Assalāmu Alaykum Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh
Allāh ta’ālā said:
وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ قَوْلًا مِّمَّن دَعَا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا وَقَالَ إِنَّنِي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
“And who is better in speech than he who [says: “My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness),” and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah’s (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: “I am one of the Muslims.””
In the verse quoted, beyond what many Muslims see, Allāh referred to the excellence and the superiority of the one who is a Dā’ī like the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – is but who has also had superior faith which is made manifest and practices the excellence that he has learnt. For this reason, Allāh ta’ālā began by a mention of his Da’wah to emphasize that Da’wah and the invitation of others is the pinnacle of uprightness and fruition of Faith. Allah refers to it as a Call toward Himself that the one who participates in it may appreciate the greatness of what he does and the magnitude of the responsibility he carries.
وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ قَوْلًا
Implies that he professes his Īmān, declares his Tawhid and his dissociation from the People of Kufr and Kufr itself. It is a Speech, he is the best of speakers and what he does is the best thing anyone ever used his tongue or his limbs to profess and to do…
دعا الى الله…
This means he calls others unto the Dīn, unto Allāh – the seeking of His Pleasure
وعمل صالحا…
Means he does good deeds, he practices what he has learnt and he implements the Dīn to the best of his capability. Thus Da’awah is not all about Calling others and forgetting yourself. It is about making yourself a model for others and espousing that which is best, first by practicing it.
وقال انني من المسلمين
Implies he purifies his heart to Allāh, submits to Him in obedience and makes good his ‘Aqīdah
By so doing, he implements the three steps of rectitude which are
العلم، العمل بمقتضاها، الدعوة إليه
Knowledge seeking, implementation of what has been learnt in practice, and then calling others to it
But in the Cause of pronouncing and verbally calling others to it, obstacles are faced. For its reason, Allāh continued by saying:
ولا تستوي الحسنة ولا السيئة ادفع بالتي هي أحسن فإذا الذي بينك وبينه عداوة كأنه ولي حميم
“Good and Evil can never be equal. Always repel with that which is good. By so doing he for whom between you and him there is enmity becomes the like of a close friend”
In the verse is a comparison of Moral grounds. Never is the believer’s pinnacle of Morals equivalent to that of the Kāfir. The believer must always look at things from a moral high ground. Good and evil can never be same. The Believer is always on a higher moral ground than the Kafir and they must not be compared.
Then Allāh commanded the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – to repel evil with good and mentioning the impact that the doing of good has: its impact isn’t like the impact of evil. A Mujāhid must do same for the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – stuck to this practice even in the depths of Battle. We must ensure that we abide by our rules of engagement no matter the barbarism and treachery of the kuffar in war and in other than war. It makes a better image of Islām to observers and creates the right impressions in the hearts of people. This important precept of creating the right impression is one that the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – never played with as a Caller to the Way of Allāh and as a Model for men. It makes people who were enemies of Islām become either Muslims or softens their enmity toward Islām.
In the Hadīth of Abū Abdillah Jābir Ibn Abdillāh – radiyallāhu anhuma – that was recorded by Imām Muslim, once Abdullah Ibn Salūl displayed his hidden hatred and envy of the Muhājirūn, Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb sought the permission of the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – to kill him. But the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – denied Umar saying:
‘Let go of him, that people may not say that Muhammad kills his Companions’
Imām An-Nawawī – rahimahullāh – in his Shar’h on Sahih Muslim said:
“Of its benefits is what he – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – was upon of clemency and tolerance. Of it is the importance of refraining from doing some things of choice and being patient with some disadvantageous things so as not to obtain greater disadvantages by so doing. And he – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – used to seek the rectitude of people’s hearts and used to be patient with the bad manners of the Bedouins, the hypocrites and other than them until the strength of the Muslims is attained and the Da’wah of Islām is perfected.”
This principle of weighing the impacts of our deeds on the impressions of onlookers is a falling place of many du’āt in this Era of ours.
Of them are those that entirely do not practice this important precept and of them are those that practice it to the extremes, diluting and compromising the most important things in Islām such as Tawhīd and the blood and honor of Muslims. This is not the way of the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – who never compromised the least in his Message but was rather selective in his words and deeds at every point in time.
For this reason, the Ulamā brought out guidelines for the limits and definitions of this precept. A mention and a discussion of these guidelines goes beyond the scope if this writing. We only aimed at drawing attention to this importance and Māshā Allāh we did.
As for the purpose beloved ones, yarhamukumullāh, It is to build our da’awah skills here. Its a da’awah school to teach ourselves the important things that we must put in mind in our bid to make da’awah and ‘Amr bi al-Ma’rūf’ and ‘Nah’y ‘an munkar’. But the medium we would be emphasizing on here is Social Media since that is the Podium that is readily available to us all without restrictions
Its goals brothers are:
1. to build an enlightened Muslim Da’awah network in the demo sphere of the internet focused on Muslim Nigerians – Youths especially
2. To make awareness of the many challenges that face our Ummah using the Da’wah network above
3. To disseminate concrete Islamic Knowledge that is pristine with same
4. To build ourselves in same
These are the four broad goals brothers
As for the rules, it is simple:
1. This is a place we are all here to learn, not to teach. There shouldn’t therefore be any form of arguments
2. As it is a forum for the said goals, there is no place for dumping of forwarded messages here
3. Observations, comments may be made, and if confrontational, addressed in private messages
4. No non-member of this group will be brought in unless he who is dedicated to the same goals and purposes
If what I have explained above is succinctly clear, then I would like to mention that each one of us is obliged to make a personal oath to Allāh that he would dedicate his life to passing the Message of Islām and making Nus’ha to every Muslim’. As it is found in the Hadīth of Jarir bn ‘Abdillah Al-Bajalī – radiyallāhu ‘anhu as he was recorded in Sahih Muslim to have said:
بايعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم على إقامة الصلاة وإيتاء الزكاة والنصح لكل مسلم
“I made bay’ah to the Messenger of Allāh – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – upon the establishment of Salāt, the giving of Zakāt and making Nus’h to every Muslim”
What then is Nus’ha? We may discuss that on another day
But I need everyone of us to make that promise to Allāh to dedicate himself and his life to passing the Message of Allāh and to Nus’hah
Lastly, I need every member here to confirm that he understands what have been said by me above and to confirm his acceptance of same.
By simply saying:
# “Understood and confirmed” or similar
Baarakallaahu Fikum
May Allah illumine our hearts altogether
