culture of peace, and not that of hatred and rivalry. Such a campaign
is necessary not only in Kashmir but also in other Muslim areas.
We can start this kind of campaign with conviction, for such a
campaign is destined for success. For those who engage in such a
mission are destined to achieve one of two objectives; either they
succeed in making people accept their message, so that they are
willing to make practical changes in their lives, or they manage to
convey their message to people and receive a great reward from
God for this work. This is what has been called in the Quran one
of the two best things, that is, either success in
dawah
work in the
ideological sense or success in bringing about a revolution in the
lives of the people in the practical sense.
Madu
, not ‘others’ -- not ‘they’
People generally divide human beings into ‘we and they’, but
this is not the way of Islam. The way of Islam is to look at
non-Muslim human beings as
madu
. When we divide people
into ‘we and they’, “we” become objects of love, while “they”
become objects of hatred. This is the real problem of present-
day Muslims. They have forgotten the reality that ideologically
they are
dayees
and all other human beings are their
madu
. No
one is “they”; all human beings must become “we”, i.e. their
own. Muslims regard other nations as their rivals, whereas if
they regarded other nations as
madu
, they would feel that all
human beings are their own. Once the Prophet, seeing the
funeral of a Jew, observed: “Jews are also human beings like us.”
(
Sahih
al- Bukhari, Hadith No.1312).
If Muslims adopted this Sunnah of the Prophet, they would look
upon all as their own. The Kashmiris would find the Hindus to be
their own, the Arabs would find the Israelis to be their own, the
Muslims residing inWestern countries would find the Christians to
be their own.
Regarding others as their own means becoming their well-
wishers. A businessman sees everyone as his customer. Due
to such thinking, friendly behavior comes naturally to every
businessman. Similarly, if Muslims regarded themselves as
dayees
and others as
madu
, a feeling of well-wishing would be
engendered in them. A friendly culture would be fostered among
them for all human beings, as a result of which their worldly
Dawah Thinking
51
