Dawah means to "invite" (in Arabic, literally
"calling") to Islam, estimated to be the second largest religion
next to Christianity. From the 7th century it spread rapidly from
the
Arabian Peninsula to the rest
of the world through the initial
Arabic
conquests, and subsequently with traders and explorers after
the death of the
Prophet Muhammad.
The purpose of Islamic missionary activity is to grow the Muslim
ummah.
Missionary Activity During Initial Emergence of the Islamic
Empire (630 - 800)
Following
the death in 632 CE of the Prophet Muhammad, Islam spread far and wide within a very
short period, much of this occurring through an initial
establishment and subsequent expansion of an Islamic Empire through
conquest, such as that of North Africa
and later Spain
(Al-Andalus
), and the Islamic conquest of Persia
putting an end to the Sassanid
Empire and spreading the reach of Islam to as far east as
Khorasan, which would later become
the cradle of Islamic civilization during the Islamic Golden Age and a stepping-stone
towards the introduction of Islam to the Turkic tribes living in and bordering the
area.
Missionary Activity Within the Empire (800 - 1050)
Following the initial establishment of the empire and stabilization
of borders and ruling elites, various missionary movements emerged
during the ensuing
Islamic Golden
Age, with the express purpose of preaching to the non-Muslim
populations in their midst.
These missionary movements also preached
outside the borders of the Islamic empire taking advantage of the
expansion of foreign trade routes, primarily into the Indo-Pacific and as far south as the isle of
Zanzibar
and the
southeastern shores of Africa.
Missionary Activity Following Mongol Conquests (1050 -
1300)
Following the overrunning of most of the Eastern part of the
Islamic lands by the
Mongol Hordes, the
strictly non-militant tradition of
Sufism
began to garner popular support among the Muslims of the time. In
addition, the mystical nature of the tradition had an
all-encompassing aspect, a property many other societies in
Asia could relate to. As a result, missionary
work became a staple of the sufis, highlighted by their conversion
of the Mongol
Barlas tribe to Islam, the
descendants of whom were to emerge as the forerunners of the
Mughal Empire in India soon
thereafter.
Later,
with the conquest of Anatolia
by the
Seljuk Turks, missionaries would find
easier passage to the lands then formerly belonging to the Byzantine Empire.
In the earlier stages of the
Ottoman
Empire, a
Turkic form of
Shamanism was still widely practiced in Anatolia,
which soon started to give in to the mysticism offered by
Sufism.
The
teachings of Jalal ad-Din
Muhammad Rumi, who migrated from Khorasan to Anatolia, are good
examples to the mystical aspect of Sufism.
Missionary Activity of the Ottoman Empire (1300 - 1700)
During the
Ottoman presence in the Balkans, missionary movements were also taken up by
people from aristocratic families hailing from the region, who had
been educated in Constantinople
or any other major city within the Empire, in famed
madrassahs and kulliyes. Most of the time, such individuals
were sent back to the place of their origin, being appointed
important positions in the local governing body. This approach
often resulted in the building of mosques and local
kulliyes for future generations to benefit from, as
well as spreading the teachings of Islam.
Missionary Activity During the Colonial Era (1700 - 1920)
With the decline of the Ottomans and a vast majority of the Muslim
lands coming under the rule of the European Colonial powers,
Islamic missionary activity faced a new challenge, vis-a-vis
Christian missionaries that arrived along with the colonial
rulers.
Missionary Activity in Africa
The spread of Islam towards
Central
and
West Africa has been prominent but
slow, until the early 19th century. Previously, the only connection
was through Transsaharan trade, of which the
Mali Empire, consisting predominantly of African
and Berber tribes, stands as a strong proof of the early
Islamization of the Sub-Saharan region. The gateways prominently
expanded to include the aforementioned trade routes through the
Eastern shores of the African continent. With the
European colonization of Africa,
missionaries were almost in competition with the European Christian
missionaries operating in the colonies.
Missionary Activity in South-East Asia
The first Indonesians to adopt Islam are thought to have done so as
early as the eleventh century, although Muslims had visited
Indonesia early in the Muslim era. The spread of Islam was driven
by increasing trade links outside of the archipelago; in general,
traders and the royalty of major kingdoms were the first to adopt
the new religion. Dominant kingdoms included Mataram in Central
Java, and the sultanates of Ternate and Tidore in the Maluku
Islands to the east. By the end of the thirteenth century, Islam
had been established in North Sumatra; by the fourteenth in
northeast Malaya, Brunei, the southern Philippines and among some
courtiers of East Java; and the fifteenth in Malacca and other
areas of the Malay Peninsula. Through assimilation Islam had
supplanted Hinduism and Buddhism as the dominant religion of Java
and Sumatra by the end of the 16th century. At this time, only Bali
retained a Hindu majority and the outer islands remained largely
animist but would adopt Islam and Christianity in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries.
