About the Book

This book was written by Hazrat Maulana Sayyid Abul A‘la Maududi (may Allah have mercy on him), the eminent thinker and founder of the contemporary worldwide Islamic movement, when he was only twenty-two years old, fifty years ago. It was written in July and August 1925. At that time, the Maulana was the sole responsible editor of the daily Al-Jamiyat, published from Delhi. Before that, in 1920, he had worked as a young journalist for the Taj, published from Jabalpur, and from 1921 to 1923 for the Muslim, published from Delhi. This book was published as a series of editorial articles under the title “The Source of Islam’s Strength” in the issues of Al-Jamiyat dated July 18, 22, 26, and 29, 1925, and August 10, 14, and 18. After remaining confined to the pages of Al-Jamiyat for forty-four years, the original work was first published in book form in 1969. The present book is a translation of that publication.

Until now, “Al-Jihad fi’l-Islam” (published in 1927) has been regarded as Maulana Maududi’s first book. It may now be hoped that “The Source of Islam’s Strength” will be regarded as his first book in terms of the date of composition, even if not in terms of publication. It is a matter of great interest for readers that both books were written against the backdrop of the Shuddhi movement, an extremely agitating and sensational event in the India of that time. This movement, led by Swami Shraddhanand, created widespread agitation and anxiety among Muslims, and thought and research were undertaken concerning how it could be confronted. This work was published in response to that very concern. “Al-Jihad fi’l-Islam,” on the other hand, was written after the sudden assassination of Swami Shraddhanand, when a tendency arose among Hindus to accuse the Muslim religion of inspiring the murder of human beings. In that book, the Maulana made a remarkably effective effort to clear Islam of the accusations directed against it by offering an objective explanation of Islam’s jihad policy.

One characteristic of the author of “The Source of Islam’s Strength” will strike readers with extraordinary force. It is the remarkable consistency of the author’s thought. When this work, written half a century ago, is read alongside all his later works, so coherent and harmonious a personality in thought is rarely seen even among the world’s greatest thinkers. As evidence of this consistency of thought, we have quoted at the end of this booklet a portion of a speech delivered by the author in 1967. We hope that, after this book is published in translation, individuals and institutions engaged in propagating Islam will benefit greatly from it. At the same time, this book will serve as a valuable historical resource for understanding the author’s intellectual and spiritual development at its early stage.

Part One

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In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

One

The Proselytizing Character of the Muslim Nation

Ever since a tendency to abandon Islam began to appear among some non-Muslim nations, widespread unrest and agitation have arisen among the Muslims of India. Calls for the propagation of Islam have begun to resound from all sides. Various organizations have begun inviting people to the true religion according to their respective abilities. Newspapers and journals are discussing and reviewing the importance of this work. Seminars, symposia, and similar gatherings are being held to review the means, resources, opportunities, and capabilities available to us for propagating and spreading Islam. In short, judging from the circumstances, it seems that a genuine response to the propagation of Islam has arisen among Muslims, creating an awakening and enthusiasm. But if we think more deeply about the matter, we realize that those of us known as Muslims in this age are entirely unfamiliar with the propagating inspiration and enthusiasm of the Muslims of the past—an inspiration that was once the most effective instrument of Islam’s universal victory, worldwide authority, and power. If that inspiration and enthusiasm existed among us today, perhaps there would be no need for these meetings and associations. We would not need to beat our brows because of the hostile conduct of Islam’s enemies; rather, the enemies themselves would be bewildered merely by seeing our steadily growing strength. At times we are astonished to reflect that such unrest and agitation have arisen among the followers of a religion whose organizational elements included, as an essential component, calling people toward truth and righteousness and devoting themselves to conveying Allah’s final message to His servants—and whose followers completed the propagation of the true religion from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the shores of the Mediterranean within a single century. The question arises: are we, then, following that very true religion, or have we Muslims, like the Children of Israel, invented a new religion after the death of our Prophet?

Today our mouths resound with the resolve to propagate Islam. We want to form various groups or organizations for this purpose. But this is perhaps the first time in the history of Islam that its followers have tried to form missionary societies like the Christians, or have raised such an uncontrolled outcry for the propagation of Islam. If the real key to success lay in forming societies or making a great commotion, then surely we should have made greater progress in this field than our predecessors. Yet we clearly see the opposite. Despite all this preparation, our feet are moving backward, whereas our predecessors achieved such success despite an extreme lack of means, resources, and preparation that, owing to that success, followers of Islam are present today in every corner of the world. In India alone, our number has reached seventy million. [This was in 1925. At present, the number of Muslims in the subcontinent is approximately 200 million.—Translator] In these circumstances, we must consider: what is our real deficiency? What is the fundamental secret of the propagation of Islam?

In fact, all the weaknesses now visible among Muslims have appeared solely because Islam’s vital force has departed from them. They have forgotten what honor they possess as Muslims. If they properly understood Islam and came to know the aim and purpose of a Muslim’s life, the problem of propagating Islam would resolve itself.

The Purpose of the Muslims’ Life

Professor Max Muller holds that Islam is fundamentally a missionary religion. Its foundation is established upon tabligh, or propagation. Its progress and development have been achieved through propagation, and its existence depends upon propagation. Indeed, if one practices the teachings and injunctions of Islam, it becomes clear that Islam means calling people toward truth, and that the purpose of a Muslim’s life is nothing other than commanding what is right and forbidding what is wrong. The Holy Qur’an describes the purpose of a Muslim’s life as follows:

كُنتُمخَيرَأُمَّةٍأُخرِجَتلِلنّاسِتَأمُرونَبِالمَعروفِوَتَنهَونَعَنِالمُنكَرِوَتُؤمِنونَبِاللَّهِۗوَلَوءامَنَأَهلُالكِتٰبِلَكانَخَيرًالَهُمۚمِنهُمُالمُؤمِنونَوَأَكثَرُهُمُالفٰسِقونَ

“You have been made the best nation for the world so that you may enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and believe in Allah.” —(Surah Aal Imran: 110)

The reason Muslims are needed in the world is only this:

وَلتَكُن مِنكُم أُمَّةٌ يَدعونَ إِلَى الخَيرِ وَيَأمُرونَ بِالمَعروفِ وَيَنهَونَ عَنِ المُنكَرِ ۚ وَأُولٰئِكَ هُمُ المُفلِحونَ

“Let there arise from among you a group that calls only toward goodness, enjoins what is right, and forbids what is wrong.” —(Surah Aal Imran: 104)

Muslims have repeatedly been commanded:

ادعُ إِلىٰ سَبيلِ رَبِّكَ بِالحِكمَةِ وَالمَوعِظَةِ الحَسَنَةِ ۖ وَجٰدِلهُم بِالَّتى هِىَ أَحسَنُ ۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبيلِهِ ۖ وَهُوَ أَعلَمُ بِالمُهتَدينَ

“Call people to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction.” —(Surah An-Nahl: 125)

فَذَكِّر بِالقُرءانِ مَن يَخافُ وَعيدِ

“Use the Qur’an to exhort the one who fears My warning.” —(Surah Qaf: 45)

فَذَكِّر إِنَّما أَنتَ مُذَكِّرٌ

“Exhort them. Your only duty is to exhort.” —(Surah Al-Ghashiyah: 21)

The influence of these teachings was strongest in the life of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and these teachings brought about a complete revolution in the lives of the noble Companions. Their pure lives were constantly devoted solely to the work of da‘wah and tabligh. Their gatherings, movements, and every action had as their central aim calling people to Allah and guiding Allah’s servants toward the Straight Path.

As long as the influence of these teachings of the Holy Qur’an and the example of the Messenger remained intact in the lives of Muslims, every Muslim was a propagator and a muballigh.

They engaged in trade and commerce, the arts, agriculture, governance, and every worldly activity. But the inspiration and awareness always remained active in their minds that they had to strive to convey to all humanity the great blessing and priceless treasure that Allah, Lord of the Worlds, had given them in the form of Islam. They truly regarded Islam as the most nourishing and finest blessing for all the people of the world. They believed that conveying this blessing to every person was part of their religious duty. Therefore, each person fulfilled this duty in whatever condition he found himself. Merchants and traders fulfilled it during their commercial activities and transactions, travelers through their journeys, prisoners within prisons, employees in their offices, and farmers while sitting in their fields. This inspiration for propagation and tabligh reached such a height that even women propagated Islam with tremendous eagerness and enthusiasm.

The True Source of Islam’s Strength

In reality, this enthusiasm for propagation was the principal source of Islam’s strength. The 400 million Muslims we see today throughout the world [this too was an estimate for 1925; today it may be assumed to be twice that number—Translator], and the political authority of Islam existing among various nations, races, peoples, and countries, are the result of this proselytizing character of the Muslim nation.

The enemies of Islam claim that Islam spread only by the sword. But history bears witness that Islam expanded solely through tabligh, or propagation. If the rise of Islam had depended only on the sword, it would have ended long ago under the blows of the sword. All the attacks by the sword launched against it to date would have been capable of destroying Islam. Yet we find that, in most cases, after being defeated by the use of the sword, it again employed the weapon of propagation and emerged victorious. While wholesale slaughter of Muslims was taking place in Baghdad, Islamic rule was being established in Sumatra. On one side, Islam was being expelled from Cordoba; on the other, its flag was flying in Java. While a campaign to eradicate Islam was under way in Sicily, it was gaining new vitality in Java. While the Tatars were cutting Islam’s throat, Muslim muballighs were winning the hearts of those very Tatars. While the Turks were putting Islam in the chains of slavery, they were offering their own hearts for servitude to Islam.

If these are not victories of tabligh and propagation, then what are they? Look around the world today. The victories of Islam that may be called military victories have vanished from the map of the world. Spain has been destroyed. Sicily has disappeared. Greece has been devastated. But Central Africa, Java, Sumatra, China, and Malaya—which Islam conquered with the weapon of propagation—remain fully present, testifying that Islam’s existence depends entirely and ultimately upon tabligh, that is, propagation. Now the question is: was this propagation accomplished by a handful of missionary societies? Was this great victory the result of the kind of uproar we, inactive as we are, make today? Could these things have been achieved through paper battles and the temporary discussions and reviews in newspapers and journals such as those we wage in imitation of Christian missionaries? History answers: “No.” In the present article we are about to discuss precisely this subject.

Two

How Islam Was Propagated

A review of history reveals that three things were essential causal factors at the root of the propagation and spread of Islam.

First: Islam’s simple and straightforward creed and its captivating worship.

Second: the astonishing influence of Islam’s teachings, injunctions, and regulations in the lives of Muslims.

Third: the proselytizing character of Islam in the lives of Muslims. The first appeals to the conscience and intellect. The second awakens emotion and enthusiasm and provides inspiration. The third guides the misguided and wayward toward the right path, like a compassionate leader and guardian. In the marketplace, a product’s intrinsic excellence alone is not sufficient to create widespread demand and achieve broad circulation; workers are also needed to explain the product’s superiority and usefulness to people. In addition, a number of people are needed to use the product themselves and provide practical evidence of its benefits. Likewise, for Islam to be propagated and spread throughout the world, these three things had to remain equally and jointly active. Whenever any one of them was lacking, its effect inevitably diminished the intensity and power of Islam’s propagation and spread. Some detailed discussion is necessary to understand how these three things play their respective roles and what result emerges from their combined presence.

The Comprehensibility of Islamic Creeds and Their Harmony with Human Nature

Islamic creeds are so simple and appealing that even a very ordinary person becomes ready to accept them. They contain neither philosophical complexity, nor superstition and scope for fanciful imagination, nor any place for unrealistic notions.

Islam presents a number of simple, straightforward principles that are readily acceptable to intellects at every level. Not only that, these principles have such a healing effect that, after accepting them, a person begins to experience a remarkable and radical transformation. Another notable feature of these creeds is that their message is clear and unequivocal, leaving no room whatsoever for hesitation or conflict. Concerning God, the following clear creed is presented:

أَنَّما إِلٰهُكُم إِلٰهٌ وٰحِدٌ ۖ فَهَل أَنتُم مُسلِمونَ

“Your God is one God.” —(Surah Al-Anbiya: 108)

There is no room here for duality.

