Passive dawwah

We are used to seeing scholars like Dr Zakir Naik and Yasir Qadhi giving Dawwah all around the world. Then there are the people who go from door to door in our neighbourhood spreading the word of Islam.

What about a person who isn't as explicit as the types of people above but spreads the word of Islam. For example let's say there is a muslim person who is very practising - prays 5 times a day, gives Zakaat, bearded, modest dress etc. and he is surrounded by non muslims who sees how he behaves. Can this be another form of Dawwah?

Let's say that same person goes to a restaurant with non-muslim males who all end up ordering alcohol and he says "No I am muslim and not permitted to drink alcohol". Is this a kind of Dawwah?

What I'm wondering is if it's better to spread the high standards of Islam by actions (living the Islamic code) or words. I'm not criticizing guys like Dr Naik, this is just something I've pondered recently.

I think it depends on the context. No need to restrict it as being a choice between a/b. We can do either or both at the same time.

In some cases, verbal may not work (e.g. in the case of a hardened islamophobe) so one can to use tact and give dawah by actions.

Both approaches complement each other and neither can be done without.

Randomness (sorry to be nit pickety), you shouldn't be going to places where alcohol consumption will take place right?
This be the main reason I don't socialise so much with work colleagues, as the places they go to usually always involve alcohol consumption.
Active dialogue is usually helpful in spreading the word of Islam.
Plus, I do agree with the passive dawah, as my friend made (not made as such, but am failing to find another suitable word) someone a muslim, when the girl used to see her go for prayers while at uni.
The non-muslim did some research and asked my friend to be converted to Islam.

You should be living the Islamic way all the time, regardless of if it is dawah or not. If you don't live it to the max then the danger is that any dawah you do give may come across as hypocritical and so work as a kind of anti-dawah©™. (kinda like how I feel typing this post.)

Every Muslim is constantly giving Da'wah in his/her words and/or Actions. the question is not how we give Da'wah, the Question needs to be "What message are we giving non-Muslims about Islam?"

Dagless said:

You should be living the Islamic way all the time, regardless of if it is dawah or not. If you don't live it to the max then the danger is that any dawah you do give may come across as hypocritical and so work as a kind of anti-dawah©™. (kinda like how I feel typing this post.)

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Yes of course, I wasn't trying to say only live Islamically when doing Dawwah.

Asalamu alaykum

Akhi naam our actions are a forum of dawah
as for which well both should be be done but somtimes a person can only do one which is the action one becasue of knowldge because a person who doesnt have knowldge cant do dawah really unless he certainly knows a matter the prophet said and eeven if it was a verse this doesnt mean call to islam even after you read a verse rather it means once you learn the verse call to it now let me move on to acting as a form of dawah this should be ever muslim How someone would ask well how well that is by following kitab wa sunnah no matter where you are and who is near this people see this and this is a form of dawah

And Allah knows best

Allah guides whom he wills, we should try our best to convey the message even if it means by a single verse. If I were u I would minimise meeting up with ur non-muslim co-workers. Esp in the gatherings u described where there is alcohol consumption.

:wa:

What about a person who isn't as explicit as the types of people above but spreads the word of Islam. For example let's say there is a muslim person who is very practising - prays 5 times a day, gives Zakaat, bearded, modest dress etc. and he is surrounded by non muslims who sees how he behaves. Can this be another form of Dawwah?

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definitaley. being kind to your neighbours and not annoying them unnecessarily, especially if they are old, is another form of dawah through ones actions.

Let's say that same person goes to a restaurant with non-muslim males who all end up ordering alcohol and he says "No I am muslim and not permitted to drink alcohol". Is this a kind of Dawwah?

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yes, but its probably even a better form of dawh if he/she doesn't go at all and explains before hand why he cant go.

in the past my brother has been invited to some places by his non-Muslim friends where some type of haram in one form or another would have been present but he made it clear that he wouldn't be involved in any of that type of thing. so he didn't need to go to those places and then say "well its not permitted for me to do that," they knew already and would mashallah be respective of that.

What I'm wondering is if it's better to spread the high standards of Islam by actions (living the Islamic code) or words. I'm not criticizing guys like Dr Naik, this is just something I've pondered recently.

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people like that probably have a reason and context for doing so. they give dawah on a mass base probably because it may be easier and/or they find that that is the most affective form of dawah for them personally. i think for example if you are addressing an issue that is quite common in a society (such as negligence of prayer for example), then you need to have a large audience in front of you as the issue would be quite a common one and not just affecting the 1 or 2 people you could give dawah to in private. so giving dawah on mass base in this particular case, would be probably the most affective.

sometimes people like receiving individual attention becuase they feel that their personal needs are being attended to and so dawah on mass base may not work for them. everything has a time and place for it and there isnt "one size fits all" in dawah.

dressing up neatly and acting like a good muslim is our aim . but going door to door and spreading the message is a responsibility like wat prophet saw did .
we need to sweat,give up our desires and our time to be what we were ask to be, which was to spread the message our prophet spread .
and do that the way he did it . not by sitting on pc and sayin dat ur giving dawat .

__follower said:

dressing up neatly and acting like a good muslim is our aim . but going door to door and spreading the message is a responsibility like wat prophet saw did .
we need to sweat,give up our desires and our time to be what we were ask to be, which was to spread the message our prophet spread .
and do that the way he did it . not by sitting on pc and sayin dat ur giving dawat .

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Which is all fine if you live in a city and need not travel 50+ miles in 30 below zero temperatures.

My point being we all have limitations and sometimes when we do our best, it may be very little when compared with others. each of us has our own strengths and weaknesses which makes us each unique and each capable of being the best Da'wah for the audience we are best suited to give Da'wah to.

