The Devotion of Life — Page 316
316 meaning of the word, it also means one who makes the outsiders speak. Who can be a greater Missionary than the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him)? How did he carry out Tabligh? He did it through his protégés; he had infused such a spirit in them that they could not rest unless they had spread the message of Allah the Exalted among people. In turn the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all) infused this spirit in others, and they, further in more people, and so this succession carried on until such time that the Muslims forgot it all. This is when Allah the Exalted sent the Promised Messiah as to revive that spirit. In this sense, it is the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) who is doing Tabligh today. It is the task of the religious scholars to bring about people who are capable of doing Tabligh to others; that they should themselves be a model of devotion and kindliness and friendliness and should inculcate this in others. However, usually the Missionaries consider lectures and discussions as their remit and deem that their objective is discharged thereby. As a consequence, people are complaining that the religious scholars are idle. That of course is not the case, but after delivering a speech or participating in a discussion, a Missionary needs to take some rest for the reason that public speaking cannot be done for a long stretch of time. It takes effort and after delivering a speech one is exhausted. To expect a Missionary to make speeches daily for several hours is not practical.