The word Aqeedah comes from the root word A-QA-DAH.
A knot that cannot be broken and if this knot is broken, then there will be a consequence.
Aqeed – A very, very strong connection.
The Arabs of the past always wanted the end of the word to be soft. The rule is that the more letters in a word, results in more meaning. Aqeed becomes Aqeedah, thus the extra meaning is that the connection is stronger and the individual has certainty in what they believe.
Definition of Aqeedah
The belief in your heart (certain belief) in what RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam came with.
Knowledge of Aqeedah - What a Daa’iyah needs to know?
- Tawheed
- Rububiyah – Knowing Allah and his lordship
- Asma was Siffat – Allah’s names and Attributes
- Uloohiyah (Tawheed al Ibaadah) – That there is no one worthy of worship except Allah.
- Prophethood and the Books
- Belief in Prophet Muhammedsal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam as a prophet and the final messenger of Allah. If an individual believes in RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam then they will believe in Allah Subhana’wa tala. You need to know the prophets and the messengers and the special qualities of RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam.
- The Ghaib (unseen)
- Day of Judgement
- Paradise and Hellfire
- Angels & Jinns and anything, which is related to the unseen world
- Qadr and Predestination
- Allah Subhana’wa tala’s will and the Humans will
- Allah Subhana’wa tala’s knowledge etc.
- Al Imamah (Khalifah) and the Jammah
- The khalifah’s right and how the muslims deal with him
- His selection and what the muslims do if there is no khalifah
- Al Akhlaaq (The manners and morals of a muslim)
- Best Aqeedah + No manners =No one will accepts it
- Corrupt Aqeedah + Best manners = People will accept it, it depends how you put it
- Bad heart + Correct Aqeedah = Paradise one day
- Good heart + Corrupt Aqeedah = Hellfire
Fiqh – The clear and the right understanding
Ad Da'wah – Calling or inviting somebody to something
Da'wah – We have to make people worship Allah Subhana’wa ta'ala and bring them closer to Allah, because Allah Subhana’wa Ta'ala is the source to all good. When we bring them closer to Allah Subhana’wa ta'ala we bring good to them. We should command people to do good and forbid them from doing evil.
The virtues of Da'wah
- ‘Who is better then the one who calls to Allah’
- The best title you can be given is the title of a daa’iyah
- Da'wah was the mission of the prophets so we should aim to be like the prophets. They were callers to Allah Subhana’wa ta'ala, so we should also want to be a daa’iyah.
- When you teach people good, you share with the reward if they carry it out and they don’t lose any of the reward.
- Da'wah is the main reason for our community to be strong, without da'wah society will collapse. Also, when we live for our self our life is short, but when we live for Allah Subhana’wa ta'ala, then our life will be longer. The da'wah of this ummah has been favoured over other nations, because we are a nation that orders good and forbids evil. Part of our Shahadah is ‘la ilaha illalah, ’ to complete our Shahadah and be a true Muwahid we have to deliver the message that there is no-one worthy of worship except Allah.
The way of giving Dawah
1) Your intention cannot justify your way of giving da'wah, neither your goal to justify a bad way.
You cannot establish a noble goal using a dirty way; your da'wah has to be Islamic, and legal.
For example:
- Hire a non-muslim model to wear hijab, to show a non-muslim wearing hijab.
- Invite Rabbi and priest to jummah and divide jummah in three parts. The sheik leads the salah, the rabbi does the khutbah and the priest makes dua. They do this to show that Muslims are tolerant of other faiths.
2) You da'wah can be silent and doesn’t have to always be verbal.
Your actions will speak for themselves, people may not see you speak about Islam but your actions will reveal a lot about you.
For example:
- A Muslim man is walking to the car and its raining, he sees a non-Muslim women getting wet as it’s raining to much for her to get to her car, so he gives her, his umbrella. After that she wants to thank him and tries to find a gift for him, so she searches the net. The Muslim is of Arab origin and whilst searching the net she is exposed to Islam and becomes Muslim, Alhamdulillah.
- A massive picture of the kabah in your office can initiate a conversation.
- E-cards
- People seeing you prayer
3) Your role is to make people love Islam, your approach should be nice, kind, and loving, your approach should be such, that it doesn’t scare people away.
Always smile, as RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam smiled the most. You have to make the task easy for the people and simplify it for them.
4) Have Gentleness in your Da'wah and be merciful to the people.
Every person has dignity and no-one wants to be educated, so teach them in such a way that they don’t know your educating them and this can be done by gentleness.
It is reported from Abu Hurayrah radiAllahu anhu that the RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam said: ‘Indeed Allah is gentle and loves gentleness and gives due to gentleness that which he does not give harshness’.1
Gentleness leads to friendship and love and people are more likely to accept it, whereas through it’s opposite ill feelings develop and you da'wah can become useless.
From the Qur'an:
“{It is part of the mercy of Allah that you deal gently with them. Were you severe or harsh hearted, they would have went away from you: so pass over (their faults), and ask (Allah’s) forgiveness for them; and consult them in the affairs (of the moment). Then, when you have taken a decision, place your trust in Allah. For Allah loves those that place their trust (in him).}” ~Surat Al Imran 3:159
5) You should use different techniques in your da'wah.
