Dawah Team building
Definitions and terminology
The word da’wah comes from the Arabic trilateral verb stem da-a-ya-
Linguistically, da’wah means ‘to invite’ or ‘to call’.
The technical / shari meaning of the word da’wah includes: ‘calling people to the din of Allah and his Messenger. It is used in this sense in Q. 16:125.
ادْعُ إِلَى سَبِيلِ ادْعُ إِلَىٰ سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِالْحِكْمَةِ وَالْمَوْعِظَةِ الْحَسَنَةِ ۖوَجَادِلْهُم بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُۚإِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِۖوَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ ﴿١٢٥﴾
Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best. Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has strayed from His way, and He is most knowing of who is [rightly] guided. (Surat al-Nahl, 16:125)
Scholarly statements regarding ‘da’wah’
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said, ‘Da’wah is to call people to believe in Allah and what His Messengers came with by accepting what they came with and obeying them in what they commanded….
‘Da’wah to Allah entails calling to all that He commanded and forbidding all that He forbade; and that is amr bi’l maruf wa’l-nahy ‘an al-munkar [‘enjoining the good and forbidding the evil’] precisely.’
Shaykh Abd al-Azīz b. Abd Allāh b. Bāz wrote concerning da’wah, ‘As for its [da’wah’s] ruling, the evidences within the Qur’an and Sunnah indicate the obligation of establishing da’wah to Allah and that it is from the fundamental obligatory duties.’
The Qur’an is a book of dawah.
If we consider the stories of the Prophets we do not encounter descriptions of what they looked like, how they prayed or the amount of dhikr they made. If you were to be asked, ‘How many times did Nüh fast a week?’ you will struggle to find an answer.
The reason for this is that the stories of the Prophets are stories of da’wah, every single Prophet was sent to humanity to deliver the message of tawhid, the message of Islam.
The Qur’an commands us to give da’wah in various places, for instance, Allah says:
وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ ۚ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ ﴿١٠٤﴾
Let there arise out of You a group of people inviting to All that is good (Islām), enjoining Al-Ma’rûf (i.e. Islamic Monotheism and All that Islam orders one to do) and forbidding Al-Munkar (polytheism and disbelief and All that Islām has forbidden). and it is they who are the successful.(Surat Al Imran, 3:104)
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ ۗ وَلَوْ آمَنَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ لَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَّهُم ۚ مِّنْهُمُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَأَكْثَرُهُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ ﴿١١٠﴾.
You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah. If only the People of the Scripture had believed, it would have been better for them. Among them are believers, but most of them are defiantly disobedient. (Surat Al Imran, 3:110)
Your Da’wah team
Select your ameer/ah, who will…
• Speak on behalf of the team – Don’t forget the etiquettes of being a leader, it is not a dictatorship and a good leader consults everyone for their opinion and input. Just like the leadership style of the Prophet Muhammad().
• Facilitate team discussion – Remember that not everyone is confident and an extrovert, make a conscious effort to get everyone involved in the discussion.
• Make the final decision – There may be difference of opinion but it is the ameer/ah’s job to make a decision based upon the varied views.
• Keep your team quiet while others are talking This is not only good etiquette but by keeping the team quiet ensures that they are learning from what other people have to say.
As a team…
• Introduce yourselves
Select your Team Name
• Discuss your projects
Write down minutes of your meetings.
Create a WhatsApp group or other means to communicate with eachothers
