Da'wa

"Tell people about your religion without the use of your tongue"

    - Imam Jafar as-Sadiq

Muslims today assume that da'wa (invitation to Islam) involves preaching and debate. Unfortunately, this type of da'wa will usually have an adverse effect.

"Modern exponents of da'wa are likely to put off a hundred people before converting a single soul. They often do more harm than good"

- Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad

The kind of da'wa that exists today is very similar to Christian missionary movements which the Muslim world has been subject to for the past few centuries. An imitative response to one's former colonisers.

Wahba Zuhayli and Muhammad al-Ghazali are two recent scholars who show that there were no missionary organisations in the early spread of Islam. Thomas Arnold's study confirms that the spread of Islam in the early period was primarily through merchants and mystics who simply had good character.

Obviously, it is duty upon Muslims to remind others about God, the Afterlife and invite them to Islam but it should always be subtle and never with a feeling of superiority. The most subtle and persuasive form of da'wa is humility and good character (akhlaq).