Dawah For Dummies

Posted on December 11, 2007 by hijabman

The Arabic word, dawah, as it is used currently in mainstream Muslim circles has come to mean ‘attempting to convert people to Islam.’

Back in Syria, I lived in a house full of Muslims from all over the world. Imagine an all-male, Muslim version of the MTV reality series “The Real World,” where seven languages are spoken, and you’ve got a pretty accurate image of my life in Damascus.

When a German Christian guy who biked from Germany to Syria stepped into the house and we all came to greet him, the first thing out of my housemate Muhammad’s mouth was how much sawab or “reward” we would get if we converted him.

All I could do was laugh, but inside my head I was heaving those heaves right before a good cry. The ones that arrive when you are exhausted by dealing with a community that doesn’t seem to get it… pardon me, for my occasional negativity. I am not interested in converting people to capital I- Islam. I don’t even believe that God wants us to do that!

My preferred way of looking at dawah [which also happens to be its literal definition] is ‘to invite,’ in this case, it is an invitation to God, and good. The best way, in my opinion, to do that, is to lead by example. Not to preach, as some do, but to just be a good person, and lead a principled life.

In this way, any act of good becomes dawah. For instance, the act of smiling is an invitation to good. Smiling is dawah. Working collaboratively on a project to benefit humanity is an invitation to good. dawah. Eating healthy food? dawah. Being good to your guests, feeding someone, doing jump-n-jacks? dawah, dawah, – and debatable, but since we’re on a roll – dawah.

What are you waiting for?

dawah party.

Partially inspired by “Faith In Humanity” over @ ZenHabits.