The Do’s And Don’ts Of Dawah

Salaam

Some of us I’m sure must have this desire to propagate Islam, to spread the message and to educate those who may be misguided…

So, what do you guys think is the most effective way to convey Islam? Is it via speeches? Study circles? Radio? Involvement in the media? Islamic lit/magazines? Websites?

Or is it better to set up stalls/handout leaflets outside Mosques? OR is door to door dawah the best way to convey the message?

A bunch of guys knock on my door every other night wanting to chat to my 16 year old brother…he finds it annoying, and gets so irritated cos the time they knock is nearly always when he’s eating dinner or with his mates/cousins…personally, I’ve always felt that doing door to door dawah is an invasion of privacy…

So what do you guys think is the WORST way to do dawah? In your face-type preaching? Door to door style? Shouting in the middle of town centre? Is there a “time and place” to do dawah?

Can any Tom, Dick and Harry do dawah?

Does anyone believe that religion is a “private” thing between a person and God?

Or are you someone who couldn’t care less what others are on…and believe in the “each to their own” moto?

Or maybe we feel differently at different times.

What do you guys think is the best and worst way to convey the message of Islam? And WHO should our target audience be?

Is it all about trying to “convert the converted” and getting bogged down with the fact that someone’s beard is not the prescribed length or that they don’t attend Milad?

Or should our target audience be those who may be far away from Islam? Or should it be the non Muslims?

OR should we shape up ourselves first before we try to tell others what to do?

Most people, including myself hate being told what to do….I dislike people patronising me and being too “in my face”.

There is a WAY to do dawah….the successful way and the pointless way.

So share your thoughts on all of the above.

Wasalaam

I think that many of you do dawah without realizing it and probably without intending to.

Quite successfully too.

You mean by being a role model?

If so, that is most definitely the best way.

this must be one of them MS question after question posts LilSis warned us about Lol

for bad dawah tactitcs.........that Muslim Maniac site has some funny ones.

but i think pressurising people isnt thr right way

only thru showing someone love and understanding can we bring them to the right path (and a copy of the revival Wink )

if you want to reach out to a particular someone, then the person giving dawah should share something in common or be of the same type. i.e. to reach out to some of my friends, it would be pointless sending them to a scholar (Well not really, but it may hav no effect)...whereas if they have an example of someone who is like them who they can talk to...it can draw them into Islaam

dunno if any1 can do it, i think i need to stick everything in ma head if i were to do it, i tend to forget easily....not gud if ur bieng questioned

The Lover is ever drunk with love;
He is free, he is mad,
He dances with ecstasy and delight.

Caught by our own thoughts,
We worry about every little thing,
But once we get drunk on that love,
Whatever will be, will be.

ɐɥɐɥ

"Darth Hayder" wrote:

this must be one of them MS question after question posts LilSis warned us about Lol

Lol!

I do like starting up new threads....and I love asking questions so that people will look at the issue from every angle.

you do it very well might i say Biggrin

The Lover is ever drunk with love;
He is free, he is mad,
He dances with ecstasy and delight.

Caught by our own thoughts,
We worry about every little thing,
But once we get drunk on that love,
Whatever will be, will be.

ɐɥɐɥ

"MuslimSister" wrote:
You mean by being a role model?

If so, that is most definitely the best way.

Well I meant that you aren't fake people. I cannot tell you how many times I have been patronized by some self righteous preacher who wants to convert me to "the perfect religion" where all the answers are given everything is worked out and they have no problems whatsoever with what they believe.

People come to these forums routinely with hard hitting questions, and aren't afraid to tell [i]me[/i] they don't have the answer when I ask one myself.

And on top of everything you are all very fine people and it is very easy to draw a direct line from the active role religion plays in your life to your words and deeds.

Lead by example as they say.

It's not the fake piousness know-it-all attitude of the proselytizer who comes soul collecting at 4:00pm harping on housewives. - Funny too because those people have such a high regard for themselves.

Lol....Dave you're too kind.

But your right that NO ONE likes being told what to do. I even hate telling others what to do.

I get mums telling me sometimes to "preach" to their daughters. I rather just "hang out" with them....take them out to town or to eat somewhere.

Only cos I know that, most people dislike preachers...and have a tendency to "switch off" when they start.

yup true...

take em in and help em slowly and gradually works. as well as lead by example....give them someone realistic to look towards

once they have built an interest, throw (not literally!) some books or info at them, some lectures etc to build thier knowledge IMO

The Lover is ever drunk with love;
He is free, he is mad,
He dances with ecstasy and delight.

Caught by our own thoughts,
We worry about every little thing,
But once we get drunk on that love,
Whatever will be, will be.

ɐɥɐɥ

I think dawah works best by example but some types of so-called dawah i dont agree with.