Dawah is important, you can't keep to yourself

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said that Allah Ta'ala commanded Jibreel to destroy a city because of the evildoers therein. Jibreel said, "O Allah, there is a person in the city who has never disobeyed you." Allah said, "Destroy him as well, because he was not offended by their evildoing". These Hadeeth are mentioned in Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah and Bahaiqi

__follower said:

dressing up neatly and acting like a good muslim is our aim . but going door to door and spreading the message is a responsibility like wat prophet saw did .
we need to sweat,give up our desires and our time to be what we were ask to be, which was to spread the message our prophet spread .
and do that the way he did it . not by sitting on pc and sayin dat ur giving dawat .

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Don't be so quick to judge, you have no idea what kind of dawwah I've been giving.

Yesterday during Jummah one of the leaders of the masjid gave a speech which is relevant to this thread. It was along the lines of this:

"You should help your neighbours, especially the elderly if they need help during this winter period. You don't need to start talking to them about Islam, obviously this is important but sometimes they need to see with actions what muslims do because actions speak louder than words. Islam is a religion of actions."

jimbo123 said:

Don't be so quick to judge, you have no idea what kind of dawwah I've been giving.

Yesterday during Jummah one of the leaders of the masjid gave a speech which is relevant to this thread. It was along the lines of this:

"You should help your neighbours, especially the elderly if they need help during this winter period. You don't need to start talking to them about Islam, obviously this is important but sometimes they need to see with actions what muslims do because actions speak louder than words. Islam is a religion of actions."

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That is a form of dawah, but not proper dawah itself, they may observe your good actions for years but they may not have any clue that these actions are a result of your religious beliefs - that will be your fault because you've might not have said a word to them about islam. I've heard from an imam that on the day of qiyamah, non-muslims who knew you will try to make you liable for not telling them anything about islam.

This doesn't mean that you have to do dawah to every person you know or go door to door to your neighbours, but you have to atleast bring up the topic of islam and religion with your close friends, collegues and family who aren't muslim.

jimbo123 said:

We are used to seeing scholars like Dr Zakir Naik and Yasir Qadhi giving Dawwah all around the world. Then there are the people who go from door to door in our neighbourhood spreading the word of Islam.

What about a person who isn't as explicit as the types of people above but spreads the word of Islam. For example let's say there is a muslim person who is very practising - prays 5 times a day, gives Zakaat, bearded, modest dress etc. and he is surrounded by non muslims who sees how he behaves. Can this be another form of Dawwah?

Let's say that same person goes to a restaurant with non-muslim males who all end up ordering alcohol and he says "No I am muslim and not permitted to drink alcohol". Is this a kind of Dawwah?

What I'm wondering is if it's better to spread the high standards of Islam by actions (living the Islamic code) or words. I'm not criticizing guys like Dr Naik, this is just something I've pondered recently.

Click to expand...

Asalaamu Alaikum, this is a very good question. The best form of dawah is our actions as the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) was perfect in behaviour manners and ettiquette and people turned to Islam just by observing his behaviour as well as by meeting him. By far the best form of dawah is our actions and that is why we should all excell in good behaviour, manners, ettiquette and helping others for the pleasure of Allah and being kind and generous. This will certainly have a positive effect on those around us.

One of the individual obligations of a Muslim is that we must also give verbal dawah of course depending on the situation we are in we should try our best to tell non Muslims about Islam even if it is a couple of good words. If we know the truth then why should we not tell others this truth so that they may also learn about it? It may be that they have a distorted view on Islam which we can clarify for them.

"Invite to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided." [al-Qur'aan, an-Nisaa'(16):125]

"Let there arise out of you a group of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining al-ma`roof [i.e. Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam orders one to do] and forbidding al-Munkar [polytheism and disbelief and all that Islam has forbidden]. And it is they who are successful." [al-Qur'aan, Aal `Imraan (3):104]

We should of course use wisdom and tact in our approach and NEVER become defensive or on attack mode when giving dawah especially if they do not agree on any aspect on Islam as this will just have a negative effect as oppose to a positive one. Just keep cool and calm and refute their argument using wisdom and logic. If you do not know the answer then tell them that you will look up the answer and get back to them for there is no shame in that.

On the day of judgement it may be that if we had non Muslim colleagues who we never gave any dawah to then they may turn to Allah and say that we never gave them the message of Islam and we will be held accountable for that. So it is incumbant that we as Muslims try our best to the best of our ability to give dawah to non Muslims in a beautiful manner using wisdom and tact.

It maybe that one word of dawah to a non Muslim may be enough to open the doors of guidance and for them to enter the fold of Islam. One may even e mail them information if they ask for it or if requested give them a copy of the Qur'an translated or a book on Islam. If a non Muslim shows interest then there is no need to pester them. Talk to them and then leave them for a while and then go back to them again. If they start coming to you then even better.

We should all do whatever we can depending on our situation to the best of our ability. Even giving dawah on the internet is a very good way of inviting others to Islam as many non Muslims will look for information on the internet. One should use all avenues to give dawah to others including verbally at work, school, college, uni, even at the gym as well as on the internet as this is a brilliant way of reaching non Muslims on a global scale. We can all do a little and a little is better than nothing at all because all deserve to know the truth of Islam in the correct context as knowledge will wipe way all misconceptions.

"And who is better in speech than he who invites to Allah and does righteous deeds, and says: 'I am one of the Muslims.'" [al-Qur'aan, Fussilat(41):33]



And Allah knows best in all matters

Jazakallah.

I guess that's also one of the reasons muslims are asked to grow beards in a certain way and trousers above ankle. So that they are identified as muslims.