people are able to undertake journeys on a large scale. The whole
world has, in fact, become a global village.
From the point of view of
dawah,
easy access to facilities for
travel has facilitated its performance. It is not just the passengers
who have become mobile, it is the
madu
who are on the move
everywhere. Prior to the age of modern communications, there was
an unbridgeable distance between the
dayee
and the
madu
. Now with
speedy transport systems, the
madu
himself is coming to the
dayee.
And for a variety of reasons, many gaps have been bridged between
the
dayee
and the
madu
. In this respect, we can aptly call the modern
age the age of the
madu
.
While this state of affairs prevails all over the world, it is more
common in tourist spots. One of these is the State of Jammu and
Kashmir. It is estimated that the number of tourists in J&Kis almost
equivalent to its population. Therefore, this State has a special
opportunity to communicate the divine message to its visitors. The
easiest way is to give them copies of the Quran and other books on
Islam. The tourists, that is, the
madu
, are approachable in every part
of the State. If the spirit of
dawah
is alive in the Kashmiri Muslims,
they will find innumerable opportunities for
dawah
work in their
own immediate vicinity.
One of the two best things
The mission of calling people to God is a divine mission. The Quran
describes such a mission as “one of the two best things.” (9:52)
.That is, such a mission is destined to achieve “one of the two best
things”. The first “best thing” is ideological, while the “second best”
is practical. In other words, the true divine mission will surely meet
with one success or the other -- either success in d
awah
work, or
success in bringing about a revolution.
In present times, in all those places which have been the hub of
the culture of violence in the name of Jihad, people are duty-bound
to make every effort to rectify the situation, that is, to make those
who stoop to violence aware of their error, to call upon them to shun
violence and adopt a peaceful course, to tell them that their actual
duty is to convey to people the message of truth and not to engage in
confrontation with them; to impress upon them the fact that their
duty, being believers, is to treat non-Muslims as
madu
and not as
enemies; and wherever they live, to work towards promulgating the
50
The Dawn Over Kashmir
