In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate

Preparing yesterday for a weekly hadith class I teach at my house, I chanced upon the following description of the Prophet’s (Allah bless him and give him peace) da`wa to the Medinan Helpers (ansar).

“He (Allah bless him and give him peace) would present himself to the Arab tribes every Hajj season. Once, while at `Aqaba, he happened upon a small group from the tribe of Khazraj and said, “Won’t you have a seat so I can talk to you?” They replied, “Of course!” and sat down. He then called them to God Almighty, presented Islam to them, and recited the Quran to them, upon which they immediately accepted Islam.” (`Abdullah b. Hijazi al-Sharqawi, Fath al-Mubdi Sharh Mukhtasar al-Zabidi, Cairo: Mustafa Babi al-Halabi, 1.53)

The author continues to describe how Islam then spread in Medina, leading to the first pledge of `Aqaba the following year, and the second pledge the year after that.

What caught my attention, though, was how simple it was for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) to bring people to Islam–”He then called them to God Almighty, presented Islam to them, and recited the Quran to them, upon which they immediately accepted Islam.”

The luminous and merciful prophetic personality was undoubtedly part of the reason for this simplicity, but there was more to it than that. Behind his luminance and mercy, there was a message whose truth was plain.

The truth of Islam really is that clear. If Islam itself could speak, it would say, “Give me a sincere heart that wants guidance and a mind that is willing to be reasonable, and I will make a Muslim out of them.” From their lack of learning, many sincere Muslims don’t quite grasp this, and the fact that this isn’t grasped is the reason for the vast majority of questions they have about their faith today.

All of us will one day have to teach Islam to someone else–as a parent, as a friend, as a Sunday school teacher, or as someone else. Teaching someone religion is not about teaching a bunch of facts, it’s about cultivating the light of certainty in their heart. If we don’t have it ourselves, we won’t be able to give it to anyone else.