Missionary Activity in Europe
With Islam seemingly in constant military conflict with Europe at
their mutual borders, missionary activity within Christian Medieval
Europe was virtually non-existent until the dramatic changing of
the European political map in the 20th century on one hand and the
concurrent decline of the Ottoman Empire on the other. As such,
this paved way for a subsequent mass immigration of Muslims from
the Muslim World to Europe in the 20th century. With the arrival of
this new immigrant population in Europe, Islamic missionary
activity has naturally followed as well.
Missionary Activity in North America
The Muslim population of the US has increased greatly in the last
one hundred years, with much of the growth driven by widespread
conversion. This conversion phenomenon can be sub-divided into
several separate missionary efforts that have sprung up primarily
over the past sixty years.
Nation of Islam
Black superamist group
Nation of
Islam's efforts to recruit members to its fold would be the
earliest example of Islamic missionary activity in the United
States. While considered a heretic branch of Islam, former Nation
of Islam converts have gone on to become major figures in the
mainstream Islamic presence in North America.
Malcolm X,
Muhammad
Ali and founder
Elijah
Muhammad's own son,
Warith Deen
Mohammed being prime examples.
Mosque Building Phenomenon
The arrival of a new class of educated professionals and higher
education seeking foreign student Muslim immigrants beginning in
the 1970s heralded the beginning of a major mosque building
phenomenon all across the North American landscape. As communities
grew over the next two decades, with more immigrants from the
Muslim world and with first generation children of the first wave
of immigrants, small rooms serving as community centers grew into
full fledged mosques. A common occurrence being the purchase of
abandoned Churches and conversion into mosques. With the
development of mosques and more stable Muslim communities,
missionary activity has followed with mosques developing "dawah
programs" to preach to local neighbors in their midst.
Interaction with Immigrants
A major form of unplanned missionary activity has occurred simply
due to the interaction between the local non-Muslim populace and
the new wave of Muslim immigrants, at work, in schools, as
neighbors and at universities. The flow of information of ideas has
resulted in many a converts to the relatively new religion.
Missionary Work in Prison Systems
A more recent missionary front has been the US Prison System, where
encouragement of religious study has opened an avenue for Muslims
to provide their own religion. There is an increasing trend towards
hiring of full-time Muslim Chaplins to cater to increasing
populations of Muslim prisoners. and in large
urban areas
Saudi-Financed Missionary Work
With the burgeoning Muslim population in North America by the late
1980s, numerous missionary outlets saw an opportunity to receive
financing for their work from various Saudi-based religious
foundations. This phenomenon, which flourished for much of the
decade of the 1990s, came to an abrupt end following the events of
the
September 11 attacks. Some
of the works undertaken in this time included:
- Mass distribution of A Brief Illustrated Guide to
Understanding Islam (ISBN 9960-34-011-2) a high quality
color booklet widely available at missionary outlets.
- Mass distribution of the complete Yusuf Ali translation The Meaning of
the Holy Qur'an. Tens of thousands of the US Amana
Publications edition (ISBN 978-1590080252) were available for free
at missionary outlets across North America during the 1990s.
These were
printed under the auspices of the Iqraa Charitable Society of
Jeddah
, Saudi
Arabia
.
Missionary Activity by Specialists
With increasing population of Muslims, a breed of specialist
missionaries, focusing entirely on spreading of Islam among the
local peoples, has also emerged. Some of the more well-known
missionaries include:
- Ahmed Deedat, internationally
renown South Africa-based author, speaker, and publisher on
Christian-Muslim dialogue.
- Jamal Badawi, Egyptian immigrant,
professor from Canada, has been very active in missionary work and
Christian-Muslim dialogue for over 30 years.
- Shabir Ally, of Toronto Canada is an
international speaker and major figure in North American
Christian-Muslim dialogue.
- Dr. Zakir Naik of India has produced
numerous missionary material for distribution.
- Abu Ameenah Bilal
Philips from Canada is one of the earliest and most famous
public figures to publish and speak at missionary events in North
America.
- Yusuf Estes, convert to Islam and
self styled American Muslim Chaplin.
- Khalid Yasin, a New York based
charismatic public speaker.
Internet-based Missionary Activity
With the development of the world wide web, several web-sites have
sprung up in order to preach Islam among the non-Muslim users
online. These can generally be divided into four main
categories:
- Specialized missionary websites, such as
answering-christianity.com, islamtomorrow.com, ediscoverislam.com
etc.
- Islamic portals such as islamicity.com, jannah.org etc.
- Youtube Channels such as theDeenShow, quranmiracles,
muslimreverts etc.
See also
Nations:
References
- A NATION CHALLENGED: AMERICAN MUSLIMS; Islam
Attracts Converts By the Thousand, Drawn Before and After
Attacks
-
http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=960&wit_id=2719
- Ranks of Latinos Turning to Islam Are Increasing;
Many in City Were Catholics Seeking Old Muslim Roots
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