Al-Madina newspaper

WHEN you see the advertisement of a training course conducted by a former da'wa worker you will stop there for a while, not because the training is conducted by an experienced a da'wa worker but because of its attractive title: Secrets of impressing and influencing people or the art of communication and influence.

The course trains participants in ways to deal with people in order to influence them and explains the skills required for influential and impressive talk. The advertisement explains that the course would enable participants to become more influential and persuasive while dealing with others in order to win their hearts.

The word influence is repeated in the advertisement several times to give the impression that it is the course’s main focus. We would like to ask what kind knowledge and experience the former preacher has to conduct such a course and whether he had attended such a program before and whether it was the secret of his popularity?

The highlights of the course show that the preacher wanted to tell the public that he was able to influence them following the elements of his course. “This is the method I have learned and mastered and I was applying them to influence you.” There was nothing natural in his performance. He was prepared, trained and became professional to enter the field of da'wa by winning artificial hearts.

Here comes the most important question: Was this person really an influential preacher to conduct a course to train people on how to influence others? If the criteria is the number of people who follow him and love him in the way of God, we have to draw a line between stardom and fame and the real ability to influence others.

If a million or more people know you by means of social media standards, you will be considered a star and you get paid whenever your photo appears either on TV channels or billboards or even on a book cover. All celebrities are equal in this respect. On the other hand, influence is something else.

When a person is influenced by you, he will not only follow your news and take pictures with you and join the crowd to see you. He will love you from the bottom of his heart and you become his role model and the highest example. He keeps away from his lifestyle and attend a full course to follow your path. May be some of the preacher’s fans are from that category. But I am sure that when he had left the preaching profession his popularity should have dwindled. If the preacher had really influenced his fans, they would not have left him.

We should investigate the factors that helped the preacher to increase his popularity and fan base. He must have exerted coordinated efforts to unify various groups and achieve his vested interests. If he had any influence he might have received it through a movement. We should also notice that he was able to influence only those people who were prepared to accept his views and proposals.

His fans were those who have listened to his classes at Islamic schools or madrasas§, mosques, councils, cassettes, booklets and Islamic channels. When we receive repeated advises and speeches from a person we will be surely influenced by him.

No preacher can claim that he has the power to influence people and start a training program to teach its secrets. We understand that the da'wa work’s influence was not the result of convincing people through attractive talk or thoughtful discussions because we have seen that yelling, intimidation and force are some of the methods followed by preachers to impress and convince others.