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Below are two non-Da'awah examples as contained in Kettani's"Dawah among Muslim Minorities". First Example. Mr. X was born in a small town of Australia, the son of Muslim parents who came from an Eastern European country. There was no organised Muslim community in the village where he was born. He grew, therefore, with a vague feeling of being Muslim, and was for any practical purpose very much assimilated into his non-Muslim environment. More specifically, he liked dating and drinking. He eventually married a non-Muslim lady and had from her five children. As they grew older, Mr. X became more and more interested in teaching them Islam and bringing them up as Muslims. When the family moved to the capital of the state for a better job, he discovered the existence of an Islamic Association and a small Islamic Centre. That day he came home laughing like a child with joy, informing his children that they will be educated in Islam. He joined the Association, brought his children to Islamic classes regularly. His wife converted to Islam and became active in the ladies auxiliary. Mr. X kept his drinking habit, however, did his best not to drink in public. At the same time, he learnt how to pray for the first time and vowed to try to be good example for his children. In the executive committee there was a young student from an Asiatic Muslim country who came to the executive committee by a different route. Mr. S grew in a very devout Muslim family and environment, he learnt the Qur'an by heart. He prayed ever since he was seven years old and never committed adultery nor drank in his life. He was an all out and the best example of the practising Muslim. He came to Australia to study and discovered the Muslim Association. He joined it and eventually reached the executive committee. He somehow disliked Mr. X who prayed awkwardly, wore a hat and behaved like a non-Muslim. He even suspected that he drank since he smelt alcohol from time to time. The catastrophe occurred when Mr. S, while walking home from the University, discovered Mr. X entering a pub. In the next meeting of the executive committee, Mr. S attacked Mr. X publicly as the worst type of Muslim, humiliated him to the point that Mr. X was in tears. He was never seen in the Islamic Centre, nor anyone has ever seen his wife or children! Second Example. City M is a small town on the North-eastern Coast of Australia. One hundred years ago, the British brought from the eastern shore of Java [in present day Indonesia] a boat loaded with indentured labourers for the sugar plantation. The labourers happened to be Muslims. But they were peasants and did not know much about Islam. They were able to pass on some of their identity to their children, but after one hundred years and four generations, Islam became only a vague memory in the minds of their descendants today. Most of these, who numbered 250 families, became members of Christian denominations. Due to the effort of a Muslim from another city, a group still identifying as Muslim was gathered and an Islamic Society was established. Eventually, after two years of hard work, 20% of the descendants of the Muslims declared themselves as Muslims again and started the hard work of learning through books and pamphlets the basic tenets of Islam. They started to learn how to pray and for the first time in the history of the city, Juma prayer was held regularly. The community was trying very hard to bring back to Islam the remaining 80%. As soon as the existence of the M Muslim association was known, a missionary Muslim group arrived. The whole community was overjoyed. They housed them, helped them, and fed them. But what did they do to them? How to pray? No. The Seerah of the Prophet (peace be on him)? No. How to fast? No. The halal and the haram? No. What then? Well, they were mad at the men because they did not have any beards and they did not dress in long robes. They also told them that women should not appear in your gatherings, etc. When the visitors left, the community remained perplexed and the weakest among them started questioning whether they really wanted to remain Muslims? Dr. M.A. Kettani's article "Dawah among Muslim Minorities" is in WORLD MUSLIM LEAGUE JOURNAL, Vol.vii, No.5, March 1980, pp.31-39.
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