Clearing the Path for Islam

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Patrick Ryan writes that extraordinary success in the propagation of Islam was achieved "by
learning to live lives of submission to God and to His messenger in a pluralistic, sometimes
even unsympathetic environment.  What eventually contributed to that environment
changing into a `realm of Islam' (Dar al-Islam) was not the militancy of the Muslim
minority but the religious interest of the non-Muslim majority in what they came to
recognize as a peaceful and attractive form of faith." 1          

It has been generally accepted that the dissemination of Islam on an international scale in
later centuries was achieved mainly through traders and sufis.  This does not, however, mean
that these Muslim traders or sufis were engaged in d'awah work in an organized fashion. 
There is no record, in fact, in the history of Islam, or there having been any regular,
organized activity on their part which could be interpreted as a missionary struggle.          

It being a historical fact, however, that Islam did spread through the traders and sufis, the
question then arises as to the reason for the vastness of scale on which this dissemination
took place.  The reason is not far to seek.  In those days the widespread phenomenon we now
recognize as the `politics of protest' had not yet come into being.  Today, this policy, adopted
by Muslims in one way or another in almost every corner of the world, is -- if we could but
realize it -- the greatest obstacle to the spread of Islam.          

The reason is that this brand of `protest politics' causes tension and strife between da'i and
mad'u.  And Islam simply cannot be communicated in such an atmosphere of tension and
antagonism.          

The revolution that marked the first era of Islam, bringing a great history into being, grew in
size until Islam itself became a veritable flood:  now Islam had been invested with
tremendous power to spread on its own.  The meaningless politics of hatred of our present-
day Muslim leaders have, on the contrary, acted as a deterrent to the flood of Islam.  Remove
this obstacle and Islam will go on spreading on its own.          

We need, in this day and age, to understand and appreciate what exactly was achieved by the
traders and sufis of old, and how exactly they accomplished this.  In effect, they did nothing
more difficult or complicated than lead simple, quiet lives and refrain from causing friction
in any other community.  It was this frictionless coexistence which removed the barriers from
the sweep of Islam's great flood-waters.  Given such ideal conditions, Islam spread
unceasingly on its own.  Our present-day Muslim leaders are the first group in Islamic
history who, by their meaningless activities in the name of Islam, have brought its
dissemination to a compete standstill by placing the obstacles of hatred and prejudice in its
path.          

The same spirit, with which the traders and sufis of old were imbued, needs to be reborn
among the Muslims of today. That is, they must follow the path of adjustment and not
confrontation, a policy which, as Patrick Ryan has rightly observed, made possible the wide
dissemination of Islam in the past.          

Confrontations between Muslims and other nations take place mostly on issues of a political,
economic and social nature. If, on such occasions, Muslims adopt an attitude of
intransigence, this can only result in da'i and  mad'u being constantly at loggerheads, with
the ultimate cessation of any spread of Islamic influence among other nations.a