I am going to write a few things in this post and it is likely to offend others, but these matters need addressing as for too long they have gone unspoken and ignored within the Muslim community.
Many people reading this will therefore find themselves being addressed indirectly when they realise the people I am speaking about are they themselves.
The scholars have established the conditions of living in Darul kufr, even those scholars who permit living in Darul kufr are of the opinion that Da'wah is a Fard upon both the community and also upon the individual where they have knowledge.
This is because of the following two ayats as well as other evidences...
"Invite to the Way of your Lord 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."
16:125
“Let there arise amongst you a group that invites to the good, orders what is right and forbids what is evil, and they are those who are successful.”
3:104
The first verse gives a general command to give Da'wah, the second is showing there is a communial obligation to call to Allah as a group.
Now a few people do the first type of Da'wah, the personal Da'wah but even this is sadly lacking but practically no one does the second at all.
Let me show you what I mean from my own city, where we have about 35-40,000 Muslims, and 3 or 4 brothers doing a weekly Da'wah stall, one week a year given to Da'wah at the universities, one Deobandi Alim who has classes for new Muslims and non-Muslims and one centre which thinks it is calling to Allah by having people dance around to music (whirling dervishes) in the name of Da'wah once a year.
Now can we say we are seriously fulfilling our Fard kifayah responsibility here to call to Allah openly and as a group? Obviously not.
Everyone at this point usually agrees here we are not doing enough, fine we are all together at this point when I discuss these issues the problem comes next.
So people agree more needs to be done, but do they do it themselves? Do they go out and call the people to Allah either individually or as a group, a jammat, no they are too busy in their dunya, earning their wealth, paying for nice cars and houses is more important to the, that's right, your house and your car you worked so hard to buy is more important to you than calling to Allah.
What they mean is others should do it for them, which is fine if enough people are doing the public Da'wah (which they are not) but the personal da'wah is a fard aiyn responsibility, can someone do your fast for you or your salaah for you? no of-course not, but these are fard aiyn.
So people need a wake-up call, they need to get off their lazy butts and start doing some Da'wah, get out on the street, talk to your neighbours, do you even know your neighbours? Seriously when was the last time you spoke to your neighbours. I know it is difficult in today's Britain where everyone wants to be by themselves but make some effort at least.
And support the public Da'wah, give your time and help write leaflets if you are not good at public speaking, give some money as I can tell you everything we get for the Da'wah stalls comes out of our own money, but do something.
If you are too busy with the dunya to do Da'wah then I am going to be blunt, you are committing major sins just by doing that. Everyone one of those kuffar who was in your life, your school mates, college mates, work buddies, neighbours, shopkeepers etc in your life will all tell Allah you never gave Da'wah whilst here and had the opportunity and you will be answerable for every single such instance, scary isn't it?
My last job one non-Muslim asked me why we didn't eat beef in the break room, I said 'that is hindus not muslims' and then turned to the brothers sat there also who were on this kaffirs team with their pious jubbahs and huge beards and asked them 'have you never explained islam to him? why doesn't he know the difference between islam and hinduism?'
They said they stuck to themselves and didn't share their religion even though they'd worked with this guy for years, I think that is going to be true of most people reading this isn't it? you stick to yourself, you don't speak about Islam for fear of offending others and so big yourself deeper and deeper into sin just by living here in the UK and the west.
If that isn't enough to wake you up I don't know what will. You live here, you take jobs, take benefits, and you don't even bother to give them the offer of Islam in return, what is wrong with you? why are you so selfish and lazy? If you really wanted to give Da'wah you would, don't make excuses now because very few of them will wash.
Now get out there and do some da'wah, find some of the people in your city engaged in Da'wah and help them, call on your neighbours, people at your school / college / work to Islam because if you don't you might as well just leave now, it would be better for you to be poor back wherever your family comes from than putting yourself in spiritual danger here by not doing Da'wah.
You can't take your car, your houses, your beautiful stuff with you, only your good deeds and you are in a perfect position to do the work of the prophets but most of you are more interested in this life not the next if we look at the reality of the situation based on peoples deeds.
haha I remember I zealously tried to give dawah to these atheists in my college suite. I had jsut become religious and couldnt comprehend why they were atheist. Needless to say I wasnt knowledgeable but still could hold my own with their questions like "can God create a rock he cant lift."