Prophet Nuh alayhis salam gave dawah in private and public, group da'wah and one to one conversations. You should try to use these types and try to develop a personal relationship with them, as this will make your da'wah more effective. Having a one to one talk with someone is very effective as it becomes more personal and you can get to the core of the problem.
This can be done in a number of ways: stories, but don’t only tell stories.
Another way can be writing an email or giving a gift, this is costly but leaves lasting effects.
Mix between the different ways, RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam would give reminders, but not so much so that it would have an effect. Always remember what you may like, another may not, so find out what they like and use that method on them.
6) Everything you do has to be based on the Qur'an and Sunnah.
Rule: When ever you want to do anything, you have to ensure your method is correct according to the Qur'an and Sunnah, because if it’s not then there is danger of falling into haram or innovation.
The Sunnah can be defined in this way:
- Did the Prophet Muhammed sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam practice this? If not was there a reason preventing him from doing so? If there was a reason preventing him, then your allowed to do it. For example we are allowed to use a microphone, because it didn’t exist in the time of RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam. Also why didn’t RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam compile the Quran, because he didn’t know when the revelation would stop.
- In the time of the Tab’een, the people would leave before the Eid khutbah, so the khalifah said he would do it before the Eid salah. Is this allowed?
For example:
The scholars said No, but why? The said no, because in the time of RasulAllah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam, the Bedouins would leave after the Eid salah and the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam didn’t do anything, so neither are we allowed to do anything, nor any other person.
For example; dvd’s, PowerPoint presentations, internet, conferences etc. You need to always keep in mind that communities may change, generations may change and you will have to adapt to them but the message remains the same.
What differentiates your da'wah? The locality of your da'wah may make a lot of difference in how you present the message, each community is different, they have there own cultures and habits and Islam has to be presented to them in a different way that suits them, but with the same message.
8) When we do our da'wah we should do our job to the best of our ability, with Ihsaan and the results have to be outstanding.
We should always want to improve and be precise in our da'wah and actions.
The Messenger of Allah sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam, said;
“Allah has commanded that everything (one does) they should do it with excellence (ihsan). When you sacrifice, sacrifice well. Sharpen your knife and make it easy for the animal to be slaughtered” (Muslim)
The lessons we learn from this hadith are that we should not just aim to be ‘good,’ we should be outstanding! This is what is required of a Muslim especially one active in da'wah, this should put this excellence in everything that you do.
You should:
- Plan Ahead and be proactive in your da'wah rather than reactive.
- Always do shoorah and consult others who have different experiences.
- Allocate job roles and don’t do all the work yourself.
- Have good leadership, as this will affect all the work that you do.
- Have self-sufficient da'wah and don’t rely on people, you should have a way of generating money.
- Also there are many Muslim organisations, we should support them and not destroy them.
9) Don’t ignore issues.
We should address people and talk on behalf of the Muslims, address issues such as 9/11 and 7/7, but make sure what your saying is correct and that it is said with wisdom.
10) Have Hikmah (wisdom) in your da'wah.
Definition of Hikmah: To put things to where they belong, so you have a good reason to ordain it.
Where they belong – Justice is to ordain it, this is wisdom
For example:
- A Muslim man sells alcohol and he comes to your house, so you tell him to get out, he may deserve it but, but what is your purpose of throwing him out, Revenge, if this is the case then you don’t have ikhlaas. The purpose is to make him change, so he will stop selling alcohol, but if this is your reaction, he may retaliate and say ‘that’s it, forget these muslims’ This way has no wisdom unless you knew this would make him change.
You have to have wisdom in your da'wah if you want to be successful.
Characteristics you should have as a Da'i:
- Generosity – when this is for the sake of Allah it is very effective.
- Smile
- Be humble – He who serves the group is just like the leader of the group
“And give glad tidings to the humble. Those whose hearts, when Allah is mentioned, are filled with fear, who show patient perseverance over their afflictions, keep up regular prayer, and spend of charity out of what We have bestowed upon them” ~22:35
- Give others what you want for your self – This is a very high level of iman, it is easy to say but hard to practice.
- Always to try to help people at work or when they are in trouble.
- Always be self-sufficient in financial matters
- Don’t have bad manners
Don’t slander, cheat, backbite, envy people, hate them or be miserly, as this are bad characteristics that you don’t want, also they can give you nasty results.
- Be honest
You should live your life in a way, that if someone was to open the door at any moment you would have nothing to hide.
- Be patient
From The Qur'an:{Verily, with every difficulty is ease. Truly, with every difficulty is ease} ~ Surat Nashr 94:5-6
- Don’t be like a candle, switching on and off.
‘When trouble touches man, he cries to his Lord, turning to him in repentance, but when he bestows a favour upon him as from Himself, (man) forgets what he cried and prayed for before, and sets up partners with Allah, thus misleading others from Allah’s Path. Say, “Enjoy your blasphemy for a little while: verily you are (one) of the companions of the fire” ~39-8
- Be steadfast in Islam
- Be aware of the fitnah of men and women
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