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[Qatada]

Dawah Techniques Guide



Your aim in da'wah

The aim of discussion in Islam is to convey the message; it’s not your duty to guide the hearts.

This means you need to make your point to show why Islam is convincing, the truth. If they aren’t convinced by your argument, you bring another forward which is based on what you think will convince them. This might be based on what category of people they’re from i.e. agnostics, Christians etc. therefore someone who understands the concept of Prophecies (i.e. a Christian) and is amazed by them will find them more acceptable as a source of discussion or proof compared to someone who feels that social reform is extremely important in people’s lives. You would discuss with the person that which interests them and may draw them closer to Allah.




You control the discussion


Sometimes, you can take the discussion to your advantage and discuss a topic which is well known to you (which convinced you of Islam to a high level), and may not be well known to them. i.e. discussing Prophecies with an agnostic may be more powerful in this case (because its likely that this agnostic has never come across this field of knowledge before and therefore is at your mercy since you have the upper hand of knowledge on this issue.) This is sometimes an advantage for you, especially if you know that this person won’t want to benefit from your call, because it’s a new field of knowledge for them, so the first person they have to hear this knowledge off is someone who has a lot of evidence to support what they say. Then it can either go 2 ways; where they either accept the truth of what is said, or reject it based on arrogance. Again, your duty is only to clearly convey the message.





Control your mind, don't let them control yours for you


When you discuss, psychologically tell yourself it’s a discussion, and not debate. This might relax you – especially if you hate confrontation. It’s all about the mind, if you can stay cool and patient during discussion, then you can achieve a lot insha Allah. As Allah informs those who fight in His cause, that be patient – because you are seeking His reward (through this deed of yours), whereas they have no hope for reward from Him (and are in fact wasting their life away which they find so precious.)

So do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, and you will be superior (in victory) if you are indeed (true) believers.

If a wound has touched you, be sure a similar wound has touched the others. And so are the days (good and not so good), We give to men by turns, that Allâh may test those who believe...

[Quran Aal Imraan 3:139-140]

If you know you do not have enough knowledge on a certain field, then don’t discuss it, and if the person you’re discussing with asks you about it – you tell the truth, that you really don’t know much about that field of knowledge. This allows the other person to see you in a positive light [i.e. that you’re not arrogant, and that you’re being truthful, even slightly personal – which will relieve some pressure off them too, so they feel that if they don’t know something – they too can say ‘I don’t know’.] This will further relax both people in the discussion, relieve tension, and make them have respect for each other – making both people feel that its just discussion, not debate.




The general principles in Islam are your defense


In many discussions, anti Islamic people may quote certain ahadith which are specific due to a certain scenario. You do not know every single hadith off by heart, nor do you know their explanations. Before discussing with anti Islamic people, you need to have atleast a general understanding of different concepts in Islam. (This is why it’s extremely important to learn a lot before starting da’wah.) When you know these different concepts, you should read the evidences which support what has been stated since these will be extremely useful for you in future discussions. Once you know the true Islamic stance on these issues – if someone does quote a certain narration which is slightly different to the general principles which are firmly grounded in Islam – you simply convey the general position of Islam on the issue without commenting on the specific narration itself. (i.e. a good example is the concept of slavery in Islam, we know that there is such a MASSIVE collection of evidences from Qur’an & Sunnah in support of freeing slaves [the collection of Sahih Al Bukhari has a whole book on this topic of freeing slaves – (book 46)!] - so you tell the person that even if there is a specific narration which may contradict this general rule, it is based on some specific reason which I may be unaware of. And that they should accept the general rule presently (due to the great amount of evidences in support of it) – until you can find the explanation for that specific narration.




Haters' - how to handle them


There’s some debaters’ that you fall into a debate with, and you really hate their attitude. They really don’t want to learn and only want to stick their head into your conversations where it doesn’t belong. Or they continuously raise a point which you’ve already refuted. The best thing to do with them is to first ignore them, then after that you tell the people surrounding you to ignore him – especially if you know that they are on your side (i.e. they might be a Muslim audience or the group simply recognise that you’ve given a satisfactory response which the other person keeps ignoring.) If you ignore them well, or these people listen to you in ignoring him, it gives you a morale boost and it shames the other person because they’re not getting the attention they want.

