Francis Herbert Bradley (d. 1924), a well-known British philosopher, writes in his book, Appearance and Reality:
“Today’s man needs a scientific religion; the ancient traditional type of religion is not acceptable for the modern man.”
In saying so, Bradley did not mean that today’s man needs a religion brought by a prophet like Newton, bearing a sacred book like Principia, or an Einstein propounding his general theory of relativity. On the contrary, Bradley meant that only that religion is acceptable to modern man which can pass the tests of scientific scrutiny.
The truth is that after the emergence of modern science, the majority of religious thoughts and beliefs have been subjected to scientific investigation. In the process, most of the religious ideologies have been proved to be without foundation and are thus unacceptable. For instance, as a result of this scrutiny, the geocentric theory regarding the solar system was abandoned and the heliocentric theory came to be accepted. In the same way, ancient alchemy was replaced by modern chemistry, and ancient astrology was replaced by modern astronomy, etc. Bradley meant that the same process should have been applied to religions as well. I think that this was a positive suggestion. Fully accepting this suggestion, I have personally applied the scientific method to religions. This procedure has revealed to me that if the ancient religions have not been able to maintain their original positions, it is due to human interpolation. That is why they do not pass the test of scientific investigation.
But the case of Islam is totally different. I have personally studied Islam in a totally objective manner, applying to it a purely scientific method. As a result, I can say with full conviction that Islam is the scientific religion which was dreamed by Bradley, the British philosopher. I have regularly expressed the results of my investigation in my books, articles and speeches. It is a fact that, by reading my writings and listening to my speeches, tens of thousands of people have acquired a new-found faith in Islam.
As a matter of personal experience, I feel that there is a great need at the present time for Islam to become a discovery for non-Muslims and other nations, and a re-discovery for Muslims. This is the need of the hour. The Al-Risala mission has actually been performing this task now for a long period of time.
This is the goal of dawah work in present times. Dawah work is neither a debate, nor is it any kind of political movement. Neither does dawah work involve establishing the pride of Muslims over non-Muslims, nor does it have anything to do with community work. The aim of dawah work is not to prove others’ inferiority and Muslims’ superiority. “Bulldoze them, knock them out” is not the language of the dayee. Nor can the dayee make statements such as: “Yes, we are terrorists, but we are terrorists vis a vis anti-social elements, just as the police are.”
Any such style of working has nothing to do with dawah work. The dawah style can only be that which reflects true well-wishing for mankind.