لا تَتَّخِذوا إِلٰهَينِ اثنَينِ ۖ

“Do not take two gods.” —(Surah An-Nahl: 51)

He needs no helper, for He is Almighty.

 إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلىٰ كُلِّ شَيءٍ قَديرٌ

“Indeed, Allah has power over all things.” —(Al-Baqarah: 20)

وَيَفعَلُ اللَّهُ ما يَشاءُ

“Allah does whatever He wills.” —(Surah Ibrahim: 27)

يَحكُمُ ما يُريدُ

“He decides according to His own will.” —(Surah Al-Ma’idah: 1)

His essence is free and pure from the attributes of progenitor and offspring; nothing can be compared with Him.

لَم يَلِد وَلَم يولَد

وَلَم يَكُن لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ0

“He has not begotten anyone, nor was He begotten. No one is comparable to Him.” —(Surah Al-Ikhlas: 3–4)

He is free from human weakness.

 الحَىُّ القَيّومُ ۚ لا تَأخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلا نَومٌ

“He is the Ever-Living, the Sustainer; neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him.” —(Surah Al-Baqarah: 255)

In the heavens and the earth, there is no one besides Him from whom people may seek help and assistance.

أَلَم تَعلَم أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُ مُلكُ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالأَرضِ ۗ وَما لَكُم مِن دونِ اللَّهِ مِن وَلِىٍّ وَلا نَصيرٍ

“Do you not know that the dominion of the heavens and the earth belongs solely to Allah? Indeed, you have no guardian or helper besides Him.” —(Surah Al-Baqarah: 107)

He alone is worthy of worship:

أَعبُدَ اللَّهَ مُخلِصًا لَهُ الدّينَ

“To worship Allah, devoting complete obedience to Him.”

Likewise, an unequivocal statement has been presented concerning the status of the Messenger.

No room has been left here for any doubt regarding divinity. It has been clearly affirmed as a creed that the Messenger is nothing other than a human being. Allah merely chose a human being as a messenger to convey His message to His servants.

إِنَّما أَنا۠ بَشَرٌ مِثلُكُم يوحىٰ إِلَىَّ

“I am only a human being like you; revelation is sent to me.” —(Surah Al-Kahf: 110)

There is no nation on earth to which Allah has not sent a guide:

وَلِكُلِّ قَومٍ هادٍ

“For every nation there is a guide.” —(Surah Ar-Ra‘d: 7)

Regarding human beings’ worldly actions, responsibilities, and consequences, Islam has issued an unequivocal warning that there is no room here for atonement or substitution. Every person is himself responsible for his own deeds, and each will receive the consequence of whatever he does:

فَمَن يَعمَل مِثقالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيرًا يَرَهُ

 وَمَن يَعمَل مِثقالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ

“Whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see its reward, and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see its consequence.” —(Surah Az-Zilzal: 7–8)

Regarding the Hereafter, the clear creed that Islam has presented has not been presented by any other religion in the world. Just as it contains no place for Buddhism’s abstruse doctrine of liberation, so it contains no room for Hinduism’s complicated and tortuous doctrine of reincarnation or materialism’s doctrine of total annihilation. Rather, it states in an extremely simple and straightforward manner that a person will reap in his next life the consequences of his actions in his present life, and that this will be the real life.

These creeds are so simple and straightforward that the human conscience and intellect accept them without difficulty. The reason for the extensive success of Islamic preachers in their preaching is that they do not present any proposition which ordinary conscience and intellect are incapable or unwilling to accept. A renowned French philosopher, Professor Montaigne, wrote the following about the creed of Islam:

“Such a creed, so simple and clear, so free from philosophical complexities and so easily comprehensible to ordinary conscience and intellect, must possess an extraordinary and astonishing power to win over the minds of humanity—and in reality, it does possess that power.”

The profound effect of these creeds on the human mind can easily be inferred from an incident. Once, a slave from Africa’s Gara tribe was taken from the Zanj coast and sold in Jeddah. The slave was subsequently freed, and he embraced Islam. At that time, a European traveler met him. He asked him, “Are you not angry with those who seized you without right in this manner and sold you like an animal?” The Negro slave replied:

“Yes, naturally I am angry with them. But one thing has compensated me. That is, because of them I was delivered from the blindness of unbelief. I regard it as Allah’s favor that I was able to come to this country and acquire the incomparable blessing of Islam. Believe me, no object contains a taste or sweetness greater than the taste and sweetness of faith. This sweetness can only be felt by the heart; it cannot be expressed in words.”

The Appeal of Islamic Worship

Islamic acts of worship possess this characteristic. They contain such an enthralling power that, according to Montagu, no one’s heart can remain unaffected by them. A Jewish convert to Islam from Alexandria wrote:

“I became a Muslim solely by seeing the worship of Muslims. Once I went to the congregational mosque to observe the prayer. The first thing that made an impression on my mind was the sermon. Every word of the sermon was affecting my mind. Especially when the preacher said:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأمُرُ بِالعَدلِ وَالإِحسٰنِ وَإيتائِ ذِى القُربىٰ وَيَنهىٰ عَنِ الفَحشاءِ وَالمُنكَرِ وَالبَغىِ

“Indeed, Allah commands justice, excellence, and giving to relatives, and He forbids indecency, wrongdoing, and transgression.” —(Surah al-Nahl: 90)

Hearing this from the preacher’s lips, my heart became filled with immeasurable respect for this religion, whose God teaches such exalted principles. Then, when the prayer began and the Muslims stood in rows, it seemed to me that they were all angels standing there and that Allah had appeared openly before them. My heart said: Allah spoke with the Children of Israel only twice, whereas He speaks with this nation five times every day.”

Prayer is an act of worship that requires neither a priest nor a cleric, nor adherence to any temple or church. Every Muslim can lead it as imam. Mosques for it exist everywhere, and every person can participate in it regardless of rank, caste, or race. Prayer has such an astonishing effect that even the most vehement opponents of Islam are compelled to praise it. It instills obedience to an unseen God in such a manner, and the utmost reverence and awe become evident in every movement of rising and sitting, that even a heart of stone melts.

Many people may still remember the sensational debates between Padre Lefrere and the scholars of India. In his book Mankind and Church, he wrote:

“No one can remain unaffected by this worship of the Muslims. Wherever a Muslim may be and whatever his condition—whether walking on the road, standing at a railway station, sitting in a shop, or moving about in a field—as soon as the call to prayer is given, he abandons every activity and stands with bowed head before the One God. This scene cannot fail to leave an impression on the human mind. In particular, anyone who has seen fifteen or twenty thousand Muslims praying with utmost humility, devotion, and complete silence at the Friday prayer of Jumu‘at al-Wida in Delhi’s congregational mosque cannot remain unaffected by that spectacle. The power contained in Islam’s religious ceremonies can be keenly felt from this scene. Moreover, there is a special appeal in the Muslims’ regular five daily prayers and in their continuity of fulfilling their duty calmly even amid extreme tumult.”

The Influence of Islam’s Teachings on the Lives of Muslims

After creeds and worship, the thing most active in the propagation and spread of Islam through its effective influence is the Islamic life of Muslims. If Islam had merely presented principles and stopped there, and if its teachings and discipline had not possessed the revolutionary influence that raised utterly uncivilized peoples to a higher level of humanity, the people of the world probably would not have been so attracted to it. But Islam presented practical examples along with its principles. In reality, it is the magnetic power of these practical examples that attracts people’s hearts to it.

The Islamic teaching of Allah’s oneness, His omnipotence, and seeking help from Him alone has made Muslims so self-respecting, patient, grateful, tolerant, independent-minded, and possessed of such strong personalities that they fear no one in the world, stretch out their hands in supplication to no one, and never despair in any calamity, however great. Islam’s teachings concerning requital, reward, and judgment in the Hereafter have produced in them such valor, courage, and heroic strength that, regarding their present life as mortal, they remain ready at every moment to sacrifice it in Allah’s path. The fervor of their blood is unparalleled in the world. The teachings of piety and fear of Allah have created in them extraordinary qualities of justice and selflessness, and in avoiding intoxication, theft, and moral offenses they are superior to the followers of any other religion in the world. The teachings of Islamic equality and Islamic brotherhood have produced such democratic values in them that their society contains neither distinctions of caste and lineage, nor differences in status between the rich and the poor, nor the bigotry of geographical nationalism. After embracing Islam, anyone becomes a member of Islamic society—whether black or white, rich or poor, master or slave. In every condition, Muslims will accept him as a brother, and in the congregational prayer he may stand beside any eminent Muslim.

The influence of Islam’s other teachings on the lives of Muslims also deserves mention. For example, as soon as they embraced Islam, a surge of learning and the advancement of civilization and culture arose among Muslims. European Christian missionaries were astonished to see signs of civilized life appear immediately after the acceptance of Islam even among Africa’s uncivilized peoples. The construction of mosques, establishment of educational institutions, social life, organization, and the advancement of trade and commerce and financial prosperity transformed Africa’s uncivilized social life into a highly civilized and cultured life. Seeing and hearing these things, other uncivilized peoples were also attracted toward accepting that religion, because it had established their own kinsmen in positions of great honor within a very short time. It is widely known in history that when people of the Berber nation began preaching Islam in Jenne, the most powerful kingdom in Nigeria, in the sixth century Hijri, a large number of scholars emerged there. Finally, when the king formed a council to consider embracing Islam, two thousand four hundred scholars joined that council. It is unnecessary to describe here the astonishing influence of Islam’s civilizing role in Arabia, India, Egypt, and Spain. History contains brilliant evidence of it.

The Influence of Islamic Equality

The most influential feature of the Islamic way of life was equality. Islam came as a mercy to those peoples who, because of local customs and the selfishness of the powerful, had been forced to sink below ordinary people. Islam came as their liberator. History bears witness that Islam raised thousands of such peoples from a subhuman condition and enabled them to ascend the highest peaks of honor and dignity. This extraordinary example of equality proved most effective in the propagation and spread of Islam. Particularly in areas inhabited by such oppressed peoples, this alone was the reason for Islam’s popularity. Sir William Hunter wrote about the propagation of Islam among the neglected classes of the people of Bengal at that time:

“For these poor fishermen, hunters, and lower-class peasants, Islam descended like a heavenly stream of mercy. It was not merely the religion of the ruling race; rather, it contained such equality that by accepting it they could rise above the aristocratic Hindus who despised them. For this reason, the banner of Islam was raised in the most prosperous province of India. Although examples of the propagation of Islam by force are found in some places, even in those cases force did not in reality play the primary role; rather, its own qualities played the principal role. Islam appealed to the conscience of the people of this land and presented before them a lofty conception of humanity. Islam established an extraordinary principle of human brotherhood such as they had never seen, and it shattered all the chains of distinction between human beings.”

It was chiefly because of this equality that Islam triumphed over Hinduism in southern India. Twenty-five or twenty years ago, an instructive incident occurred in the Tinnevelly region. A community called the Sanars lived in that area. At the time, this community was regarded as a lower-class community. Through their own talent and ability, they became quite wealthy and attained a much higher status than ordinary Hindus in education and social customs and ceremonies. Nevertheless, the Hindus continued to treat them with the same humiliating behavior they showed toward the untouchables. This deeply wounded the Sanars, and their attitude toward Hinduism began to turn hostile. Finally, a violent clash took place between them and the Hindus. Because some Sanars entered a temple, the Hindus severely beat them. As a result, the entire Sanar community decided to embrace Islam. Nearly six hundred Sanars accepted Islam that very day. When the Sanars in the surrounding areas heard the news, they too began embracing Islam one after another.

