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 Dawah1. 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 (642-651)

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 10th to mid-11th 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