This piece of advice goes to Muslim brothers who are doing a tremendous job propagating Islam through comparative debate between Islam and Christianity. There are some essential issues that should be addressed here with maximum care and conscious when carrying out this noble work that I would like to share with them.
Firstly, we have to know that matters concerning faith are not to play with. Here we mean never should we at any cost try to abuse the opposite faith as we experience in many Dawah groups conduct. This brings about enmity and violence among the people of one nation a thing that is unacceptable in Islam. Our prophet throughout his entire life did not abuse The Jews nor did he do that to Christians he found in Madina and even the pagans of Makkah who threatened his life and his message, so where do we get such teachings of abusing our fellows?
We should also understand that the most famous people who have significantly contributed to the development of Islam in the world and Malawi in particular were not originally born Muslims but rather they embraced Islam.
For instance, here in Malawi we have prominent Muslim Comparative preachers like Sheikh YUSUF Kanyamula, late Abubakar Ndawambe, and Brother Chimpeni and many more. Additionally, few years ago we had a Tanzanian former Bishop Abubakar Mwayipopo in this country that did a wonderful job. You can bear witness with me that the aforementioned eminent scholars did not know at any point in time that they will one day become influential Muslims but by the grace of Allah they became!
Our Prophet (SAW) taught us that ‘on the day of qiyamah one will be close to entering paradise with only one foot remaining, unfortunately will be pushed back and taken to Jahannam! Another one will be at the door of Jahannam just one foot to enter, will be taken back and enter Jannah’. What we learn here is that this does not specifically talk about Qiyammah day, but it also includes this life. Meaning to say, one can born a Christian but end up his life as Muslim, and one can born a Muslim and die without religion (may Allah save us from this).
Therefore, a wise Muslim will never castigate a non- Muslim or abuse him because he does not believe in One Allah No! Peaceful coexistence between religions is an act of worship in Islam. Allah gave us in the glorious Qur’an two important principles of Dawah: Hikma (Wisdom) and Clean and good message. Meaning, a Muslim preacher should be wise enough when giving Dawah by selecting good words to use and good message that will not harm anyone. This does not mean that the truth should be cancelled No! But it should be conveyed in a respect manner, not by saying for instance that “all non-Muslims will enter hell fire did our prophet (S.A.W) used such words to those non-Muslims and even to those who were against him in Makkah and Madina?
Sherrif Abu-Bakar Kaisi is a political science student at International Islamic University Malaysia