This human equality and Islamic brotherhood among the Negroes of Africa also proved most effective in the propagation and spread of Islam. Mr. Blyden wrote in his book Christianity, Islam and Negro Race:

“Whenever the followers of Muhammad hear that a pagan Negro wishes to embrace Islam, no matter how lowly that Negro may be, he is immediately accepted as an equally honored member of Muslim society and is treated with respect not merely to win his heart, but because he is genuinely regarded as a brother. Consequently, he can feel that Islam is truly an incomparable blessing for him. Indeed, this is the chief reason why Islam has prevailed over Christianity in Africa.”

Three

The Contribution of Sufi Saints to the Propagation of Islam

The preceding pages discussed two important means of propagating Islam. Let us now examine the practical side and see how much effort and striving those who believed in this divine truth made to spread the light of this truth throughout the world. It is true that Islam’s inherent qualities play the principal role in making it appealing to people. But in worldly affairs we see day after day that even the finest product does not sell without good publicity. If the seller is capable, he can find many buyers even for a poor product. Unless people are informed of an object’s qualities and interest in it is created in their minds, generally no one is attracted to it. Therefore, the success of every product depends on the activity, ability, and promotional power of its sellers. This principle applies equally to the propagation and spread of religion. However true and good Islam may be, its own qualities alone are not sufficient for its propagation and spread; its followers must also possess a character devoted to propagation. In truth, this propagational character is the practical and effective one among the three indispensable means of Islam’s propagation and spread.

The Worldwide Spread of the Muslims’ Missionary Character

We Muslims of the present age, who are inactive, cannot even properly imagine the missionary character and activity of the devout Muslims of the past. Even today, the missionary character existing among the Muslims of Africa, China, and the Malay Archipelago lies beyond our conception. —[At the time this book was written, a Communist government had not yet been established in China. —Translator]

The most important item in their daily program was to convey the greatness of Islam to humanity more and more. Their hearts were illumined by the light of Islam. A belief was firmly engraved in their minds, as if carved in stone, that their sole purpose in life as Muslims was to call people toward goodness, enjoin righteous conduct, and forbid wrongdoing. Wherever they went, this purpose accompanied them, and it inevitably entered into every act of their lives. They went to Abyssinia to protect themselves from the persecution of the Quraysh; there too they did only this work. When, after leaving Mecca for Medina, they attained a life of peace, they still devoted all their strength to propagating Islam. When they were assigned the task of demolishing the crumbling palaces of Sasanian and Roman civilization, they fulfilled that same sacred duty in Syria, Iraq, and Rome as well.

When Allah granted them the caliphate of the earth, they used it to continue propagating and spreading Allah’s religion instead of gathering the means of a life of luxury. They continued this work until the stormy waves of the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the lofty wall of China on the other became obstacles to their path. When they went from country to country with commercial goods, this same aspiration continued to occupy their minds, and they spread the rays of Islam’s light across Africa’s burning deserts, India’s verdant valleys, the distant islands of the Atlantic Ocean, and Europe’s white, unbelief-ridden lands.

This enthusiasm for propagating Islam became so intense that its attraction did not fade from their hearts even while they endured the harshest torments of prison. They propagated Islam among their fellow prisoners in the dark cells of the prisons. Even if, upon reaching the gallows, a final desire agitated them, it was nothing other than this: the wish that the last moments of their lives might pass in conveying the word of Allah’s religion to His servants.

An incident from the Belgian Congo deserves mention in this connection. The Belgian government sentenced a Muslim leader there to death. Yet, just before he departed from this world, he converted to Islam the priest who had gone to initiate him into Christianity.

Similarly, it is related of Sayyid Mujaddid Sirhindi, may Allah have mercy on him, that he spent the two years he passed in Emperor Jahangir’s prison solely propagating Islam. By the time of his release, several hundred Hindu prisoners had embraced Islam. In recent times, the example of Hazrat Maulana Jafar Thaneshwari (may Allah be pleased with him) is also worth mentioning. When he was exiled to the Andamans on the charge of maintaining relations with the Mujahideen of the frontier, he converted a large number of prisoners there to Islam. History also records that the spreading of Islam’s light throughout Eastern Europe was the sole achievement of one Muslim scholar. He was arrested while fighting jihad against the Christians. While detained, he was bound hand and foot and sent to a valley between the banks of the Danube. There, the radiance of his faith spread so powerfully that within a short time twelve thousand people embraced Islam. Gradually, by the middle of the sixth century Hijri, almost the entire region became illumined by Islam’s light.

Women in the Propagation of Islam

Muslim women were not excluded from this all-out missionary enthusiasm. If anyone deserves credit for snatching the sword of Muslim slaughter from the hands of the Tatar-Mongol invaders and placing around their necks the chain of obedience to Islam, it was these noblewomen, weak yet empowered by the strength of faith. They were women whom those invaders had taken as slaves from Muslim lands. It was the wife of Ol Jatib Khan, the brother of Ghazan Shah, who converted him to Islam, and through her efforts the Ilkhan government became known as an Islamic government. The Chagatai dynasty was the greatest enemy of the Muslims. But Korrai, the Muslim wife of Hulagu Khan, was the first to spread knowledge of Islam among the people of that dynasty, and through her influence Mubarak Shah and Baraq Khan embraced Islam. Thousands of Tatar soldiers had taken Muslim women captive with them. Those noblewomen did not abandon their own religion and adopt the religion of their husbands. Rather, they initiated their husbands—and especially their children—even more deeply into Islam. Through their influence Islam spread throughout the entire Tatar territory. In the same way, women propagated Islam in Abyssinia as well. Historical works mention many Negro leaders whom their wives initiated into Islam. The Senussi missionaries regularly conducted the work of propagating Islam in Central Africa through women’s institutions. Many Islamic educational institutions run by women still exist there today.

The Contribution of Sufi Saints to the Propagation of Islam in India

But the group among the Muslims that was most actively and enthusiastically engaged in propagating and spreading Allah’s religion was the group of these Sufi saints—who in today’s India are almost entirely inactive in this regard. The unparalleled steadfastness and religious devotion with which the saints and Sufis of India spread the light of Islam contain profound lessons for today’s propagators of tasawwuf. The greatest propagator of Islam here was Hazrat Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti (may Allah have mercy on him), through whose efforts Islam spread in Rajputana. His direct and indirect disciples spread throughout the remotest regions of the country and propagated Islam’s message. Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki (may Allah have mercy on him) around Delhi; Hazrat Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar (may Allah have mercy on him) in the Punjab region; Hazrat Nizamuddin Mahbub-i Ilahi (may Allah have mercy on him) in Delhi and its surroundings; Hazrat Sayyid Muhammad Gesudaraz (may Allah have mercy on him), Hazrat Sheikh Burhanuddin (may Allah have mercy on him), Hazrat Sheikh Zaynuddin (may Allah have mercy on him), and, later, Hazrat Nizamuddin of Aurangabad (may Allah be pleased with him) in the Deccan; and, still later, Hazrat Shah Kalimullah Jahanabadi (may Allah have mercy on him) in Delhi—all carried out this same great work of calling people to the truth and propagating Islam. In addition, the saints of other Sufi orders displayed great ability and self-sacrifice in this work. Islam was first propagated in the Punjab by Hazrat Sayyid Ismail Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him), who came to Lahore in the fifth century Hijri. It is said that thousands of people would come to him and listen to his valuable sermons. Whoever heard his sermon even once could not help embracing Islam. The greatest credit for propagating Islam in western Punjab belongs to Hazrat Baha-ul-Haq Zakariya Multani (may Allah have mercy on him). Islam spread in Bahawalpur and eastern Sindh through the efforts of Hazrat Sayyid Jalal Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him). His descendant, Hazrat Makhdum Jahaniyan (may Allah have mercy on him), initiated many tribes of the Punjab into Islam. Two other venerable men, Hazrat Sayyid Sadruddin (may Allah have mercy on him) and his son Hazrat Hasan Kabiruddin (may Allah have mercy on him), were also eminent propagators of Islam in the Punjab. History records that Hazrat Hasan Kabiruddin possessed a wonderfully captivating personality. Merely seeing him impressed upon people’s minds the truth and greatness of Islam, and people gathered around him of their own accord.

The real period of the propagation of Islam in Sindh was the period after Islam’s fall from the state structure. About six hundred years ago, Hazrat Sayyid Yusufuddin (R) arrived there, and through his efforts seven hundred families of the Lohana community accepted Islam. In Kutch and Gujarat, Islam was propagated through the efforts of Hazrat Imam Shah Piranvi (R) and Malik Abdul Latif (R). The first to propagate Islam in Bangladesh was Hazrat Sheikh Shihabuddin Suhrawardi’s (R) disciple, Sheikh Jalaluddin Farsi (R), who raised the banner of Islam as a dervish known as Shah Jalal (R). Under his influence, the king himself accepted Islam. This king is known in history as Sadruddin. Then, in the seventh century Hijri, Sayyid Ali Hamadani (R) arrived there with seven hundred disciples and spread the light of Islam throughout Kashmir. During the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb, Sayyid Shah Fariduddin converted the king of Kayyab to Islam, and through his assistance Islam was propagated throughout the region. Islam began in the Deccan with Mahabir Khamdayet, who arrived in Bijapur seven hundred years ago. Another saintly descendant of Hazrat Sheikh Abdul Qader Jilani (R) propagated the message of Islam in the Konkan region. The people of Dharwar accepted Islam from Hazrat Hashem Gujarati (R), the spiritual guide of Ibrahim Adil Shah. The contributions of Hazrat Muhammad Sadeq Sarmast (R) and Khwaja Akhnd Mir Husseini (R) in the Nasik region are still acknowledged. Among the saints who propagated Islam in Madras, the most famous were Hazrat Sayyid Nesar Shah (R), Sayyid Ibrahim Shahid (R), and Shah al-Hamed (R). Hazrat Baba Fakhruddin (R) propagated Islam in Newganda. He converted the king of that place to Islam.

The result of the propagation efforts of these Sufi saints was that, although a large section of Hindus did not become Muslims, they became devotees of Muslim pirs and dervishes. In the 1891 census, 232,643 Hindus in the present United Provinces declared themselves not worshippers of any deity but devotees of one Muslim pir or another. It is a matter of regret that although these saintly pirs left the influence of Islam upon a large section of Hindus, we were unable to make use of that influence.

Outside India

In several different countries outside India, the propagational activities of these pious servants produced remarkable results. In particular, it is an undeniable fact of medieval history that when the Islamic empire fell under the attack of the Tatars, only the spiritual power of the Sufi saints remained throughout Central Asia to confront them. Ultimately, this power prevailed over these great enemies of Islam. The Tatars’ formidable might failed to halt Islam’s advance. Indeed, at the hands of this power, the Tatars’ strength nearly faced complete defeat throughout Central Asia. It is the misfortune of the Muslims that this tremendous power has today become completely inert. In truth, it has also been largely defeated before non-Islamic civilization.

In Africa

At present, this power remains alive only in Africa. The remarkable success of this group in propagating Islam is a profound lesson for the Sufis of our country.

One of these Sufi groups is the Amirganil group. Its founder, Muhammad Osman Amirgani, helped Muslims purify themselves in eastern Sudan from 1835 to 1853 and converted many polytheist tribes to Islam.

Another group is the Qadiriyya order. Members of this spiritual lineage have existed in West Africa since the ninth century Hijri. In the nineteenth century, a new life was infused into them, and they established organizations from western Sudan through Timbuktu to Senegal and converted many idol-worshipping tribes to Islam. Their practice is that when they convert some people in a settlement to Islam, they send the talented boys of that place to their central organization for training. When they perceive greater ability in them, they send them to Kairouan, Fez, Tripoli, or Al-Azhar; after they return, they appoint them in their own areas to propagation and training work. In addition, this group established numerous madrasas in the interior of Africa, where the boys of tribes deprived of the light of civilization were given Islamic training and education.