1. Standing on a box in town shouting out stuff is a xian way to do dawa and people just think the persons a nutter. Im not aware of any muslims near to us doing tableegh like this but if they did i wouldnt encourage it because people just think the persons some nut and walk past.

2. Some people do tableegh with men talking with women, women talking with men. I totally disagree with this. Women should do tableegh with women, and men to men. Many people use dawah as an excuse to gain illicit plieasure from speaking with unrelated women.

I think knocking door to door is an EXCELLENT way of doing dawah and i know for a fact that it requires a great amount of courage. A number of people have said to me that when we see people coming to knock our door for dawah, or if we see them walking towards us we hide from them; some say that why do they keep coming to our house we knw what namaz is and where the mosque is.

My response to that is that the people who get annoyed with people knocking on their doors inviting them to the mosque are the ones who dont go and read five times daily in mosque; they hiding from the callers to the religion is a sign of weakness of the heart because the inviters from my experience call with such respect and love and still we get annoyed with them. In reality we get annoyed with being told to read namaz etc so we try and pass it off as others being nosy in our private affairs.

well thats what i think anyway.

Ya ALLAH Madad.
Haq Chaar Yaar

salaam

the best dawah is to be a perfect role model to our family members, neighbours, community, work colleagues and to muslims and especially non muslims as a whole.

As I always like to say: WE ARE ALL WALKING TALKING ADVERTS FOR ISLAM.
people today judge Islam by the actions of the Muslims, so when we are at school, college, uni, work etc we need to behave so well that our behaviour, ettiquette, personality, attitude, mentality, our method of communication is so good that the next man turns around an dsay: 'you know what, hes a good person, hes a good muslim'.

Once we have been able to achieve this the next level is to become active at a local, regional level. we should be people that everyone can easily ask a question, share a problem, have a discussion, trust.....

dawah can be done on an individual level at home, to your neighbours, friends etc...

to do this you need a good knowldge of the basics of islam and be up to date with modern issues....

also a good fo way of dawah is to organise study circles, public talks, seminars, discussion groups, exhibition stalls....

and all this can be aimed at muslims and non muslims....

the most effective dawah i believe is one taht si done at an organised level, only then can you organise conferences, magazines, radio shows etc...

magazine is an excellent way of getting your message out to the muslim youth and non muslims at large.:D
radio stations, especially in ramadan is excellent for discussing important issues concerning the issues facing muslims ion teh UK...at the same time non muslims will definitely benefit

door to door i dont agree with...but thats just me.
those groups who just target muslims..i dont agree with either. 95% of ppl in the UK are non muslims...how can you ignore them?

websites in this day and age is an excellent tool for dawah..as today most of us are E-Muslims... most ppl dont read books anymore...

May God accept everyones efforts of dawah.
wasalaam

 

to me Islam is a religion of self discovery - parents usually build the foundations then we continue to seek knowledge from appropriate teachers

dawah should only be undertaken by ple 100% sure of their faith and only then by gentle means

i prefer to go the source of knowledge rather it come to me to my door or by loudspeaker

i have only had dawah in my face by ple who clearly do not share my ways of faith it brings out the worst in ple like me and we end up arguing which is not the purpose of dawah

also these dawah ple are usually arrogant and assume we know nothing and only they have the knowledge - its put me off that kind of dawah for good

There been some good replies to this topic and most things have been covered with the 12 posts already.

I agree with Almas completely that islam is about self discovery, no one can tell you about islam, but they can lead you to the path of discovery. I personally don't like the door knocking system, as I normally in a chill out mood at home, so it isn't the time and place. I also don't like it being done in the mosque, why bother when you have so many people outside the mosque who are more in need to know. I remember some tabligh brothers coming down a little while ago and playing football, I thought that was cool, something more pro active. It can't come across as being too formal as well, because I never really like that. I think it has to be based on a community level, football, cricket tourament just genrally anything sporting. Also literature is good as it can be read by the individual in his own time and under no real pressure.

Also dawah can't alway be about islam, sometime it has to be just about the general welfare of the people, so with the people who smoke drugs, sometime it best not to use islam and just tell them about everyday reality. Also as already mention, you can't approach people like you have all the answer, people are seeking different answer from the same question, so it much more better getting involve in discussion and instead trying to understand the person.

Too be honest Dawah too me is relative to the situation, so there is no one best way of doing it.

"A true Muslim is thankful to Allah in prosperity, and resigned to His will in adversity."

