A frequent commenter, LDU, recently posted his thoughts on Dawah - the Arabic/Islamic word for Muslims calling those outside Islam to become Muslims. I thought you might like to read what he had to say...
The concept of Dawah is very different to the Christian understanding of preaching or sending missionaries and Christian funded aid in war zones and what have you.
Although Dawah does cover verbal discussions that only comprises a very tiny part of it. Being a good Muslim citizen and fulfilling your civic duties is Dawah; a lady wearing a hijab is Dawah and likewise a man with a prayer cap and a beard is performing Dawah; being good to co-workers and being hospitable is also Dawah.
Allah instruct's Muslims to propogate Islam - that is no secret. The Quran mentions explicitly to let the entire globe know of Islam. I can do that by wearing a prayer cap in Iceland. Allah hasn't set a fixed definition for what Dawah is nor has he set out an exhaustive list - therefore it ends up being a merits based approach and not a "one size fits all". No Muslim caliph sent an army to Indonesia. Indonesia became Muslim because of the honest trade techniques (Dawah in itself) of the Muslim traders who travelled there.
In my opinion its not a matter of inviting people to the truth. Its more of an issue of not intimidating people by preaching. If people are genuinely interested in my faith, I'd be happy to discuss it with them and answer their queries. But would i stand near a train station and hand out DVD's or would I buy airtime on national television? No.
A good friend of mine moved from Dubai over a month ago and I'm really missing him. Bassam Zawadi is a Muslim apologist and a good friend. Work took him back to Riyadh and I'm really missing our almost weekly dinners and discussions at Chili's. ;) To honor Bassam I want to point you to video of debates he did with a Christian apologist this summer in the U.S. I confess that I've not had time to watch them all. And you must know that I disagree with Bassam on many things including the divinity of Jesus and the authority of the Christian scriptures. And I have argued against him on many occasions.
Still, Bassam is a person of good character, he's helped me understand Islam, and I would urge you to check out his work. Here is his website.
Below are the first two videos posted on youtube... there are more but I'm sure you'll find them.
Riyadh: A senior Saudi cleric said that inter-faith dialogue was among the best ways to defend Islam.
Shaikh Abdul Rahman Al Sudeiss, chief imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah voiced support for a proposal made earlier in the week by Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz for inter-faith talks between Muslims, Christian and Jews.
The initiative "is one of the best ways to defend the Prophet" Mohammad (PBUH).
