Although many Muslims say that we have to do the work of dakwah, but many Muslims still do not know what is the meaning of the word dakwah? And what is the hukum of doing the work of dakwah? Dakwah means to proclaim or to invite those who have not recited the Great Kalimah to recite the Great Kalimah. The Great Kalimah is the Kalimah, I bear witness that there is no God except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. In the Quran, it is mention, the word to call people to Allah, which means to call people to recite the Great Kalimah. Dakwah means to invite the non-Muslims to recite the Great Kalimah and by virtue of reciting the Great Kalimah, a non-Muslim is said to have entered Islam but the Kalimah has not entered his or her heart. Since the Great Kalimah has not entered into his or her heart, the person is not yet a Muslim but is said to have entered Islam(muallaf) or is call as a person who has embrace Islam. In Malay, he or she is said as orang Islambut certainly he or she is not orang beriman which is Mukmin or Muslim. Actually many Muslims are only a person who has embrace Islam or orang Islam and not a Muslim or true believer. In order for a person to become a Muslim, he or she must recite the Great Kalimah and then he or she must fulfil the right of the Great Kalimah by conveying or inviting others who have not recited the Great Kalimah to recite the Great Kalimah and the intention must only to please Allah until Allah is pleased with him or her. When Allah is pleased with him or her, Allah will instill the Great Kalimah into his or her heart. When the Great Kalimah has entered into a person’s heart, that person is known as a Muslim. Allah says in the Quran with the approximate meaning, whose words is better than those who call people to Allah and he does good actions(amals)and he says he is a Muslims. However many Muslims does not know how to differentiate the different between orang Islam and Muslims. Muslims are those who do the work of inviting others (non-Muslims) to recite the Great Kalimah and they themselves do good actions.Therefore for a person to have good action or amal solih, he or she must have a good iman and a person with good iman and good amal is known as a Muslim.

The first order of Allah to a person who had recited the Great Kalimah is to convey the Great Kalimah to those who has not recited the Great Kalimah. The order is only to convey the Great Kalimah and not to force the person to recite the Great Kalimah. The order is only to invite the person to recite the Great Kalimah and not to force them or to try to convince them to recite the Great Kalimah.  Allah has ordered us only to convey the Great Kalimah and to invite them to recite the Great Kalimah and not to force them to recite the Great Kalimah. Allah has given everyone the choice to either obey Him or not to obey Him. Allah has given every human being the choice to accept or not to accept the Great Kalimah. Allah has given every man, mind to think and the freedom to make the choice. The freedom to make the choice is only given to a human being and not to the other creations of Allah. Because every human being is given the freedom to choose, every human being is either to be rewarded or punished by Allah in accordance to the choice that every human being has made. Allah has made hell and paradise for men because men have the choice to accept the Great Kalimah or not to accept the Great Kalimah. The work of conveying the Great Kalimah to the non-Muslims is known as the work of dakwah and the work of conveying the meaning of the Great Kalimah to the Muslims is known as the work of reminding the Muslims about the Great Kalimah. Both of these works are vanishing from the life of Muslims and also from the life of those who have recited the Great Kalimah (orang Islam). When a person has recited the Great Kalimah, the first order that the person must do is to convey the Great Kalimah to the non-Muslims. Since hundreds of years ago, this is not done and is not known by Muslims and their scholars.  Muslims do not regard the work of conveying the Great Kalimah as the first order to be done after reciting the Great Kalimah. Muslims and their scholars have regarded since many hundreds of years ago that the performance of five time’s daily prayers is the first order to be performed after reciting the Great Kalimah. Since hundreds of years ago or even probably  just after  the time of Khalifah Al-Rasyidin, this order of conveying the Great Kalimah to the non-Muslims  was slowly forgotten by all the Muslims all over the world.

During those time, many Muslims may probably still convey the Great Kalimah to the non-Muslims but in the form of an individual act but the act of conveying the Great Kalimah to the non-Muslims in the form of a group or as ‘berjemaah’has definitely died. The work of dakwah at the time of Prophet Muhammad saw was done both as a group work and as an individual work. At that time, Prophet Muhammad saw was the leader of the work of conveying the Great Kalimah to the non-Muslims. Prophet Muhammad saw and with some of his companions did the work of dakwah as a group from the Prophet’s mosque but all the companions of the Prophet Muhammad saw including males and females at that time do the work of dakwah individually. The work continues as such until the last Caliph, Hazrat Ali r.a dies. After the demise of the last Caliph, the work of dakwah continues to be done by Muslims as an individual work while the work of dakwah done as a group has completely neglected by the Muslims. All the Caliph of the Muslims that follows after Hazrat Ali except Khalifah Abdul Aziz resumes only the responsibility as a head of administration. And not as the head of the work of dakwah or Nubuwah and a head of administration (khalifah). Hazrat Hassan r.a at the time of his death, told to his brother Hazrat Hussein r.a with the approximate meaning, you will notice after I die that the work of Khalifah(administration) and the work of Nubuwah(dakwah) will not be done together. Both of these works will be done separately by Muslims. After the demise of Hazrat Hassan, all the Khalifah of the many Dynasties that follows only busy with administration work and they neglect completely the work of dakwah.

