Why Da'wah In English?

Assalamualaikumwarahmatullahiwabarakatuh.

In the name of Allah the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful. May Your Blessings fulfill the aching emptiness in all the believers heart and soul. Allahu, don't let us astray from this straight path and let us be among the one who prosper in the world and hereafter. Grant us with unconditional love towards everyone, bestow the glory for the muslims and give us the strength to apply kindness with sincerity and good faith. How I wish I could be very close to You. Guide me, Allah :)

Many stuff has been going around throughout the last few days. Problems and mehnah keep coming and going occasionally and His help was poured upon me without any pause nor delay. Thank you Allah, thank you and countless admiration for you. It has really really been a while since the last time I wrote something in english. The lack of idea, creativity and determination were the factors that put me on hold.

Very well then, here I am, writing again with no regrets, with total submission towards Allah hoping my little scribble will benefit the ummah.

Let's do some revision before we begin. For the gazillion time, do you still remember the three responsibilities of a muslim? Anyway, it's the first time I'm posting this question in english. The answer is easy. We are born into this world with 3 special missions. First is to serve our duty as abidullah or literally translated as the servant of Allah.

Abidullah here described the sole duty of a muslim. By fact, we are His servant. He created us in order for us to worship Him. By understanding our first purpose of life, to live as an abidullah, by logic, do we have the rights to be proud of oneself? Everyone is equal in front of Allah. What makes us differ or closer to him is our level of taqwa. Many muslim deny this duty while most of us neglect Him in time of good and start scrambling for Allah's assistance when we face obstacles. Allah mentioned in the Quran, if we resist to worship Him, it will never harm Him, but we are the one who is costing ourselves. He promised to provide the best for us and Allah has every rights to expect the best from us in performing our ibadah. Feeling intense? No pressure peeps. Allah will never burden us with stuffs that we can't bear. He is our creator after all, He knows us best. Stick to this one simple formula, follow his orders and stay away, I repeat, stay away from what He prohibits. And insyaAllah you shall find happiness and wash away all those uneasy feelings in your heart. Total submission towards Allah for the win!!!

The second special task is for the muslim to act as the vicegerent of Allah or khalifatullah in arabic. Through history, we learned that Allah created Prophet Adam a.s to act as His vicegerent on the earth.

Behold, the Lord said to the angels, "I will create a vicegerent on earth". They said : "Will You place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood? - whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?" He said : "I know what you know not"

(Al Baqarah : 30)

Allah put his faith in mankind by giving us this huge responsibility. As His vicegerent, we are responsible for implementing the will of Allah on earth. The world is a trust and we are the trustee. As the khalifah, we manage the world and promote divine guidance. We have to remind ourself that our personality and precept must should reflect the values of our master, Allah s.w.t. One must inculcate in himself the attributes of Allah. It does not mean we have to play God. Being the vicegerent never put us in a place to declare ourself as God. It simply means we have to exhibit Allah's great attributes in our character as the vicegerent of Allah. By this, it will never boost our pride but in fact will teach us to become humble as every success that we achieve is indeed a blessing from Allah s.w.t. Even Allah declared us as the 'Khairu Ummah' which means the best ummah. Therefore as His khalifa, the muslims must execute this responsibility and bring peace to the world.

The third responsibility is daielullah. This responsibility clearly describe the duty of a muslim to spread the religion of Allah. A daie is thus a person who invite people to understand Islam through a process known as dakwah. Dakwah activities can take many forms based on our creativity and enthusiasm in spreading the religion of Allah. A common misunderstanding among muslims ourselves, we consider dakwah is only aimed towards the non muslims while in fact according to Islamic theology, dakwah is for both muslim and non muslim. Dakwah or preaching can take place not only through dialogical process but it can be done even in daily activities, while playing games, hanging around with friends or even by just exemplifying a good behaviour as a muslim. 

You are the best of people raised up, for you call to what is right and righteous and you forbid the evil and you believe in Allah

(Ali Imran : 110)

There is a reason why I have to explain this concept again in english, apart from reminding myself who often forget my obligation towards Allah, I believe there is a need for muslim to master english language. You know, every potential and ability that we possess can be used for the sake of Islam. For me, I have a little bit of english, and for some unknown reason, I wish my ability to compose an english literary item may help Islam. Don't get me wrong, if you read carefully, there are a lot of grammatical error in this entry itself. So why english? Why not master arabic language, madarin or even just conduct dakwah in malay language?

As for now, from my perspective english language is currently the most common language spoken throughout the world besides mandarin. There is a significant urge for muslim to equip themselves with the ability to speak or at least to write in english. There will be time where we have to invite others to understand Islam, and the ability to communicate will play a big role. In general, most westerners does not fully understand Islam, and as muslims it is compulsory for us to correct their views by telling them the truth about Islam? But how to do so when we can't even communicate? Due to their lack of understanding and lack of reliable information, they often misunderstand Islam. How sad it is... 

Dr Zakir Naik, one of the the best Muslim speaker who conduct dakwah in english

Of course english is just a stepping stone, they are various language to be mastered and different skills to learn just for sake of improving ourself and thus help to spread Islam. Islam is for all in fact, and I see no harm having a bunch of daie who can deliver the words of Allah in english. Even myself is trying hard to improve. And I also wish to master 'lughatul arabiah'.

Dear brothers and sisters, when we totally submit ourself to Allah, it is when we learn to do everything for Him. It is when we realised there are various ways to help Islam. It is when we realised the true meaning of life and the true meaning of becoming a muslim. Dakwah is never a burden, it is a blessing from Allah, only who those who are willing to sincerely sacrifice everything for Allah. Let us work really really hard for Islam, and let Allah decide the best outcome for us, insyaAllah...

Wassalam...