Muhammad Ilyas Kandhalvi - Advice To Dawah Workers

Advice To Dawah Workers

Our workers must remember well that if their da'wah (invitation) is not accepted and instead they are insulted. They should not become despondent and frustrated. On such an occasion they should remember that this was the sunnah (established way) and heritage of the Arnbiya (alayhiqus salaam), especially that of our Nabi (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). Where does everyone get the good fortune of being belittled and degraded in the path of Allah? And wherever they are welcomed and honoured, they should appreciate this and when people listen with enthusiasm to their talks it must be considered a favour fromAllah and at no time should they be indifferent to these favours. It should be considered a great favour to serve and teach these people even if they may be considered to be of the lower classes. In the Quran, we are reminded of this in the ayat:

He fumed and turned away, when the blind approached him for guidance.

At the same time one must keep a check on the deception of one's own nafs. The nafs should not consider this acceptance as its own perfection. This may lead to the fitnah (corruption)_of hero worship. Therefore one should always be on one's guard.

It is indeed a wrong concept that when others accept our invitation, we take it to be our success and if they do not, we consider it to be our failure. To have this idea is absolutely wrong in this path. The acceptance or rejection of the audience is their act. How can we be successful or unsuccessful by the responses of our audience. Our success is in fulfilling our task. If the audience do not accept our message, it is their failure. Why should their rejection be regarded as our failure? People have erred by regarding hidayat (guidance) as their responsibility whereas this is really the work of Allah. Our duty is only to make effort to the best of our ability. To give guidance was not even the responsibility of the Ambiya (Alayhimus salaam). Of course we should take a lesson from the failure of people when they refuse to respond; that there is something lacking in our efforts and we should try to improve in the future and the same time increase our du'aas in quantity and quality.

Our workers in general, wherever they go, should make efforts to visit the righteous Ulema and pious persons. The intention should only be to benefit from them and not to invite them to this work. These people are well versed and have experienced the advantages of the Deeni work they are busy with, hence you will not be able to convince them in a wholesome way that this work is of greater benefit than their other Deeni engrossments.The outcome will be that they will not accept your explanation. Once they say "NO" it will be difficult to change this "NO" to "YES". Your talk will not be heard and it is possible that you yourself will become uncertain. Therefore meet them only to gain benefit from their auspicious company. In their locality every effort should be made to stick closely to the principles of the work. In this way it is hoped that the reports of the progress of your work will reach them and draw their attention. Thereafter, if they do pay attention, you should request them to patronise and supervise you and with due reverence and respect explain the work to them.

Letters from the merchants of Delhi should be sent with the jamaats which go to Saharanpur, Deoband, etc. for tabligh wherein the Ulama should be informed with utmost respect that these groups are being sent to make tabligh to the public. The Ulama should be informed that their time is very precious and if they could spare some of their time to patronise these jamaats without sacrificing their time from their official duties or that of the students, they should do so. The students should only spend time under the supervision of their teachers. Without the surveillance of their teachers, students should not be allowed to take part in this work. The jamaats should also be instructed that if the UIarna do not pay full attention, they should not criticize the Ulama in their hearts but realise that the Ulama are doing more important work than them. They are busy in Deeni academic work at night also while others are sleeping in comfort. We should blame ourselves for their lack of attention because we did not visit them enough. They are paying more attention to those who have resolved to stay in their company for several years. He then continued: Even to entertain a bad thought about another Muslim can be the cause of destruction, so to criticise the Ulama is extremely dangerous. Then again he said: The basis of our method of tabligh is to respect every Muslim and to honour the Ulama. Every Muslim. on account of Islam, should be respected, and the Ulama, on account of their knowledge, should be honoured. Then he said: Until now, our muballighs have not yet mastered ilm and zikr (knowledge and the remembrance of Allah) and this is of great concern to me. The only method is to go tp the possessors of ilm and zikr so that they may do tabligh under their patronage benefiting from their knowledge and company.

If one Muslim loves another for the sake of Allah or another Muslim loves him sincerely for the sake of Allah, then this love and good thought will be a great treasure in the hereafter. Those Muslims who have love for me, I hope that, Insha-Allah (if Allah wills), Allah will keep my faults covered in the hereafter. To have faith in our empty-handedness is success in itself. None will be successful because of his actions. Only by the Grace of Allah can success be acquired. Rasulullah (Sallalahu alayhi wa sallam) has said, "None will enter jannat through his actions. The Sahabah (Radhiaflahu anhum) asked, "Not even you, 0 Rasulullah!." He replied, "Not even me except that Allah covers me with His Mercy." After relating this Hadith, Maulana started crying and caused others to cry.

"If any one feels himself to be unfit for this work of tableegh, it does not mean that he must sit down. By no means, should this be so. In I fact he should make an even greater effort to take part and make others do the same. In some cases, by the continuous efforts of a few incompetent people, good reaches the competent people and flowers into full bloom and according to the Hadeeth, those incompetent people receive the full rewards. "Whoever invites to good will receive its rewards and the reward of those who act accordingly. And the one who introduces a good practice in Islam will have its reward and the reward of those who practice I accordingly." (Hadeeth) So he who is unfit must strive even more. Considering myself to be unfit, I am also engrossed in this work with the hope that by my efforts, the work will reach some competent person and then Allah will bestow upon me also those high rewards for this work.