In fact, when you balance things, you will get people's acceptance. Some Islamic missioners unconsciously talk about scary things in Islam, like Allah's punishment, Hellfire, grave torture...etc. They do not notice that people who listen to those terrifying facts will prefer to keep away from Islam. Thus, missioners should depend on both invitation and intimidation, and they should always remember that invitation comes before intimidation. You talk about the positive things; the issues that attract their attention.
In one of the Arab countries, a Filipino embraced Islam when he was invited to it. He asked missioners what he had to do in this religion, and they replied to him that he had to start with circumcision [the word circumcision means “to cut around”. In male infants, circumcision is an operation which involves tearing the foreskin away from the glans (head) of the penis, cutting along the top of the foreskin, then clamping the foreskin and cutting it off.]. The man was forty years old and he was very terrified by the idea of circumcision, so he refused. They told him: "In this case, you are an apostate, so your head should be cut off." The newly Muslim Filipino was irritated, and he could but say: "How cruel is your religion! When someone embraces it he should have his private part cut off, and when he deserts it, he should have his head cut off! "
A missioner should start explaining basic issues not minor ones. Circumcision is necessary in Islam, but there are many essential matters with are more important than it.
The Interviewer:
Let us move to the next point: Explaining the roots is prior to explaining the branches.
5-Explaining the Roots is Prior to Explaining the Branches:
Dr. Nabulsi:
The Branches here mean the most intricate details of Sharia'h. Some people go deep in studying these minor details to the extent that they forget about the main purposes of Shari’ah. For instance, when someone does not performs the obligations and duties laid down by Allah, but at the same time he punishes sinners in an exaggerating way that contradict being benevolent to people (which is one of Allah's commandments,) he will be neglecting the roots of Islam at the expense of focusing on minor matters. Unfortunately, some missioners are keen on discussing and arguing about the minute details of minor things and ignore the major purposes of Shari'ah. As a result, disputes between Muslims break out, and they reach the point of accusing one another of being a disbeliever. This is really a serious problem. We Should Distinguish Between Two Calls:
I always say in the Da'wah, we should make a distinction between two calls; the call to Allah the Almighty, and the call to oneself dressed up in the Da'wah.The Interviewer:
May you clarify this point, please?
Dr. Nabulsi:
The call to Allah is dedicated to be for the Cause of Allah only, and it is based on applying the Divine Method and cooperating with sh3er. In contrast to this call, the call to oneself under the cover of the Da'wah is not sincere, because it is only for the cause of oneself. It is based on heresies which are wildly spread nowadays, like saying: “I am the only one who is right in this country.” Whoever says that is against cooperating with sh3er and against the following Ayah:
((Help you one another in Al-Birr and At-Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety).))
It is a call based on competition rather than cooperation. In the west, they came up with the “teamwork” expression. It indicates that every employee has a specific job to do in the best manner and they all cooperate with each other. The teamwork makes every institution an advanced one. In our countries, on the contrary, there is no such teamwork. You find that an employee has to do the job of ten employees, and vice versa. Dear Brother, we should have this team spirit if we want to develop our institutions. One of my brother in faith was once in Holland, and he that he about an “unusual job vacancy," in the newspaper. He said that the job qualifications were just like the ones we are familiar with, such as academic degree, age and job experience. However, what made him consider it unusual was that in addition to all those qualifications the advertisement mentioned that a person who wanted to apply for that job had to have a team spirit. It means that he should deeply believe that cooperation is essential. We should all believe in cooperation, because cooperation is one of the virtues and it is a sign of civilization. We, Muslims, are recommended to help one another:
((Help you one another in Al-Birr and At-Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety).))
Al-Birr here is required to be pleased in the worldly life, and At-Takwa is required to be pleased in the Hereafter.Listen again, please:
((Help you one another in Al-Birr and At-Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety).))
Unfortunately, competition has replaced Al-Birr.I repeat what I have mentioned previously, the sincere and devoted call to Islam is based on applying the Divine Method, whereas the call to oneself is based on heresies. Respecting one another and cooperating with one another is essential in the true call to Islam, while the call to oneself denies the other and competes with him.
The Interviewer:
Now, we move on to calling people for Islam without causing them any embarrassment.
6- The Da'wah Aims at Guiding People, not Causing them Embarrassment:
Dr. Nabulsi:
If you want to advise someone who commits a sin before you, try to do that in private and never advise him in public, because this will embarrass him.. Whenever you guide someone, do that in private, use kind words while doing so and avoid guiding him in public, because this will defame him before other people and he will be hurt. In fact, some people like to seem superior to sh3er so they advise other people in public deliberately in order to embarrass them. If you want to advise people and guide them to the right thing, you should do that in private not in public. Advising sh3er in public is defaming them, so avoid it in the Da'wah. The Interviewer:
Addressing both the heart and the mind is our next point.
7-Addressing Both the Heart and the Mind:
Dr. Nabulsi:We should pay attention to this point. If the Da'wah is intended to address the mind only, it does not succeed, and if it is intended to the heart alone, it fails in achieving its goals. We are made of minds and hearts, so the successful Da'wah is the one in which the missioner addresses people's minds by knowledge and their hearts by love. A missioner should care about his student's heart, mind and the affairs of his worldly life. I suggest that our Islamic missioners get more involved in the worldly preoccupations of their young students; they can help them to get a job or to get married. Helping young people financially to get married needs a lot of efforts and it requires the cooperation between organizations and institutions.
