Da’wah Tactics (Tactics for Religious Preaching)

Question:

Dear Brother,

Assalam o Alaykum,

Hope you will find this email in best of your spiritual and physical health.

I am really sorry for so late reply. Problems, busy schedule and tension are reasons. As I wrote in my previous email that we are trying to establish a sophisticated dawah setup. I will provide a complete sketch of the program but firstly I want some suggestions from your side regarding ‘ideal dawah setup’. I will really appreciate your valuable suggestions.

Again I am sorry for late reply. I tried to download Turkey Safarnama’, but i think there is an error in the file. Plz chek it.

hope you will not forget me in your special prayers.

With best wishes,

A Brother, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan

Dear Brother

Wa alaikum us salam wa Rahmatullah

I’m very happy to receive your mail. May Allah accept your efforts. If you can give me the sketch of your program, then I can give you a better advice. About ideal Da’wah setup, I’ve tried to share some views in my article on it but we should think practically not ideally while doing a practical job.

Remember in your prayers.

wassalaam

Muhammad Mubashir Nazir

Dear Brother,

Assalam o Alaykum,

 Thanks for reply and encouragement. we really discuss alot on this topic. Anyway the sketch is as under:

Objective

Implementation of Pure Islam firstly on individual and then on broad level (InshaAllah).

 How we can achieve:

a)         Preaching and teaching according to Quran and Sunnah by following ways.

         Individual meetings.

         Out of station preaching in the form of groups.

         Daily/weekly Dars-e-Quran and Dars-e-Hadith.

         Fortnightly Lecture program with question/answer session.

         Provision of books and other form of literature.

b)         Training of people who will join the Jama’t. As training plays primary roll and sets the direction, so we will select a syllabus for different levels.

   Level-I: Beliefs, Tazkiya-e-Nafs, Hifz-e-Qura’an & Hadith (as possible), Seerat-e-Nabvi (PBUH), Seerat-e-Sahaba(RA),  Social duties, Ibadaat, current affairs.

   Level-II: Study of Islamic movements (past & present), Study of current scenario and system of Islamic countries, study of different sects, History + subjects of Level-I.

    Level-III:  .. . . . . . . .

Also, as you know that ‘matter’ is important but played very bad role. Many religious organizations lose due to corruption. So it is better not to accept any zakat/sadqat and aid etc. For example if anybody wants to contribute than he/she can provide books for library or material for masjid but “as a gift”. And also we will not consider him/her as VIP. Leaves of trees and grass is more sweet than ‘biryani’ and ‘chicken legs’, and soil is more comfortable than silky-mattresses and blankets.

Please comment / advise. Your advice will be very valuable for us.

Regards,

A Brother, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan

Dear Brother

Wa alaikum us salam wa Rahmatullah e wa Barakatuhu

Thank you very much for giving value to my advice. Before giving detailed comments, I need to know that what sort of people are you targeting in terms of education and income level i.e. highly educated people, moderately-educated people, middle class, poor class, religiously educated people etc. The reason for asking this question is that the Da’wah Strategy should be different for each segment of the society due to differences in their social infrastructure, value system, views, lifestyles, ways of expression etc.

As far as the syllabus is concerned, its sounds nice. I’ll suggest a few adjustments to it after you tell me the details of your “Target Audience”.

For education at Level 3 and above, I developed a syllabus for the online course I’m working. You can see its detailed outline at the following link. A detailed introduction to this project is also available. It may help you in developing your own syllabus.

wassalaam

Muhammad Mubashir Nazir

Respected Brother,

Assalam o Alaykum,

Thanks for reply and advise.

As you asked about “Target Audience”, I will like to let you know that generally all Muslims, in our reach, are target audience but the special/specific are students.

Hope I will hear from you soon.

With best wishes,

A Brother, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan

Dear Brother

Wa alaikum us salaam wa Rahmatullah e wa Barakatuhu

If the target audience is the students of modern schools and colleges, I’ll suggest you a few things:

1. Understand your target audience, their way of thinking, their approach to the life, their lifestyle etc. For that, you have to spend time with them as a friend.

2. The basic principle of Da’wah is to have a positive mindset about your target audience. Love your target audience. If you find them indulged in some polytheistic or immoral practice, even then love them as a doctor loves his patients, or a trader loves his customer regardless of their theological & moral weaknesses. A Da’wah with a negative mindset always fails. If you’ll approach them with a positive mindset and behavior, they’ll pay heed to what you say and then Allah may change their mind.

