BENEFIT: How To Call Non-Muslims to Islam

Sheikh ’Uthaymeen raḥimahullāh said: "Since you have been dispatched to these disbelieving lands, this may be an opportunity for the one whom Allāh grants success to call to Islam: to call to Islam through his speech, his state, and his actions. Calling to Islam through speech means that a person tells the people, “This is Islam,” and explains its merits and virtues, and that the religion of Islam (i.e. The message of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ) is the final religion. For this reason, we believe in all the messengers who came before: “The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allāh, His angels, His books, and His messengers; we make no distinction between any of His messengers.” He explains that Islam calls to the worship of Allāh, not to the worship of the servants of Allāh, and that no human being can attain, in sanctification and exaltation, what is due to the Lord of exaltation and sanctification, Mighty and Exalted is He, regardless of his authority and regardless of his power, because he is a human being created from that from which others were created, and he needs what others need. The utmost of the matter is that Allāh has extended to him care in what he is in of the interests of his country and the interests of his citizens, and there is no feature that makes him rise above the state of humanity such that he is deified. And we know about many Non-Muslims that they make their leaders, who used to play with them in the marketplace, place them in the rank of Deities in veneration and other than that. And this Islam does not approve of at all. Islam does not approve that any be deified except the Lord of the Worlds, Mighty and Exalted, and that none be worshiped except Him. You should clarify to them that Islam commands righteousness: kindness to parents and maintaining ties of kinship, and it commands kindness to the poor, the orphans, and the neighbours, and other than that. You should convey to them that the religion of Islam commands virtuous morals that bring about affection and harmony, such as spreading greetings of peace and mutual visits among the Muslims. Likewise, the gatherings that Allāh has legislated for the Muslims by way of obligation, such as congregational prayer, or by way of recommendation. You should clarify to them that Islam forbids oppression in all its forms, forbids cheating, and forbids lying. Thus you clarify to the people the virtues of Islam. That is because many of the common people (from among the Non-Muslims) do not know anything about Islam; rather, they may know about Islam the opposite of the ruling of Islam, because some Muslims, unfortunately, do not represent Islam in their dealings with others, so you find that he lies, betrays, and acts treacherously. So if the people imagine that this is the religion of Islam, they will not accept it. But if it is explained to them, by the tongue of speech, the religion of Islam, they will know the truth. Likewise, he calls people to Islam by his state, by being dignified, balanced, not hasty nor rash, not speaking except where he knows the proper place of his speech, and not acting except where he knows the proper place of his action, so that he may be revered and respected. Because many people are overtaken by haste, so they judge matters before they conceive them, or they judge matters before they are completed, and by this harm occurs and a bad image arises regarding the state of this man. Likewise, he also clarifies to the people the virtues of Islam by his actions: his dealings with people according to what the Sharīʿah requires, even when we deal with disbelievers. For the disbelievers have a known manner of treatment with the Muslims: [Allāh ﷻ says] “When you are greeted with a greeting, respond with one better than it or return it.” So if one of the disbelievers greets us, we return the greeting, but we do not initiate the greeting to him, because the Prophet ﷺ said: “Do not begin the Jews or the