The Obligations of the Du’aat in the West

By Shaykh Husayn al-’Awaayishah
Translated by Mu’tasim al-Hameedee
Transcribed by Aboo Uthmaan [1]

There are certain obligations or a certain level of obligations that are considered to be an obligation upon all those who call to Allaah wherever they may be. In the western countries there are certain obligations that do not apply to other countries. This is why this talk today is going to deal with the specific duties upon the du’aat who are residing in the west and our talk is going to overlap with the general duties of the du’aat that apply to the callers of Islam wherever they may be.

The callers to Islam or the du’aat, they have to abide by the good manners of Islam, many of the non-Muslim countries in the past accepted Islam or the population there flooded into Islam because of the good manners of the Muslims, because of the good manners of the Muslim traders and businessman and other than them. So the du’aat wherever they are have to show the good manners of Islam and they have to stick to the best behaviour that Islam teaches. This is how and the way that they can create an impact on the people in order to attract them to Islam and is it is said: “Actions speak louder than words”, so we have to manifest this is our own actions, rather than preaching it only by our tongues. The people look at the callers to Islam in a critical way with scrutiny, they look at them as examples to be followed. So the callers or the du’aat, they have to rise up to that level and be good examples for the people to be followed in all aspects of life and they have to protect this high situation or this high position of the du’aat of people who call to the true message of al-Islam.

The daa’ee has to stick to truthfulness and honesty, and guarding his tongue from falling into evil speech and protecting his tongue from gheebaah (backbiting) because as we mentioned before the people look at the daa’ee or the caller to Islam in a critical way. So he has to be a good example for others, and if the people find out the one giving da’wah does not protect his tongue from gheebaah or nameemah or he is not truthful than this will destroy the trust that they have or the confidence that they place on the caller to Islam or the daa’ee to Islam. And if they see some kind of treacherousness or untruthfulness, not abiding by ones words or not keeping to ones word or backbiting from the part of the daa’ee than all this will make his preaching and his da’wah worthless, without any benefits or will destroy the impact that he can create with his da’wah even if he was quoting verses from the Qur’aan or the Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), whether it is Bukhaaree or Muslim, because if he doesn’t abide by that which he is preaching than people will lose their trust in him.

It was narrated from Ibn Mas’ood (radee Allaahu ‘anhu) that he said: “Anyone in whose presence a Muslim or a believer is backbitten and he defended him (i.e. the one being backbitten) than Allaah will reward him with good in this life and in the next.” This is something that we have to bare in mind, any Muslim in whose presence any Muslim is being backbitten or spoken ill of and he defends him than he will be rewarded with good by Allaah in this life and the hereafter. And any Muslim in whose presence another believer is being backbitten or spoken ill of and he doesn’t defend him than Allaah will punish him with evil in this life and in the hereafter. This is something that we have to bare in mind and pay attention to.

If one falls into backbiting then this is very likely to be a reason and a cause, to cause his da’wah to fail and to be useless. That Allaah (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa) will not grant such a person acceptance amongst the people and will cause the people to hate. So this one who is calling to Allaah but he falls in backbiting and speaking ill about people than Allaah will cause his da’wah to fail and will cause the people to hate him and Allaah (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa) might try him and afflict him and his family with hardships and with problems and difficulties, all this is a punishment from Allaah. Such punishment is likely to fall on those who do not defend their brothers when they are backbitten so what about the punishment that is going to befall the one who backbites his brothers. So if the person doesn’t defend his brother when he is backbitten than Allaah will cause his da’wah to fail and will cause the people to reject him, no matter how skilful he is in his da’wah or how much effect he excretes in his da’wah all this will rejected by the people and by Allaah. And in the hereafter the punishment from Allaah (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa) is severe and all of us are aware of the punishments that Allaah (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa) has prepared for those who fall into backbiting.

Regarding the one who defends his brother if he is backbitten than Allaah (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa) will reward him in this life by causing his da’wah to be successful and widespread and will grant him acceptance in the heavens and on the earth amongst the people, so the people will love him and will be attracted to his da’wah and will have trust in him, especially if it becomes known that he defends his brothers who are backbitten and he stands up for that and he defends the truth, so Allaah by this means will cause his da’wah to become successful and wide spread and this is all from Allaah. Regarding his reward in the hereafter, we know that the reward Allaah has prepared for such people is eminence and is great and what we need to do is to gain more knowledge about the reward Allaah is going to grant his good servants in the hereafter in Paradise so that this kind of knowledge becomes a incentive for us and a motivation that drives us to keep away from backbiting and defend our brothers who are being backbitten or spoken ill of.

