Recruiting people for Dawah is an area that is completely neglected by those involved in Dawah and Dawah organizations all around the world.
A prophetic precedence can be found when our noble prophet ﷺ approached certain individuals in Makkah in the 610s period. He knew that if he ﷺ gave that extra attention to these certain ‘Manaa’ of the society then they could act as force for good. So we can also perhaps target certain individuals for a certain cause. The best cause! The ‘calling to Allah’ cause!
We all know the famous Hadith:
“ O Allah, strengthen Islam with one of two men’s whom you love more: Abu Jahl or Umar ibn al-Khattab.”
Ibn Umar said, “The most beloved of the two was Umar.”
Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhī 3681
In the corporate world there is a term called ‘head hunting’ where various large companies look out for highly talented people of a certain industry and approach them to join their company. Talent and skill is recognized.
Similarly I really feel that those already involved in the dawah should always have an eye out for people with skills. It could be that they are very well spoken, or extremely confident or have resources that can help the dawah project.
This is what I would like my DM teams to do more of & I would like to see all organizations around the world to read this blog and take action, especially the ones I have a close affinity with.
Step 1:
Be it a dawah Stall, a halaqah, or an event, keep a look out for and listen out to someone who stands out from the crowd. It could be the way someone is asking a question, in a very bold and articulate manner, either in Urdu or English or in any other language.
Step 2:
Promptly approach them & admire their confidence to ask a question. It doesn’t matter if they are practicing or not. Ask them the GOLDEN QUESTION:
Why don’t you get Involved in the dawah?
Of course, at first they will have many doubts and questions but do ask and then exchange numbers. Make a life long habit of asking! Let them see your social media and statuses and invite them to any team meetings.
If we look at DM for example, it may surprise many that initially the way teams were built and connected was through comments on people’s pages. I personally have spent countless hours over the years just leaving comments and replying to people by asking them to join the dawah.
Islam is the highest of all knowledge in this world, so why are the best of humans only in the corporate world or nasheed or You Tubing. Why can’t the people who give dawah have the cream of human beings, who are geniuses, powerful and resourceful?
Step 3:
Invite them for dinner or coffee. Tell them about your journey of how you got involved in the dawah. Make it as persona as possible.
Step 4:
Assign them a task early on. Recognize their skills and then trial them out with a task. Remember these people are ones with natural talent, already confident, already possessing certain skills.
The above was focused on targeting certain people with skills to strengthen the dawah.
Please note it doesn’t have to be someone super skilled or special but just anyone that can be added and can strengthen your team. I’m just saying let’s keep an eye out for certain people and in general always think of recruiting for the dawah.
Not many are doing it although it’s such a simple idea. When I look at various organizations today, it feels as if it’s almost at a standstill. Hardly anyone talks about getting people involved, or motivating people to get involved. I’m not special, but it feels as if I’m the only concerned about this! It’s a lonely place to have this thought and hence why I’m writing this blog, which may turn into a short video.
Brother and sisters in the dawah, I know all you want to do is engage with a Non-Muslim or a Muslim youth. But if you recruit for the team, then you are helping the whole of the Ummah. We need to think beyond our personal reward and ourselves! Think beyond your team and organization. Have an UMMAH CENTRIC vision!
Imagine, just by you looking out for and actively recruiting people for dawah, this means that it can act as a Sadaqah jareya for you long after you’ve left this world.
Lastly, I would like to name some platforms that I feel I have a connection with;
One true message foundation London
IERA London
Sapience Institute London
The Crawley Dawah team
Street Dawah Nigeria
Grassroots Dawah NYC
Street Dawah Islamabad and Lahore
Irea Australia
Nottingham Islam
Cardiff Street Dawah
Let’s begin recruiting!!
~ Nadeem Ashraf
