indirect dakwah..

Muslims are often so eager to spread their faith that they neglect the First Principle of good “dakwah”-hearing or at least fully accepting the non-Muslim’s point of view.Conditions,and people,do not change if they are not fully accepted beforehand.We can also called it as a principle of “Gestalt Therapy” .Therefore we may say that “prior acceptance” is a psychologically sound principle in seeking significant behavior-change.In this article,I would like to express some experiences and techniques used by one Ustaz from a book that some of his method are differ than others da’e.

According to my reading,there are several principle of indirect dakwah practiced by this ustaz such as:

First principle

Dakwah by personal example,or what we might call the “soft sell” is much successful.I took one example,He always encourage his followers to accept themselves in full truth and reality,and to accept them as such himself.Whatever their religion or lack thereof.Chinese are Chinese.Orang Asli are Orang Asli.They cannot be expected to behave as Malay people.And vice versa.There must be no judgement between cultures.They can remain their culture such as their language,how they moved,live.He celebrated ethnic and racial distinctions and encouraged to study them deepen our sensitivity to them.

Second principle

The second principle was never to represent himself as a “pendakwah” or Islamic missionary. He spoke to thousands of non muslims for many times without ever inviting them to convert.He expressed himself with equal attention to all major religions,and paid respect to the teachings of their prophets and leaders .He never once offered to debate or challenge them.So we say his dakwah style as Non-Contfrontational.

Third principle

He was to be completely Non-Confrontational.He developed a terminology that was equally applicable to all religions.He did not dwell on Islamic observences that would not be comfortable to non-Muslims.He always advised to follow the moral and ethical guidelines of religions as they then were,often describing his mission as that of a caller-to-religious life in general,a reviver respect for religion in a world.In this case,I still remember how Sultan Salehuddin Al-Ayubi style in treat non Muslims.He used a method of respect others religions such as not force them to follow Islam and make friend with them.