If the du’aat makes a mistake he makes amends for that to rectify it and he should never feel arrogant or proud about apologising to the one he erred against. This is one of the most successful ways of da’wah, we have to learn how to apologise to the people, apologise to your wife, apologise to your children, apologise to your brothers, your relatives and anyone that you might make a mistake against, or any person that you might offend, this will attract the hearts towards you.

It was narrated from ‘Abdullaah [the son of Abee Bakr (radee Allaahu 'anhum)] that a Bedouin man on the day of Hunayn, when the people where crowded around the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), stepped on the foot of the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and hurt him, so the Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) hit him with something / whipped him with something that he (sall-Allaahu ‘Alayhi wa sallam) had in his hands, and this was a kind of reaction, something that was beyond his control as a human being, and was due to the fact someone stepped on his foot, he reacted (not on purpose) by hitting the man on his hand and he said to the man: “Bismillaah, you hurt me” or “In the name of Allaah you hurt me”, so this Bedouin said that he couldn’t sleep that night and he kept blaming himself. So in the morning the Bedouin heard someone calling his name: “Where is so and so?” So he panicked and he thought that he was going to get the repercussions or the outcomes of what he did to the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), for the harm that he caused him. So the Bedouin went to the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) in a state of paranoia and he was scared so the Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) told the Bedouin that he stepped on his foot and that he had harmed him (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), then the Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said to the Bedouin that as a reaction he had hit him without purpose, so he (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) gave the Bedouin 80 sheep and told him to take them as a compensation due to fact that the Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) hit him. So the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) reacted naturally, the natural reaction of a human being when being harmed and he hit the Bedouin on the hand, but he (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) apologised to him for what he did and he gave the man 80 sheep.

So as human beings sometimes we react to certain things in a harsh way, if this happens or if you fall in that then you have to have mercy to those whom you hurt or those who you harm. So this is the example from the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and as Allaah (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa) described him, He sent him as a mercy to mankind. So we have to follow this example of the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and if we offend someone or if he hurt someone than we have to apologise to him and compensate him for that and make amends for that by for example: giving him a gift, inviting him for food, anything we can do to the best of our ability. This will always bring good results, will effect our da’wah positively and we will attract peoples heart to our da’wah and this will make up for our mistakes as human beings or as callers to Islam and this will turn our mistakes into advantages in our character and in our da’wah.

As a daa’ee or someone who calls to his Lord we have to offer our help and we have operate and cooperate with our brothers, we have to help them when they are in need, we have to help them in the time of hardship and whenever they fall into difficulty, we have to hasten to help them and get them out of that difficulty, and we have to establish good relations with the people by visiting the ill ones, helping the poor or the needy, and offering our support to those who need it. This is how we become successful callers to Islam; this is how we become successful du’aat to the true Manhaj. It was narrated from Ibn Mas’ood (radee Allaahu ‘anhu) that he said on the day of Badr, the day of the battle of Badr, that the Muslims would be three people to one camel so they would take turns in riding it, one of them would ride and two would walk. Then the turn of the second one would come and he would start riding and the other two walking. Then the third ones turn would come to ride and so on and so forth. So on that day Abu Lubabah (radee Allaahu ‘anhu)and ‘Alee ibn Abee Taalib (radee Allaahu ‘anhu) were the ones accompanying the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). So they were having turns on one camel with the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), first Abu Lubabah was riding the camel. Maybe ‘Alee after that, then the turn of the Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) came, then the turn for him to walk came, so ‘Alee bin Abee Taalib and Abu Lubabah told him: “O Messenger of Allaah, we will walk you carry on riding.” They wanted to save the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) the effort of walking, they wanted to keep him at rest on the camel, but the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said to them: “You are not stronger than me and I need the reward just as you need it, and I am keen to gain that reward just as you are keen to gain that same reward.” So this is a very good image that the Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) presented and this is how he captured the hearts of the people, and this is how he influenced his companions in such a way that they defended Islam in the best way. All this comes with sincerity, it comes from the heart. The Messenger of Allaah (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) is the best one who called to the way of Allaah, he is the best one who gave da’wah to the people, so we have to follow his example, so that our da’wah becomes successful and widespread.

The du’aat have to educate themselves and seek knowledge of the Deen so the da’wah becomes effective. If the people found out that the one who is calling them doesn’t have knowledge, he’s weak in his speeches, in his admonition, in his knowledge, he hasn’t got knowledge of the ahaadeeth, the authentic hadeeth and he hasn’t got knowledge of the rulings and regulations of the Sharee’ah they will lose trust in him. We are not asking the callers to be the Scholars of their time or highly knowledgeable in every aspect, but the caller to Islam has to have some knowledge of the thing that he is calling the people to, he has to have firm knowledge, well established in fiqh and the religion in general so that he can affect the people and influence them positively. Otherwise he will drop from the eyes of the people and people will turn away from him and this is the case with many of the callers who involved themselves with the parties or the groups and some of the ahzaab (parties / groups) they started to preach and propagate their da’wah, but their knowledge was superficial so the people found out about them. They won’t last long, so after the people realise that these people are ignorant or they haven’t got enough knowledge to give da’wah they lost trust in them so that they rejected their da’wah and they left them behind.

