Islamic Propagation (Tableegh): Challenges / Problems and Solutions By: M.S. Tajar Ph.D.

Conditions necessary for a successful Da-iy (Islamic Missionary) 1.) Right Motivations (Spiritual, not Material or Positional) Without a right motivation it is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve anything in life, especially when it deals with the spiritual missions. Thats why the great spiritual men, like the Prophets (a.s.), the Imams (s.a.), and the Sufis and the Aulia, were all purely motivated with no personal interest or material purposes from their missions. They wanted to give, not to receive, believe, not to deceive, and relieve not to subjugate the people. 2.) Right Knowledge (Proper Islamic Education) not the distorted extremism. A Persian proverb says: If you dont have something yourself, how could you give it to others! So, without a right education and a proper training, no one is qualified to teach others; especially when it comes to those fundamental principles in life, which are life with the eternal distraction of the soul of mankind, societies and nations, generation after generation. 3.) Dedication to the Mission First of all, the Islamic Da-iy, or missionary, should accept the fact that his job is a mission and thus, it is a vocation rather than a profession, then he will know that his activity is not a 8:00 to 5:00 job but rather a 24 hours mission, that keeps him going and going and going (Like an ever ready battery or even better!). With awareness of the importance of our mission, dedication comes easily! 4.) Discipline and Professionalism Without these two elements existing, I wonder if any significant achievement in life is possible, at all. Discipline makes us responsible people and achievers of our goals in life, both material and spiritual, but more importantly, spiritual! And professionalism makes our job well done, with the best quality, more durable, more profound, more effective and even more efficient. 5.) Commitment to the Job When a man or a woman says: I am committed to someone! he or she means, there is no turning back! Its a lifelong decision, which will never be altered, stopped or slowed down; And as Winston Churchil, the War time Prime Minister of Great Britain (A.D.) used to say: Dont give up! Dont give up! Dont give up! 6.) Wisdom (Baseerat) and Intelligence Without wisdom, nothing of importance could be carried out properly and effectively. If you imagine a computer and its planner or any machine and its engineer/ operator, than you will realize that it is not just the movement of those tools that make the work successful, but rather the right moments, the exact hours, the accurate ways, and quoting Shakespeare: To be and not to be, thats the question!

An Islamic Da-iy is not going to be successful, just because he is doing Da-wah but rather knowing also the right timing and the right place and, the right way are equally important, as well! 7.) Enthusiasm and Love of God (Eshq / Fana Fil Lah!) This is an spiritual cocktail that anybody who takes it becomes intoxicated with truth, enamorada with God/Allah, having fire in his belly and also on fire, giving out light and warmth to the whole world to come, to behold and to receive! (the spiritual version of Vini, Vidi, Vici or I came, I saw, I conquered!). 8.) Persistence / Continuity of Purpose and Action This is the ultimate secret weapon of success. You dont succeed just, because you are a genius, there are many genius people, who achieved nothing! You dont succeed just because you have many degrees, there are people with several doctorate degrees, and who speak many languages, yet, they are miserable failures. The only sure way to success is the persistence, persistence, persistence, thats how many worthy plans have succeeded, and how great goals have been achieved, and great mountains have been conquered and great tasks have been completed. 9.) Goal Orientedness (God Orientedness) Without a clear goal, i.e. Where am I going? What am I after? No one can score any goals! If you dont know where you are going, then any road will do. But, then again they say: What is the use of running, if the road is wrong? As Muslim Da-ies, and as believers, our goal is to reach Allah (s.w.t.) and the way to Him, i.e. the Siratal Mustaqeem, is the way of the Prophets from Adam (a.s.) down to the Holy Prophet Mohammad (p.b.u.h.) and then, the olol Amr, the Rightous and Authorized Islamic Leaders, who are well qualified to lead the Ummah. (See Holy Quran, 4:59) 10.) Humility / Gentleness The arrogance is the greatest of all sins and it was the first sin that took place immediately after the creation of Adam (a.s.) when Shaitan (the adversary the enemy) claimed that he was superior to Adam (a.s.) because of his creation from fire, while Adam was created from soil! He was the first Hitler/Nazi of this world, and there are many other racists/ultra nationalists/supremacist and neo-nazis, from his party still around. But, the Holy Quran says: The Hereafter/Heaven is reserved for those who dont seek supremacy over the others in this world, and they dont want to create corruption The final ; victory belongs to the righteous people (Holy Quran: 28/83). The true servants of (Allah) are those who walk humbly on the earth, and it the ignorant people shout at them, their response is just to say: Peace! (Holy Quran: 25/63) Without humility, we will never be ready to learn from others, and without learning from others, we will never grow or mature, and that way, we will forever remain an arrogant pigmy or as the Filipinos say: Ang Dakilang Tanga!

