“O You who Believe! Why do you say that which you do not do? Most hateful it is with Allaah that you say that which you do not do.” (Soorah as-Saff 61:2-3)

“Enjoin you al-Birr (piety and righteousness) on the people and you forget (to practice it) yourselves, While you recite the Scripture! Have you no sense?” (Soorah al-Baqarah 2:44)

The Prophet, (pbuh), made clear the state of the person who calls but does not act, that on the Day of Resurrection he will be like the donkey that pulls the wheel of a mill, and that he will be dragging his intestines around. He will be asked about that by the people who say, ‘Had you not used to command us with good and forbid us from evil?’ So he will say, ‘Yes, I used to order you with good but not do it, and I used to forbid you from evil, yet commit it.’

So, this is evil, that a person should not be upright, and it is futile to think that he can bring about guidance for the people when he himself is not upright. Since Allaah will not cause his words to be accepted, nor cause his admonition to have an effect.

So it is a condition for the caller, whether he is in the lands of the Unbelievers or the lands of Islaam, that first of all he should act upon his knowledge. He should be acting upon what he says, and that he is a person of knowledge, knowing and understanding that which he calls to, and that he is mild and gentle with the one he calls. So harshness and severity conflict with the call to Allaah:

“And had you been harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from about you.” (Soorah Aali-’Imraan 3:159)

In fact, harshness and severity conflict with tarbiyah (education) and gathering the people upon Allaah’s way. So I advise the brothers who are engaged in dawah that they should be upon knowledge and gentleness. Having knowledge of that which they call to, and gentleness with those whom they call, and mildness and kindness, along with uprightness upon the Deen of Allaah, the Mighty and the Majestic.

Then when we begin giving dawah to a person, then the first thing that we should call to is the testification that none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah. This was how the Messenger, sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallaam, counseled Mu’aadh when he sent him to like of those people.

First of all, we inform them of the meaning of Laa ilaaha illallaah , unknown to many of the Muslims today. Many of the Muslims today hardly know with regard to the meaning of Laa ilaaha illallaah anything except that which was known before them by the enemies of Allaah, the Mushriks. So they think that the meaning of Laa ilaaha illallaah is that Allaah exists, or that Allaah is the Creator, or the Provider, or the One who is in control, or who gives life and death, so in this they do not differ from the People of the Book, nor from the idol-worshippers.

We must inform them of the meaning of Laa ilaaha illallaah, which we want them to enter into, that there is to be no invocation except for Allaah, and no vow, seeking relief, no sacrifice, no placing hope, no terror, no reliance (except for Allaah); and that Allaah – whom it is obligatory that they worship has no consort, nor any child. He has no son and no wife, and that if they say that they are Unbelievers and cannot have entered into Islaam. So, the caller must be aware of the state of the one he is calling, and he must call him to the most important of the affairs that they have need of, but as for preoccupying them with affairs of politics and so on, then no.

Therefore, we have suffered greatly from callers in the midst of the Islamic lands, who come to lands of Sufism, and lands of Shirk where it is openly called to, and where idolatry has raised its head up, and we seek Allaah’s refuge, yet despite this they call them to, and speak to them about matters of politics, and international affairs, but they do not speak about what they have a need of.

All praise is for Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, who has guided the people of the Sunnah and the callers to the Sunnah, to knowing the sickness and the cure that needs to be applied. So they know the sicknesses and their various severities, committing sins is a sickness, innovation is a sickness, shirk is a sickness, yet each of these sicknesses has a different level of severity. So the people of the Sunnah know the levels of these sins, and their degrees, and their effect upon the society. So based upon this they apply the cure for these ills, according to their severity and their effect upon the people.

We thank Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, for guiding us to this blessed da’wah, which causes us to act where action will be most beneficial. But many callers, those who do not follow this way and this methodology, then they act where action will not benefit; they act where action, and Allaah’s refuge is sought, will be wasted, where it will only result in loss and regrets. They act in relation to affairs they do not understand and are not proficient in.

My advice to the callers to the Sunnah it that they give their attention to that which their Salafus-Saalih gave their attention to: Tawheed, affirming it in the hearts, and establishing Tawheed of Allaah the Lord of all the creation. Then after this they proceed with them to the Prayer, and its rulings, and its types, and levels and the obligatory and the optional and so on; then the Zakaat, and Fasting, and the Hajj, etc., to the rest of what occurs in the life example of our Prophet, (pbuh).

In this way it is to be hoped that the Da’wah will benefit, inshaa Allaah, and produce fruits, along with knowledge and mildness.

Beware! O beware of not being gentle with the creation! Beware! O beware of being harsh with the people!

We are aware that the Muslims do not accept advise if it is accompanied by harshness, so what do you think will be the case with the Unbelievers who have not even tasted the sweetness of Islaam.