Kayfiyyat Dawat al-Wathaniyyin ila Allah Taala fi Daw al-Kitab wa al-Sunna
- Author died
- 1440 AH
- Editions
- Matba'at Safir
Kayfiyyat Da‘wat al-Wathaniyyin ila Allah Ta‘ala fi Daw’ al-Kitab wa al-Sunna (How to Call Pagans to God Almighty in Light of the Qur’an and Sunna) is a concise theological treatise by the Saudi scholar Saeed bin Wahf al-Qahtani (d. 1440 AH / 2018 CE), dedicated to outlining the methodologies and scriptural principles for calling polytheists and idolaters to Islam .
Composition and Purpose
The treatise was completed by the author on Thursday morning, 25 Safar 1425 AH (April 2004 CE), and appeared in its first edition that same year . Al-Qahtani composed the work as a brief guide for Muslim callers (da‘is), summarizing wise methods, verbal reasoning, and evidentiary arguments suitable for addressing polytheistic audiences according to their intellectual capacities .
Structure and Contents
The work opens with an introductory section (tamhid) defining paganism (wathaniyya) and the term wathan (idol or object of devotion), noting that it encompasses anything worshipped besides God—including statues, graves, shrines, and images . It highlights that directing acts of worship or supplication to prophets, saints, angels, or spirits constitutes major polytheism (al-shirk al-akbar) .
The core of the treatise is arranged into nine thematic chapters (mabahith):
- Definitive Rational Arguments for God's Divinity: Demonstrating God's exclusive right to worship using logical proofs grounded in the Qur’an, including the argument of mutual prevention (dalil al-tamanu‘), which posits that multiple deities would result in cosmic discord and systemic breakdown .
- The Absolute Helplessness of False Deities: Highlighting that created beings and idols have no capacity to create, bring benefit, avert harm, or answer prayers .
- Wise Parables: Utilizing Qur’anic analogies—such as the inability of false deities to create even a fly or retrieve what a fly steals from them—to expose the futility of idolatry .
- The Absolute Perfection of the True God: Establishing that divine attributes of ultimate perfection belong solely to the Creator, who alone is worthy of devotion .
- Monotheism as the Universal Message of All Messengers: Emphasizing that calling to tawhid was the unified mission of every prophet .
- Excess Regarding Righteous People: Explaining how veneration and extremism (ghuluww) toward righteous figures historically formed the root cause of human disbelief and idol worship .
- Affirmed and Negated Intercession: Delineating between invalid polytheistic notions of independent intercession (al-shafa‘a al-manfiyya) and valid intercession granted solely by God's permission (al-shafa‘a al-muthbata) .
- God's Subjugation of the Cosmos: Reflecting on the blessings and order of the natural world created and subordinated by God for humanity's benefit .
- Resurrection After Death: Establishing the inevitability of bodily resurrection, divine judgment, and the afterlife .
Answer updated