The Muslim has to exert himself and be keen to study and acquire the knowledge so that once he gives da’wah he gives it upon proof, he gives it well founded and established upon proofs from the Qur’aan & Sunnah. Unfortunately many of those who call to Islam they preach on an ad-hoc basis without knowledge, without preparation. So this makes the people understand or realise there weakness and that they haven’t got the knowledge, so they give da’wah before they are prepared for that, so once the people find out about this they lose trust in them, so they abandon them and this will become one of the main causes for the failure of their da’wah. We have to pay great attention to this point, knowledge. So if we want to spread the da’wah of Allaah amongst the people we study, we learn, then we give da’wah. This is how we build this trust, we build the bridges between us and the people and this is how they trust the callers to Islam and they except from them, and they become positively influenced by them.

We have to crown the characteristics and the points that we mentioned, we crown them with sincerity to Allaah (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa). As sincerity of intention in and with everything we do, that we do it for the sake of Allaah, this is the key to success. Without it our da’wah will be a failure, and this (sincerity) was the way and the method of the Messenger’s (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) da’wah and he is the best of the sincere ones. So sincerity in everything we do is the key to success in this life and in the next. This is why the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said to a man who came to him: “If you are truthful with Allaah, than Allaah will be truthful with you.” This means that Allaah will support you and He will help you, so whoever is sincere with Allaah and is truthful in his da’wah and in everything that he does in his da’wah, especially the points that we mention, than Allaah (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa) will grant him success in his da’wah and He will create acceptance from the people to his da’wah and He will support him with people who will help him and aid him in that da’wah, this is the success that Allaah will grant to those who are sincere to Him.

After explaining the characteristics that the daa’ee has to have in his da’wah in order to be effective and influence the people positively in his da’wah, the first thing he has to remind the people of, especially in these countries, that it is forbidden to reside in the lands of the kuffar without a valid excuse. So the one who gives da’wah whenever he gives da’wah he should always bear in mind to remind the people of this fact that is it not permissible to stay in the lands of the kuffar, and remind him that the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “I am free from anyone who resides amongst the Musrikeen.” This means that if the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said about that person that he is free from him, that this is a clear indication that this person has put himself in a position or in a situation where he is distancing himself bit by bit from the religion of al-Islam, otherwise the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) wouldn’t of have said that he is free from them. We exclude from this case those who have no other choice other than staying in the non-Muslim countries as it is known in that the principle in Islam or a rule in Islam that a necessity might make some prohibitions permissible in certain cases. Shaykh al-Albaanee (rahimahullaah) said that necessities are to be given their true weight, we should not blow them out of proportion nor should we exaggerate their true worth.

The first thing that the daa’ee has to call to the people to and the thing that has priority over all things to give da’wah about is Tawheed, Eemaan and the correct ‘Aqeedah and to call the people to that. So everyone who calls to Islam has to start with these things: Tawheed, Eemaan and correct ‘Aqeedah. This has priority over everything. These are the main things and topics in da’wah and it has to have the utmost importance in the mind and in the call of the daa’ee.

The daa’ee should stick to the Sunnah of the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), so he has to follow the way of the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) in all aspects himself and call the people to that. So this call after what we mentioned before (Tawheed, Eemaan, and correct ‘Aqeedah) is to call to following the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) in every aspect as Allaah (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa) said:

“Indeed in the Messenger of Allaah (Muhammad) you have a good example to follow for him who hopes in (the Meeting with) Allaah and the Last Day and remembers Allaah much.” [Al-Ahzab 33:21]

So in this aayah Allaah (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa) is making it clear that there are conditions to be met, so that the person is granted true following of the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), and these conditions are:

1) Hope in Allaah
2) Hope in the Last Day
3) Remembering Allaah much

These are the three conditions that have to be met so that one will be granted success in following the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), but if a person falls short in following the example of the Prophet (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) then this is due to the weakness of him meeting these three conditions. If a person is weak in remembering Allaah, that means he is weak in that kind of remembrance of the heart, and remembrance of the tongue, and remembrance of the limbs. Remembrance of the heart is the correct ‘Aqeedah and great Eemaan and taawakul and the kind of worship that is related to the heart. Remembrance of the tongue is what he knows of the Qur’aan and the adhkaar. The remembrance of the limbs is the righteous deeds we perform with the body. So if these three conditions are met properly and strongly then our following of the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) will be strong, and it they are weak then our following of the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) will be weak. And if you want to know the reason behind the fact that many of those who call to Islam from the people of groups and parties, why they have fallen short and why they are weak in following the Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), you will find that the reason is that the three conditions are not met. They are weak with what related to these three conditions, so they are weak in the hope in Allaah, they are weak in the hope in the Last Day, and they are weak in the remembrance of Allaah, which is the correct side of remembrance.

