BY ABDULLAH AL ANDALUSI on JUNE 8, 2016 •
Many Muslims approach Dawah like it is a list of arguments you need to learn to persuade people to become Muslim. Indeed, many Muslims have asked me to recommend them a list of books to read to ‘do Dawah’. However, of all the questions I’ve faced, I find that the hardest to answer. This is because Dawah is not a limited subject area that one can pick up one book and master – or even a list of books. It is far broader.
Dawah is the invitation to Islam, but what is Islam? Yes, Islam might simply mean ‘submission to God’, but ultimately, it is a worldview (Deen), that explains the purpose behind the universe, life and mankind.
Dawah in Arabic, means ‘invitation’, and is the invitation to Islam. However, to make an invitation, one must know what one is inviting to, and what you’re inviting someone away from.
In order to invite to Islam, a Muslim must know why they are Muslim in the first place! Arguably, Muslims must have *adequate* knowledge of:
1. Universe, life and mankind, what is observable in these things, the nature of these things, and how they work (i.e. cosmology). How humans form thoughts, societies and why they do actions, and the record of available human history.
2. The Islamic description of what is before the existence of the universe, what is outside it, and what comes after – and the relationship of human actions to these things. Also the Islamic description of parts of history not available to our records.
2. From (1) and (2), the da’ee (inviter to Islam) must then understand the Islamic solution for leading human life and to the problems of mankind, how resources are to be distributed, family life, social interaction, manners, spiritual/emotional fulfilment, accountable government, the approach to the environment etc.
3. In order to persuade someone to follow Islam, one must first demonstrate the inaccuracies of their current answers to the problems of (1). The da’ee must understand other (including all possible) cosmologies, belief systems (aqaid) and worldviews/ideologies (al’adyan, plural of Deen), and their advocated solutions for human life and problems, and understand why they suffer from inaccuracy, contradiction and unsubstantiated authority.
As it is clear, doing dawah requires a comprehensive understanding of reality, and is connected with every aspect of human knowledge. If Muslims truly want to do dawah, they must go beyond simply a list of books, and make every book part of their list, and grow their knowledge and search for answers if the books do not contain them. Ultimately, and obviously, the improvement of Muslim Dawah is intrinsically connected to Muslim intellectual revival, and consequentially, the revival of the Islamic Civilisation.
Do not let this dissuade you from Dawah, but act as a spur for you to learn, study and research – and discover. We live in a time when almost every iota of knowledge can be accessed from a computer and an internet connection – make the most of this – it will improve your thinking ability in every aspect of your life, and motivate you to do more. The first invitation to Islam, must be towards yourself, because inviting people to Islam is really about inviting people to knowledge AND wisdom (i.e. using knowledge correctly).
The Western civilisation (like any other civilisation before it) progressed in study not because of institutions, or systems of government, but because the people became curious about the world from reading (non-theological) books they encountered from the Islamic civilisation, and theological books of ancient Christian thinkers that were re-discovered – we won’t progress unless we do the same with the non-theological works out now, and the theological books from our own civilisation.
Even if your vocation is simply to be a baker, shoe maker, tinker or tailor, there are many introductory books of every subject, that take no time to read at all, but will broaden your mind considerably, and help you to contribute to the intellectual awakening of the Muslim Ummah. Each Muslim should endeavour to be a “jack of all trades”, but a Master of (at least) one (trade). Collectively, then, the Muslim Ummah will become a master of all trades.
Some Muslims complain that the current Islamic Scholarship of the Muslim world is not as proficient as those in the past – and, on the whole, this is true. The reason for this can be seen when we look at the pool the Scholars are recruited from…us.
The Scholars are a reflection of ourselves. All scholars started out as laymen, with the common level of knowledge and wisdom of the Ummah. If the Muslim Ummah were highly educated in knowledge and sought to perfect wisdom, then we could push the quality of our scholarship much further. An analogy for this, is if we imagine that scholars are those who stand while others sit. But even standing, Scholars won’t see much further than the Ummah does. However, if the Ummah all stands up, and lifts the scholars upon their shoulders, they will see further into the horizon, and be able to guide the Ummah much better. Raising the bar of average Muslim understanding, automatically raises the bar of those who are more learned than the average Muslim. It also allows Muslims to better weed out scholars who lack the requisite knowledge and wisdom – when we can understand and demand rigorous evidence for every comment a scholar utters.
Finally, many Muslims may complain that they do not have time to research – yet many of the best du’at (plural of Da’ee) studied while holding down a day job, studying at university and looking after family. You actually have more free time than you think, so why not free your time to think.
Being Lost Brings you closer to Allah!
Sometimes the feeling of being lost can bring us closer to Allah (swt).
What is the meaning of this problem? Why are we stuck? We need to feel as though we do not know where we are going, because that is when we start searching. And that is precisely when Allah (swt) shows you that He is The Guide, and how life changes when the Light of God is in it.
Perhaps you started out something with a sense of purpose, but in your journey you were knocked off the path towards the greater goal. You need Allah. Maybe you are having some sort of mid-life crisis. You need Allah. And we cannot for one moment believe that there is no way out and no right path. Allah (swt) says in a hadith qudsi (record of the words of the Prophet ﷺ, peace be upon him),
“O My slaves, all of you are astray except for those I have guided, so seek guidance of Me and I shall guide you,” (Muslim).
As Allah (swt) gave Himself the attributes of Guidance and Light, how can we ever believe that we will be in darkness for too long?
Say, for example, you are drowning in a pool. Who will you usually call out for? The lifeguard. The lifeguard is already there, watching out for people, and because that is his job, when you call out to him he’ll jump in there to save you. Now Allah (swt) is over and above any analogy, but as Allah (swt) gave Himself the attribute of guidance, telling you that He is THE Guide and He is THE Light of the heavens and the earth, then how can you be lost for too long? Especially if you seek Him. Are we saying that lifeguards do their job better than Allah (swt)?
So what does it mean to go to Allah? It means to take the first step of realizing that He has this attribute, and having the certainty that Allah (swt) will not turn a seeker away. Secondly, it means to ask Him. Make du`a’ (supplication), pray istikhara (the prayer for guidance) and talk to Him. Thirdly, it means to use the means around us. Reassess your goals, seek people’s advice and take the steps needed to try to find an answer. When we feel an internal instability, these steps may be hard, but Allah (swt) tells us “And those who strive for Us – We will surely guide them to Our ways […]” (Qur’an, 29:69).
And so we have to strive. We have to search. It will be hard. And there will be moments of confusion. But the Prophet ﷺ taught us: “Know that victory comes with patience, relief with affliction, and ease with hardship,” (Tirmidhi).
One final action is that we cannot let Shaytan (the devil) make us lose hope and make us keep questioning ourselves. There is a point when confusion becomes wiswaas (whispers) – a sort of paranoia from the Devil. Only when we realize that Allah (swt) is the ultimate Guide and we are seeking Him in the proper way, will we gain full trust in Him and know that He will not allow us to be led astray.
“So those who believe in Allah and hold fast to Him – He will admit them to mercy from Himself and bounty and guide them to Himself on a straight path.” (Qur’an, 4:175)