> Get to know who you're talking to.

[Abdul-Fattah]

Selam aleykum
One of the major problems that I see within the community around me where I live; is that people who give dawah don't take the time to get to know who they're talking to. It is almost as if, they just try and say as much things as they know as possible to as many people as possible, thinking that this is the best way to gather hassanat.

Imagine going to a doctor, and telling him you are sick. Imagine that the doctor starts writing you prescriptions for various medicine, and everytime you come back he gives you a different medicine until you are cured. Now most people will tell you that is a stupid methodology. A smart doctor would first examine you, try to figure out what is wrong with you and then try to fix you up. In fact giving the wrong medicine for a disease can make things worse then they already were. The same applies to dawah. If you don't listen carefully to the point somebody is making, and just answer with anything that you think might be relevant or even slightly related. The risk is that the person thinks Islam has no answer to his question, or has the wrong answers and he probably won't ask it to someone else in the future anymore.

I open up my msn and suddenly a window pops up with a conversation.
All the person says is: www.thisandthissitecontainingdawah.com
I reply: aselam aleykum, what is most important, giving salams or giving URL's?
The guy replies: wa aleykum selam, you're right, I should say salam. See the thing is, I have more then 50 people on my list and I want to give the link to all of them, because if one of them reads it, I get hasanat for it. Even if they don't read it, I still get the hasanat for the intention. But I don't have time to greet all 50 people.
Incedently, the one time that I contacted this specific brother with a serious question that I had on my mind, he told me that maybe it would be best if I bought a book (from his bookstore) about it and looked it up myself.

Another example; You see a guy among muslims saying he is an atheist, and immediately 20 guys start throwing questions at him well what do you think created the universe, where do you think you're going to when you die? It's like a blind guy who's throwing stones at a mosquito in the middle of the night because it's keeping him out of his sleep. My first question to somebody who says he's an atheist would be: "Why are you an atheist?" "When did you become one?" "What triggered it?"

If you ask me, dawah should not be about getting as much hasanat as possible. It should be about trying to help people for Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) his sake. It should be out of empathy and a desire to share what is good. Yes it's true that we only have the responsibility to pass on information, nothing more. But isn't a Muslim supposed to desire for others what he desires for himself? So if passing on information doesn't work, shouldn't we at least take the time to check why? Shouldn't we at least put some effort in the dawah, and get to know the person who after all is taking the time to listen to you. What makes this person tick? What experiences has this person had? What are his views? What does he base those views on? How can you ever reach this person if you don't know this? And Allah subhana wa ta'ala knows best and I don't know.

[Sabraan Ya Ummah]

:wasalam:

So true! Jazaku'Allah khayr.

[PK_Aali]

Lol funny example, but true in essence! Jazak Allah Khayr :D

[Umm Sufyaan]

Beneficial post. jazakallahu khair.

[Pk_#2]

JazakAllaah khair.