The Bible also has a good saying: God will exalt the humble, and He will destroy the arrogant. Also Persian poem says: Learn to be humble / If you want the blessings / A land which is too high / will not get irrigated. As far as gentleness is concerned, a Da-iy must always remember this beautiful proverb, that says: A drop of sweets attracts more ants than a big jar of vinegar! 11.) Good P.R. (Makarim Akhlaaq) Just to understand the importance of this P.R. factor in the success of anybody, especially an Islamic Da-iy/Missionary, I will just call the attention to this statement from the Prophet Mohammad (p.b.u.h.). He said and I quote: I (Mohammad, the Last Prophet of Allah) have come to finish and to complete (the efforts of all the previous Messengers of God, regarding) the Good Morals/Ethics, i.e. Good Manners and Right Conduct! And it is said that: One of the three most important factors in the success of the Mission of the Holy Prophet Mohammad was his Good Manners and Right Conducts which made even his to admire his personality (though not necessary his purpose) and to call him Al-Ameen/ The Trusted Man! (The two other factors, if you are curious to know, were: 1) The property of Hazrat Khadija, the First Lady of the Prophet, that help the poor Muslims survive the enemy bycots, and the 2) Was Imam Alis physical defence, to stop the murderous armies from annihilating the small, but fast growing Muslim community. And remember, you will never be able to Present an idea well, if you yourself are not presentable! Or as an American business guru says: Nobody will buy anything from you, until they buy you first! 12.) Patience / Steadfastness The Key to success in any endeavour, especially in the missionary activities is patience or steadfastness. The Holy Quran clearly states, that: Allah is with the patient people! Actually, it took me 50 years of living and dealing with difficult circumstances and obnoxious people (at least in my eyes!) to understand the meaning of that verse! It just simply means: If you are insulted by others, dont stop going on/doing what you are supposed to do, to succeed; Be patient and continue! If you are abused by some people, dont stop dealing with them, be smart, dont destroy the bridges! Be patient and continue going! People may come and go, but our goal in life should not! Be patient till you finish the job! God is with patient people! Holy Quran: 2/153 13.) Sense of Responsibility (Religious / Spiritual, Social, etc)

We as human beings dont exist in a vacuum, we are not alone, No man is an island, before we were born, countless people were working for our safe delivery and in order for us to stay alive, still countless people are working together for us, and even when we die, many people will be around to send us off to the great beyond! So, it is true after all that We are our brothers keeper! and that is the sense of responsibility. Here are two beautiful quotations from the Holy Prophet Mohammad (p.b.u.h.) to make this concept more understandable. The Prophet (p.b.u.h.) said: All of you are the shepherds, and all of you are responsible for the flock! In another occasion the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) said: The believers are just like the members of one body, if a part is in pain, the rest of the body cannot rest! And Shaikh Said of Shiraz, put this Hadith of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) into his immortal Persian poems, just like an excellence jeweller, who arranges the precious stones together, and makes a masterpiece in the form of an extra ordinary piece of art, like a necklace, Said said: Human beings are parts of one body, for since creation, such do they remain; The whole of that body, will be uneasy, should one of its parts, suffer and be in pain! This piece of Said is now engraved at the entrance of the United Nations in New York, for all people to read!