PROS AND CONS OF WRONG WAY DAWAH:

PROS AND CONS OF WRONG WAY DAWAH:

The commentator’s advice to conceal the fault of Muslim is in accordance with Shariah, this comment was in connection with a post titled “WRONG WAY DAWAH” published in our page, which highlighted the wrongness of occupying the footpath for Dawah. What we should do, whether we should conceal their mistake or advise them privately? Or publically?

Enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil is one of the greatest principles of Islam, because Allah says:

“Let there arise out of you a group of people inviting to all that is good (Islam), enjoining Al-Maroof (i.e. Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam orders one to do) and forbidding Al-Munkar (polytheism and disbelief and all that Islam has forbidden). And it is they who are the successful.” [Quran 3:104], also the verse # 3:110 and 9:71 commands the same.

When a Muslims hears or sees an evil that he is able to denounce, he should do so, but he does not have to do that with regard to every evil he sees or hears. But when he hears someone reviling Allah or the Prophet (peace be upon him), the sin and offence involved is not like that in a case where he hears someone reviling some other person, so he should hasten to denounce the evil. Here the Daees setup a stall on the footpath for Dawah which is against the teaching of Prophet (peace be upon him), who forbids creating obstacle on the pathway, and advised us to remove the obstacles from the pathway.

It is clear that creating obstacle on the pathway is one of the blameworthy actions of the jaahiliyyah which Islam came to oppose. It is well established from clear, saheeh mutawaatir ahaadeeth (ahaadeeth in large number in many isnaads, many narrators, and many versions) that it is not allowed, whether it is creating problems for others or not.

There are three methods to denounce the evil in Shariah which can be seen in the following hadith:

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Whoever among you sees an evil action, then let him change it with his hand [by taking action]; if he cannot, then with his tongue [by speaking out]; and if he cannot, then with his heart – and that is the weakest of faith.” (Narrated by Muslim70)

The above three methods are again classified into two type, exhorting publically and privately. Both examples can be seen in the following hadith, in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) advised the Sahabi privately first then he made it public in the Masjid.

Narrated Abu Humaid As-Sa'idi: Allah's Apostle (peace be upon him) employed an employee (to collect Zakat). The employee returned after completing his job and said, "O Allah's Apostle! This (amount of Zakat) is for you, and this (other amount) was given to me as a present." The Prophet said to him, "Why didn't you stay at your father's or mother's house and see if you would be given presents or not?" Then Allah's Apostle got up in the evening after the prayer, and having testified that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and praised and glorified Allah as He deserved, he said, "Now then ! What about an employee whom we employ and then he comes and says, 'This amount (of Zakat) is for you, and this (amount) was given to me as a present'? Why didn't he stay at the house of his father and mother to see if he would be given presents or not? By Him in Whose Hand Muhammad's soul is, none of you will steal anything of it (i.e. Zakat) but will bring it by carrying it over his neck on the Day of Resurrection. If it has been a camel, he will bring it (over his neck) while it will be grunting, and if it has been a cow, he will bring it (over his neck), while it will be mooing; and if it has been a sheep, he will bring it (over his neck) while it will be bleeding." The Prophet added, "I have preached you (Allah's Message)." Abu Humaid said, "Then Allah's Apostle raised his hands so high that we saw the whiteness of his armpits." (Al Bukhari Book #78, Hadith #631)

Depend on the seriousness of the offence, and if there is moral lesson for Muslims to learn from it, then it is allowed to go public.

When we said to the Daaees who setup a stall on the footpath for Dawah purpose to fear Allah and remove the stall from the footpath and continue with the noble job of Dawah at the same spot without a stall, the followers of the Dawah group verbally attacked us with foul language, which reminded us the following verse from Quran:

“And when it is said to him, "Fear Allah", he is led by arrogance to (more) crime. So enough for him is Hell, and worst indeed is that place to rest.” [Quran 2:206]

How nice it would have been for them to remove the obstacle stall from the footpath to make the word of our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) supreme, and would have continued Dawah on the same spot not only in the month of Ramadan also for the rest of 11 months as well.

If endorsing the Brand name with logo and colour code is encouraging one to ignore the Prophet’s command should realize that the Brand name is only for the purpose of identification, it should not be used for showoff, pride and worldly gain, because the Salafs (earlier generation) didn’t adopt any brand name in the field of Dawah.

We ask Allah to help us and them to do that which He loves and is pleased with of acquiring beneficial knowledge and doing good deeds. (Aameen)