❞ كتاب CALLING TO TAWHEED IN THE WEST ❝ ⏤ ابو خالدالموحد

ntroduction...................................................................Page 4
Definition of Da’wah
and its Obligation....................................Page 5
Virtues of Da’wah........................
......................................Page 8
Fortification of the Daa’ee
............................................... ...Page 9
Calling Non
-
Muslims to Tawheed...
.........................................Page 19
Da’wah to Christians and Jews................................................Page 26
Da’wah to Atheists and Gnostics..............................................Page 34
Ad
vice Concerning New Muslims..
.........................................
.
Page 39
Conclusion
.....................................................................
Page 40
Bibliography........................
..........................................
Page 41

Indeed, All Praise belongs to Allah. We praise Allah, we seek his assistance and we be
g
for
his forgivene
ss. We seek refuge with Allah from
 the evil of our own selves and from the evil
of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, no one can mislead and whomsoever Allah allows
to go astray, none can guide. I bare witness and give open testimony th
at there is nothing
worthy of worship except Allah, who has no associates and I
 bare witness that Muhammad
is His S
ervant an
d His M
essenger. To proceed:
And w
ho is better in speech than he who invites men to Allah and
 does righteous
deeds, and says;
 ‘I am
 one of the Muslims
’
 [The Noble Qur’an 41:33]
Indeed, inviting or calling to the worship of Allah is one of the most important actions that a
Muslim can do, especially in an environment where the proper worship of Allah is either
deficient or non
-
existent
.
 It is indeed the right of every neighbor, relative, classmate, or co
-
worker
. It is their right to be told
 who his or her Creator is and what this All Powerful Lord
demands of them
. It is their right to be
invited to the submission to His will.  However,
we
are in an age where non
-
Muslims and some Muslims are totally confused as to the purpose
of their existence and destination of us all. In the west particularly, the current atmosphere
of political correctness, public relations, assimilation, and ignoranc
e of Islam have caused
many Muslims to deny this right to our fellow human beings with the misunderstanding that
to declare Islam to be the only true way and call to it without compromise is someho
w
‘extremist’
. It is especially critical in these times to
actually define what true da’wah is and
what the objectives of da’
wah are
 so that Muslims who migrate to western countries as well
as those who are indigenous to those countries have a clear understanding of their purpose
for living amongst non
-
Muslims. Re
grettably, I have witnessed up close the misuse of the
word da’wah to mean everything from voting and contributing to politic
al campaigns
 to
participating in non
-
Islamic religious services
. In an environment like
 what is found in non
-
Muslim countries such
as the United States, da’wah is used as an excuse to assimilate into
non
-
Islamic cultural practices,
to attend
haraam gatherings,
and
to inter
-
mingle
 with the
oppos
ite sex
. So it becomes necessary to define what exactly da’wah is and its obligations,
objec
tives, and methodologies for Muslims who live in this sort of environment and to form
this approach specifically for the mindset of those we live amongst. The purpose of this
study is not to redefine da’wah nor is it a lofty dissertation of the methodology
 and
characteristics of the
call and the
caller
per se
. The scholars of the past and present have don
e
an excellent job of teaching
 the knowledge of da’
wah and
the duties of the
daa’ee
.
 I could
never
 approach their level
of dedication and understanding and
 m
ay Allah
Tabaaraka wa
ta’aala
 reward them for their efforts. I do however, with Allah’s permission, intend to delve
into some specifics of da’wah with regards to the various mindsets, attitudes, and religious
thought unique to the West as well as to focu
s on avoiding some of the pitfalls and mistakes
that we are prone to make when discussing Islam with non
-
Muslims.
One of the most
common reasons for the lack of successful da’wah efforts is the lack of knowledge of Islam.
What I mean
by knowledge of Islam
is not
 knowledge on the level of the
‘ulama’
. I am
 not
sugges
ting that we cannot give
 da’wa
h unless we reach the level of
Imam
Maa
li
k
 or
Ibn Al
-
Qayyim (May Allah have Mercy on them). The knowledge that I am re
ferring to is the
5
knowledge which
 is necessary
and required of every Muslim in order t
o properly worship
Allah and attain the
proper understanding of his or her faith. The knowledge of
Tawheed
 and
Eemaan
 is
 not only required of the
‘ulama’
 but of all Muslims.
Unfortunately, these are some
of the most n
e
glected topics among the gatherings
 of Muslims, especially in the West.
Understandably, the most important aspect of Islam may not be properly conveyed to the
people, hence, the message of Islam may be delivered incorrectly or not at all.
Most
importantly
, it is a simple reminder to myself, as well as others, to reme
mber the main point
that we
must be conscious of when speaking to others about Islam
. It
 is that the purpose of
this life, in reality, is to
 worship Allah, Glorified and Exalted, alone, the way
 He has
ordained. In other words, we must establish the Tawheed in our lives and call others to i

