Preaching of the faith

[gallery size="medium" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="Preaching of the faith" ids="115537,115538,115539,115541,115540"] SOME Dawah activists have brought more harm than benefit to the peaceful message of Islam and the practice of Islamic preaching. Lacking the right qualifications, these so-called preachers are unable to give advice to the general public in a kind way and tend to express extreme views about certain issues. Moreover, they use improper language and hardline preaching approaches, Al-Riyadh daily reports. Dr. Khalid Al-Zahrani, a faculty member at Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University, said some so-called preachers do not have sufficient Shariah knowledge. As a result, they infuse the general public’s minds with misconceptions and wrong ideas. “Preaching Islam is not an easy task; it is one of the greatest and most difficult. Today, it gets more difficult as more and more people are in dire need of it. It is not about giving lectures or speeches about certain Islamic issues; in fact, preaching can build a strong society and protect its members against embracing deviant and extreme thoughts and committing crimes,” Al-Zahrani explained. Words are swords Dr. Ghazi Al-Mutairi, Islamic thinker and head of Prince Naif Bin Abdulaziz Chair for Studies of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice at Islamic University of Madinah, said explaining Islam and the Shariah to the general public should only be done by responsible Dawah activists who have a good reputation and attended classes run by renowned scholars. A law should be passed to punish unqualified volunteer Dawah activists. “Young men and women should only seek advice from well-known scholars and never listen to the views infused by unqualified activists. Words can be like swords and cause detrimental effects if articulated in the wrong way,” he warned. Dr. Abdulrab Al-Nawab, professor of Dawah at the College of Shariah and Islamic Studies in Qassim University, also called upon the authorities to ban unqualified volunteers from preaching Islam. “Growing a long beard, wearing a short thobe and preaching Islam does not make one a true Dawah activist. The true preacher of Islam will always select the right and kind words to give advice to people; the true preacher of Islam will always use wise methods to convey the true image of Islam to people; he will never utter any obscene words and will always show people right from wrong in the nicest way,” he said. According to Dr. Al-Nawab, the reasons why there are unqualified Dawah activists in society can be attributed to personal experiences some of these so-called activists had in their lives. “Some of them used to lead a wild and reckless life and repented. Because they felt great remorse for wasting their life, they decided to spend the rest of their lives preaching Islam despite the fact that they do not have sufficient knowledge of the Shariah,” he explained. In his opinion, such people pose great dangers to society, especially if they give fatwas about things that jeopardize national security and social fabric. “The Islamic Ummah has suffered immensely because of the fatwas issued by these unqualified Dawah activists. Unfortunately, some of them won’t hesitate to issue misleading fatwas just to get media attention and for the sake of being famous,” he added.