My 1st experience of Da’wah to non-muslims

Assalamualaikum wrmt wbrkt.

Dearest Z.K,

May u be in the best of imaan and amaals.

I just wanted to share an interesting experience I had today. This morning I participated in a program called “Da’wah to non-muslims” organized by the Da’wah & Tarbiah Buraeu here, a pilot project. Though I have neither prior experience nor the skills nor the knowledge in this area, and despite missing the pre-requisite talk for this programme given by Dr Abu Dhar Greengrass, I was determined on going and giving it a try.

There was around 30 sisters and 8 brothers. Our selected da’wah location was the population of Kuantan Parade and Berjaya Megamall. I was stationed at the 1st floor of Megamall with Munirah. We were supplied with several different pamphlets; some for the non-muslims, and some for the couples hanging out there. Since I still had some leftover Ramadhan pamphlets with me, I brought them along too.

We set out at 10 am after a short briefing session in the musolla. We weren’t given specific guidelines on how to go about it. We were free to use our own creativity for the task given which was basically the title of the programme. The only rule was that we were to approach those of the same gender only. Since it was still early and many stalls and shops were just opening and setting up, Mun and I wandered around the place searching for a target. Mun was relying on me since I’d had two experiences of approaching people before yet I felt as scared as she was. This was a totally different group altogether.

Non-muslims… how do you approach them? Where do we start? What questions do we ask? The pamphlets didn’t really help us to break the ice. After circling the entire floor a few times and assessing our target population, we were still afraid to make a move. The Chinese there were mainly the shop owners or stall handlers or sales assistant. We were afraid to bother them lest we were accused of stalling their business. There were hardly Indians there. Aaah, susahnye! We met Dr Arif, our Deputy Dean of Students’ Affairs, who happened to be unofficially supervising and monitoring our activities, and asked him. He told us to just start anywhere and go on from there. We braved ourselves to start.

Our first mad’us were two sales assistants who were blowing up balloons. We asked what they thought of Islam. She refused to answer and told us to talk to her boss who was currently speaking on the phone. He seemed busy and intimidating so we left, handed them a pamphlet and tried another.

We saw a Chinese girl sitting at one of the Starbucks tables and we thought we’d give her a try. She was apprehensive at first but we told her we just wanted to chat. She said she didn’t know much about Islam and basically answered ‘tak tahu’ to all our questions.

The third was a Chinese girl sitting at a booth promoting ‘ERICAN’, an English tuition centre. There was no one at the booth so we decided to approach her. I gave her the opportunity to explain what her institution had to offer. Then, when she finished, I asked if she could listen to what I had to explain. She agreed. I explained that we were from UIA and that we were med students. “UIAM?” “Yes”, we said. “Oh, I’ve seen it before. The campus in Gombak is very big indeed.” I spent several minutes talking about UIA. Then I asked what she thought of Islam. She didn’t know much. We gave her a pamphlet and hoped that she read it. She said she would. While we were explaing, her male colleague merely watched us. Since we weren’t supposed to approach guys, we didn’t talk to him.

One couple who saw us nearing, quickly got up and walked away. I saw that the girl already had a pamphlet in her hand. Hehe… (we also had to approach couples too, but i didn't approach any coz there weren't many on the 1st floor)

We walked on and saw two female Malay sales assistants who weren’t covering their aurah properly. ‘Might as well remind them, since this is Ramadhan’ I thought. And they did seem to have all the time in the world. No customers were in sight. I asked them whether they were fasting. Alhamdulillah they were. Did they know the benefits of Ramadhan? They answered a few. After beating around the bush, I went directly to the aurah issue and asked them why did we actually cover it? One girl answered to cover it from the sight of males. I was appalled and went on about how it was a commandment of Allah first and foremost. As I went on speaking, the other girl who was free hair suddenly began to be interested in her feet. I apologized if I’d said anything wrong and wished them well. I was quite surprised with myself for doing what I just did. I wonder if my method was appropriate. I pray that Allah gives them His guidance.

We approached another sales assistant, similar to the ones we’d just approached only this time at a stall selling bed sheets. We looked through the sheets. Darn, I wish I could buy them. Bila ada sale, my pockets mesti dry. Takde rezeki this time. When the girl came to our aid, we took the opportunity to strike a conversation. After several minutes of introductions we told her our actual reason. She said she would try to cover properly. May Allah help her and give her strength to carry it out.

It was already 12pm and I remembered that I had several items to buy. We went to the ground floor and headed for TESCO. Done with our shopping, we saw a Chinese man sitting at a bench. He was reading a pamphlet given by one of the ERICAN people. I sat next to him. I wanted to start a conversation but he seemed to avoid listening to me. Seeing that I was persistent, he responded. He was waiting for his son and grandson. I asked him the same question, what he thought of Islam. He said, ‘Islam bagus. Saya tak ada apa-apa masalah’ When I asked if he preferred a Malay or English pamphlet, he said, I can only read Mandarin. We gave it to him anyway. Probably his son could translate it for him.

Our time was up so we headed for the main area to wait for the others. Some had very interesting experiences. One even said that she saw a man crumple the pamphlet and threw it away. Another had picked up one that was lying on the floor. Our duty is only to spread the word. We cannot force people to accept Islam.

While we were waiting, the guy from ERICAN approached us to distribute flyers. Despite our orders, we interviewed him anyway. He was quite responsive and agreed to read the book on Islam that we gave him. The Chinese ERICAN girl whom we previously talked to approached us again. After speaking to her I got the impression that she thought we were promoting UIA. Hish, cemane bleh silap nih. I quickly corrected her perception. She said she hadn’t had time to read the pamphlet but will read it later. I gave her my number and email. Ya Allah, may you open her heart to embrace Islam.

When the bus came, we stopped at a mosque for Zuhr then went back to the Mahallat (hostel) for a post-mortem. Everyone was eager to share their experiences.

My own conclusion from this programme and resolutions;

1. The Chinese community are comfortable with their situation and do not want to risk offending the Malays by commenting negatively on Islam. There were several Indians but I didn’t try to approach them. Takut, sebab derang kuat agama sket.
2. The non-muslim community is ignorant about Islam because we don’t make the effort to educate them. To do that, we have to acquire the skills of how to approach them. What to say and not say.
3. My knowledge and skills are very limited in this field of da’wah to non-muslim– I think I have to attend a comparative religion course and do some practical first (baru sedar how beneficial it is)
4. I have a long way to go before I can be a good da’ie. No matter, let me take baby steps, one at a time and pray that I’ll become an efficient one someday. Ameen.

Oh, a funny incident happened in the evening. Tired as I was, I fell asleep straight away after completing some chores. My sleep was disturbed by my ringing phone. It was Azilah. I couldn’t imagine why she miscalled. Being mamai, the only thought that came to mind was to enquire whether I wanted to pesan any food from Pasar Ramadhan. I replied that I wanted mi hun sup and went back to sleep. Then Shereen miscalled. Why on earth….? Then it dawned upon me. I was late for tadarrus… hehe, apelah. I went downstairs for tadarrus smiling sheepishly and feeling deeply embarrassed. But they did go to Param after that :D hehe, lapar sgt kot sampai i only had food on my mind... malu...malu.

Sunday
11.55pm