If you have attended a gathering lately then you would have noticed many people engrossed not in
what is happening around them but rather in a different world – a virtual world
– by means of their personal digital devices.
The truth is that internet and social media use are growing, especially
among the younger generation. They spend a disproportional amount of time on
the net. So if you want to grab their attention you need to turn your dawah
digital, whether it is through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs or emails.
Although I use most of these platforms, in this post I will focus on blogging
as a means of digital dawah.
It is important to keep your posts as general
as possible, because your blog can potentially be read from people all over the
world. It should appeal to them so if you can avoid any context to a specific
region or time, it will benefit a global audience. The more people your blog
can reach the more the chances are that you will interact with like-minded people,
opening doors to collaboration in future projects globally. As you keep
working, you will realize that you are not alone. There is a whole community of
people who read and comment about your posts. It does not matter too much where
you live as your interactions are global. I have found that digital dawah to be
an excellent means of up-keeping ties of kinship. Often keeping
ties with relatives who you have not seen for some time and live on the other
side of the globe is difficult as you do not know what to talk about except the
weather. With your blog posts you can talk about real issues and their
solutions rather than back-bite others.
The topic you decide to write about
should be something you observed in your life or your social circle that needs to be researched/highlighted/corrected/advised
about. Before writing about any topic, it is wise to research it thoroughly.
Find out what the Quran and the Sunnah says about it. What is the
opinion of scholars? Develop your arguments step by step in a logical manner
after deep thought, staying with the implications of the Islamic sources. Quote
directly from the sources whenever possible. When you do use your opinion make
sure that you clearly state that and mention that it is fallible. Always adopt
a polite and professional outlook and language. Never force your audience.
Remember, the first person you are doing this work for is yourself. Perhaps the
greatest worldly benefit it will provide you is that this exercise will clear
up your own thought processes and help you become a discerning individual. It
will affect you so that you do not make the mistakes you are preaching against.
More than normal dawah,
digital dawah needs good research and writing skills. To be successful
one should like to read, reflect and write about a wide variety of issues in
one’s life and society. One should be constantly researching and learning. To
be effective, one should be also constantly learning his deen in formal
courses. By keeping arguments based on the Quran and Sunnah one is not
being egotistic about one’s opinion aiming to overcome the opponents in an
argument, but rather simply stating the Truth. As the Quran says it is not
incumbent on you anything else than to state the clear message. One way to
achieve this is to work anonymously. Clearly the issues and ideas are more
important than the person who is raising them and this is a means to keep you humble.
As you develop your blog over
time, the posts you write about will become a library of wise nuggets of
thought about commonly repeating social issues which you have unraveled and
treated clearly. In the future, whenever someone tries to argue with you
regarding any of them, do not engage them, but just send a link to one of your
blog posts. Over time, your blog will contain answers to most common
misconceptions about Islam and you will able to eloquently and politely
convince your opponents without resorting to arguments. Your audience can also
participate in digital dawah by sending the links to your blog. Thus your blog
becomes a sadaqa jariah for you, as long as your content exists on the
servers somewhere in the internet cloud.
As compared to other dawah
efforts, digital dawah does not take many resources. With just an internet connection and a
computer, you are ready to go. Everything can be done from your home. A single
individual can potentially bring about change in thought in a global audience. The blog allows
the blogger to track how the dawah is progressing by
continuously monitoring the blog stats on how its content is being consumed
worldwide.
The collection of online content
from your blog will unconsciously become part of your belief system and that of
your followers. Re-reading it from time to time, will remind you about the
issues you care about in life. People will comment and provide feedback on the
issues you tackle allowing you to look at them from a different angle. Thus you
will constantly refine your perspective of the Truth. It is important to be
open to criticism and blog content can always be updated on-the-fly, allowing
you to evolve your thinking and dawah.
As a blogger you will become
conscience of the issues that crop up in your community and become more
sensitive to their resolution. You will constantly be able to think about them
from the right context and help others to do so as well. As a knowledgeable Muslim,
you will be asked about the opportunities you had in life and how you used
them. Whether you conveyed the message of Islam to others or not? Digital dawah is one way in which you can answer that you tried.
There are many benefits of dawah,
both for this world and next. In particular, digital dawah allows you to
reach out to more and more people globally day by day. It provides a means to
keep learning individually and collectively. It can open other opportunities
for growth through global collaboration. Blogging, in particular, takes few
resources and can be accomplished by an individual from his home. More
importantly it can be a means of eternal salvation for the self and others.
