Introduction:

Praise be to Allah, a pure and blessed praise as our Lord loves and is pleased with and I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone with no partner. And I bear witness that our Prophet and our Guide Muhammad is His slave and messenger. May the peace of Allah and His blessings be upon him, his family, his companions and his followers until the Day of Judgment.

Thereafter, this is a new chapter about inviting to Allah Almighty, based on the Glorious Qur’an and Blessed Sunnah, intending to set up the scientific methods. We begin it with a preamble:

There is no doubt that our Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him) is the best example and role model in all subjects as Allah Almighty says: “Indeed in the Messenger of Allâh (may the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him) you have a good example to follow, for him who hopes for (the Meeting with) Allâh and the Last Day, and remembers Allâh much.” [Al Ahzab: 21].

 Allah Glory be to Him said about His Prophet (may the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him): “And Verily, you (O Muhammad may the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him) are on an exalted (standard of) character.” [Al Qalam: 4].

Allah Almighty has sent Prophet Muhammad as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner (against Hell),  a guide towards  Allah with His permission and as a lamp spreading light  through his  instructions, and as an informer about his Lord Glory be to Him. Thus, Prophet   Muhammad (may the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him) has delivered the message , fulfilled the mission advised the nation and struggled in the cause of Allah in the truest and fullest sense, leaving his nation upon a clear white path whose night is like its day, no one deviates from it except that who is destroyed.

Therefore, his mission was to convey the message of his Lord so that people can worship Allah Almighty. Allah Glory be to Him says: “Your duty is to convey (the Message.” [Ash-Shura: 48]. And Allah Almighty says in the Glorious Qur’an: “O you (Muhammad may the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him) enveloped in garments! Arise and warn! [Al Muddaththir: 1-2]. Furthermore, Allah Glory be to Him says: “And warn your tribe (O Muhammad may the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him) of near kindred.”  (Ash-Shu`ara’: 214]. Also Allah Almighty says: “And We have sent you (O Muhammad may the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him): not but as a mercy for the ‘Âlamîn (mankind, jinn and all that exists.” [Al Anbiya’: 107]. And so on, the blessed Verses come one after another to define his mission and goal.

Through this, the Messenger of Allah (may the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him) has established a great method for his followers for calling to Allah, so that his footsteps would be followed and his method would be adopted and his principle would be observed.

After that, his companions contributed to this field, and then their Successors and then their Followers continued their efforts until separate books were written and extensive writings were compiled beside their expertise and experience. May Allah reward them for their contributions and compilations for well-being of Islam and Muslims.

It is well-known that Islamic call will continue with the continuation of time. However, it has its developments, diverse issues and fresh challenges that enjoin on scholars and preachers the duty of trying their best for interpretation and explanation.

I have studied a lot of works on the subject of methodologies of Islamic call and Da`wah activities and I found them good and beneficial, for which they deserve regards and thanks and we pray for their success and reward. However, I found some subjects -in word and deed- that need explanation, advice and suggestion, especially in modern era that has witnessed active and advanced endeavors by the preachers and at the same time Da`wah faces active objections by their opponents.

In my opinion, among the most important duties is to collect the scattered points of this subject  and compile them in the form of rules and regulations that would be starting points and should be comprehended by a preacher or student of da`wah studies, so that the behaviors of the preacher would be governed by those principles.

Therefore, I collected whatever was available on this subject and tried to combine the similar and resembling points together to make them under a common principle. Undoubtedly it is an endeavor and effort that I hope is more likely to be right  than wrong. However, it has room for another opinion and accepts addition and subtraction. Anyway, it  remains a human effort made by me through scrutinizing, reviewing and discussing according to  the scientific method  of research. Also I worked hard trying to establish legitimate evidences for these rules, neither lengthening nor elaborating, by summarizing in what is enough for the explanation of this subject. Allah is the Granter of success and the rightness is sought only from Him.

We’ll talk in the second episode of this research about these rules and their methodology. I ask  Allah Almighty to benefit by this effort, both the writer and the reader, may Allah enlighten everyone by the teachings of His Glorious Book and guide them through the guidance of the Prophet (may the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him) in calling to Allah who is the Granter of success and may the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and his all companions.

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