One of the most important obligations upon the daa’ee is to call to following the Manhaj that came from Allaah (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa), the Manhaj of as-Salaf-as-Saalih, the Manhaj of our righteous predecessors. As occurs in the hadeeth narrated by al-’Arbaadh bin Saariyah (radee Allaahu ‘anhu) in which he said that: “The Messenger of Allaah (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) admonished us to the extent that our hearts become touched by it and we were in tears until he narrated the hadeeth and he reached the part of it were he (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: ‘So stick to my Sunnah and to the Sunnah of the rightly guided khaalifs, hold on to it and bite on to it with your molar teeth and be aware or keep away from newly invented matters, as all the newly invented matters are innovation’.” So the caller to Islam he calls to the Manhaj of as-Salaf, he warns against bid’ ah and he warns the people against following the ‘Aqeedah of the kuffar or the understandings or the beliefs of the kuffar and their habits, traditions and way of life. What we have noticed is that many of those who call to Islam have been themselves affected by the ways of the kuffar, and unfortunately many Muslim families have been affected by that to the extent that we find they resemble the kuffar in many ways like tabarruj and exposing themselves so this is a very important issue for the callers to warn the people against.

The Muslim who calls to the way of his Lord has to pay attention, great attention indeed, in calling to people, to gather the people, a call which is based and founded upon correct terms and understanding in the light of the Qur’aan & Sunnah. The du’aat has to warn the people against splitting and differing but should call them upon a correct call, correct understanding and a correct conciliation amongst the brothers and bring them together upon the correct terms of Islam of the book and the Sunnah as Allaah says (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa) says:

“And obey Allaah and His Messenger, and do not dispute (with one another) lest you lose courage and your strength depart…” [Al-Anfal 8:46]

“And be not as those who divided and differed among themselves after the clear proofs had come to them. It is they for whom there is an awful torment.” [Aali Imran 3:105]

The Messenger (sall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “Do not differ amongst yourselves otherwise Allaah will create difference amongst your hearts.”

So differences amongst the Muslims will bring weakness and humiliation upon them and will cause their hearts to become weak and will make their deeds wasteful. They will waste their time occupying themselves with differences and splitting and this will waste their deeds and this will waste their efforts, so the daa’ee should not busy himself and preoccupy himself with the refutation of others, although refutation or refuting those who oppose the da’wah is a very important thing and a very necessary issue in our da’wah. But if a person finds that he is preoccupied and spends most of this time in refutation then let him know for sure that Shaytaan is pulling his leg. This kind of person will find himself away from the narrations or the life of the Salaf, and he will find at the end that he has busied himself, preoccupied himself, and kept himself away from the true da’wah to Islam. So all this is a kind of Shaytaan duping him or pulling his leg to the evil. So at the end he will find himself enjoying that kind of refutation and all this will keep him away from understanding the Book and the Sunnah and calling to Allaah in the correct manner. What we find today is many of those people who preoccupy them self with refuting so and so then you will find most of them are completely unqualified to deal with such issues and they did not go back, or refer back to the scholars who have knowledge of those issues. So those people have been sneered by Shaytaan and have been taken in his traps as they have fallen in his traps and they have driven themselves away from the mercy of Allaah and the true knowledge that they were suppose to busy themselves with. Allaah (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa) says:

“Nay! Man will be a witness against himself [as his body parts (skin, hands, legs, etc.) will speak about his deeds].” [Al-Qiyamah 75:14]

So everyone has to check himself and see if he is getting closer to Allaah with what he does, or if he just enjoying that kind of refutation, preoccupying himself with that he will never find his heart at rest, he will never find true Eemaan, and happiness that Allaah grants his true servants, so this is a kind of trial, a kind of evil that we have to keep away from and regarding refutations then this actually needs true scholars who are well founded and established in knowledge and those people who have no personal desires behind refuting so and so, they have true piety and fear of Allaah, they have to control their time and the time they spend in this kind of refutation. So that it doesn’t consume and devour their time in its entirety, rather they should allocate certain times for refutations as it is necessary but they should not give it more than it needs.

We ask Allaah (subhaanahu wa t’aalaa) to guide us to the truth!

Footnote:

[1] I (Aboo Uthmaan) transcribed (albeit not a verbatim transcription) this text from a lecture entitled “The Obligations of the Du’aat” by Shaykh Husayn al-’Awaayishah. Any mistakes in this transcription are from me, and the Shaykh is free from them.