It  has  become  necessary,  in  these  times,  to  revisit  the  real  meaning  of  da’wah  within  the  
scope of Islam so that
we may know if we are indeed calling the people to Allah. If we fail to
achieve the actual essence of the da’wah, we must then be honest enough with ourselves to
admit  that  somewhere,  the  focus  of  the  da’wah  has  been  lost  and  begin  to  work  toward  
accomplis
hing  what  Allah  has  required  of  us.  
Da’wah
  comes  from  the  word  
da’a,
  simply  
meaning to summon, call, invite, etc. From this root, we derive a similar word known within
Islam as
du’aa
.  Within  the  context  of  Islam,  
ad
-
du’aa
  is  the  call  of  the  servant  to  his  
or her
Lord, Allah, Most Exalted. The one making du’aa calls out to or beseeches Allah to answer a
particular  need.  In  the  relationship  between  Allah  and  the  slave  of  Allah
, the
da’wah
 is the
supplication
 to Allah and the
daa’ee
 is the one who is performin
g this action. Allah, Perfected
is He, describes in the most beautiful manner this intimate relationship between the Called
upon (Allah) and the caller in the verse from the Noble Qur’an:
And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad, sallalla
hu’alayhi wa
sallam)
 about Me,
I am indeed near (by My Knowledge). I respond to the
da’wah
 of the
daa’ee
 when he
calls
  on  Me.  So  let  them  obey  Me  and  believe  in  Me,  so  that  they  may  be  
guided
aright. [2:186]
This gives us an idea as to what
 the pure meaning and essence of da’
wah is. This relationship
of da’wah between Allah, Most High, and His slaves is so important and so sensitive, that in
order to establish complete Tawheed in worship, we are forbidden to call on anything other
than Allah or seek intermediaries between us a
nd Allah for Allah has said:
Say (O Muhammad
,
sallallahu’alayhi wa
sallam
): ‘I have been forbidden to worship
those whom you call upon (
tad’oona
) besides Allah.’ Say:’I will not follow your vain
desires.  If  I  did,  I  would  go  astray,  and  I  would  not  be  one
of   t
he   rightly
guided.’[
6:56
]
Allah uses the word da’wah or du’aa as a verb
(
tad’oona
)
known in Arabic grammar as
Jam’u
Mudhakkir
Mukhaatib
 or
the
2
nd
 person male plural
 referring to the pagans that th
e Prophet
6
(sallallahu’alayhi wa
sallam) was commanded i
n this verse to respond to. The pagans made
du’aa or called upon false gods which Allah clearly forbids in this verse and similar verses.
The  call  (du’aa/da’wah)  in  Islam  is  so  important  that  it  forms  the  very  foundation  of
worship.  The  Prophet  (sallallahu
’alayhi
wa
sallam)  said;  ‘
Ad
-
du’aa
  is  the  worship’  [At
-
Tirmidhi, Abu Dawood, Nasaa’i, Ibn Majah]
 and in another narration found in the Sunan of
at
-
Tirmidhi; ‘
Ad
-
du’aa
 is the
mukh
 (essence) of the worship’.
 Now, you may wonder what all
of this has to do wit
h calling non
-
Muslims to Islam. Well, t
here is the da’wah that we make
to  Allah,  Mighty  and  Majestic,  for  His  Mercy,  Blessings,  Forgiveness,  etc.  and  there  is  the  
da’wah  that  we  make  to  the  people  in  that  we  call  them  to  the  worship  of  Allah.
 Each is
roote
d in the same verbiage and both have distinct criteria that have to be met in order to
properly achieve both. Once we begin to study the
asl
 (foundation) of this word da’wah, we
can  establish  the  cor
rect  standard  whereby  we  can  measure
  whether  we  have  met
that
standard or if we
have
fell short. This makes it a bit easier to distinguish between true da’wah
and simple inter
-
action amongst non
-
Muslims

 Book author : Abu Khalid AlMuwahhid