CaLLinG foR IsLaM

A neighbor and her family are evicted from their home because she lost her job and can’t keep up the payments. A man you know is beaten and robbed by a gang of local teenagers. A girl who used to live down the street gets pregnant and tries to kill herself after her parents berate her and her boyfriend walks out. When such problems arise we usually explain them in personal terms: “Those boys are bunch of thugs”, “I thought that house was more than Mrs. Jones could afford”, or “That girl was always a wild one”. [Source: Social Problems-A Brief Introduction by James William]

These are some examples how people nowadays will value at the social problems; they always claiming to the person blameworthy and deserve to be like that without knowing what the real reasons behind the cases are. These situations are related so much in da’wah [calling to Islam] which is we as a human being is deserve to fulfill the human needs without having prejudice in life.

Calling to Islam, it is not merely trying to convert those who are not Muslim into Islam, but it has a deeper meaning which is showing the true way of ‘how to be a human being’. If someone [non-Muslims] has the same problem like I have stated above, the society should not becoming bitter, harsh, jeering and so on to him/her directly without knowing the ‘why’, but the society should examine the situation and try to get to the bottom of it. He/she still has the right to live as a human and still has the right to correct what already gone wrong.

The society and the Muslims [who are calling to Islam, the Da’ie] are matching, because the Islamic missionary is the invitation to the ideals of peace, non-aggression, respect of the dignity of man and his basic right. Deep involvement in human welfare and service to mankind is essential to Islam and of prime importance in Da’wah. Thus, it is reasonable if the ‘problem person’ that the Da’ie approached did not convert to Islam as long as the Muslims already gave the idea of Islam; peace to all creatures to him/her. The da’ie should show their best performance in order to establish Islam such as using very pleasant words and being respectful to people. Even the Prophet Moses used very nice words to Pharaoh, although Pharaoh was the very cruel and unkind creature.

One of the basic needs that are really important in human life is the love and belongingness. All people deserve receiving and giving love, affection, trust, acceptance and being part of a group [family, friends, work]. People are not perfect and always doing mistakes, that is why people should learn how to forgive and forget each other. The message of Islam never contradict with human needs, yet it always in line and never fail to fulfill the true contentment of being a human. When we look at the ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’, all the levels of needs are the Islamic missionary which what the Da’ie are ‘fighting’ for. In fact, to make it happen is very tough in deed the Da’ie should be more tolerant on it.

Yet like Allah said in Quran when the Prophet Moses preached Islam to Pharaoh, Allah did not give hope that Pharaoh will embrace Islam, but Allah said ‘perchance he may take warning or fear [Allah]’. [Ta-Ha: 44] From this, the Da’ie can understand that to ‘alter’ someone from bad to good is not immediate, and we should give him/her some times to think and analyze about himself/herself first. From the story of the Prophet Moses also the Da’ie should examine their weaknesses such as the Prophet Moses asked from Allah to remove the obstacle from his speech and asked the Prophet Aaron to go together with him to meet up Pharaoh [Source: Al-Quran, Ta-Ha: 25-32]. Thus, the Da’ie should not blameworthiness to the people as lazy, stubborn, rebellion, etc to those who are still not ‘be good’, however do check up to their selves, evaluate how they approach people, and aim to be a true human being.