realize something extremely important.
Whether we like it or not,
the vast majority of non-Muslims
assume that we represent Islam in
just about everything we do. If you
are speeding and cutting people o
on the highway and they know you
are Muslim, then they are likely
to associate your recklessness to
Islam. If you don’t wash yourself
properly and smell like an alleyway,
unfortunately, it will be attributed
to Islam. It is a sad reality that we
must swallow and be mindful of.
A Muslim is one who performs
the action of Islam. Therefore, the
public will assume that what we do
represents it. They will not make an
honest eort to dierentiate between
Muslims and Islam. Thus, we
should all assume responsibility at
least to this extent so we don’t smear
Islam with a display of bad conduct
and uncivilized behavior. Simply by
signing up to the faith by believing
in Allah and His Messenger a, we
have assumed this responsibility to
some degree. The poet says:
The Correct Intention and Understanding
of Guidance
Before you order your box of pamphlets
and plan a trip to speaker’s
corner, you have to understand
a few things. Firstly, it should be
only for Allah’s sake. Care must be
taken to avoid giving da‘wa in order
to ex one’s ability to debate and
display rhetoric and fancy intellectual
jargon. Polemics has a way of
feeding the ego and drawing the
into a reght. It becomes a matter
of point scoring, rather than an
invitation towards truth. Secondly,
true guidance is not in our hands.
We are only able to make our best
eort and we will be judged accordingly.
If we adopt the Qur’anic and
Prophetic approach as our foundation
and foster the correct intention,
then we can expect Allah to give us
the best recompense regardless of
the results.
Understanding the Components
For the sake of simplication, we
could say that there are three main
components to da‘wa: knowledge,
the one giving da‘wa and the one
receiving it. All three of these
components should be taken into
consideration.
Having knowledge of what you
are calling towards should be a
no-brainer. Even if you have great
character, a lack of basic knowledge
will prevent you from engaging
in any type of conversation about
Islam. Let’s look back to the website
example. If you have zero knowledge
about the client and their
services, how will you be able to
accurately represent them? It would
be near impossible to intuitively
create a website that aligns with all
of the company’s objectives. Having
great etiquette and manners will not
change that. When it comes to our
deen, even if you have the best character
in the world, you still require
some basic knowledge in order to
represent Islam correctly and introduce
people to Allah.
On the other hand, if you have an
ocean of knowledge, but horrible
etiquette, you are arrogant and have
a condescending attitude, no one
will accept what you say, even if it
is true. Allah says about the Noble
Prophet a, “So, (O Prophet) it is
through mercy from Allah that you
have been gentle with them. Had
you been rough and hard-hearted,
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