My friends say I didnt stop talking about God. Anyways, after a year I have a couple of good counter Christian arguments and counter atheist arguments after debating with my atheist philosophy professor and watching alot of Deedat. Books such as "God'ed" and "MisGoded" are excellent dawah ammo against Christians.
well, for me even in the collage....all girls are Muslims so I dont have anyone to give dawah to....so I dont have any other choices
I think there is no harm from being able to handle debates.........those books you recommended seems to be good sources, I will look at them but can you please tell me the authors of those books?......I still need to work on my knowledge to be more knowledgeable but even though, I cant accept the excuse of leaving dawah because we dont have the enough knowledge
but in general people here are doing some activities to help muslims to be better muslims........but there is no serious moves for giving dawah to non-muslims
well, for me even in the collage....all girls are Muslims so I dont have anyone to give dawah to....so I dont have any other choices
I think there is no harm from being able to handle debates.........those books you recommended seems to be good sources, I will look at them but can you please tell me the authors of those books?......I still need to work on my knowledge to be more knowledgeable but even though, I cant accept the excuse of leaving dawah because we dont have the enough knowledge
but in general people here are doing some activities to help muslims to be better muslims........but there is no serious moves for giving dawah to non-muslims
The author is a professor who converted to Islam. His book is slightly humorous too.
For example: Christians say OMG Jesus can walk on water... He's DIVINE!
Author replies: Well if Jesus was around the time of Moses he wouldnt of had to.
I actually laughed out loud on that one.
Last edited by AntiKarateKid; 03-13-2009 at 03:42 PM.
Living in America, I always found the idea of living in a predominately Muslim country fascinating.
On a sidenote for some reason I was disappointed to learn that there were irreligious arabs in Saudi Arabia. I thought... the Quran is in your language man.. whats your problem?
Even though it is blindingly obvious that there are irreligious people everwhere.
Living in America, I always found the idea of living in a predominately Muslim country fascinating.
On a sidenote for some reason I was disappointed to learn that there were irreligious arabs in Saudi Arabia. I thought... the Quran is in your language man.. whats your problem?
Even though it is blindingly obvious that there are irreligious people everwhere.
being Arab has nothing to do with being a good muslim at all. you will find many Arab people who can understand the Quran word by word....but come and see how they practice their religion
I dunno why many people shocked when they know that there are some bad examples of Muslims among arabs
for such people, they really dont deserve the honor of speaking the language of Quran......la hawl wa la qwata ila billah
while you can see some other non arab people who are struggling to learn a word from Quran but they are much more better than those losers who call themselves Arab and dont practice their religion correctly
brother, about the author of the two books you mentioned "God'ed" and "MisGoded" dont you have any idea of their authors?
being Arab has nothing to do with being a good muslim at all. you will find many Arab people who can understand the Quran word by word....but come and see how they practice their religion
I dunno why many people shocked when they know that there are some bad examples of Muslims among arabs
for such people, they really dont deserve the honor of speaking the language of Quran......la hawl wa la qwata ila billah
while you can see some other non arab people who are struggling to learn a word from Quran but they are much more better than those losers who call themselves Arab and dont practice their religion correctly
brother, about the author of the two books you mentioned "God'ed" and "MisGoded" dont you have any idea of their authors?
I do, in fact he was interviewed by the same guy who interviewed Jeffrey Lang.
I don't want to participate in this discussion, but all I want to say is this:
Da'wah is not limited to non muslims, one can give da'wah even to muslims, in the form of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil. Also, by clarifying things that a fellow muslim may be doing incorrectly. By trying to advise someone, and correct something in a fellow muslim's way of prayer, or hijab, or anything, one is performing da'wah. You can also spread knowledge to muslims; yes, they may be muslim, but that doesn't mean they know everything there is to know in islam. So da'wah is also done by teaching muslims.
I don't think all people are able to perform dawah.
First of all you need the knowledge
Then you need extremely good speaking skills, especially in the UK or people will look at you like crap
Then it depends on your situation, what kind of people you're dealing with etc.
I was about to give dawah to some christians that were handing out magazines to houses on my street, they asked if they could come in later and talk a bit about what they're doing, I said yeh and you can listen to what I have to say. next thing you know is they never turned up
So basically you can get situations like these where it easy to give dawah
So I think if any of you brothers and sisters get opportunties like this for dawah,make the most of them
Its not about handing out leaflets, most people are just going to dump it in the next bin they see. Giving Dawah is supposed to be the way we live..all the time how we treat other people. We should let people have a good reputation of us and respect us , then only will they listen to us. The prophet only got the revelation when he was 40...why, because he had to build his reputation as a good , honest person, a person people would believe
We are all capable of giving Da'wah. The most effective Da'wah for some of us is to simply live as being the best Muslim we can be and honestly answer any questions asked of us.
We also need to identify the peer group we have best communication with. No person can speak to all types of groups. At the moment I seem to have found my niche among the Oglala and Lakota of the Sioux Nation. We share much in common, mainly horses. Horses are a very major part of the Sioux life and our raising and and selling horses among the Sioux has proven to be a very effective communication asset and opens the door for being asked questions about Islam.
