The Muslim community has been called, ‘The Middle Nation’ in the Quran in the following verse of the second chapter which states:
“We have made you a middle nation so that you may be witness as against mankind,
and the Messenger may be a witness against you.” (Quran 2: 143)
This verse speaks of the role of Muslims as dayees. It explains that they have received the divine religion through God’s Messenger. Therefore, it is now their duty to communicate God’s message to every generation in every age. The word ‘witness’ (shahid) in this verse in equivalent to the word dayee.
It was the responsibility of the followers of the Prophet Muhammad to pass on the truth they had received from the Prophet to others. The same responsibility devolved upon the ancient people of the Book. This is called ‘Tabin’, that is, making the message of God clear to people. (Quran 3:187).
This dawah work, or task of being a witness, is neither something mysterious nor it is a matter of superiority. This Dawah is all a matter of responsibility, and without doubt there is no responsibility greater than that of dawah. The dawah responsibility of the Ummah of the Prophet is greater than that of other Ummahs because the Prophet of Islam was the last Prophet, called the ‘seal of the Prophets’ in the Quran. No other Prophet will come after him. The followers of the Prophet Muhammad have, therefore, to fulfill their responsibility of conveying the divine message to their contemporaries in every age till Doomsday. It is the duty of every Muslim, and he has to perform it on a priority basis. Only by fulfilling this dawah responsibility to our utmost can we be held eligible in God’s eyes to be called the ‘Middle Nation’.
We should remember that the real dawah work is that which is done in a style which is clear and understandable to the addressees, and which is retained in their mind or makes a lasting impression on their minds. In the modern era we need to make Islam understandable to people in the language of today, i.e. that modern, scientific idiom. Powerful dawah literature has already been produced by
Al-Risala,
Al-Quran Mission in a number of languages. Now all you have to do is involve yourself in the dawah mission.