Muhammad Qutb - How to Invite People to Islam

HOW TO INVITE PEOPLE TO ISLAM

MUHAMMAD QUTB

Translated by:
Dr. Chafik Abdelghani

Al-Firdous Publishers,
London

Copyright: Al-Firdous Ltd.

All rights reserved 2012. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publishers and copyright owner.

2012: First Edition.

ISBN : 1 874263 94 9

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To my father, who instilled in me the passion for seeking knowledge. May Alla h accompany his solitude and alleviate his torment in the grave;

To my mother for her sacrifice. May Alla h make her walk;

To my wife Maria Erroujdani for typing the Quranic verses and for her endless support throughout the production of this work. May Alla h grant her pious children;

To my beautiful princess Wisal (Casawiyya) and to my twin handsome sons, Yasser (Assoula) and Youssef (Habboub Dyal Baba); I love you and I miss you so much.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments 3

Introduction 7

Reflections on the Early Life of the First Generation 15

The Exemplary Point in the Unique Generation 41

The Causes and Effects of Haste
in the Contemporary Movement 89

The Solid Base 137

Expanding the Base 281

The Reality and the Ideal

Outlook 355

INTRODUCTION

Inviting people to Islam, as the following verse implies, has always been this nations continuous duty:

There should arise out of you a group of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil. It is they who are the successful . ( Al-Imran :104)

This nation; that is, the Muslim nation ( al-Umma al-Islamiyya ), has been entrusted with such a task because it is the nation ofProphet Muhamma d , the seal of all prophets before him, and it will thus, take over the duty of unremittingly conveying the original Message to mankind until the Day of Judgment. The Message is two-fold: inviting people who do not believe in Islam to follow Islam and have faith ( Eeman ), and reminding those who believe in Islam of their religious duty in order to strengthen and uphold their faith:

Simply remind them by reciting the Quran, for this will be of benefit to those who believe . ( Az-Zaariyaat :55)

O you who believe! Believe in Allah, in His Messenger, in the Quranthat was revealed to His Messenger, and in the Torah and the Gospel which were revealed before . ( An-Nisa :136)

However, the Muslim nation today is going through some exceptional, perhaps unprecedented, circumstances. Take note: this is the first time in history that the Muslim nations knowledge of and acquaintance with Islam has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous; and ridiculous still is the manner of its implementation of and compliance with Islamic teachings. Hence, the task of inviting people to Islam today is more strenuous and demanding than it used to be. Putting it differently, the task of inviting people to Islam today no longer consists of sheer reminders of ones duty; rather, it is the reconstruction of the currently fragile and shaky Muslim edifice at a time when all nations have ambushed the Muslim nation from every part as the Prophe t once metaphorically put it: The nations summon each other upon you as you call guests to eat from a plate of food. They said, will we be few in number on that day O Messenger of Allah ? He said, no; rather, you will be many on that day, but you will be like the foam on the ocean. And Allah will remove the fear in the hearts of your enemies and place in your hearts al-wahn . They said, what is al-wahn O Messenger of Allah ? He said, love of this world and hatred of death.

We are confident that this edifice will be restored and will stand as high as it used to be, and all indications point to a new phase of Islam, a mighty Islam, despite the war waged against it by the trend of ignorance ( al-Jahiliyya ). It is the second strange phase of Islam ( al-Ghurba ath-Thaniyya ): Islam began strange and will return to being strange and Tuba (a field of heaven) to the strangers. And it is a mission that entails a considerable effort and a penetrating insight.

During its initial strange phase ( al-Ghurba al-Oula ), Islam was familiar to people, at least in itsfundamentals; that is to say, the belief in Alla h Alone, the belief in Divine Inspiration ( al-Wahiy ) and prophethood ( an-Nubuwwa ), and the belief in resurrection. These fundamentals were known to two types of people: people who embraced Islam from the very start, and people who opposed and sacrificed themselves to uproot it. The initial strange phase of Islam was manifested in its survival despite their being only a handful of weak and frail advocates of Islam on one hand, and the scores of strong and mighty opponents of Islam on the other.

When Khadija informed Waraqa Ibn Nawfa l of the story of Divine Inspiration, the latter said to the Prophe t : I wish I were in my first flush of youth to give you my full backing when your people expel you. Are they goingto expel me? the Prophe t wondered. There has never been anyone who tried to guide them, except that he was antagonistically opposed and resisted, Ibn Nawfa l explained.

A man asked the Prophe t : What is the purpose of your mission? The Prophe t replied: To invite people to believe in One God (Alla h ). The Arabs will not let you carry out your mission in peace, the man insisted.

As for the second strange phase of Islam ( al-ghurba ath-Thaniyya ), it was different. People today find it so strange. If you try to explain it to them or present it to them in the clearest possible fashion, they react indifferently: Where does this Islam come from? This is not the Islam we know.

When you advise people not to circumumbulate around the tomb of someone who died hundreds years ago and seek his help and blessing because it is an act of polytheism ( shirk ), their response is Who has put such a rotten notion in your mind? Do you want to strip Islam of its spiritualism?

When you advise people to implement Allah s Laws and discard man-made laws, you are given the following negative labels: fundamentalist, extremist, barbaric and reactionary. Things have changed, or this is a type of polytheism that does not strip one of Islam, they would say to you.

When you advise academics in the field of sociology, psychology, education, history and so on and so forth that the Western knowledge they have acquired and the subjects they teach contradict the Islamic principles and in some cases, explicitly violate the Aqeeda , they defensively say Islam has nothing to do with such knowledge. Do you want to implement Islam in everything? This is knowledge; Islam is a religion, and religion cannot interfere with knowledge.

On this premise, it will be a very difficult task to convince people of the truth about Islam what has come to us from Alla h - and cleanse their minds of the concepts they have formed about Islam. This is just at the level of acquainting people with the precepts of Islam; that is to say, making them know Islam ( al-Marifa ); implementation ( al-Mumarasa ) per se remains a tougher task. Knowledge alone is not sufficient to know Islam, though it is something necessary and basic.

The first word Allah sent to Muhammad via Gabrie l was Read . ( al-Alaq :1), then after a while came the phrase:

Know, therefore, that there is no god but Allah . ( Muhammad :19)

Knowledge as such ( al-Ilm ), according to the pious predecessors ( as-Salaf As-Salih ), was not just getting to know something or getting acquainted with it; rather, it was knowledge that leads to action. Hence, their knowledge shifted from a phase of knowing the truth to a phase of implementing this truth in real life.