However, this works well if the other person isn’t raising good points. Obviously, you’ll need to respond to these points and give answers to fill in all the missing gaps – the best thing to do is to see how the other person thinks like and give them a response to a response which they themselves were likely to give to you. I.e. be 1 step ahead of them. You should also ask other knowledgeable Muslims about certain things which you are unsure of because they might have seen another evidence or know an answer from a different viewpoint. That’s why we created iDawah – for that exact purpose, It’s the da’ees friend.


Once you’ve given a satisfactory response, the person may still use that argument because they don’t want to accept what you’ve just said, or they just feel that they’ve got a strong argument. But you’ve refuted it or atleast clarified it. You can’t guide their heart, so they might not accept what you’ve stated. However, due to this firm evidence which you’ve established – you make du’a for their guidance, and be patient, maybe even clarifying your response to explain to them what you’ve just said. However – if they’re arrogant, they will reject this, maybe they’ll reply back with something that isn’t based on any real substance i.e. they might claim something which isn’t based on any proof but is based on their assumptions only [whereas they claim to follow ‘proof’ from everything you say – a sign of double standards.]. These people need to be shouted at, and yeah I really mean that. You’ve done all you can and they won’t listen, its like their dumb, deaf and blind – tell them this, and ask them what the point of the discussion is if they don’t even want to hear your answers or benefit from them? ‘I thought you were intelligent? If you’re really after the truth, then why what is it that doesn’t make sense to you? I’ve even answered your questions perfectly well, so whats stopping you from realising the truth of what I’m saying?’ Make them reflect on what they’re actually doing.

If you know the person likes fighting and arguing, then don’t use this above technique. However, if you know this person uses logic a lot in support of their arguments, then this will make them think. They wont even know how to respond to it, because when normal discussion/debate is based on arguments which are logical, your statements are based on sincerety for them, emotion (which plays a huge part in people accepting certain beliefs [not just logical understandings as some say]) and even a conclusion/summarisation of your discussion. There’s too much information packed in these final statements of yours which can allow them to be more open minded to your replies, or it silences them, or it can even make them frustrated(which wont be justified – because you’ve answered as well as you can.)

This will then allow a totally new discussion to begin once again with them being either; open minded, silent [in which the debate will end], or them replying back angrily [but you will have shown that you are infact not guilty because you have justified your arguments, and therefore if they are not open minded to accept the truth of what you have stated – you are leaving the discussion.]

[Assad]

Originally Posted by Qatadah The Great

The best thing to do with them is to first ignore them, then after that you tell the people surrounding you to ignore him – especially if you know that they are on your side (i.e. they might be a Muslim audience or the group simply recognise that you’ve given a satisfactory response which the other person keeps ignoring.) If you ignore them well, or these people listen to you in ignoring him, it gives you a morale boost and it shames the other person because they’re not getting the attention they want.

Mashallah , I liked this approach very well.. Overall all Muslims should keep these guidelines in mind to ensure that this effects our attitude while debating.

[salman]

As-Salamu 'Alaykum

quick links to other useful threads on the board:

Salaf and Manners of Dawah & Debating
Some Advice On Giving Dawah
The Manners and Etiquette of Dawah
How Is Our Dawah and Debate

[Qatada]

asalaam alaikum


1) Learn, learn, learn! You have to learn the topic you are going to discuss. This will give you a background on what you're going to be discussing. If you don't have a general idea about what you're discussing, you're going to lose. Why? Because even someone replied back to you in with a false argument, how will you know they're wrong?? Knowledge defeats ignorance.


2) Speak in a way to show you're a professional. So if you're talking to an atheist, you should not use words which make you seem unprofessional. I.e. don't use the word 'chance', but instead use the word 'probability'.

So don't say; "This couldn't have happened by chance."

Instead say "The probability of this happening is really low."

This makes you sound more professional, because just when atheists hear you say the word 'chance', they find out that you're not a professional in that field. By using a professional word, you've shown you have knowledge.



3) Don't use words like 'faith' unless its necessary. Emaan is translated as 'faith', a word which many Muslims - due to copying Christians - use. It's saddening, because Emaan can be better translated as a Contract (Amaanah), or Belief.

So don't say, "I have faith that...".

Instead say; "I have belief that...".



What difference does it make?

Islam isn't purely blind faith, rather - we believe our religion based on truths. Because these truths make sense to us, so we have faith that the other concepts are also real. Because Islam is logically convincing over all other ways of life, I have belief that it is the truth, and therefore I have faith in the unseen [i.e. Judgment Day, Paradise, Hell etc].

[Aayah]

JazakAllah khair for these excellent tips