Subhanallah, as I was reading the thread, it reminded me of the Mormons
It made me think; if those Mormons can go around with their bicycles spreading their religion
why not us Muslims? I know it’s very difficult here in the west. But I really think it could be done
amongst the neighbors at least.
this also made me sort of ashamed of my Muslims brothers and sisters and myself of course
look how much dedicated the Mormons are to their religion
you don’t see a Muslim going door-to-door spreading the religion
anyways, it’s just something to think about
Subhanallah, as I was reading the thread, it reminded me of the Mormons
It made me think; if those Mormons can go around with their bicycles spreading their religion
why not us Muslims? I know it’s very difficult here in the west. But I really think it could be done
amongst the neighbors at least.
this also made me sort of ashamed of my Muslims brothers and sisters and myself of course
look how much dedicated the Mormons are to their religion
you don’t see a Muslim going door-to-door spreading the religion
anyways, it’s just something to think about
I think we can take the idea of dedicated dawah from the Mormons, but the whole going door to door thing has really given the Mormons and Jehova's Witnesses a bad reputation. We don't want to be forcing Islam on people. It's best we meet them on neutral ground to discuss Islam (in a park, in a mall, at a school, etc).
But, I do admire that they actually dedicate several years of their lives to pure dawah. I think we can learn from that, and instead of riding around to people's houses, let's hold Q&A sessions, open dawah booths at malls and parks, and give lectures and speeches.
Subhanallah, as I was reading the thread, it reminded me of the Mormons
It made me think; if those Mormons can go around with their bicycles spreading their religion
why not us Muslims? I know it’s very difficult here in the west. But I really think it could be done
amongst the neighbors at least.
this also made me sort of ashamed of my Muslims brothers and sisters and myself of course
look how much dedicated the Mormons are to their religion
you don’t see a Muslim going door-to-door spreading the religion
anyways, it’s just something to think about
Door to door evangelism is not a very effective means. We must always keep in mind that we can not force anybody to accept Islam and we do not want to turn people against Islam by being a nuisance. Few people seem to be receptive of JWs and Mormons who come door to door. I do not think that approach gives a good impression.
I think we need to show that we have something worth saying and encourage people to ask us to come to their homes, not impose our selves upon them.
Of course we don’t want to force Islam to people
what would they think of us if we do that? I can imagine them turning the other way when seeing a Muslim or shutting the door in front of our faces
what I’m trying to get at is the fact that we should at least do something to spread Islam
im sure there are many ways this can be accomplish
your idea of holding Q&A sessions brother rpwelton, is something we should keep in mind
I think it could be done
Personally I feel that Im nervous of explaining Islam to others, what if I am the only contact they have with Islam and I do something or say something that ruins their chance of being a Muslim and recognising the truth.
"O ye who belive! Endure, outdo all others in endurance, be ready, and observe your duty to Allah, in order that you may succeed"
Since I have reverted to Islam I have lived in 2 different parts of the USA. When I lived in Austin, Q&A was difficult for me as there is a large Muslim population and the average Austinite had more knowledge of Islam then I have. Here out on the Sioux reservations, most of the Sioux had never seen a Muslim nor have any concept of Islam. Q&A sessions are often requested and the people are very curious to learn.
In the entire State of SD I only know of 10 Sioux Muslims. 2 of them being my wife and myself. although we are not Sioux we are accepted as being adopted Sioux by the people on Pine Ridge and the Cheyenne River.
Personally I feel that Im nervous of explaining Islam to others, what if I am the only contact they have with Islam and I do something or say something that ruins their chance of being a Muslim and recognising the truth.
I feel the same...what if I cannot answer their questions? What if I answer incorrectly? But whenever I get the chance, I do explain the basics of Islam to non-muslims and try to clear a few misconceptions...
I feel the same...what if I cannot answer their questions? What if I answer incorrectly? But whenever I get the chance, I do explain the basics of Islam to non-muslims and try to clear a few misconceptions...
Yes its important to try when asked. I just gave a christian my Qur'an. They asked me for it and on previous occassions have tried to steer away from religious discussion . I suppose giving Qur'an is a sure way of giving the absolute truth. Peace
"O ye who belive! Endure, outdo all others in endurance, be ready, and observe your duty to Allah, in order that you may succeed"
Yes its important to try when asked. I just gave a christian my Qur'an. They asked me for it and on previous occassions have tried to steer away from religious discussion . I suppose giving Qur'an is a sure way of giving the absolute truth. Peace
I'm planning on doing just that!
My agnostic friend and I talk about this stuff (he's an ex-Christian) and I plan on giving him Yusuf Ali's Meaning of the Holy Quran ( it has explanations of the verses so he doesn't get confused).
I took him to Jumah once too.
Slowly but surely I need to knock down all the barriers.
(We are currently stuck on "Can God create a stone he can't lift" and questions of the nature of God which I will answer on Monday-ish)
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