CMYK Dawah made simple Dawah made simple is easy-to-understand pocket reference book on the introduction to Dawah. • A compact and informative guide Most importantly, • A brief introduction to Dawah it explains the spirit of dawah, how to do dawah work, its responsibilities and reward; with its special focus on doing dawah work in India. Religion / Islam Guide / Handbooks ISBN 978-93-5179-080-8 Goodword Includes Goodword 9 7 8 9351 790808 pull-outDawah chart goodwordbooks.com at a glance Dawah made simple Maulana Wahiduddin Khan Art editor: Mohd. Noman Khan Project editor: Maria Khan Design: K.K. Sahadevan First Published in 2016 Reprinted 2019 © Goodword Books 2019 Goodword Books 1, Nizamuddin West Market, New Delhi-110013 Tel. +9111-41827083, Mob. +91-8588822672 email: [email protected] www.goodwordbooks.com Picture credits: Images used under license from Dollar Photo Club and 123rf.com Printed in India By buying this unique and special book, you are supporting the Goodword Quran Project which arranges free distribution of the Quran globally in the major languages of the world. Read more: goodwordbooks.com/quran Contents 1. The Status of a Muslim 4 16. The Middle Nation 34 2. What is Dawah Work? 6 17. Dawah and Islah 36 3. The Purpose of Dawah 18. Conditions for Doing Work 8 Dawah Work 38 4. Difference between 19. Dawah and Patience 40 Dawah Work and Community Work 10 20. Universal Mission 42 5. Prerequisites of 21. The Status of the Work 12 Dawah Followers of the 6. The People of the Prophet Muhammad 44 Heights (Dawah Workers) 14 22. The Role of the Ikhwan 46 7. Obedience to God, 23. The Dawah Mission Helping God 16 in India 48 8. The Greatest Honour 18 24. Dawah Work through Literature and Modern 9. The Great Responsibility 20 Means of 10. Ignoring the Problems, Communication 50 Availing the Opportunities 22 25. The Quran: a Dawah Book 52 11. Global Target of Dawah 24 26. Dawah and Dua 54 12. The Role of a Muqri (Reciter) 26 27. Emigration for Dawah 56 13. Divine Protection 28 28. A New Dawah 14. Responsibility of the Possibility 58 Followers of the Prophet 30 29. Concealing the Truth 60 15. Three Levels of Dawah Work 32 30. Prayers 62 1. The Status of a Muslim From the view point of real status, a Muslim is a da‘ee and all other nations his mad‘u. That is to say that God has made the Muslims the trustee of His final book the Quran. Now it is their responsibility to convey the message of this book to all humanity. The success of both the worlds, the present world and the hereafter, lies in fulfilling this duty. This is not a simple matter. This is an extreme delicate matter of divine responsibility. The Muslims can discharge this responsibility only when they realize the requirements of this responsibility and make full use of it throughout their whole life. This missionary duty can be discharged only with the missionary character. To discharge the duty of dawah without missionary character is impossible in the same way as it is impossible to discharge the duty of motherhood without motherly affection. According to the words of the Quran, dawah work should be started with all sincerity and honesty, that is, with unilateral well-wishing for the mad‘u. Missionary character requires that a da‘ee should have only positive feelings in his heart for the mad‘u; his heart should be totally free from negative feelings. This is what called unilateral well- wishing. Without such type of unilateral well-wishing a da‘ee cannot discharge his missionary responsibilities. The present world has been designed in such a way that here a man always comes to have unpleasant experiences with another man and similarly, a group with another group. This is the law of nature. And no one can make a change in the law of nature. In such case, the feeling of unilateral well-wishing for the mad‘u can last only in that case when one adheres to the principle of unilateral character. His attitude towards the people does not come to form under the actions of others rather it should come 4 to form under his own principles. He should be totally free from the psychology of reaction. The Muslims have the status of da‘ees. And from this point of view, it is not right for the Muslims to launch movements of complaints and protests. In missionary Shariah there is no place for complaints and protests. The reason behind it is that the nation against which the Muslims will launch the movements of complaints and protests will be a mad‘u nation in reality. And it is not proper for the Muslims that they should treat any of their mad‘u nations like an enemy nation. The Muslims have to always maintain cordial relations with every nation and at any cost because it is in the atmosphere of cordial relations that the task of dawah can be performed. Where there are no cordial relations between Muslims and non-Muslims performing dawah work is not possible. It has been commanded in surah 33 of the Quran: ‘Do not yield to those who deny the truth and the hypocrites: ignore their hurtful talk. Put your trust in God; God is your all sufficient guardian.’ (33:48) This verse means that one should ask for their needs only from God, he should pray only to God, he should leave the method of protest and demand. That is why each prophet said to his people: ‘I ask of you no recompense for this; my reward is only with the Lord of the universe.’ (26:180) This clearly shows that to launch movements of demands in the name of rights is quite against the traditions of the prophets. 5 2. What is Dawah Work? Dawah work has been termed in the Quran ‘the call to God.’ In other words, dawah work aims at bringing people closer to their Creator and Sustainer. Calling people to God is telling them that the only right way of life for them on this earth is to become true believers in God. Calling people to God means warning man of the evil consequences of the self-oriented life, and therefore, inviting him to adopt the God-oriented life. The most authentic and reliable source of knowledge of the divine teachings on both types of life has been preserved for us in the form of the Quran. Calling people to God is purely other-worldly in nature. That is, it is in no way directly associated with national, social or economic issues. It is a campaign to call people to God. It starts in the spiritual and religious idiom and goes on in the same idiom and style till the end. The mission of calling people to God is, in essence, a divine task, which is performed by human beings. It is important that it should be performed in a spiritual way. Any work done in a 6 non-spiritual way will not be a genuine call to God, even if it is done in His name. Dawah work aims at directing their attention neither to politics nor to national issues. It is unequivocally the task of making people focus on God and must, therefore, be performed in the correct spirit. Primarily, its purpose is to acquaint man with the creation plan of God. He should be told what his relationship with God is, and how God is going to deal with him in future. In other words, this is like introducing man to God. Its objective is to awaken man from his slumber, cause him to realize his servitude and incline him to turn towards God. Dawah or ‘calling people to God’ is to make man capable of bonding directly with his Lord, so that he starts receiving God’s blessings on a spiritual level. It is thus that his heart and mind will become illuminated by God’s light. His entire being will be bathed in the shower of God’s blessings. 7 3. The Purpose of Dawah Work The purpose of dawah work or ‘calling people to God’ is to awaken souls from their slumber. It is to put a lost person on to the right path leading towards God. It is to awaken man’s insight so that he begins to see glimpses of God in the signs of the vast universe. It is to unveil the Creator in the mirror of His creation. The aim of calling man to God is that, while still living in the world, he may become an inhabitant of the hereafter. He will thus discover God’s greatness in the greatness of the world. He will start experiencing heavenly blessings in worldly comforts, while worldly hardships will remind him of the torment of hell fire. The target of this work is man’s realization of God. He should discover his powerlessness in comparison with God’s immense power. He should ‘see’ God before the veil of the unseen is removed. Before being directly confronted with Him, he should have the experience of realizing God indirectly. He will be able to see glimpses of the realities of the hereafter in the beautiful scenes of the world of nature. This is the true aim of dawah , and the preparation of such individuals is the true measure of the da‘ees’ success. It is said in the Quran that God created man in ‘the best mould’ and then ‘cast him down to the lowest of the low.’ The process of dawah is to bring the individual back to his original state, to help him to gain entry into Paradise once again and to bring him under the protection of the Lord’s blessings.