[url=http//

Door to door style is the WORST way to do dawah

some guys knock for my brother every other night and he always tells my sister to tell them "he aint home"

but she never does :twisted:

in our home we got two rooms downstairs-the back room and the front room

in the back room we watch TV and eat dinner etc

the front room is for guests so we dont really use it

but the front room is where our computer/internet is

so whenever guys visit my bro-this means that we have to leave the computer

this annoys me SO much

they should take him out-

i've always believed that people should NEVER visit others without invitation

"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
Door to door style is the WORST way to do dawah

some guys knock for my brother every other night and he always tells my sister to tell them "he aint home"

but she never does :twisted:

in our home we got two rooms downstairs-the back room and the front room

in the back room we watch TV and eat dinner etc

the front room is for guests so we dont really use it

but the front room is where our computer/internet is

so whenever guys visit my bro-this means that we have to leave the computer

this annoys me SO much

they should take him out-

i've always believed that people should NEVER visit others without invitation

lol we always get jehovah's witnesses.

Usually they get trapped in the portico and have no real way of escaping - serves em right for ignoring the no solicitations sign.

And since things are generally rather busy at home they pester a gardener or if they can actually find a relative and annoy them for about 20 seconds.

And when it's perfectly clear they are not going to get inside, they are not going to get a discussion, and they are just wasting their time they leave a pamphlet behind and go away.

School is a different matter - they go to all the college houses and dorms.

Seeing as there is less to do you cannot ignore them and are forced to tell em off (which is fun) or debate them (which is more fun).

The student muslim association tries it too - I really detest them specifically because they always intimate that you are racist for telling them off.

It will be like Thursday night - i'm totally fried, just trying to relax and do nothing and I will get a knock at the door and these guys will step right in and start talking at me about everything that's wrong with Christianity, stuff about jews and the bush admin lying about islam yadda yadda yadda.

And when they finish their little sermon they ask if I want to read the Quran with them and if I would like to come by the chapel on Friday to meet some of their "brothers"

I think my accent makes me sound angrier than I am because usually I get into a big fight with them.

Always weird seeing them on campus or in class because they are totally reasonable people outside their little social experiments.

Salam

Preaching is for the Prophets. So leave it to the sinless people.

Its NOT our job to shove things down other people's throats.

We should rather concentrate on reforming our own evil souls.

As Jesus once said: " Unless a man be born again, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God."

Omrow

its a SIN to wear a ugly, purple hat

someone should tell ^^^^ that before he starts preaching to others

"Dave" wrote:

The student muslim association tries it too - I really detest them specifically because they always intimate that you are racist for telling them off.

.

that cos you ARE racist :twisted:

"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
its a SIN to wear a ugly, purple hat

someone should tell ^^^^ that before he starts preaching to others

It's ur fault for asking.

Do u guys get the college door to door preachers?

they aint college boys-the guys who knock on my door for my brother are in their 20's

"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
they aint college boys-the guys who knock on my door for my brother are in their 20's

Try to convert them to scientology or some other weird cultlike religion.

i bet theyd love that.

AND MORMONS

How the hell could I forget those bastardized "cousins" of southerners.

They are always coming by tryin to tell me about the "prophet" smith.

They're a trip too

some people are beyond help

these guys went to the same school as me-they were in my sisters year

proper bad boy ganagster type guys-

now that they are into Islam they still bullies-but in a diff way

there just no getting thru to some people

lol that is the story of so many "reborn brothers" back home.

Still bullies - just now they are religious bullies.

Damn racists too, the problem is they factionalize and takeover churches.

"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
some people are beyond help

these guys went to the same school as me-they were in my sisters year

proper bad boy ganagster type guys-

now that they are into Islam they still bullies-but in a diff way

there just no getting thru to some people

I know i find it soo funny how these bad boys at school or the clowns who were so annoyin bak then are now good boys with the full works, the beard the jubba etc (i am not makin fun of them incase thats what ppl think) i think its good but what annoys me is ppl who come to your house and are determined to speak 2 a male and there are like 10 of them, they practically drag ppl out of the house to the mosque (personally i dont agree with that)

I agree with what was said b4, you make dawwah without realisin, i always talk to ppl bout islam at wrk like why i do hijab why i dont drink, why i dont eat pork also tell them all bout ramadan. i supose that counts as dawah?

I think when someone is doin dawah they should keep in mind not to tell the person off or come across as being better than them cuz only allah is the judge of that, also when givin dawah one should not overload another with so much info. cuz then it becomes pointless, in one ear out the other....one should not force islam one ppl or the views and the best way to give dawah is to act like a role model as mentioned by muslimsis.

this geezer who knocks for my brother is known to "grips" people by the collar and take them to the Mosque to pray-No joke

thats why i cant stand him coming to my house

but door to door dawah is not on anyway

"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
this geezer who knocks for my brother is known to "grips" people by the collar and take them to the Mosque to pray-No joke

thats why i cant stand him coming to my house

but door to door dawah is not on anyway

Punch him.

I don't get into physical fights with people-

esp not guys :roll:

I'm all talk

Gee - you had me full.

I figured since you are so big and everything your bite was as big as your colossal 80 decibel bark.

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