An Interpretation of Dawah Through the Historical Means of the Propagation of Islam
Introduction Mueller’s classification of religions: missionary and non-missionary Why Islam is a missionary religion Study of Dawah 1.Historical: How dawah happened in history 2.Theological: Scriptural foundations and aims of dawah
Three Categories of Spread Dawah in the light of history of spread of Islam Ways of spread in different regions Three categories of nature of spread After first Muslim conquests Under Mongols In Southeast Asia
Spread of Islam: Early Phase Syria (640), Egypt (642) and Persia ( )
Causes and Means Causes: Degradation of religious communities Clarity and simplicity of Islamic tenets Discriminatory legislations instituted under Umar II Dhimmis sought to enjoy opportunity and mobility Dissemination through Companions: Damascus, Kufah, Basrah and Bahrain. Change of faith: gradual, peaceful, slow process; no large- scale forced or organized conversion. Populations generally became Muslim between 10 th to mid- 11 th CE
Islam among the Mongols Mongol invasion: northern borders of Syria to NE Iran and Central Asia Mongol empire was divided into three portions (1256): Persia and SW Asia: Il-Khanate Central Asia: Chagatai Khanate NW Asia and Russia: Golden Horde
Il-Khanate
Chagatai Khanate
Golden Horde
Causes Missionary efforts of believers in Mongol dominions Muslims taken as prisoners in Mongol homes Interaction on religious matters By the thirteenth century the Mongols embraced Islam
Islam in South India Trade links between India and Arabia
Malabar Coast and Coromandel Coast
Causes Preaching of tenets of faith by Muslim merchants and traders Intermarriage played a role in the spread of Islam Zamorin of Calicut encouraged conversion for manning ships Influence of Sufis Social system prevalent in India
Circumstances of Spread 1. Muslims entered victoriously into lands north of Arabia Factors: political and social influence, economic advantage, propagation of faith 2. Muslims under the rule of a foreign military power in their own centres of learning 3. Muslims possessed no political power; no already-existing community of believers
Analysis Larry Poston in Islamic Dawah in the West Proposition: Muslim missionary activity is done by first creating conditions for conquest Then an environment is created wherein the important political, social and economic institutions could be Islamized In this Islamic ambience, dawah is eased, as Islam represents conformity to societal norm
Dawah has not been subject to any conditions In the early phase Muslims conquered several lands and this was followed by a period of gradual and steady change of faith Various institutions of Islam developed and contributed to spread of the religion This was one of the circumstances, and not a necessary circumstance for the doing of dawah
Definition of dawah Dawah was one of the reasons for the spread of Islam Dawah per se has to be distinguished from other factors that led to conversion of non-Muslim populations Other factors such as gaining of political control and formation of Islamic institutions, cannot be strictly interpreted as doing of dawah or strategy of missionary work
Conclusion Firstly, the spread of Islam is not equivalent to doing of dawah. The spread of Islam happened through various means, one among them being dawah Second, dawah has not been subject to any circumstances. There have been no set preconditions or prerequisites for it History of the spread of Islam points out that dawah has been carried out in different circumstances, as the believer is, in whichever situation he be, always conscious of his duty of propagating the religion that he adheres to