We formed a Dawaa group, and invited the people from the Tablighi-Jamaat to join it. But, they flatly refused, saying that it is more important to do Tabligh among Muslims. Is this the right stance?
Question
Especially after the Sep.11th incidents, there has been an enormous increase among Americans to find out about Islam. So we wanted to form the dawaa? group to educate ourselves with the questions commonly asked, and prepare uniform suitable responses. Plus there are several Ayats in the Qur?an that require us to do Daawah among the non-Muslims. By not joining these kinds of organizations, the Tablighi-Jamaat is acting against the instruction of the Quran, the Sunnat of the Prophet and the Sahaba of inviting non-Muslims towards Islam, and missing a golden opportunity to propagate Islam in this country. I am not saying we should stop working on reforming the Muslims, but inviting non-Muslims should be considered an equally important task. Please provide your insight.
Answer
As Muslims, we are responsible for making Da'awah to both, Muslims and non-Muslims. If we look at the Seerah (history) of our Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam), he called unto both, Muslims as well as non-Muslims. But obviously preference will be given to those persons who are more interested in Deen, as is also indicated in the Qur'aan in Surah 80 Verse 1
More deeply the incident as mentioned in the books of Tafseer is, once Nabi (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) was busy with the chieftains giving invitation towards Deen and answering their queries, then suddenly a blind Sahaabi, Abdullah ibn Umm Maktoom approached and queried something from Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam). Due to his absorption with the chieftains, Nabi (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) expressed dislike for which Allah Ta'ala revealed the above referred verse.
Also, in Fathul Qadeer, it is mentioned that Hadhrat Umar (Radhiallaahu Anhu) sent Abdullah ibn Ma'sood to Koofa with a Jamaat (which was a Muslim stronghold) and sent, Mu'qal ibn Yassaar, Abdullah ibn Maghaffal and Imraan ibn Haseen to Basrah, and Ubaadah ibn Saamit and Abu Darda to Syria. And all these were sent to Muslims as stated in Izaalatul Khifaa.
and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
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- Mufti Ebrahim Desai
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