Assalam Alaium.
The method adopted by some Da’wah organization may be well known to u. They attack other religions and compare the Quran with the scriptures of Non-Muslims and conduct debates with them.
Contrary to this, when I talk one of senior preachers about the Da’wah strategy, he said they don’t believe in debating or insulting other religions. They believe in first strengthening the relation with the neighbor’s and after showing them a good character, then we can bring them towards Islam. He said that this method was adopted by Rasool [صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم] during Makkan period and we too are supposed to do the same.
What do u believe the correct strategy is? Do u have any experience in Da’wah field because I may share your experiences?
Shujath Imran
Hyderabad, India
Wa alaikum us salam wa Rahmatullah
I generally disagree with the approach you mentioned earlier and believe in the one suggested by the second person. Imagine if a Non-Muslim preacher debates with you and insults Islam, what would be your attitude towards him? Would you like to even listen to that person? The same is true for us.
If we have to present our Da’wah to our Non-Muslim brothers, we’ll have to build good relations with them and then bring them to a certain stage when they feel free to discuss religious matters with us. At that time, we should present to them the fact that if they want to rediscover the original version of their own religion, they should study Islam. Islam is not a new religion but it is the one that was given to all the prophets. Therefore, the true and original version of Christianity, Judaism and even Hinduism and Buddhism was the same as Islam. It was their religious elite that tampered the true message of these religions. Islam is not a new and rival religion but it restoration of all the religions in their original sense.
I welcome your enthusiasm for Da’wah and for that purpose, we are working on this course. In order to present your Da’wah, you should have an in-depth study of Islam as well as the target religions. The “Comparative Studies Program” will help you in that. Its Level 1 is about internal groups of Muslims and about 90% developed. Level 2 and 3 will be about Islam and other religions which will take some time to develop. If you’ve a strong interest in this field, we can jointly develop that part.
Meanwhile, you can start working on developing good relations with the Non-Muslims and bring them to a stage when they are willing to study Islam. I’ll advise you to not discuss disputed religious issues until this stage is achieved. Once that level is achieved, you can refer them to any positive-minded scholar like the preacher you’ve mentioned. You can also refer him to me as a humble student of religion.
wassalaam
Muhammad Mubashir Nazir
I am not satisfied by the view given by the preacher and you. My position here is not certain.
What the preacher and you said is I think is possible in that the Makkan period only. Now the technology is advanced and most of the relation are on the internet, i.e. most of the Islamic work is done on the net.
We can maintain a sound relation with Non-muslims, but this can be done with a small number of them only. The method of debating is result-oriented and suitable with the modern FIKRI-age[information age].
Shujath
Dear Brother
Assalam o alaikum
You are free to adopt whatever approach you like. In my opinion, the position of Indian Muslims is very similar to that of the companions living in the Makkan period. Due to advancement of technology, the only thing changed is that people have access to more information. It does not mean that they have left their biases and they are inclined to analyze religion freely and adopt whatever they like. If that was achieved, I would have adopted the same approach but unfortunately, it is not the case. Just talk to any Non-Muslim or even a Muslim having different views and you’ll see that they are still biased and read or watch only the material which is in accordance with their current beliefs.
Therefore, I believe that we should adopt a humble approach to Da’wah. We should build bridges with our Non-Muslim neighbors and try to help them in their worldly affairs. We should discuss with them general things about morality and try to convince them to study different religions in an unbiased way. Once they achieve this stage, we can provide them with good literature on comparative studies of religion written by impartial scholars.
Wassalaam
Muhammad Mubashir Nazir
Don’t hesitate to share your questions and comments. They will be highly appreciated. I’ll reply as soon as possible if I know the answer. Send at mubashirnazir100@gmail.com.