Dakwah means to proclaim and tabligh means to convey. Allah has ordered us to proclaim or to convey the Great Kalimah to those who have not recited the Great Kalimah. The Great Kalimah is I bear witness there is no God except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah. Dakwah or Tabligh is the first order of Allah and it is the easiest order to perform. The only prerequisite to do dakwah, the person knows the Great Kalimah. It has no other prerequisite other than knowing the Great Kalimah. A person upon reciting the Great Kalimah has the responsibilities to convey the Great Kalimah to others who have not recited the Kalimah. Prophet Muhammad s.a.w has said in the meaning, conveys to others even if you know only one sentence. To convey the Great Kalimah to others is an order of Allah and it is the first order of Allah that a person must do upon entering Islam. The first order of Allah is not observing five times daily prayers. The first order of Allah is to convey the Great Kalimah to those who have not accepted the Great Kalimah.

The first order is only to proclaim or to convey the Great Kalimah to others who have not accepted the Kalimah and not to make the person to embrace Islam. The order is a very simple and it is the easiest to perform when compared to all other orders of Allah. Everyone who knows the Great Kalimah should be able to convey the Kalimah to others. The order is only to convey and not to make the person to embrace Islam. None can give guidance except Allah. Whomever Allah wants to give guidance will get guidance and whomever Allah wants to be deviated will be deviated. None can give guidance except Allah. Allah only orders us to convey and Allah does not orders us to give guidance .The work of giving guidance is the work of Allah and we are only being ordered to convey or to proclaim the Great Kalimah to others. When we think that Allah has ordered us to convert the non-Muslim to Muslim then the order becomes very heavy. The work of converting the non-Muslim to Muslim is the work of Allah. When we have taken the work of Allah then the order becomes very heavy on us. We will make excuses not to do the work of dakwah.

Nowadays Muslim believes that the religious scholars can only do the work of dakwah. They also believe that Muslim must be correct first before we can give dakwah to non-Muslims. When dakwah means to proclaimed the Great Kalimah to the non-Muslims, the work of dakwah should be the work of all Muslims and not only the religious scholars. Allah has made the work of dakwah obligatory to all Muslims and upon entering Islam; the first order is to do dakwah. When a person does the work of dakwah, Allah will make his iman strong. When Abu Bakar enters Islam, the first order that Prophet Muhammad s.a.w asked him to do is to convey the Great Kalimah to others. On the same day, Abu Bakar entered Islam he has conveyed the Great Kalimah to many others who has not recited the Kalimah and some of them embraced Islam. On the contrary, we asked the person who has just embraced Islam to pray five times daily solat and not to convey the Great Kalimah to others. We believe that the first order of Allah is to perform five times daily solat and not to convey the Great Kalimah. When a person upon entering Islam does not do the work of conveying the Great Kalimah, then his or her iman will be weak. First, their iman should be strengthened by asking them to do the work of conveying the Great Kalimah  and when their iman has increased then only we asked them to do five times daily prayers.

Dakwah means to proclaim, tabligh means to convey the Great Kalimah, and it is the first order of Allah to all Muslims. It is the easiest order of Allah. Allah has ordered all Muslims to do dakwah even if they know only the Great Kalimah. Allah has given  the work of dakwah or tabligh to all Muslims and all Muslims are capable of doing the work of dakwah. Allah has made the work of dakwah simple and easy because it is the means of attaining iman. Iman is the most valuable thing that all men must have. Without iman, Allah will not accept the amals of men. Without iman, men will live in miseries in this world and in the hereafter will have to go to hellfire. Iman is the most important thing that men needs. Because iman is very important and it is the needs of all humankind, Allah has made the work of attaining iman simple and easy. When a person after reciting the Great words conveys the great words to others then Allah will make his or her iman strong. Nowadays Muslim has very weak iman because they have left the work of conveying the Great Words to others. They have left the work of dakwah because they believe that the work of dakwah is to make the non-Muslim becomes Muslim. Allah is the one that will make a non-Muslim to becomes Muslim and Allah has ordered us only to convey the Great Kalimah to the non-Muslims.. Whether the non-Muslim that we have conveyed the Great Kalimah becomes Muslim or not, we are successful since we have obeyed the orders of Allah.

When we say to a non-Muslim, enter Islam and bear witness that there is no God except Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah, certainly, you will be successful, then we have conveyed the Great Kalimah. Dakwah is a very easy task to do. It does not require knowledge except knowing the Great Kalimah. When we do dakwah, we are not responsible to convince them about Islam and we are not responsible to make them to enter Islam. When we do dakwah, we are only responsible to convey the Great Words to them. In case they refused, then we make doa so that Allah gives them hidayah to enter Islam. In order to do dakwah we need to give only times. Even the poor can do dakwah. We have to give the minimum 45 minutes daily to do the work of dakwah. When we meet the non-Muslim, we give dakwah and when we meet Muslim, we remind each other about Allah and ask him to do the work of dakwah. If you are interested to learn the work of dakwah and the work of reminding the Muslims the importance of the work of dakwah, please call at 019-3584497.

Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
February 2010
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre