The Call of the Quran
5. The call of da‘wah in the modern age
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Islam, the production of literature does not entail
just the compilation, publishing and distribution of
a number of books. What it signifies, in effect, is the
material process of casting the light of the Qur’an
far and wide over the whole of humanity. This
means communicating the word of God – revealed
originally in Arabic – to speakers of a multitude of
different languages in other communities. The onus
of translation, which is no easy task, clearly
devolves upon ordinary mortals, as is implied in the
following verse of the Qur’an:
“We sent not a messenger except to teach in
the language of his own people, in order to
make things clear to them.” (14:4)
It would perhaps be appropriate to say, placing the
matter in the eternal rather than the temporal
perspective, that just as God taught mankind by
means of the pen in Arabic, it is now up to human
beings to teach their fellow men by the pen in other
languages.
Tradition has it that the famous Arab poet, Labid,
gave up composing poetry after hearing recitations
from the Qur’an. When asked why he no longer
