Tabligh / Dawah

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Question:

I hear that Tabligh/ Dawah is farz on every Muslim. But I fear that when I myself am not a good practicing Muslim, how can I go about Dawah and Tabligh?
What is the right way of doing Dawah and Tabligh?
When I see a tablighi jamat or other religious scholars doing Dawah one on one to an individual, I feel more repulsive towards it and I believe that it is human nature that generally people do not like uninvited advice and correction, especially in the area of religion which they deem private in most instances.
So what is the best way of going about it? Is a certain method prescribed or encouraged?

Answer:

Salaam sister
 
Many thanks for your query. In the opinion of our scholars, the essence of Dawah is an invitation towards Tawheed i.e. towards belief in one God and (as a consequence) doing good, which also implies refraining from doing bad things.
 
The scope of Dawah is different for an individual, scholar and for someone in a position of authority.
 
For an individual, the scope of dawah is principally in our immediate circle of influence i.e. our family, friends and relatives. These are the people we spend time with and come in contact with. Albeit, this does not mean that this should stop us from doing dawah to strangers should the opportunity arise. Obviously, this will depend upon individual ability, circumstances and knowledge as well.
 
Our behaviour and conduct is also a form of dawah as it makes people inquisitive towards our faith and belief and encourages them to ask us questions about it. We are the ambassadors of our religion.
 
The way for Dawah is explained by the following verse of the Qur'an:

The extent of Dawah is detailed by the following verse of the Qur'an:

How important dawah is in our lives, depends upon how important religion is for us. If we are standing on a foot path and see an unattended child about to run onto a road we will make every effort to protect him. How important it is for us to see human beings loose out on eternal salvation and be destined for Hell. For the person who understands the true essence of this life and our religion, dawah would be his utmost priority.
 
Our religion has not stated that only scholars must give dawah, thus for us, whatever and how much we know, we must strive to pass it on to others.
 
In reply to the last part of your question, the Qur'an teaches us to invite people towards Allah with wisdom and in the most appropriate way. One  should take into consideration that we check that the person we are giving Dawah is free and willing to listen to us and it is not something that is being imposed at an inappropriate time. We may prefer a different way of inviting people towards Allah's religion and may not agree with the way of some, but we must hold all those who are striving in the path of Allah with respect, unless they are doing something which is against the ethos of our religion.
 
I enclose links from our sister web site that provide further information about this issue
 
http://www.monthly-renaissance.com/issue/content.aspx?id=91
 
http://www.monthly-renaissance.com/issue/content.aspx?id=95
 
If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to e-mail us.
 
Best regards
 
Waseem Aslam
UIUK Web Team

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