A survey conducted among the non-Muslims in the United Kingdom stated that 80% had very less knowledge about Islam, 95% had come into contact with the Bible, 20% had come in contact with the Quran, 93% had very little knowledge or no knowledge about the Quran, 40% did not know who Allah is, 36% did not know who Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) was, 27% had negative perceptions regarding Muslims, 61% did not respond positively when asked about Prophet Muhammad, 27% had negative perceptions regarding Muslims, 75% believed Islam and Muslims had provided a negative contribution to society, 32% believed that Muslims are a major cause of community tension, 2% responded positively concerning perceptions about Islamic law, 76% did not agree to the statement that Muslims positively engage in society and 71% of the participants did not agree that the media is negatively biased towards Islam and Muslims. If the same survey would have been conducted in India, the results would be similar.
In order to change the situation it is very much important that we all should indulge in the act of Dawah. Doing Dawah is one of the noblest professions in the world because it was the core job of all the Prophets. Their lives were spent in the reformation of the corrupt beliefs and the ignorant mind-sets of the people and to purify their lives and enlighten their souls. Allah says in the Qur’ān, “Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best. Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has stayed from His way, and He is most knowing of who is (rightly) guided” (Quran 12:125). Thus, the verse commands us to call people to Islam.
Once the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) said, “Convey from me, even if it is one verse” (Bukhari). The act of Dawah is so very basic and important that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) addressed this issue in his final sermon as well. The Prophet said, “And All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better that those listen to me directly. Be my witness, O Allah that I have conveyed your message to your people.” It has been made clear in the final sermon that it is our duty to convey the message to others. The Prophet has passed on his message to us and now we need to pass it on to others.
Doing Dawah also fetches great reward. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) said, “One who guides to something good has a reward similar to that of its doers.” (Muslim). If one person is guided through an individual, by the will of Allah, then just imagine the reward earned through his own self, his spouse, his children, his grandchildren and his progeny till the Day of Judgement. The reward earned through all these people will be his.
The Prophet also said, “Allah, His angels and all those in heavens and on earth, even ants in their hills and fish in the water, call down blessings on those who instruct others in beneficial knowledge” (Tirmidhi). Thus, when one indulges in Dawah, all the creatures will pray for him. What more benefit can we desire? Thus, there are five important things which we need to do in the field of Dawah, taking into consideration the current scenario.
First, to educate the Muslims about the importance of giving Dawah, as when a Muslim tries to do Dawah it is the other Muslim who acts as the biggest hurdle. They mainly try to stop it because they lack knowledge on the importance of the activity. They come up with many silly excuses such as, “First we should correct the Muslims”, and “The non-Muslims will feel bad if you tell them about Islam”, “They will not accept Islam, then why waste our time”, etc. Whenever we see a person riding a bike without removing the side stand, we rush to inform him. We do this because we feel this could lead him to an accident. The million dollar question is, why don’t we have the same concern for a person who is going towards eternal hell fire?
Allah in the Qur’ān clearly curses the people who do not do Dawah. Allah says in the Qur’ān, “Indeed, those who conceal what We sent down of clear proofs and guidance after We made it clear for the people in the Scripture – those are cursed by Allah and cursed by those who curse” (Qur’ān 2:159). On the other hand, how can we forget the story of Sabbath breakers, where even the people who were good but did not forbid evil were made into apes? Just being good is not sufficient, we need to forbid people from evil as well. What more proofs and warnings do we want in order to do Dawah?
Secondly, today Dawah has become more significant in India because of the innumerable misconceptions created by the media about Islam among the people. Thus it has become the need of the hour to clear the misconceptions and give the right information about Islam. There are many misconceptions surrounding Islam such as, ‘Muslims are terrorists’, ‘Islam subjugates women’, ‘Islam is not a rational religion’, etc. Unless these issues are cleared and satisfactory answers are given, it is very difficult to move forward.
Thirdly, today is the time of science and logic. If you want to give Dawah in the current scenario it should not only be backed by the Quran and Sunnah but should also have supporting information from the point of view of science and logic. Unless you give convincing answers to their questions, people will not be satisfied. If we want to speak against homosexuality, live-in relationship, immorality, pornography, free inter-mingling of sexes, etc., it should be backed by strong information from the scientific and logical points of view. Establishing dedicated research centres will help us achieve that goal.
Fourthly, one of the biggest challenges in Dawah is to start the conversation. Dawah is very easy; it is just the matter of breaking the ice. Various simple techniques could be adopted to initiate the conversation, such as, i. carrying an attractive eye-catching booklet on Islam while travelling or going to college or office, ii. when you give biryani, meat or sweets to your non-Muslim neighbours and friends on the eve of Eid, accompany it with a Dawah booklet, iii. take a Dawah book in a language you do not understand and ask your friend to read it and explain it to you, iv. when you sneeze say “Alhamdulillah” and when you greet Muslims say “Assalammuallaikum”, when non-Muslims hear it – it will open the doors for Dawah, v. many non-Muslims stand outside the Mosque to take blessing, give them a book on Dawah and communicate the message of Islam, vi. after finishing the dealing with your customer, hand over some Dawah material along with the bill, vii. when you get down from the bus or auto, do remember to give some Dawah material to the conductor, bus and auto driver, viii. using the opportunity of festivals to initiate Dawah by asking them simple questions about their festivals, etc.
Fifthly, we need to make effective use of the technology to do Dawah. We need to make good use of social media today. It has become a place where opinions are manufactured. We need to especially make use of two social networking sites namely, Facebook and YouTube. We need to use Facebook to post comments, upload pictures which carry a message and reply to various criticisms, objections and misconceptions. And we need to use YouTube to upload small videos which explain various aspects of Islam in brief, clarify various misconceptions and address the current issues.
On the other hand, in the last five years the consciousness and seriousness of Dawah has improved among the Muslims. This has led to the formation of small organisations and trusts, who are trying to do Dawah in an organised manner. There are groups which have come forward with Street Dawah, Dawah in Autos, Dawah through billboards, Dawah through pamphlets, Dawah through free distribution of copies of the Quran, etc. But still this effort is not enough as we need to reach a population of more than 1.237 billion.
It is not enough that we are safe; we also need to ensure that the other people are also safe because we can also face the problems and crisis as a result of their beliefs and actions. A hadith will help us understand this much better. “There was a ship with two compartments. The travellers in the lower compartment had to go to the upper compartment to fetch water and this troubled the people in upper compartment. The people in the lower compartment then thought of making a hole in the lower compartment of the ship and get water from the sea, saving those who were above them from trouble. So, if the people of the upper compartment let the others to do what they suggested, all the people of the ship would be destroyed; but if they prevented them, both parties would be safe” (Extracted for a hadith in Bukhari). A fire in the nearby house will ultimately take hold of our homes too.
We are living in a country where more than 80% of the people are non-Muslims. Thus it becomes our fundamental duty to convey the beautiful message of Islam to them. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) once said, “O! My Uncle, even if you put the sun in my right hand and the moon in the left, I will not give up this mission (of spreading God’s word) until I die.” Bringing the sun and the moon on the right and left hands is something which is impossible but in spite of this, the Prophet says that even if his Uncle does the impossible act, he would not give up his Mission. Do we have the same level of dedication towards the mission?