Salman ibn Fahd al-'Awdah
Introduction
VERILY ALL PRAISE is due to Allah, we praise Him, see His help, implore His forgiveness, and repent to Him. We also seek refuge in Allah from the evil that lies in ourselves and from our evil deeds. For whomever Allah Almighty guides, none can lead astray; and whomever He misleads, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no God except Allah, He is alone and has no partner. I further testify that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah bestow His eternal peace and blessings upon him and upon his fellow Prophets who bore the message of monotheism-Tawhid, implemented it, and propagated it. Surely they all struggled for the sake of Allah’s pleasure in the most faithful manner, until their noble souls answered the call of their Lord and departed this world. May He grant them His choicest, most exalted, and most complete rewards.
We live today in a historic period of religious renewal. A time that we hope will witness the establishment of Islam and its followers upon the Earth. One that will, moreover, bring about the destruction of the enemies of faith everywhere. As the Prophet Musa pointed out to his people and followers when they complained to him: It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemies and make you inheritors in the earth; so that He may try you by your deeds. (Surah Al-Araf: 129) There is no doubt that the safest and best course that should be adopted by those who yearn for reform in our time or in any era – is the way of the Prophets. May Allah commend them and grant
them peace. Hence the revivers of the faith today ought to study the history of the first reformers (the Prophets). They ought to revisit this history in order to observe what the Prophets called to.
Furthermore, today’s faithful must ask themselves: What was the true nature of the prophetic missions? How did they call to the people, and what fate befell them? All of these are important prerequisites that would enable the Islamic workers today to adopt the right course and preserve along it with sure steps and unfailing vision; without being distracted or disheartened by the length of the journey, the ferocity of the waves or the turbulence of the storms.
It is in this context that we have decided to review the call of the Prophets and Messengers; perhaps our effort may result in identifying some of the most important milestones along the way to success.
