By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

The Holy Prophet commenced his mission in Mecca with the determination to convey the word of Allah to humankind at all costs. But there were many in Mecca who became antagonistic to him and his cause, and in the first twelve years of his Prophethood there, it appeared that the history of Islam would end at its starting-point in Mecca . Then, quite unlocked for opportunities were created for the Prophet and his followers to immigrate to Medina and to carry on their mission there.

This new direction that his missionary activities took was the direct result of the efforts made by the Muslims to preach the word of Allah in Medina . In this, the Prophet, aided by his companions, was zealous in following the injunction : "Apostle, proclaim what is revealed to you from your Lord" and in heeding the admonition: "…if you do not, you will surely fail to convey his message." It was their earnest belief in the last part of this injunction: "Allah will protect you from all men," which gave them the courage to carry on (5:67). This message to the Prophet, recorded in the Qur'an, was spread to the whole Muslim community, that is, that Muslims can only earn Allah's protection on earth if they communicate the word of Allah.

It is related in the biographies of the Prophet, that the Muslims who went from Mecca to Medina were so unflagging in their efforts to propagate Islam, that "there was not a house belonging to the Ansar (the inhabitants of Medina) in which there were no Muslim men and women.

The moral character of the da'i (one who invites to Allah) must be marked by patience. It takes patience to wait for the right opportunities for dawah work to arise, and it also takes patience for the right sets of conditions to be created. Those who are unwilling to remain patient in the face of ignorance obduracy and unpleasantness can never fulfill the true calling of the da'i.

Sir James Jeans, the renowned English scientist, once stated in the foreword to a book he had written on physics and philosophy in 1941, that the scientific study of the universe had led us to the point where it seemed to suggest that "the door may be unlocked, only if we could find the handle." (p.16). This notion was put into words by this English scientist at a time when Muslims the world over, provoked at the domination of English, were waging a war against them. When the Muslims looked at the English, they saw in them only hateful enemies. Had they displayed patience — even only temporarily — at their political domination, they would very soon have discovered that the "handle" the English sought to the door of Reality, was already available to Muslims in the form of the Qur'an.

With this knowledge their entire attitude towards the English would have drastically changed. Soon they would have come to regard the English as their mad'u (congregation) and not as rivals. And then instead of praying for their doom they would have prayed for their guidance, and reformation. As their well-wishers they would have told them that what they (the English) required to reach the destination of reality that had already been sent by Allah in the form of the Qur'an. Hence, Patience is the necessary condition of da'wah — where there is no patience there can certainly be no da'wah.