Missioners should always be in touch with the businessmen, so that they can find their students jobs. This is what I do in Damascus; when some of my honest and truthful students need jobs, I send them to my friends who are businessmen to get them jobs. Honest and trustworthy employees are always welcome to work in factories or any other institution.
It is very great to have this cooperation between missioners and businessmen. It will diminish the financial problems of our young men. Almighty Allah says:
((Help you one another.))
This is a Divine order, and every Divine order is obligatory as the scholars said. Listen again to the ayah, please:((Help you one another in Al-Birr and At-Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety).))
Al-Birr is required to make you pleased in the worldly life, and At-Taqwa is required to make you pleased in the Hereafter. It has been said that “The good deeds which draw you closer to the Creator are as many as the creations.” There are innumerous good deeds by which you can help people, such as feeding the poor, helping young men to get married, inviting people to Allah and transmitting Islamic knowledge…etc.Doing righteous deeds should be a daily task. Your need for food and drink is daily, so is the need for doing a good deed, because it is the purpose of your existence. The proof is that when the Angel of Death comes to you, you will say:
((“My Lord! Send me back, *So that I may do good in that which I have left behind!”))
You want to be sent back to do only one thing, i.e. the good deed. You should bear in mind that the purpose of your existence is doing good deed. Remember the supplication that we make every day in Fajr (Dawn) to start our day with “O Allah help us do a righteous deed which draws us closer to You.” Your rank in Allah's sight is estimated first by your faith, and then by how many righteous deeds you do. If you make doing righteous deeds a daily objective you seek to achieve, you will be elevated to Almighty Allah.The Interviewer:
We ask Allah to accept all our righteous deeds. The time is passing dignified teacher, and we are very pleased to listen to your nice words and impressive talk while giving our spectators all those precious pieces of advice. We hope that they will start applying the instructions you have referred to so far, so that they invite people to Allah with fair preaching and become exemplary representatives of Islam.
8- Explanation Goes Alongside Giving Evidence:
Dr. Nabulsi:We still have one last point concerning the characteristics of the Da'wah. It has to do with supporting your explanation by evidences. When you discuss a religious issue with someone, support your argument with evidences, because depending on explanation alone does not work. For example, when you tell someone that something is forbidden, you should give him the evidence by referring to an ayah, a Hadith, or consensus by Fuqaha'a. This makes your argument convincing. I It is useful to accompany your evidences with scientific explanation to convince sh3er, especially westerners. Hence, you bring the Islamic culture and the western culture together by using such a method in your discussion.
The Interviewer:
To summarize, we discussed the following points: getting oneself acquainted with the commander is prior to knowing the commandment, being an exemplary prior to becoming a missioner, benevolence is prior to illustration, invitation is prior to intimidation, explaining the roots is prior to the branches, guiding people without causing them any embarrassment, addressing both the heart and the mind and finally the evidence goes alongside the explanation. Subhana Allah (Glorified be Allah) We are running out of time May Allah bless your knowledge our dignified teacher, Amen. Now, dear spectators we welcome your calls. Before receiving calls we would like you Dr. Nabulsi to address the Islamic missioners who gave up the Da'wah to engage in politics, and who involved in the worldly affairs and forgot about helping people know Allah and get closer to Him What do you say to them?
The Da'wah Goes Alongside Politics:
Dr. Nabulsi:The Da’wah and politics never goes against each other. Politics is part of man's daily life, so when the missioner gives a good opinion concerning the current events, he will do his country a favor. Let us take as an example the case of Egypt: there has been a constitutional referendum, and the constitution has been ratified. The new regime is good as a lot of people have viewed it; it calls for mercy, for tolerance and for going back to Shari'ah in ruling. All these things are good, so people should support them. I cannot believe that there are Muslims who will not accept these developments. All of us see the difference between this regime and the last one. Thus, whoever goes against it and criticizes the latest developments to please foreign agents and achieve their interests is actually being used as a dirty tool to achieve a dirty goal.
I see how important this turning point is in Egypt, and I wish to see other countries having the same change. I am following up the events in Egypt and I have noticed that there are people in authority who adhere to Allah's orders and want to keep closer to people! I really wonder at those who stand against this great achievement.
The Interviewer:
So, what do you say to the Islamic missioners who left the Da'wah and got engaged in politics?
A Message for the Islamic Missioners Who Gave up Da'wah:
Dr. Nabulsi:People always believe and listen to the words of the Islamic missioner. Thus, the missioner is responsible for his actions in front of people. He witnesses the transgressions committed around him, so he has to clarify his position towards it. If he keeps silent, he is sinful. If he does not advise people or show them the right thing to do under these difficult circumstances, he is sinful. We were forbidden to express our mind and to tell the truth for thirty years. Now, there is liberty, freedom of speech, a right method to depend on and a religious reference to go back to in our actions. I have noticed how major this jump is, because I myself have deprived from all this. This achievement is a blessing which we should appreciate in order not to lose it again and suffer the unbearable. Allah the Almighty may punish those who deny His blessings and do not appreciate them. Consequently, they may face a serious problem.
I would like to advise all Muslims t