Another Islamic missionary group called the Tijaniyya is active in Africa. It was first established in Algeria. Its method of propagation is like that of the Qadiriyya lineage. The only difference is that this group engages in jihad along with propagation or tabligh. For this reason, Christian missionaries found an excuse to seek help against it from European imperialism. Its organizational area is principally North Africa, and its most active preacher is al-Hajj Umar. Al-Hajj Umar’s reputation for honesty and justice extended from Africa to Arabia. He began propagating Islam in 1933 and, by converting the polytheist tribes of Nigeria and Senegal to Islam, established a vast Islamic state. Ultimately, French imperialism brought about the fall of this Islamic state.

Among these Islamic missionary organizations in Africa, the most powerful is the Senussi order. In 1833, the renowned Algerian scholar Mr. Muhammad ibn Ali al-Senussi founded the Senussi organization. Its objectives were the reform of Muslims, resistance to British imperialism, and the propagation of Islam. In only twenty-two years, he created such a powerful organization that its discipline was even more complete than state discipline. Every one of its members was absorbed in the dream of implementing the organization’s aims and objectives; each member was given sincere Islamic training and made into a true Muslim. Strict adherence to the Holy Qur’an, word for word, was an indispensable prerequisite. In this organization, saint-worship, shrine-worship, coffee and tobacco consumption, and relations with Jews and Christians were forbidden. Every individual lived like a genuine mujahid. Its khanqahs were established from Egypt to Morocco and from the coast of Tripoli to the farthest reaches of the Sahara Desert. Its influence extended beyond Africa to Arabia, Iraq, and Malaysia.

The people of African tribes who were Muslims in name only became genuine Muslims through the Senussi order. In addition, they spread the light of Islam to every corner of Africa. Just as the people of the Qadiriyya lineage do not merely stop at preaching and admonition, but after making new Muslims also train them to propagate Islam among their own tribes, so the Senussi missionaries, alongside their propagation work, developed every new Muslim into a missionary.

Regarding the new life that these Islamic missionary groups brought to the illiterate and uncivilized tribes of Africa, a European traveler wrote:

“When I set out toward Central Africa along the bank of the Niger River, during the first two hundred miles I felt no need to change my ideas about the savagery, barbarity, and cannibalism of Africa’s tribes. But when I neared Central Sudan, I began to see signs of progress in the lives of the tribal groups, and my ideas began to change. I saw that there was no tendency to eat human beings, no existence of idolatry, and drunkenness and addiction were nearly extinct. People of all the tribes wore clothes. They kept their clothes clean and pure and maintained good manners in their conduct. It was clear that their moral standard was far higher than that of other tribes at their level. Everything about them was progressive. The Negro nature seemed to be transforming into a higher nature, and all this was due to Islam. After passing a place called Lokoja, I reached the main Islamic missionary center and saw a highly advanced, disciplined administration functioning there. Signs of civilization were evident everywhere in the surrounding settlements. Trade, industry, and craftsmanship had become widespread, and I felt as though I had arrived in a highly civilized country.”

Four

The Spread of Islam in Africa

I have already said that there has never been a regular missionary organization among Muslims. The greatest reason is that Islam did not restrict the work of propagating religion to any particular group; rather, it made it equally obligatory for every Muslim to devote all his strength to the service of religion. Just as among Christians, apart from a particular group, no individual or group participates in religious work or takes any interest in it, similarly, if a special religious group had been created among Muslims, perhaps the desire to propagate Islam would have remained limited to only a handful of people, while ordinary Muslims would have been completely deprived of it.

Islam is a democratic religion. In Islam’s view, only good deeds are the measure of superiority. Therefore, this religion cannot but leave the doors of welfare and good fortune open to everyone. That is why Islam is the only religion in the world whose followers have the strongest and most intense desire to propagate their own religion, and every one of its followers is fundamentally a propagator. We have already discussed the breadth of this desire to propagate and its presence among ordinary Muslims. Now we shall see how this comprehensive zeal for propagation conquered country after country and through whose hands Islam achieved such extensive expansion. Let us set aside the subcontinent, Iran, Egypt, and the Arab world, because Muslims once held power in these places. Therefore, opponents of Islam may say that the use of force perhaps played some role in Islam’s expansion in these countries.

We shall consider the examples of Africa, China, and Malaysia. Even Islam’s most bitter enemy will admit that in these countries Islam never had the opportunity to use force. Above all, the Tatar lands and Turkestan deserve special discussion, because history’s clear verdict regarding these countries is that here unarmed Islam confronted armed unbelief and defeated it. By presenting these examples, we wish to show readers how Muslims possessing religious devotion served this holy religion. And if we set to work with this kind of religious enthusiasm, we can very easily fulfill the responsibility of propagating and protecting Islam. In this connection, we shall first discuss Africa.

The Dawn of Islam in Africa

The new Muslims of the Berber peoples who traveled to and from western Sudan for trade were the first to propagate Islam there. Among these Berber tribes, the two tribes called Lamtuna and Juddalah illuminated nearly all of western Sudan with the light of Islam during the reign of Yusuf ibn Tashfin. In the fifth century Hijri, these Berber merchants converted the Negro kingdom of Ghana to Islam. After that, the oldest kingdom of Sudan, Songhai, was also converted to Islam through their efforts. In the sixth century Hijri, their influence reached far and wide. At that time, the famous commercial city of Timbuktu became Islam’s greatest missionary center. Negroes came there for trade and took the priceless treasure of Islam from the Berber merchants, spreading it throughout Sudan and Nigeria. These people were so devoted and sincere toward Islam that when Ibn Battuta arrived there, he wrote about them:

“They are lovers of the Qur’an. And they are so devoted and dedicated to prayer that if one does not go and sit in the mosque early on Friday morning, it is impossible to find a place.”

Among these new Muslim peoples, the Mandé were the most active in propagating Islam. They were highly renowned throughout Africa for their customs, habits, and good conduct. Their greatest achievement was that the Hausa, known as the most talented, industrious, and commercial people of Central Africa, accepted Islam through their efforts. The Hausa held a virtual monopoly over trade and commerce throughout Sudan and Nigeria, and their merchant caravans regularly traveled from Guinea to Cairo. The valuable contribution of this commercial people to the spread of Islam will be discussed later.

Egyptian merchants propagated Islam in eastern Sudan. In particular, when the Fatimid Caliphate fell in Egypt, many Arabs fled and took refuge in Sudan. They propagated Islam far and wide throughout this region. Arab merchants from Tunis and Tanzania also fulfilled the duty of propagating Islam in this region. In particular, the propagation of Islam in southwestern Sudan was their exclusive contribution. Later, an Arab named Ahmad also established an Islamic administration in Darfur, which remained in existence until Muhammad Ali Pasha incorporated it into his own state several hundred years later.

In the Late Eighteenth Century

In the latter part of the eighteenth century, a new awakening arose among the Muslims of Central Africa for the propagation of Islam. The call to this awakening first came from Sheikh Usman dan Fodio. Influenced by the teachings of Sheikh Abd al-Wahhab Najdi, he revived the Sunnah of commanding right and forbidding wrong (commanding good deeds and forbidding evil deeds). In particular, he created such Islamic enthusiasm among the Fulani that they began working with a spirit of self-sacrifice for the service of Islam. They eliminated shirk and idolatry from the ancient kingdom of Gobir and purified the whole of Hausaland from unbelief. When Usman dan Fodio died in 1816, he was the sovereign ruler of Hausaland, and not even a trace of shirk or idolatry remained anywhere in his entire empire. The English brought this Islamic empire to an end in 1900. But this did not diminish in the least the zeal of the Fulani and Hausa for propagating Islam. A vivid proof is that in this very twentieth century they eradicated idolatry from the Yoruba region and spread the light of Islam there. They extended the true religion as far as the southern bank of the Niger River. They began propagation in the Uzibu region in 1894 and achieved such progress within a few years that in 1908 twenty mosques were built in one of its towns and twelve in another.

Similarly, they began propagating Islam south of the Niger River after 1898, and by 1910 almost all the tribes had embraced belief in Allah’s religion.

The western coastal region of Africa was another field of Muslim missionary activity. In coastal regions such as Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Mande—which lies about one hundred miles south of Sierra Leone—Muslim merchants began propagating Islam about one hundred and twenty-five years ago, and within a short time transformed the blindness and ignorance there into civilization. In 1802, an English company in Sierra Leone submitted a petition to the British House of Commons. It stated:

“About seventy years ago, some Muslim merchants came and settled approximately forty miles from here. Like Muslims elsewhere, they established madrasas and other institutions here and began spreading religious education, and they adopted the resolution that anyone who embraced Islam would not be sold as a slave. Within a short time, signs of an advanced culture and civilization began to appear here. The population increased, and prosperity increased along with it. Gradually, the influence of Islam in this area became victorious over everything. People are embracing the religion of the Muslims in groups. It seems that soon the entire region will have embraced Islam.”

Dr. Vemaar wrote about the propagation of Islam in Sierra Leone:

“There is no special group assigned to propagate Islam among the Muslims here; rather, every individual among them is a propagator of Islam. Wherever five or six Muslims have settled, a mosque has appeared there. That small building has become a center for propagating Islam in the area. Their rules are also very simple. Anyone who recites the kalimah and vows to pray and give up alcohol becomes a member of their worldwide family.”

In Guinea, the merchants of the Hausa community, Islam’s most active propagators, strongly attracted uncivilized tribes through their refined social conduct and distinctive customs, and successfully converted them to Islam. Work began in Dahomey and Ashanti only a short time ago. For this reason, throughout West Africa, these are the only two regions where even a small amount of unbelief and idolatry can still be seen. The strength of the Muslims in Lagos is tremendous. Their number there has reached approximately fifteen thousand. Among them are members of all three communities—the Fulani, Hausa, and Mandé. They have to travel very far for trade. Therefore, through their efforts, the entire Nigerian coast and the Gold Coast are being illuminated with the light of Islam. Along the two-thousand-mile coastal stretch from the mouth of the Senegal to Lagos, there is virtually no settlement without at least one mosque and one maulvi. Every Muslim living in these areas, whether a merchant or an employee of Britain, France, or Belgium, considers it his foremost duty, whenever he meets an unbeliever or idolater, to convey the Qur’an’s call to him first. Such intense zeal for propagation has shattered all the aspirations of the Christian missionaries.”

East Africa too received the supreme blessing of Islam through Arab merchants. Until the twentieth century, they spread the light of Islam throughout the Zanzibar coast, and Muslim settlements were established in various places. But systematic propagation began when Germany, England, Italy, and others established colonies in these countries and completed all arrangements for reaching the interior. At that time, to establish state administration, there was no alternative but to seek the help of Muslims in those colonies. Consequently, Muslims were recruited into every department—in the army, police, judiciary, educational institutions, revenue administration—in short, everywhere. Upon reaching the interior of Africa, they became highly active in propagating Islam. In the early twentieth century, they made nearly the entire Bondi and Bhadend tribes Muslim. After 1905, they spread west to Tanganyika, north to Usambara, and south to Nyasa to disseminate Qur’anic teaching. In 1891, there was not a single Muslim in Usambara; indeed, the presence of any Muslim was viewed with hatred. But as soon as regular government was established and Muslim officers began going there, people came into contact with those officers and began becoming Muslims one by one. Islam also began spreading in educational institutions where Muslim teachers were appointed. Thus, Nyasaland too made astonishing progress in Islam within ten years. Christian missionaries admit that in these areas, becoming Muslim is virtually synonymous with becoming human.

Muslim merchants from the Malay Archipelago propagated Islam in the Cape Colony. Since they were under Dutch government authority, they remained there for a long time and propagated Islam with great secrecy. In 1809, Colbrooke wrote:

“Despite the utmost efforts of our missionaries, Muslim propagators are successfully converting Black slaves and free people to Islam. Our missionaries spend much time and money and, with great difficulty, make only a handful of people Christians. But Muslim propagators are able to win over vast numbers of people without effort.”

Over the past fifty or sixty years, Muslims from outside have also reached those areas and infused new vitality into the propagation of Islam. At present, the pace of propagation is particularly rapid in Cleramint. A large number of orphaned boys and adolescents have embraced Islam there.

[The condition of Islam in Africa discussed in this chapter describes the situation at the time this work was published—that is, fifty years ago. Needless to say, the condition of Islam in Africa today is much more consolidated than this. —Translator]

Five

The Propagation of Islam in China

After Africa, the second field of the Muslims’ successful missionary campaign was the Far East. Here, merchants, soldiers, and ordinary Muslims of various professions propagated Islam simply under the influence of their natural zeal for propagation and religious emotion. Even without ever receiving financial or state patronage, and in most cases while suffering persecutory attacks, they achieved astonishing success in propagating their own religion. Because of that success, China and the Malay Archipelago now have at least eighty or ninety million Muslims altogether.

Islam first began in China during the Umayyad period. Of course, the Arab merchants who had spread from the sea to the Mediterranean had already spread the light of Islam into Chinese territory during the blessed era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. However, the Chinese became properly acquainted with Islam during Umayyad rule, when diplomatic relations were established with China. Later, when a conspirator deposed Emperor Xuanzong, four thousand soldiers were sent to help him, and through the strength of their arms Emperor Xuanzong was able to regain power. These soldiers were genuine propagators of Islam. They never returned to their homeland. Rather, they settled in China and married there. They gradually began propagating Islam among the ordinary Chinese people. As a result, within several centuries the entire Canton region became illuminated by the light of Islam.

The Propagation of Islam—Stage by Stage

Six hundred years after this event, Islamic missionaries once again entered China from abroad and spread throughout the country. They were emigrants from Arabia, Iran, and Turkey. In the seventh century Hijri, they left their own countries after falling victim to the Mongol invasions and came here. Because of them, Islam spread through most regions of China within one hundred to one hundred and fifty years. Large areas, particularly in northwestern China, embraced Islam. In the thirteenth century, Marco Polo wrote that nearly the entire province of Yunnan had become Muslim. Another historian of the fourteenth century wrote that all the inhabitants of “Talifu” were Muslims. Regarding southern China, Ibn Battuta wrote that there were Muslim quarters in every city. All the inhabitants of these quarters were Muslims, and they were especially renowned for their courtesy and cleanliness. Muslims married Chinese women and maintained close relations with them. Consequently, Islam was spreading very rapidly. In the fifteenth century, a Muslim merchant named Ali Akbar wrote that nearly thirty thousand Muslim families lived in Peking. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, a large group of Chinese Jews became Muslim. In the eighteenth century, after suppressing the Kin Long Jingaria rebellion, he resettled ten thousand families there. All ten thousand families became Muslim under the influence of the neighboring Muslim population. During a famine in the Shantung region, Muslims gave shelter to ten thousand Chinese boys, all of whom later embraced Islam. During another famine, nearly ten thousand Chinese boys in the Kwangtung region came into the hands of Muslims, and all of them were raised and given Islamic training.

Apart from such extraordinary circumstances, Muslims also carried out missionary work on such a large scale under ordinary conditions that, according to the testimony of a Chinese Muslim named Sayyid Sulayman, it was difficult to finish counting the number of new converts each year.

Even in the present age, Chinese Muslims have an inclination to propagate Islam. Besides merchants and artisans, Muslim government employees spread the teachings of Islam among their acquaintances. Muslim soldiers and officers in the Chinese army are also conscious of this responsibility. Chinese Muslims have realized the true importance of propagating Islam. For this reason, madrasas were first established in Kansu Province and later in ten more provinces. The number of Muslims who came to China from abroad may not exceed one hundred thousand. Yet this universal missionary zeal has raised their number to fifty million.

Seeing this, a Russian observer said with concern that if this pace of Islamic expansion continued, one day the Muslims might completely transform the political structure of the Far East. —[This was the pace of Islamic propagation in China in 1925. After the Communist uprising, this pace not only failed to continue; rather, according to the 1961 census, the number of Muslims in China was stated to be ten million. No satisfactory explanation of this statistic has yet been found. —Translator]

Six

The Expansion of Islam in the Malay Archipelago

Islam was propagated in the Malay Archipelago by Arab and Indian merchants. Before Portugal began its maritime colonialism, these merchants alone held a monopoly over trade and commerce with China and throughout the East Indian archipelago. They did not come as conquerors like the Spaniards and Portuguese, nor were they inclined to propagate religion by the sword. They possessed no power by which they could have remained a dominant force. They had only the strength of faith. They brought with them a message of truth and justice. With this weapon they conquered the Malay Archipelago. With its help they subdued governments. By the power of this force, they became so influential that within six hundred years, nearly forty million of the archipelago’s total population of fifty million became Muslim. Ancient pagan beliefs obstructed their path at every step; the frenzied colonial greed of Spain and Portugal repeatedly raised the sword against them. The Christian imperialism of Holland also spared no effort to break their morale. Yet nothing could defeat their indomitable desire to serve Islam. Instead of using their talents and wealth to increase their own influence and prestige, they used them to strengthen Islam. The history of how Islam was propagated in the Malay Archipelago through their efforts over the past six centuries is immensely instructive.

Sumatra

Islam began in Sumatra in Aceh. Here, a nobleman named Abdullah Arik was the first to raise the call of Islam.

Then his disciple, Burhanuddin Pariaman, spread Islam along the entire western coast as far as Pariaman. In 1205, the whole kingdom of Aceh embraced Islam, and the king himself became Muslim. He was given the title “Jahanshah.” From there, Islam reached northern Sumatra aboard merchant ships. Muslim trading posts were established in Perlak and Pasuri. In the fourteenth century, several scholars from Mecca came to Sumatra under the leadership of Sheikh Ismail, illuminating the entire coastal region from Lambri to Aru with the light of Islam. At last, the king of the Masudra kingdom became Muslim and was given the title “al-Malik al-Salih.” Through his efforts, the kingdom of Palembang also embraced Islam. When Ibn Battuta reached this place during his travels, the ruler was “al-Malik al-Zahir,” son of “al-Malik al-Salih,” and he maintained diplomatic relations with Sultan Muhammad Tughlaq.

The influence of Hinduism was strongest in Palembang. Raden Rahmat, Java’s greatest propagator of Islam, preached Islam there, and its expansion continued afterward. Later, when the Dutch government was established in this region and Muslims began tireless efforts to resist the Christian missionaries, the genuine expansion of Islam began there. From the beginning of the twentieth century, the pagan inhabitants of the region began embracing Islam on a large scale.

Islam spread to southern Sumatra last of all. Its first propagator there was a Javanese chief named Minak Kumala Bumi. He embraced Islam at Iti Batan and later acquired Islamic knowledge in Mecca, then initiated numerous pagan tribes in Lampung into Islam. When this region was surrounded on all sides by Muslim kingdoms, it did not seek refuge in Islam. But after the establishment of the Dutch government, which persecuted Muslims, it rapidly embraced Islam. Holland tried to halt Islam’s expansion by force. This only intensified the Muslims’ missionary zeal, and they defeated the Christian preachers. A missionary reported that once an entire village, despite having received the preliminary initiation into Christianity, suddenly embraced Islam. Similarly, through the efforts of an imam, all the people of a district called “Sepruf” became Muslim. Christian missionaries said of another preacher that, after ten years of effort, he freed a pagan tribe from Christian influence and initiated it into Islam. Most astonishing of all, even Muslim employees on the Dutch government payroll propagated Islam, and the government was unable to stop them despite its disapproval.

From the island of Sumatra, Islam reached the Malay Peninsula. In the twelfth century, many Muslim merchants from Sumatra settled in Singapore for trade. A century later, they established a colony near the port of Malacca. Through their efforts, most of the coastal commercial settlements embraced Islam, and through them Islam spread into the interior of Malaya. In the fourteenth century, the king of this region also embraced Islam at the hands of an Arab merchant named Abdul Aziz. He was thereafter renamed Sultan Muhammad Mah. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the southern Malay kingdom of Kedah also came under Islamic influence, and in 1505 its king, Perawong Mahawangsa, embraced Islam at the hands of a Muslim scholar named Sheikh Abdullah. He was renamed Sultan Muzlaf Shah. This king devoted his entire life to propagating Islam and, before his death, freed a large part of the kingdom of Kedah from the curse of paganism.

From Malaya, the light of Islam reached Thailand. Muslim merchants from Singapore later carried it as far as Indochina. Whatever influence Islam displays in these countries today is entirely the result of the efforts of those merchants.

Java

—[This occurred in 1925. Java is now a province of Indonesia.]

Among the Malay Archipelago, paganism and Hinduism had their strongest influence on the island of Java. Despite the higher education of the Muslims, various false creeds and beliefs arising from the worship of imaginary gods, along with fanciful notions and ideas, had influenced them. Historical evidence indicates that the Laws of Manu remained in force until 1768. Yet within a few centuries, the quiet propagators of Islam eradicated those deep-rooted influences. Thus, today we see that, apart from a small number of people, the inhabitants of the entire island of Java have become Muslim. Moreover, Javanese Muslims’ love of Islam is greater than that of any other people in the East Indian archipelago.

This remarkable achievement in Java was initiated by a Javanese merchant named Haji Purwa. He was the son of the king of Paja Jaran. He left the royal crown and throne—which were rightfully his by inheritance—to his younger brother and himself went to India with merchandise for trade. There, instead of worldly goods, he found the goods of the Hereafter. From then on, delivering that priceless treasure to his countrymen became the sole aim of his life. He reached Java with an Arab scholar and spent the rest of his life serving Islam. Thereafter, Arab and Indian merchants and travelers became attracted to that island. They came there in large numbers and continued spreading the light of Islam in the coastal areas. The largest group of such travelers came in the fourteenth century under the leadership of Mawlana Sayyid Ibrahim and settled at a place called Gresik. Through this group’s missionary work, the king of the Barman kingdom accepted Islam, and from there Islam began spreading to the neighboring kingdoms. The first such great success in Java’s history fell to the lot of this group.

The Rise of Raden Rahmat

Java’s greatest propagator of Islam, Raden Rahmat, was born in the fifteenth century. He raised Islam in this region from the torn hut of poverty and brought it to royal palaces and the seat of authority. He was raised amid royal aristocracy and luxury. Had he wished, he himself could have possessed a throne, but his heart was filled with the passion to serve Islam instead of himself. For this reason, he made the propagation and expansion of Islam the sole aim of his life. In accordance with Allah’s revelation, “Warn your nearest relatives,” he began his missionary work with his own family. He invited his maternal grandfather, the king of Champa, to Islam. Then he went to Palembang and converted its governor and his own kinsman, Aghdamir, to Islam. After that, accompanied by Mawlana Juma Dal Kubra, he went to the kingdom of Majapahit and invited its king, his maternal uncle, to Islam. The king himself did not accept Islam, but appointed him governor of the Ampel region and gave him the opportunity to propagate Islam with complete freedom. During his governorship, he converted nearly three thousand families in Ampel to Islam and dispatched a large group of Islamic preachers throughout all the neighboring islands and kingdoms. Sheikh Khalifa Husayn, who illuminated Madura with the light of Islam, had been sent by Raden. Mawlana Ishaq, who propagated Islam in the kingdom of Balambangan, was also his disciple. The Raden who eradicated paganism in the Gresik region was likewise his trained disciple. Both of his own sons were also renowned propagators of Islam in Java. The greatest achievement of his two close relatives, Raden Patah and Raden Husayn, was that they finally compelled Majapahit, Hinduism’s strongest fortress, to submit to Islam. Raden Husayn preached Islam as Majapahit’s commander, and in 1478 Raden Patah finally defeated the infidel creed and transformed Majapahit into an Islamic state.

The propagation of Islam in western Java was more difficult. The Hindus there were much more rigid than ordinary Javanese. Nevertheless, preachers such as Mawlana Hasanuddin Chaibibuni propagated Islam extensively there. Even so, the Hindus continued to resist Islam for a long time. Finally, in the sixteenth century, truth achieved its decisive victory, and the Hindu kingdom of Pajajaran was wholly initiated into Islam. Thus, in the four hundred years from the twelfth through the sixteenth century, the island of Java became completely Islamic. Hinduism submitted to Islam without any bloodshed, solely through the power of propagation.

