The Methodology of Preaching Islam Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H. said:

The Methodology of Preaching Islam
Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H. said: “Convey on my behalf; even one
verse.”
Unlike what many Muslims think; Preaching Islam is not about
converting others to Islam, making presentations about Islam, giving
lessons in mosques, having the prophetic traditions hanged on
billboards in non-Muslim countries, etc. Those acts neither improve
people’s understanding of Islam nor even urge them to respect it as an
important religion. If by coincidence they …do; it is always individual
cases and their admiration is mostly directed towards the presenter,
while their view of Islam remains the same. All people understand that
any presenter is well trained on attracting them to whatever he
presents and beautifying his commodity even if it were the most
terrible. Religion is not a commodity; so please don’t treat it like one. In
my opinion; presenting Islam in an attractive manner is not the proper
way of preaching Islam and it has many negative impacts on the
presenter him/herself. From what I have seen so far; they think so high
of themselves and they can’t even notice it. Please understand that the
best preachment you can give is the one you give to yourself. When
you repair your own defects and immoralities; you will automatically
teach others about Islam through real practice, and the outcome shall
be amazing to the farthest extent.
Many Muslim youths fall in the widely spread nets of false sheikhs.
They are amazed when they hear that they have converted too many
people to Islam by their preachments in non-Muslim countries. They
feel so small and unworthy of any reward in the hereafter for not being
like those so-called sheikhs. Know that the effort you make inside your
country in your daily job sincerely while enduring all hardships,
showing patience and dealing with others in the best manner like the
prophet P.B.U.H. did; serves Islam millions of times more than those
fancy sheikhs do. Islam doesn’t need preachers who speak about it; it
needs preachers who practice it. An honest poor Muslim farmer
preaches Islam a thousand times better than those fancy figures, an
honest merchant preaches Islam a thousand times better than a
sheikh on a mosque’s pulpit, a noble soldier preaches Islam, a good
doctor preaches Islam, a diligent engineer preaches Islam, a sincere
husband preaches Islam, a dedicated wife preaches Islam, etc…
By all means; preaching Islam is about interacting with other people
honestly with noble manners and a sound heart; even if you don’t utter
one word from the Qur’an or the Sunnah by your tongue. Conveying a
verse from the Qur’an or a prophetic tradition through your practice is
what counts. This is what the tradition atop the page means; or else it
is going to be an invitation to hypocrisy which could never be what the
prophet P.B.U.H. meant. If in this course you were asked by a Muslim
brother/sister or a fellow non-Muslim about what Islam or the Qur’an
says regarding a certain issue; only then you can open the Qur’an,
recite the verses and explain them in a brief easy manner in a
language that this person understands.
Allah says in the Qur’an: “Invite (people) to the way of your Lord with
wisdom and fair preaching, and argue with them in the best of
manners. Surely, your Lord knows best the one who deviates from His
way, and He knows best the ones who are on the right path.” [The
Qur’an (16:125)].
Allah mentioned “wisdom” before “fair preaching”, and wisdom says
that this verse is not the first step that should be considered if you
wish to preach Islam; it’s the step you should take after earning the
respect of others through your ethics and attitude; or else; it’s going to
be an extremely harmful thing to do. Islam needs practical preaching
more than verbal preaching.
Allah says in the Qur’an:
“O mankind! Be pious to your Lord; Who created you from a single soul
and from its kind He created its match, and from them He created
many men and women; so fear Allah through Whom you demand (Your
mutual rights), and do not sever the relations of the wombs. Verily
Allah is ever an All-Watcher over you.” [The Qur’an (4:1)].
So we are all “One Family”, and being one family means that we
should be “kind & Just” towards one another. Allah also says in the
Qur’an: “O mankind, We have created you from males and females,
and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one
another. Verily the noblest among you in Allah’s sight are those who
are most pious. Verily Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.” [The Qur’an
(49:13)].
Hence, Allah teaches us that we should get to know one another
without any restrictions placed on race, nationality, religion or anything
else. The noblest people in Allah’s sight are not Arabs, Asians,
Europeans, nothing of that sort; the noblest are those who are most
pious, those who have good manners and noble characters, those who
are honest and sincere. Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H. said: “Truthful
religion is sincerity.” He also said: “There is a morsel inside your body
which if you repair; your whole body becomes virtuous; verily it’s your
heart.” Preach Islam by repairing your heart.
