In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Calling people to Allah (da'wah) is about reaching the hearts, not about quoting a lot.
In the Qur'an Allah orders us to call people to Him with wisdom.
ٱدْعُ إِلَىٰ سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِٱلْحِكْمَةِ وَٱلْمَوْعِظَةِ ٱلْحَسَنَةِ ۖ وَجَـٰدِلْهُم بِٱلَّتِى هِىَ أَحْسَنُ ۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِۦ ۖ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِٱلْمُهْتَدِينَ ﴿١٢٥[Qur'an, An-Nahl 16:125]
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 strayed from His way, and He is most knowing of who is [rightly] guided. (125)
Unfortunately, these days it has sadly become all too common to find da'wah that is very unwise and counter productive. Rather than bringing people closer to Allah, they actually have the potential to drive people away from the faith.
The following are some common unwise ways of doing da'wah that we should all avoid.
Talking about divisions
Divisions do exist. But who benefit when we divide? Shaytan. Allah has clearly and unequivocally ordered us to avoid divisions. When a non-Muslim, a new Muslim, or a person who newly started practicing Islam, we should be guiding them toward knowing Allah, and helping them perfecting their prayer. Do not pollute their minds by talking only about divisions because that might very well turn them off about Islam.
Highlighting other people’s mistakes
We see lots of this especially in the advent of internet, social media and smartphones. Whenever someone gets a bit popular and is actually benefiting the Muslim community, there appears to be a concerted effort within the community to absolutely tear them down.
We have to remember that our scholars, teachers and students of knowledge are human too. And every single human beings make mistakes. How is that we can go through five hours of a speaker’s lectures to find out the three minutes of it in which he made a mistake and then vilify him?
Why do we spend so much of our time, effort, and energy on putting other people down? Use that same energy, effort, and time in inviting your non-Muslim neighbors to Islam, in helping your not-so-practicing family member learn about Islam and the Qur'an.
Judging people
We tend to judge people often. Why not just leave the judging to the Most Wise, Most Merciful, who created them. Our job on this earth is not to judge people but to deliver Allah's Message, to continue the mission that was given to His beloved Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) in the best manner, following his footsteps.
With google-made knowledge we place the labels halal and haram on other people’s behavior. Remember, no one is going to Hell nor Paradise by your pronouncement. So, save our time, save the potential agonies, and do what we can do best...worship Allah. That is what we are created for.
It is important to remember that the laws of halal and haram are the laws of Allah— and are thus sacred. Most of us don't even have the knowledge of Arabic or the Qur'an and Sunnah. How then we are qualified to pass judgments on people?
However, it is important to remember that if we do find out something that is completely and absolutely haram for sure and we find someone doing it, then we should give them da'wah. We should find a good and polite way of giving them advice. We need tact and wisdom.
Shallow conversations about the Qur'an and Sunnah
The depth of the Qur'an and the Sunnah are deep, deep literature. When we do not discuss something in-depth, there is a lot of room for misunderstanding. Many a times, all we do is to keep quoting narrations, hadiths and verses from the Qur'an.
This is a way of denigrating the Qur'an.
Sometimes we have concepts in our heads, and we try to force the verses and narrations to fit our concepts. This is one of the biggest injustice to the Book of Allah. This is an insult, because we have put our concepts above the Book of Allah, and we want to push the Book and the Sunnah to fit into our thinking rather than us fitting ourselves into the Book.
A man came and asked, “Who is Allah?” Allah revealed Surah al-Ikhlas to respond to him, one of the shortest Surahs of the Qur'an. Allah did not reveal multiple Surahs for that purpose, or a long-winded response.
Rather Allah revealed a Surah that is so deep that volumes upon volumes of tafsir have been written on this Surah alone, while on the other hand even a child can understand the basic meaning of it.
May Allah grant us righteous works and make us keys to unlock good and lock evil. Ameen.
Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wasallam.
And Allah knows best and is Most Wise, and He alone grants success, and to Him is the final return of all.
Wassalaam
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