3. Always remember one principle; change of a person is not in our scope of work. It is only with Allah. He has also asked His Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم not to bother about the change. Our job is only and only to convey the message of Allah in a nice way. So never force your audience to change. Only instigate the positive potential hidden deep inside their personality.

4. Personal appearance of a Da’ee (preacher) is also very important. If you go to your audience in a Moulviyana (ostentatiously religious) appearance, they’ll never listen to you. Your appearance should be as close as possible with them within the boundaries of Shari’ah.

5. Making a Jama’ah (organization) is not an appropriate approach in modern times especially if you are working with modern-educated people. It was an acceptable approach in 1960s & 1970s. Now a day, people are generally scary to join a Jama’ah and following an Ameer (leader). The best approach will be that of a religious circle (Halqah) in which all are friends to each other, nobody is an authoritative leader or a subjugated follower.

6. Study the Da’wah tactics of others like Sufis, Qadyanis & Christians. In the Muslim History, the most effective Da’wah work has been performed by the Sufis. I strongly disagree with their views but I am impressed with their Da’wah strategy. Since you belong to Kashmir, you can easily observe the love, affection and following of public with Sufis in your area. This was due to their attitude. I’ve written a few articles on the subject:

You can study the Da’wah methodology of Sufis in the “Zaavia” of Ashfaq Ahmed. Just read this book, you’ll know their tactics. It is available at:

http://www.ibitians.com/2008/05/29/download-zavia-1-by-ashfaq-ahmed

HS42 – History of Muslims in Sufism Phase 1 during 1-150H & 600BC-767CE

HS43 – History of Muslims in Sufism – Establish Theories during150-350H & 767-961CE

HS44 – History of Muslims in Sufism – Phase 3 – Public Marketing of Sufism- 350-656H & 961-1258CE

7. Language is very important in the Da’wah work. Your communication skills must be excellent. You should be able to talk in the language of your audience. Allah Almighty revealed all His Books in the language of their target audience. Also see this article.

8. As you’ve mentioned about donations in your approach, always avoid taking money or any other favor from people. The most effective Da’ee is the one who ‘gives’ and not ‘takes’. You already have this willingness. So keep it up. Don’t ask for anything. Just become a giver without any expectation for return.

9. The most important thing in Da’wah is your own character. People learn by practical examples, not by sermons. If you demonstrate a good character, automatically people will follow you. By good character, I mean the humanistic values of justice, love, care of others, patience, thankfulness etc.

10. Always avoid “Munazara” or polemical debate. It is a killer to your Da’wah work. The mindset in the debate is to win other. Ego is involved from the side of both parties. Start with the Da’wah of faith and ethics. Build a relation of trust between you and your audience. Once that relation is established, then you can talk on the disputed issues.

11. Never criticize a person / group directly. It has very bad impact on your Da’wah work. It instigates their ego and your message fails. If you’ve to criticize on some moral weakness, do it in an indirect manner without pointing fingers at any person / group / sect.

12. Study the literature of successful people who are working on the same segment of the society, even if you disagree with them on their views. There are various groups targeting to the same target audience of educated people / students. Examples include Tablighi Jama’at, the circle of Waheed ud Din Khan, the circle of people of Al-Mawrid (Javed Ahmed Ghamidi), Minhaj ul Quran and Dr. Tahir ul Qadri, different Sufi orders etc. Study and evaluate their Da’wah Strategy. Identify the reasons of their success. Learn from their mistakes. This will help you a lot in devising your own strategy.

13. The key to success of Da’wah is “thinking from other’s point of view”. Try to think from the perspective of the person whom you are targeting. Suppose he is a Barelvi. Try to understand his way of thinking and the logic he uses to satisfy himself. Same is the case if he is a Salafi or Shi’a or Qadyani or a Hindu or a Christian. It helps a lot in devising your Da’wah strategy.

Feel free to share if you’ve more questions on this subject. I’ll also publish this advice on my website in Question-Answers section. Please suggest whether I should put your name or publish it anonymously.

If you need any help/advice on any matter, please feel free to ask.

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.

Da’wah Tactics (Tactics for Religious Preaching)
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