However there are still some Muslims who do the work of dakwah individually but as a group the work of dakwah has died completely. When the work of dakwah done as a group died, all the Muslims in all over the world are sinful and similarly the punishment that come from Allah falls upon all the Muslims in all over the world. When the order of Allah which has to be done at least by some group of Muslims is not obeyed by the Muslims, Allah will descend upon the Muslims calamities that will fall upon all the Muslims in all over the world. One such calamity that Allah has given to all the Muslims in all over the world is Muslims are colonised and controlled by the non-Muslims. Allah has made the Jews to control the Americans and Allah has made the Americans to control the Muslims. Why Muslims hate the Jews and the American? Both the Jews and the American are only the creations of Allah and they do not have the power either to give benefit or harm to the Muslims unless with the permission of Allah. Allah has made both the Jews and the Americans, rich and powerful and Allah has made them to control the Muslims in the whole world. Why Allah lets the Jews and the American to control the Muslims? Allah lets the Jews and the Americans to control the Muslims because the Muslims have disobeyed the order of Allah by not doing the work of dakwah as a group. Although there are still some Muslims who do the work of dakwah individually in this world but the work of dakwah done as a group or jemaah has been completely ignored by all the Muslims in all over the world. The work of Jemaah Tabligh is not the work of dakwah done by a group of Muslims. Jemaah Tabligh is not a dakwah movement but only a tarikat group and is only interested in increasing the numbers of Muslims who can join their group. Although we have Jemaah Tabligh that moves as a group in this world but calamities continue to fall upon the Muslims particularly in countries where the work of Jemaah Tabligh supposed to be active like Pakistan. Why so many calamities come to those countries that supposed to be active in Jemaah Tabligh? The answer is Jemaah Tabligh is not a jemaah that do the real work of dakwah like Prophet Muhammad saw. Jemaah Tabligh is only a tarikat movement CLICK.

What is the hukum of the work of dakwah? All Muslims religious scholars have agreed unanimously that the work of dakwah is Fardu Kifayah. However the Muslims scholars have failed to understand that it is Fardu Kifayah to be done as a jemaah or as a group in a locality. The hukum of dakwah is Fardu Ain on all Muslims. All Muslims who has attained puberty either males or females are obligatory to do the work of dakwah individually. Similarly all Muslims religious scholars have agreed unanimously that to perform five times prayers withjemaah or as a group in a locality is Fardu Kifayah but the performance of five times daily prayers done individually is Fardu Ain to all Muslims who have reach puberty, males and females except when the females Muslims have menstruation period. Both of the first two pillars of the five Pillars of Islam hastwo ways of performing them, one way is to perform the amal with jemaahor in a group in the mosques in the locality and the second way is to perform them individually in any place of convenience to the person CLICK. In each and every locality, the centre is the mosque and both the work of dakwah and  five times daily prayers have to be performed as a group or jemaah at least by some Muslims in the localities in the mosques. When there are some Muslims in the localities who have performed both the amal of dakwah and the amal of five time’s daily prayers in a group in the mosques in the localities, the orders of Allah that this amal has be performed with jemaah or in a group in the locality have been fulfilled by the Muslims in the localities and all the Muslims in the localities are freed from the sins of not performing the amal in this manner. When the amal of dakwah and five times daily prayers are not performed in a jemaah or in a group at the mosques in the localities by some of the Muslims in the localities, all the Muslims in the localities are sinful. This is what is meant by Fardu Kifayah. Both the orders of doing the work of dakwah and five times daily prayers have Fardu Kifayah and Fardu Ain to all Muslims in any localities of Muslims. When there are more than three persons in a localities, both the hukum of Fardu Kifayah and Fardu Ain applied to both amal of dakwah and five times daily prayers. When these two amals are not done in a jemaah or in a group in any localities, all the Muslims in the localities are sinful and Allah will send calamities to all Muslims in the localities.

All the amals in the Five Pillars of Islam CLICK are obligatory or Fardu Ain to all Muslims. However the amals associated with the second until the fifth Pillars of Islam have some exception. The performance of five times daily prayers is not obligatory or Fardu Ain to those women who are having menstrual period. The performance of fasting is not obligatory to those women who have menstrual period, to the weak and old, to pregnant women and to travellers and but they have to replace the numbers of days they are not fasting with some other days outside the fasting month. The giving of zakat is only Fardu Ain to those who are rich and have money of the amount more than RM 3600 deposited in a year in a bank or elsewhere. Similarly the performance of Hajj, once in their own lifetime is only Fardu Ain to those who have sufficient money to spend and to leave behind to the families at home and having good health to travel. Only the first and the second Pillars of Islam have both Fardu Ain and Fardu Kifayah. The performance of the First Pillar of Islam individually is Fardu Ain to all Muslims in each and every locality and done at least by some Muslims or by group in each and every locality is Fardu Kifayah.

Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
August 2011
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre