One coin given for serving Islam today is more thawab (reward) than thousands of coins given some other time. The greatest service to be done for Islam is to get the books of Ahl as-Sunna [1], which teach iman (belief) and Islam, and to distribute them to villagers and young people. A person who is gifted with this fortune must rejoice over it and thank Allahu ta’ala profusely; he is so lucky, so fortunate. It is always a good deed to serve Islam. But at such a time as this, when Islam has weakened, when many efforts are made to annihilate Islam through lies and slanders, it is a much better deed to strive to disseminate the faith of Ahl as-Sunna.

Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta’ala ’alaihi wa sallam) said to his Companions, ‘You live at such a time that if you obey nine-tenths of Allahu ta’ala’s commands and prohibitions but disobey one, you will perish. You will be tortured! After you, there will come such a time that those who then obey only one tenth of the commands and prohibitions will be saved. ’ [These are written in Mishkat-ul mesabih, vol. 1, 179th article and in Tirmizi, Kitab-al Fitan, 79th article.] It is the present time that the hadith ash-sharif [2] points out. It is necessary to struggle against disbelievers, to know those who attack Islam and to dislike them. For disseminating the books and words of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna, one does not have to be a man of karama [3] or a scholar. Every Muslim should struggle to do it. The opportunity should not be missed.

On the Day of Judgement, every Muslim will be questioned on this and will be asked why they did not serve Islam. Those who do not strive to distribute the books teaching Islam and those who do not help people and institutions promulgating Islamic knowledge will be tortured very much. Excuse or pretext will not be accepted. Though prophets (’alaihimu ’s-salam) were the highest and the most superior human beings, they never looked after their own comfort. In disseminating Allahu ta’ala’s religion, the way to endless bliss, they strove day and night. To those who asked for miracles they replied that Allahu ta’ala created miracles, and their duty was to communicate Allahu ta’ala’s religion.

GLOSSARY:

[1] Ahl as-Sunna : the true pious Muslims who follow as-Sahabat al-kiram. These are called Sunni Muslims. A Sunni Muslim adapts himself to one of the four Madhhabs. These madhhabs are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i and Hanbali.

[2] hadith (sharif): a saying of the Prophet (‘alaihi ‘s-salam).

[3] karama: (pl. -karamat) miraculous deed worked by Allahu ta’ala through a Wali.