The Malay Archipelago

After Java, the second center of Islamic power was the Malay Archipelago. Islam reached here much later. In most cases, Spanish and Portuguese trade and Islam arrived together. Muslim merchants propagated Islam successfully and vigorously in opposition to militant Christianity. Between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Javanese and Malay merchants began propagating Islam here. Through their efforts, Islam spread throughout the Malay Archipelago within a short time, and four powerful Islamic governments were established. One was the government of Ternate. Its sultan ruled a large part of Malahera. The second was the government of Tidore. It included all of Tidore, part of Malahera, part of Seram, and the western part of New Guinea. The third was the Sultanate of Gurula, whose territory included central Malahera and northern Seram. The fourth was the government of Teyan Island, whose rule extended over Teyan Island and the Obi Archipelago. After displaying some splendor for a time, all four kingdoms were destroyed by the poisonous air of Christian imperialism. However, Islam’s existence did not depend on the mercy of these governments, nor did it appear through their favor. Even after Christian imperialist powers such as Holland swallowed them up, Islam continued to spread rapidly through the Malay Archipelago. It can certainly be said that a day will soon come when no religion other than Islam will have a place there.

Of these islands, Tidore was the first to embrace Islam. In the fifteenth century, an Arab merchant named Sheikh Mansur converted the local king to Islam and named him Jamaluddin. When the second group of Spanish merchants arrived in 1521, the ruler was Sultan Mansur, son of Jamaluddin, and Islam had been present there for only fifty years. According to Portuguese merchants, Islam appeared in Ternate even before Tidore. When a Portuguese group arrived there in 1521, Islam had been propagated there for eighty years. There is an interesting story about the propagation of Islam on this island. A Javanese merchant named Wato Mulla Husayn settled there for trade. Every morning he recited the Noble Qur’an aloud. Hearing his recitation, the pagans became enchanted and gathered around him. In this way, he initiated many people into Islam within a short time. Finally, in 1495, the king himself went to Gresik and embraced Islam.

In Amboyna, a local merchant named Patiputa propagated Islam and, bringing Islamic teachings from Java, spread them throughout the Amboyna coast. This was the era when Portuguese colonialism was emerging. The Portuguese tried to halt the progress of this religion by force. In reality, they wanted to take revenge for the Crusades. But despite the Portuguese’ fierce opposition, the expansion of the true faith did not diminish. Rather, it gained even greater popularity among the common people. Then, in the sixteenth century, when Portugal fell into internal crisis, the people of Amboyna killed and expelled all the Christian missionaries and began embracing Islam in groups. Because of their commercial relations with these islands, the remaining islands of the Malay Archipelago also became Muslim.

The Island of Borneo

In 1521, the king of Gurula embraced Islam. During this century, Borneo was illuminated by the light of Islam. First, the kingdom of Banjarmasin embraced Islam. Then, in the north, Borneo’s kingdom of Brunei became Muslim. In 1550, merchants from Palembang propagated Islam in the kingdom of Sukadana, and in 1590 Borneo’s most powerful king became Muslim. He was named Sultan Muhammad Safiuddin. When a Western traveler reached Borneo in 1600, he found that the entire coastal area had embraced Islam and that only a slight influence of unbelief and paganism remained in the interior. From the beginning of the eighteenth century, Islam also began to spread into Borneo’s interior. On one side, capitalist and well-organized Christian groups were propagating their religion. On the other, poor and scattered Muslim merchants were calling people to Islam. Yet the world was astonished to see that the Christians failed and the Muslims succeeded. Within only a few years of effort, they converted a large community in northern Borneo, the Idan, to Islam. The Dayak community of central Borneo also considers Islam preferable to Christianity.

The Island of Celebes

Islam was propagated on the island of Celebes according to the same general pattern. First, Javanese and Malay merchants brought Islam to the coastal areas. Then, with the help of local merchants, it reached the interior. When Portuguese colonists arrived in 1540, the expansion of Islam had only just begun, and only a few Muslims lived in Gowa. Within sixty years, it had advanced so far that the entire coastal area became Muslim, and the king of Makassar embraced Islam as well. From Makassar, Islam spread among the Alfur and Bugis communities. Islam had such an influence among the Bugis that all their innate talents and abilities awakened as a result. Their intelligence and industriousness made them the finest civilized people in the Malay Archipelago. Today this people is well known throughout the region as a community that propagates Islam. Its merchants travel with their own fleets from New Guinea to Singapore. Through their influence, Islam is spreading with great rapidity. Through them, Islam was propagated throughout Sumbawa, Lombok, the Sandalwood Islands, and other islands, and Christianity was decisively defeated on Celebes itself. In the eighteenth century, Christian missionaries converted the king of the Bolang and Mangkondow kingdom to Christianity. Under his influence, the entire kingdom became Christian. But within a century, Bugis merchants freed it from the grip of Christianity, and in 1844 King Jacobus himself embraced Islam.

In the Philippine Archipelago

The most miraculous achievement of unarmed Islam appeared in the Philippine Archipelago. A Malay merchant named Sharif Kabungsuwan laid the foundation of Islam there. He settled in Mindanao with several companions. There he initiated a great number of Filipinos into Islam. There he initiated a great number of Filipinos into Islam. Thereafter, the arrival of Muslim merchants and the propagation of Islam continued for a long time. When the colonizers of the uncivilized peoples of the region arrived, they saw a clear difference between the society, civilization, and conduct of Muslims and non-Muslims. They were astonished and wondered how such a great revolution had occurred in the lives of pagan peoples devoid of civilization within such a short time. Since the influence of Islam there was very recent, they adopted extremely cruel measures to drive out Islam and spread Christianity, converting tribes to Christianity by the force of the sword. This continued until the beginning of the civilized days of the twentieth century. Spain continued every kind of oppression and persecution there in the name of religion. Yet despite this, Islam expanded very rapidly there in opposition to Christianity. The people of the Philippines used to come by the thousands to the Muslim kingdoms of Mindanao and Sulu and embrace Islam in groups. The astonishing fact is that, when American rule spread there in the latter part of the nineteenth century and religious coercion ended, that intensity of Islamic propagation did not continue. Nevertheless, Muslim merchants spread widely throughout the surrounding areas. The latest reports indicate that the quiet propagation of Islam has begun anew in the Philippines.

New Guinea

The propagation of Islam in New Guinea is a phenomenon of the most recent period. There, Islam remained chiefly confined to the coastal areas. At first, its western region was under the rule of the Sultan of Teyan. For this reason, in the sixteenth century the influence of Islam became more extensive in northwestern Guinea. In 1606, Muslim merchants carried it to the western coast as well and spread Islam among the pagan settlements of the Onim Peninsula. However, the true period of Islamic propagation in these regions was the nineteenth century. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the island of Aru embraced Islam. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Muslim merchants from Seram and Goram initiated the people of Pulau and other islands into Islam. On Kai Island, there was not even a trace of Muslims until the middle of the nineteenth century. Only a few merchants from Banda Island lived there. Suddenly, missionary work began in 1878. Muslim merchants from Madura, Java, and Bami converted so many people of Kai Island to Islam within a short time that Muslims now number more than sixteen thousand there—nearly half the total population.

This astonishing success of Islam in the Malay Archipelago was the result of six centuries of quiet preaching. This preaching was carried out chiefly by merchants and ordinary travelers. They had neither swords nor any dominant power. They had only an irresistible zeal and enthusiasm for conveying the religion of Allah. It was because of this enthusiasm that they remained devoted to serving Islam amid the dangers and risks of foreign travel and the intensely materialistic life of commercial gain. For this reason, they possessed such devotion and sincerity that they placed all other purposes second and adopted the propagation of Islam as their primary objective. Even in the modern age, when Muslims throughout the world—except in Africa—have become lax regarding the duty of propagating Islam, there is still considerable interest and enthusiasm for this among the Muslims of the East Indian Archipelago. We can see that even now, besides the merchants, government employees of the Dutch administration there continue to perform the duty of propagating Islam. They have published so many Islamic books in the Malay language that no non-Muslim can learn Malay as an official language without becoming influenced by Islam. In most cases, they have no alternative but to become Muslims.

Seven

A Call to Take Practical Steps

I have not related this long history merely for the sake of storytelling. My sole purpose is to prove that the primary source of Islam’s religious and worldly strength is calling toward الخير, enjoining good deeds, and preventing evil deeds. The entire life and progress of Islam depend on this. Allah Most High created the nation known as the Muslims precisely for this task. Since it is inherent in every message that it be conveyed to those for whom it is intended, propagation, or tabligh, is a demand of Islam’s very nature. Islam is in fact a message from Allah Most High, and this message has been sent to every child of Adam on earth. Therefore, whoever receives this message is instructed and entrusted by Allah to convey it to as many children of Adam as possible. This truth has been proclaimed in the following verse of the Noble Qur’an:

كُنتُم خَيرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخرِجَت لِلنّاسِ تَأمُرونَ بِالمَعروفِ وَتَنهَونَ عَنِ المُنكَرِ وَتُؤمِنونَ بِاللَّهِ

“You are the best nation brought forth for the benefit of humankind. You enjoin good, forbid evil, and believe in Allah.” —(Aal Imran 3:110)

It was solely to fulfill this one purpose that Allah Most High created the Muslim nation:

وَلتَكُن مِنكُم أُمَّةٌ يَدعونَ إِلَى الخَيرِ وَيَأمُرونَ بِالمَعروفِ وَيَنهَونَ عَنِ المُنكَرِ ۚ

“There must be among you a group that calls toward الخير, enjoins good, and forbids evil.” —(Surah Aal Imran 3:104)

A very brief account of the astonishing results produced by this sense of responsibility during Islam’s thirteen-century history was given in the preceding chapters. After studying this account, the reader will have understood that those Muslims who were conscious of the responsibilities and duties of their Muslim identity

ادعُ إِلىٰ سَبيلِ رَبِّكَ بِالحِكمَةِ وَالمَوعِظَةِ الحَسَنَةِ

implemented this divine command—“Call to the path of Allah with wisdom and excellent counsel”—with exceptional skill. In accordance with this command, through the power of preaching and propagation alone, they brought vast regions to submit to Islam. In the vast continent of Africa, millions embraced Islam without any display of greed, coercion, deception, or fraud; in China, settlement after settlement submitted to Islam without the use of material force or dictatorial power; in the Malay Archipelago, four-fifths of the population became obedient to the One Allah through the hands of unarmed and powerless merchants; and in the land of the Tatars, weak women and destitute dervishes caused the Muslim-slaying, murderous barbarians to bow before Islam. We have presented this instructive history to our Muslim brothers precisely to show the results of that sense of responsibility. Our purpose in presenting it is that the same sense of responsibility may also awaken in our brothers in some form.

Propagational Activities after 1857

The grievous blow suffered by the religious honor of India’s Muslims during the failed War of Independence of 1857 awakened their religious feelings for a few days, and as a result the work of propagating Islam proceeded very rapidly for nearly forty years after 1885. But regrettably, under the influence of non-Muslim domination, that religious feeling and zeal for propagation came to an end. The broad awakening that had arisen for a time in the service of Islam began to be squandered in exchanging mutual fatwas of unbelief and in mutual riots and disorder. A study of the history of the latter half of the nineteenth century reveals the astonishing fact that, despite there being no regular system for propagating Islam at that time, the number of new Muslims increased each year from ten thousand to as many as six hundred thousand. A large group of ulama and preachers emerged. They devoted their lives to propagating Islam and, using their personal abilities, traveled from city to city, bringing thousands of people into Islam. Moreover, such an impulse to propagate Islam arose among ordinary Muslims that everyone from office employees to ordinary shopkeepers remained engaged in propagation. The old reports of Lahore’s Anjuman-i Himayat-i Islam show that at that time school and madrasa teachers, government employees, small traders, and even a camel-cart driver were engaged in propagating Islam.

The Present Situation

If we reflect on the reason for the slow pace of propagating Islam in this age, it becomes clear that the entire responsibility lies with our laxity and religious indifference. Otherwise, it goes without saying that Islam is still what it was before. No change has occurred in its nature, nor can one occur. It is we who have changed. Our character has changed. Our emotions and feelings have changed. That is why we are in decline today. Therefore, the delicate problem that has arisen today concerning the propagation of Islam in the subcontinent will not be solved merely by holding meetings, merely by publishing newspapers and journals, or merely by wasting time in clamor. The real solution is to make our Muslims truly Muslim, to instill in them the correct Islamic zeal and vitality, and to mold their lives according to the proper Islamic pattern. All false beliefs, innovations, customary practices, and erroneous habits must be removed from among them. These things have arisen among them through living for hundreds of years alongside a polytheistic nation. We must take care to create such religious enthusiasm among Muslims as will turn every Muslim into an active propagator of Islam.

I have repeatedly emphasized that Muslims have never propagated Islam by creating a missionary organization modeled on the Christians. Of course, this does not mean that we oppose working in an organized manner. The real point is that this task is not the responsibility of merely one or several groups. Rather, an all-embracing and universal enthusiasm for propagating and spreading Islam must be created among Muslims, so that every Muslim begins to regard himself as responsible for this glorious work.

A Missionary Group or Universal Zeal for Propagation?

If this comprehensive zeal and enthusiasm for propagation does not awaken among ordinary Muslims, and responsibility for this work is assigned to merely one or several organizations, then we must know with certainty that we will never succeed in confronting non-Muslims. For everywhere, it has been the universal zeal of Muslims for propagation that has succeeded. If Muslims in Africa had not possessed this universal zeal, and had merely appointed a few organizations to carry out tabligh and propagation, they could never, even until the Day of Judgment, have achieved the success they actually attained against Christian organizations many times stronger and wealthier than they were—a success that has left the entire Christian world astonished and bewildered. Likewise, if a widespread zeal for religious propagation had not been active among merchants and travelers of every class in the Malay Archipelago, and if the duty of inviting people to Islam had been performed only by Arab and Indian preachers and ulama who arrived from time to time, then perhaps the sound of the call to prayer, which is heard from the shores of the Mediterranean to the present day despite the combined resistance of pagan and Christian imperialists, would never have been heard. It is true that propagating Islam is a fard kifayah. If one group devotes itself to carrying out this work, that is sufficient for the entire ummah. But this generous provision of the Shariah is not intended to free Muslims from the responsibility of serving the religion for their own comfort, or to make them carefree. Its meaning is that the responsibility rests upon all Muslims and is incumbent upon everyone, but at least one group must certainly always continue performing it as an obligation. And it goes without saying that this group should be composed of the ulama and the righteous.

Therefore, in my view, the best method of propagating Islam is not to call upon non-Muslims, but to call upon the Muslims themselves and create within them such religious awakening and inspiration that every Muslim becomes a propagator. In this way, not only will the duty of propagating Islam be fulfilled in the best manner, but many of our religious illnesses will also be cured.

Some Reform Proposals

In light of the experience of propagation in various countries of the world, I will mention here the few reform measures that, in my view, would assist the propagation of Islam in this country. I hope Muslim leaders will reflect on them:

(a) Abolishing Class Discrimination

The class discrimination that has arisen among Muslims because of their close association with Hindus must be abolished. One fundamental aqidah of Islam is that no human being is inherently impure or inferior by birth. This aqidah brought perfect equality to Muslim society, and this belief is a major reason for its success. We must now once again regard this principle as a fundamental principle in all our affairs.

(b) Abolishing Hereditary Discrimination

In our country, new Muslims are generally regarded as inferior to those who have been Muslims for generations. This is wholly un-Islamic behavior. It must be eradicated with the utmost firmness. The practice of marrying new Muslim women and men must be revived. The aristocrats of our country avoid this. But even our most eminent nobleman cannot claim to be nobler than the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), who married the daughters of two new Muslims, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) and Umar al-Faruq (may Allah be pleased with him), and gave his own daughters in marriage to two other new Muslims, Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) and Ali (may Allah be pleased with him).

(c) Reviving Islamic Brotherhood

The spirit of Islamic brotherhood must be awakened among Muslims, so that non-Muslims, seeing it, become eager to enter Islamic society.

(d) Reforming the General Religious and Moral Condition

A deeper reform movement may perhaps be necessary to improve the inner life of Muslims. But at the very least, it is essential to create such an impressive transformation in their outward lives that non-Muslims are naturally attracted to them. For example, everyone must be advised to perform prayer in congregation and observe fasting, to refrain from polytheistic and innovative customs and practices, and from all activities prohibited by the Shariah; in particular, every effort must be made to eradicate moral offenses among Muslims. For when the moral condition of Muslims improves, respect for them will arise in the hearts of non-Muslims.

(e) Expanding Religious Education and Encouraging Propagational Activities

Muslims must be given religious education through Friday sermons, evening gatherings, educational institutions, and newspapers and journals. The difference between Islam and other religions must be explained clearly through simple comparative discussion. This movement would be especially effective among teachers, government employees, and ordinary merchants, since they have more opportunities to mix with the public and are able to carry out propagation with great success.

Concluding Remarks

This is an extremely important task. To undertake it, our ulama and pirs must come out of their respective hujras and khanqahs. The responsibility of the ulama requires no explanation. The title of “God-fearing” given to them in the Qur’an and their comparison in hadith with the prophets of the Children of Israel were not bestowed upon them without reason. Rather, a very great responsibility for reforming and guiding this ummah has been placed upon them. Even the slightest shortcoming in fulfilling that responsibility will not save them from Allah’s severe reckoning. I also wish to remind the respected pirs and Sufis of their great responsibility. The exalted seats on which they now sit were once devoted to the great work of calling Allah’s servants to Allah’s path. They are heirs not only to the spiritual greatness and worldly benefits of their predecessors, but also to many responsibilities and duties. The sense of these responsibilities and duties was so intense among the earlier Sufis and pirs that they had no leisure even to think of anything else. If they still feel the responsibility placed upon pirs for reforming a Muslim after taking him as a disciple, many of the Muslims’ problems can be solved. The number of disciples of the great custodians of spiritual seats and pirs must be at least ten to fifteen million. Their influence over this vast number of Muslims is such that a mere gesture from them can transform their character and lives. If Islamic inspiration could be created among so many Muslims, the face of this country could change within only a few years. In these circumstances, may we not hope that these revered men will leave their peaceful retreats and expend some effort for Allah and His true religion in this moment of crisis?

Part Two

The Assault of Falsehood against Islam and Its Causes

The Christian missionaries in this country have recently adopted several resolutions announcing their decision to invite the Muslims of this country toward Christianity. Those resolutions have also been published in newspapers and journals. I do not know how many readers, after reading them, became grieved and initiated effective measures, or how many, expressing slight regret, returned their attention to their own affairs. But it is true that the tendency to make noise has become an ingrained disease among us. We have now developed the habit that whenever we hear of a major attack or special plan by our opponents, we are suddenly startled and, in a disorganized and anxious state, undertake some haphazard measures. As soon as the danger lessens, we immediately settle back into complacency. Fifty years have passed since the Christian missionaries and Arya propagators began propagating their respective religions. Throughout this long period they have worked very quietly. Not a single year has passed in which they did not bring some new people into their own religion. But we regarded their silence as a sign of inactivity like our own and never made any arrangements for our defense. Our condition is like that of the villagers of Ma’rib. They regarded the dam built by their forefathers as a dam constructed by the gods. They thought it could neither break nor weaken. Even when rats began making holes in the dam, they remained complacent, thinking that a dam built by the gods could not be broken by rats. But those rats continued their efforts year after year and achieved such success that water began seeping through the dam. Then, partly through the force of the water and partly through the breaking of the wall, the result was that one day the dam suddenly collapsed completely, and settlements far and wide were destroyed. Our condition is the same. We take comfort in the belief that the dam of Islam is extremely strong. Indeed, we should have such confidence. But because of our own shortcomings, we are making that dam weak. Consequently, the rats are trying to make holes in it, and are achieving some success.

The Success of Others Is the Result of Our Own Incompetence

We should consider why the Arya propagators and Christian missionaries dare to confront us. Examine their religion carefully and you will find it to be a collection of such laughable rituals and customs that, far from presenting them to us, they would themselves be ashamed even to sit down and think about them. Then how are they entering the marketplace with such unsalable goods, and how are they achieving success? There must be a reason. Reflecting on this question makes it clear that their success is not the result of their ability but of our incompetence. The glitter of their trade is not because their goods are good or in demand in the marketplace. Rather, they are selling only because we ourselves have destroyed the value of our goods in the market. It is our firm belief that once a person embraces Islam, no power on earth can turn him away from this true religion. But if the teachings of Islam are not presented, if ordinary Muslims retain only an Islam received through tradition and inheritance, and if Islam’s superiority is not explained to them, how can we rely on its firmness and permanence? And even if we rely on it, where is the assurance that such reliance will endure?

The Root Cause of the Danger: The Permanent Source of Our Religious Calamities

A little deeper reflection will show that it is solely because of our weakness that non-Muslim propagators dare to propagate their own religion in Muslim society and attempt to convert Muslims. As long as these weaknesses and defects remain among us, the danger will remain as well. Our unfortunate ears will continually hear reports such as: today the Aryas and Christians have attacked in one place; today Muslims in another place have fallen prey to the bait of the nonbelievers. This disease of adopting a few superficial measures to obtain temporary relief from these dangers and then settling back into complacency will not disappear. Indeed, after some time there is a danger that we will become accustomed to hearing such reports and stop paying attention altogether. If an effective remedy is to be applied, we must concentrate on treating our fundamental weaknesses and take effective measures to eradicate them permanently. Then the very thing that encourages our enemies to attack us will be removed from among us. In my view, our weaknesses are of three kinds, and they are the root source of all misfortune:

(1) Ignorance

First, a large section of the Muslims are ignorant and uneducated. Their ignorance, particularly concerning Islam, has reached such a level that many do not even know how to recite the Kalimah. Indeed, many who are born into Muslim families are not even Muslims except in name. For this reason, the enemies can easily turn such people away from Islam.

(2) Poverty

Second, the Muslims are exceedingly poor. Ignorance and poverty combine to make them easy victims of the attacks of wealthy non-Muslim missionaries.

(3) Inadequacy of Islamic Educational Institutions

Third, because of the inadequacy of the Muslims’ own educational institutions, they have to send their young boys and girls to missionary educational institutions. There, from childhood, Christianity begins to leave its imprint on their innocent minds. Later, this imprint facilitates their conversion, whether secretly or openly.

This is the enduring source of our religious confusion. [This was the result of an observation made in 1925. Careful consideration will show that, even in this age, these are more or less the principal sources of the Muslims’ religious backwardness and confusion. —Translator] The causes of this confusion are so numerous that they cannot be counted, and it is not possible to discuss them in detail here. Broadly speaking, however, some of the most important and fundamental matters among them are as follows:

The subjugation of the Muslims, the indifference of the ulama, the prevalence of un-Islamic customs and practices in Muslim society, the multifaceted fragmentation of the worldwide Muslim power, and the Muslims’ lack of a practical appreciation of the power of money—which is one of the principal causes of the increase in their poverty.

