DA'WAH TO NON-MUSLIMS
A NEGLECTED DUTY OF MUSLIM MINORITIES
By Mufti Zubair Bayat Sahib
An obvious but disturbing truth about Muslims living as minorities in non-Muslim countries is their general neglect of da'wah (propagation) among non-Muslims. Why is this so? This is a question that requires deep analysis to arrive at a correct answer. As an Ummah of one billion Muslims, da'wah to our non-Muslim neighbours and fellow countrymen hardly has any place among our goal and priorities. Very little of our resources are spent on this pivotal duty of Islaam. As Muslim minority communities living within non-Muslim countries, we live totally indifferent to this primary duty to our neighbours. Neither do we make an Islaamic impact on them, though we are more than a million strong in some western countries. In India, Muslims are officially more than 130 million!
Da'wah among non-Muslims should not be treated as an isolated branch of Islaam. Unless we are prepared to recognise and acknowledge the central place da'wah occupies in the life of every Muslim. We will not give it the importance it deserves. We will then not devote our energies to it as we ought to. Unless we understand the importance of da'wah to non-Muslims, it will not form an integral part of our total endeavours and struggles in the path of Allah Ta'ala.
