Dawah Ilallah is an important and a life-long obligation of a Muslim. It matters little where he or she is and in what part of this globe he/she resides. He/she is to carry Dawah out irrespective of the circumstances in which he or she is placed. The Muslims of America are, thus, ordained by Allah to fulfill this onerous task. They are to call the people of the land to the fold of Allah with courage, wisdom and in very soft spoken words, in the way Allah directed Prophet Moses (AS) to present his message to Pharaoh. The directives of Allah (SWT) are extremely clear in this respect: "Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation and reason with them in the best possible manner..." (The Qur'an 16: 125)

"Go both of you, unto Pharaoh , Lo! he had transgressed (the bounds). And speak unto him in gentle words that peradventure he may heed and fear." (The Qur'an - 20: 43-44)

There are three important aspects of Dawah Ilallah, especially in the American perspective, which, if ignored, will defeat the objective or may prove an exercise in futility. They are as follows:

CLARITY OF THE MISSION:

A Da'ee must be clear about what he or she is to present and to what he or she is inviting. The goal and the objective must be crystal clear. It is one and only one, i.e., to invite human beings to the fold of their Creator, organize those who respond into a Jamaah, build in them a trustworthy character through Tarbiyah and Tazkiyah and to carry out this process until the Deen of Allah prevails in the body-politics of the country. This entire process is called lqamatuddeen (Establishing the Deen of Allah). It starts from Dawah Ilaflah and ends when Allah's Deen prevails over other systems of life. The following verses from the Qur'an and the lifelong struggle of Rasulullah (pbuh) confirm this process.

"O mankind! Be obedient to your Lord, (the Sustainer) Who has created you and those before you, so that you may develop Allah consciousness in you." (The Qur'an- 2: 2 1)

"Lo! Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him (be obedient to Him). This is the straight path."(The Qur'an- 3: 51)

"He it is Who had sent His messenger with the Guidance and the religion of truth, that he may make it dominant over all religion (Deen), however much the idolaters may be averse to it." (The Qur'an- 61:9)

The most chronic problem of the American society is that it has transformed the obedience to God as a personal and private affair, and that too in a very limited domain. The rest of the life is governed and controlled by the laws being made by the Congress. This is a transgression and negation of the authority of Allah. The problems which this country is facing today are mainly due to the denial of His supreme Will and the negligence of the Guidance which Allah transmitted to mankind through His appointed messengers, especially the last one.

The Da'ee has to carry out this mission with no compromise and no "give and take" principle anywhere and at any time of his or her life. Those Muslim brothers and sisters who are extremely eager to jump into the political process of this country should learn a lesson from the dictates of Allah and the unbending attitude of Rasulullah (pbuh) which he showed to a delegation of Quraish :

Allah Commands His Prophet to declare " ...Unto you your Deen unto me my Deen." (Al-Kafirun 109:6)

Rasulullah (pbuh) categorically declared through his uncle Abu Talib, "If they (the idolaters) put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left to stop the mission, I will carry it out until either it is accomplished or becomes dominant or I give up my life for its sake." Such was the clarity of mission and determination of the Prophet of Allah towards the accomplishment of the obligation of Iqamatuddeen. We are to carry out the mission of Dawah Ilallah in the American society with the same zeal and clarity, without any compromise or deviation, howsoever attractive it may look. It is a life-long pursuit. The reward is with Allah in the life Hereafter. The Muslims of America have to struggle for the spread of the D . een of Allah in this country until the time either they succeed or give up their life and what they possess for its sake. This is the best success (Wa Zalekal Fauzul Azim).

THE CHARACTER OF THE MESSENGER - THE DA'EE:

This is the most fundamental requirement of Dawah Ilallah. A Da'ee has to undertake a three-dimension effort to fulfill his or her mission of life.

I. He/she is to acquire a working knowledge of Islam through study of the Qur'an and the Seerah of Rasulullah (pbuh) and that of his beloved companions. He/she need not be a Faqih but should develop A good understanding of Islam as a concept and as a way of life in comparison to the Batil system;

II. He /she must know this country, its people, its problems, its mood and temperament and its socio-economic-political condition, perhaps better than a senator or a Congressman. In short, a Da'ee must know very well his or her addressee and his life-pattern. Only then, he/she will be able to enter into his or her life and mold it towards the obedience of his or her Creator;

III. He or she must be the model of what he/she preaches or advocates. He or she must possess and demonstrate a trustworthy character to the people of the land. Shortcomings of knowledge can be ignored or can be taken care of at some later time but a slight slackness in character, temperament or behavior will cause insurmountable damages to the cause of Dawah Ilallah. A Da'ee must be extremely cautious in this respect, specially in the liberal social environment of America.

America is a vast country with people of different culture and ethnic background. Here Dawah should not be restricted to any one group or section of the society. In this country, Islam should not be identified by any color, race, dress-code or cultural background. These signs and manifestations must be merged or eliminated altogether. Only color of the Tawheedi culture should be given prominence everywhere. Islam, if it is to be spread at the grass roots level, should be identified only by the character which it builds in its followers. It was the character which conquered the hearts and minds of the people in the first century of Hijrah. It is again the character of the Muslims which can win over the people of America and the West to the fold of Allah within a reasonable time span, if we all stand by it and demonstrate the requisite character of a Da'ee Ilallah. America, Insha Allah, will prove no exception to this rule.

THE METHODOLOGY:

It was never fixed in the past, nor it is fixed today. It differs from person to person and from situation to situation. Rasulullah (pbuh) used all the available means of his time to augment the cause of Allah's Deen. Similarly, we are to use all the means and methods which the modern human society has acquired so far and what lies in its womb. Muslims have the right to use all the modern technology to introduce the Deen of Allah to the people of the land. In the America context, besides radio, TV, audio/video cassettes, Internet, the following methods can be resorted to reach the people at the grass root level:

I. Door-to-door contact by knocking at the door;

II. Dawah by mail;

III. Dawah by telephone or through Internet;

IV. Through display of literature on table on road side or any public place by engaging the passersbys in conversation and distributing flyers and booklets afterwards. However, it must be a regular feature for some time at the selected places, otherwise it would be difficult to attain the desired results;

V. Through organizing some social works: feed the poor, help the needy, take care of the sick and elderly people and counseling battered men and women;

VII. Through opening youth centers for healthy games/sports and teaching martial arts;

VIII. Through organizing campaigns against Munkar and prevailing evils in the society in cooperation with the local people.

IX. Through organizing Open Dawah meetings, conferences, seminars, inter-faith dialogue, etc.

All these and other methods will attract the attention of the people of the land and create/provide innumerable opportunities to the Da'ee. Service-oriented programs, as mentioned above, will be very much productive. The continent of North America is ripe for Islam. It needs a team of Da'ee to make a ceaseless, joint and concerted effort with the clarity of vision, the trustworthy character of a Mu'min and the benevolent programs to meet the people at a grassroots level. This is the essence of Dawah Ilallah in the North American perspective. ICNA and its Neighbornet program meet these requirements. Let us be part of it and fulfill our obligation towards Iqamatudeen in this country.