Our Simplicity and Lack of ForesightversusThe Cunning and Foresight of the Enemies

Of the causes and weaknesses mentioned, there is not a single one for which we can blame anyone but ourselves. None of them originates with our opponents. Now, if in order to counter these things we launch campaigns, hold seminars and symposia, or send our preachers to places where Muslims are straying from Islam, that will neither cure the present disease nor protect us from future disease. Yet this is exactly what we have been doing so far. If our opponents’ method of work were like this, we might perhaps have achieved some success in this way. But they conduct campaigns and sermons merely as a conspiracy to keep us occupied. In reality, their method is entirely different. They make full use of our political and economic slavery, the indifference of our ulama, our national disunity, and all our other weaknesses. They have established thousands of hospitals, where they promote their own religion. They have opened thousands of orphanages, where countless orphaned boys and girls are fed the tablets of Christianity. They have organized their activities so perfectly that wherever famine or any other natural calamity occurs, they shelter all the homeless and promote their own religion by distributing relief in the form of food and clothing. They have established thousands of educational institutions throughout India, where boys and girls are very gradually and systematically encouraged to convert. They have cultivated among themselves such patience and steadiness, such a spirit of sacrifice and service, and such sincere religious devotion that they spend year after year in one place, enduring extreme solitude and austerity. They live the lives of yogis, ascetics, faqirs, and dervishes, and very quietly propagate their own religion among the people. They possess such profound intelligence that, even if not wholly sincerely, at least outwardly, they present before the people a high standard of pious, simple, and unostentatious living, and display such elevated moral character that their actual good conduct becomes a greater means of propagation than verbal and printed advice. Moreover, taking advantage of our poverty, they achieve economic dominance over us. No one should have difficulty understanding how deep and effective this method of work is. It is like the devastation of a terrible flood, which at once makes a dreadful noise, demolishes buildings, and even undermines the foundations of great palaces. Building a barrier against it with ordinary planks, or applying some similar superficial remedy, accomplishes nothing. Therefore, we too must adopt measures as deep and effective as those of our opponents. Otherwise, our efforts at self-preservation cannot succeed.

Means of Defense

I have already discussed the internal weaknesses and other difficulties of Muslim society which may cause Islam in the Indian subcontinent in the future to fall into an extremely helpless condition, even if it is not completely destroyed. At the same time, I have placed before the readers the deep and highly effective conspiracies being carried out by the enemies of Islam to crush the strength of Islam. That discussion made it clear that unless we too adopt similarly far-reaching and effective strategies, it is impossible for us to achieve success in protecting and spreading Islam. I shall now discuss what those measures of protection should be like and what strategies we should adopt.

1—Widespread Dissemination of Islamic Education and Revival of Religious Inspiration

I have already said that ignorance is our greatest weakness. A large section of the Muslims is completely ignorant of the teachings of their religion and of its beliefs and legal practices. This is the greatest assistance to the enemies in turning them away from religion. From this perspective, our first need is to spread Islamic education among all the ignorant Muslims of India [This refers to undivided India in 1925. —Translator]. The simple, comprehensible beliefs of Islam must be firmly implanted in their minds, and enough religious inspiration must be created among them for them to become observant in prayer and fasting. For this purpose, we must generally appoint one person in each rural area and small town who can gradually and systematically teach the people religious education in their free time and explain to them, in language they understand, the important injunctions of Islam and their benefits. Non-Muslims may also be invited to Islam at the same time. For the present, however, our full attention must be directed not toward making unbelievers Muslim, but toward making Muslims genuine Muslims. If we can awaken the dormant religious inspiration of the Muslims, we will be able to protect our internal social structure from attacks by outsiders. Then we will have greater opportunity to turn our attention to others.

2—Establishment of Elementary Religious Schools

Alongside this, the second necessary measure is to establish institutions in every village to provide Muslim boys and girls with elementary religious education. No elaborate rules or special curriculum is needed for this. To make them Muslims, it is enough to firmly implant the basic beliefs of Islam in their minds in very simple language. They should be taught by heart the basic rules concerning ablution, purification from urine and feces, prayer, fasting, and the like, and they should be taught to read the Noble Qur’an. Merely teaching the Qur’an to people, even like parrots, has such an effect that the greatness of Islam leaves an impression on their minds, after which it is not easy to remove that influence. Therefore, if we are unable to provide our children with effective education, we should at least imprint the Qur’an on their tender minds, so that they are not affected by the magic of unbelief.

This is the bare minimum essential task. We should not delay even for a moment in carrying it out. There is no benefit in sending a separate corps of muballighs on tours for this purpose. Rather, we need people who will remain permanently in one place and, like Arya missionaries, endure the hardships of rural life and serve Islam with complete devotion and steadfastness. They must possess enough patience to successfully face the foolish behavior of the people. They must not lose heart after initial failure. Even if it takes several years to remove polytheistic and heretical customs and practices, they must not lose morale or, in their haste, engage in conflict with the ignorant. Instead, through gradual advice, teaching, and propagation, they should make people interested in reforming their character. At the same time, they should possess such a spirit of sacrifice that they take as little remuneration as possible from this impoverished nation for serving Islam. It is obvious that this nation does not have the capacity to pour out millions of rupees like the Christians. Their moral character should be so pure that simple-hearted villagers are not repelled by their conduct. Rather, they should be attracted to them, captivated by their noble character. They should present such examples of Islamic character among themselves that people can receive practical lessons in Islamic morality from them.

3—A Permanent System for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Natural Disasters

What has been discussed so far concerned the first level of work. The second level is to establish regional rehabilitation arrangements to protect Muslims from the harmful effects of natural disasters. It is precisely because such arrangements do not exist that afflicted Muslims become dependent on the mercy of Christian and Arya missionaries. For example, during famines and floods, thousands of men, women, and children become homeless. In such times of danger, there is no one to shelter them. They are therefore forced to sell their religion and faith, obtaining food to save themselves from starvation and clothing to cover their shame from wealthy Christian missionaries. Similarly, children who have no guardians wander day and night like vagrants simply because they have no shelter, and in most cases they find refuge in the orphanages of Christian or Arya missionaries. They become perpetual victims of the conspiracy conducted by the enemies of Islam to turn Muslims away from their religion. It is solely the indifference of the Muslims that snatches these tender-hearted children from the lap of Islam and throws them into the whirlpool of unbelief. Permanent orphanages are needed to protect them from this danger. It is not being said that a very extensive system must immediately be established. For the present, it is enough to save them from falling into the clutches of the missionaries. The arrangements by which they can be given some work and trained to become capable of working must, of course, be considered separately. For now, our sole objective should be to protect their Islam. This may be possible by placing them under the care of Muslim families. It must be ensured that they are not treated like slaves in those families, but are treated kindly, like members of the household. If any of them knows a skilled trade, he may be put to work in that field. There can be no doubt that the condition of orphans and abandoned children is wholly intolerable. But even if our nation lacks sufficient concern to make proper arrangements for raising its children and adolescents, it remains an absolutely certain truth that it is far better for a Muslim boy to remain Muslim while serving as a domestic worker than to embrace unbelief and become a Christian missionary.

4—Boycotting Missionary Educational Institutions

An urgent task is to launch a vigorous movement to withdraw Muslim boys from missionary schools and colleges. The purpose of these educational institutions is not to spread the light of knowledge and science. Their purpose is to turn boys and girls away from their religion and initiate them into Christianity, the fabricated religion of Saint Paul. Generally, the inevitable result of studying in these institutions is that even if students do not openly renounce Islam, they at least become alienated from their own religion. No respect for Islam remains in their hearts. They clearly move away from Islamic beliefs. They begin to regard worship as a game. They openly violate Islamic injunctions. Their relationship with Islam remains merely nominal, maintained only by ancestral ties and social resistance. It is true that, according to Mr. Arnold’s experience, studying in missionary educational institutions has sometimes produced the completely opposite result. Some students, after learning the defects and shortcomings of Christianity, have become even stronger opponents of it. But the number of such fortunate and saintly souls is very small. In general, the condition of the students of missionary educational institutions is just as we have discussed above. Delivering them from this danger of irreligion is certainly a very great service to Islam.

An argument is sometimes presented against such a movement. It is said that Muslims are already backward in education and that they have no good arrangements for it. If missionary schools and colleges are also boycotted, where will our boys study? My response is that the existing Islamic and government institutions can make up for the deficiency of the missionary educational institutions. In fact, the education in these institutions is many times better than that in the missionary institutions. But even if it were not possible to make up the deficiency there, from the viewpoint of a true Muslim, religion cannot be sacrificed merely for the sake of higher education. If there is no way for Muslims to obtain higher education except through missionary institutions, then it is better to forgo it than to obtain such higher education. For it is a far greater calamity for our children to turn away from Islam than to remain ignorant. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a campaign against missionary educational institutions. A campaign alone is not enough; people must also be encouraged so that every Muslim withdraws his own children from those institutions.

5—Freedom from Economic Slavery

The final task, and the most urgent task in the present circumstances, is to free the Muslims from their current economic slavery. Formerly, the government itself was the principal support for the economic welfare of the Indian Muslims. They had never possessed an inclination toward trade or the organization of capital. They had only an innate inclination toward various skilled occupations. The financial benefits of these occupations depended entirely on the government and people connected with the government. They appreciated and valued these occupations. When the government changed, the sources of their prosperity and wealth dried up with it. Consequently, the situation today is that all the skilled craftsmen and farmers among the Muslims are slaves of Hindu capitalists. Those whom Allah has blessed with ancestral wealth are continually wasting it through their corrupted culture and tastes and their misguided habits of extravagant spending. The result of this economic slavery is that the power of the Hindus in commerce and business has increased so greatly that they have become destructive to the Muslims. They have advanced so far in this respect that they can impose a boycott whenever they wish and place the Muslims in difficulty. In the towns and cities, this matter may be limited merely to economic slavery. But in the remote countryside, this has become the greatest weapon for turning Muslims away from their religion. Non-Muslim missionaries are making every effort to convert ignorant rural Muslims. Therefore, curing this disease is most necessary for safeguarding Islam. Indeed, in light of the present circumstances, it may not be an exaggeration to say that the economic danger itself is a threat to the existence of Islam in India.

The Importance of National Unity

What course of action can be adopted to save Muslims from economic danger is a separate subject for discussion. There is no opportunity to discuss it in detail here. It is true, however, that our disunity and the diversity of our national groups are wholly inappropriate for accomplishing such an important task. We are still intent on forming separate groups, whereas this matter requires the united strength of the entire nation. We expect enormous results within a short time, whereas this work requires tireless effort over many years. We still take complete pleasure in making noise and commotion, whereas this requires deeper devotion to the objective and genuine sacrifice and endurance. We have so far mastered only the ability to ignite suddenly like fire, whereas that is not needed here. What we need is only a very slight heat—the heat that can mature inwardly over many years and produce pearls and jewels. Therefore, until we master the proper method of working, all proposals will be fruitless. If the various movements remain driven by this emotionalism, if we remain absorbed in fighting among ourselves instead of confronting others, and if all our work continues to follow the path of disunity instead of unity and mutual cooperation, then it would be better to abandon all efforts at reform and correction, recite the Fatiha for Islam together, and each occupy himself with whatever he prefers. Just as a builder’s skill is more necessary for constructing a building than a large quantity of materials, so the proper ability to work is more necessary than our excellent proposals and plans of action. No matter how good the medicine, it cannot benefit the patient if the physician is incompetent. Therefore, if the enlightened people of our nation—that is, the Muslim ummah—properly recognize the importance and delicacy of the time, they must set aside all other concerns and first consider how the unity of the Muslim nation can be restored. The disunity and fragmentation prevailing in all the national movements today must be removed as soon as possible.

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The Muslims and Da‘wah

“History bears witness that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, continued the work of da‘wah and propagation even on the battlefield. Calling the servants of Allah toward worshipping Him is so important that under no circumstances can a Muslim abandon it. This work of da‘wah is an inseparable part of a Muslim’s life and personal identity. Only when we can continue this da‘wah through the hard struggle of practical life will the purpose of our lives be fulfilled and our goal achieved. The only difference between us and the Christian missionaries is that they are a group of professional preachers. The propagation of a Muslim, however, takes place in every sphere of his busy life. This propagation is not carried out by sitting separately somewhere solely as a preacher. Rather, if a Muslim is engaged in business in a marketplace, he conducts his business on the one hand and, on the other, calls people toward the religion of Allah. Wherever he may be and whatever work he may do, in every situation he is first a caller toward the religion of Allah, and only afterward anything else.”

Maulana Maududi

Jhelum

14 November 1967