It’s true that under the stresses of the world injustices we suffer from
today; some semi-knowledgeable Muslims who don’t have enough
understanding of Allah’s laws and Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah
reciprocate hatred towards other nations instead of knowledge; this is
not from Islam. Actually this contradicts the innate human nature
(Fitrah) as well as the Qur’anic teachings in a manifest way
endangering its doer to be misguided in this life and deserve Allah’s
wrath in the hereafter. Allah says in the Qur’an: “Allah does not forbid
you with regards to those who did not fight you on account of faith and
did not expel you from your homes (i.e. occupy your lands), that you
do good to them, and deal justly with them. Verily Allah loves those
who maintain justice.” [The Qur’an (60:8)].
Muslims have been inflicted for a very long time by two kinds of
religious figures that try all the time to occupy their minds. Occupying
lands doesn’t matter anymore; your mind is the target. The weapons of
war have changed centuries ago; but unfortunately; simple people
don’t realized this. The first kind of those alleged religious figures
neither teaches people about their religion nor allows them to acquire
true knowledge from the proper sources which they are very keen on
sabotaging through their owned TV channels or by flooding the stores
with their books. The second kind – which is more dangerous in my
opinion – is more smart and smooth, it utilizes part of the previous
method besides monopolizing the teaching positions in the religious
institutions, they seek avidly to brainwash their students and convert
them to a flock of sheep that acknowledge anything they say without
any questioning. Although they claim that they are serving religion;
both kinds aim at mobilizing people in crowds at their doors in order to
use them for reasons which they never declare. Allah knows best; but
sometimes I get the feeling that their aim is to drive people away from
truly learning their religion and practicing it properly. Unfortunately
most people follow those sheikhs like zombies. People who try to
read, learn and criticize or object to anything stated by those sheikhs
are immediately cast away like lepers.
There is a great difference between true scholars and false Sheikhs.
The way to distinguish between them is easier than you think; those
who try to occupy your mind with their opinions and create from you a
duplicated copy of themselves are false Sheikhs, while those who try
to liberate your mind and urge you to learn, think and criticize
according to logical disciplines are the ones from whom you should
seek council and knowledge.
When you read about the most knowledgeable scholars in the Islamic
history; you will find that they were intelligent lofty-cultured
bookworms. One famous example known worldwide is Imam Ibn-
Rushd (520-595 A.H.) Latinized as Averroes; he used to read every
night at least 40 pages. It is said that he never missed any night
except when he got married and when his father died. Hence, by all
means READ and LEARN, free your mind from those who love to
stagger followers underneath their feet. Don’t degrade your intellectual
capabilities and think that you are incapable of differentiating between
wrong and right. Don’t trust any word you read simply because the one
who wrote it is an acknowledged scholar. Scholars are human too;
they build false opinions that could be revised and denied when found
wrong. Imam Abu-Hanifah allowed his students to adopt different
opinions from his own, he even ordered them to write down their
opinions besides his. This did not degrade the Imam’s status; on the
contrary it made him the “Grand Imam”. Imam Malek used to say:
“Anyone is subjected to make mistakes and build wrong opinions that
could be questioned except the prophet P.B.U.H.” Imam Shafe’i used
to say: “My opinion is right having a possibility of turning out to be
wrong, and the other opinions are wrong having a possibility of turning
out to be right.” Because of their deep knowledge and open
mindedness; no one of them ever accused the other of going astray or
being a heretic, on the contrary; Imam Abu-Hanifah prayed behind the
Malekites in Madinah, Imam Shafe’i prayed in the same style of the
Hanafists when he led the prayers near Abu-Hanifah’s tomb, Imam
Malek told Imam Al-Layth Ibn-Sa’d: “He is truly a knowledgeable jurist”
referring to Abu-Hanifah, Imam Ahmad said: “Malek is the most
beloved to me among all traditionists.”, etc… This was the kind of
respect and spiritual unity those knowledgeable early Imams had
because they were holding tight to the most treasured hoard in Islam;
“Morals and Ethics”.
Acquiring deep knowledge about the Islamic sciences takes a life time
and is not an obligation on every Muslim, but attaining the Islamic
moralities is. Muslims cannot all be knowledgeable scholars, but they
must all seek to be pious and noble-minded. The prophet P.B.U.H. was
a model by his ethics and morals; he taught his companions through
real practice. Muslims need to stop talking and start learning and
practicing immediately or else; there won’t be any deliverance for
them.