Min Wasail al-Dawah
- Author died
- -
- Editions
- Min Wasail al-Dawah
Min Wasail al-Dawah (Among the Means of Islamic Propagation) is a treatise by Muhammad al-Thuwayni examining the tools, methods, and legal principles governing Islamic propagation (da'wah).
Origin and Background
The work originated as a lecture delivered during a training program for preachers (دورة إعداد الدعاة). At the request of attendees who sought to transcribe and publish the material, the author adapted the oral lecture into a written treatise, modifying phrasing, documenting textual references, and removing spoken colloquialisms.
Legal Framework and Principles
Al-Thuwayni introduces the subject by stating that conveying a message is impossible without employing effective means (wasāʾil). Citing Ibn Taymiyyah, he distinguishes between the ultimate objective (al-maqṣūd) and the pathway leading to it (al-wasīlah). He outlines a fundamental distinction in Islamic jurisprudence between:
- Acts of worship (ʿibādāt), where the default legal ruling is adherence to explicit divine revelation (al-tawqīf) regarding form, timing, and manner.
- Customary practices and transactions (ʿādāt and muʿāmalāt), where the default ruling is general permissibility (al-ibāḥah).
Consequently, any customary medium or technique that fulfills the purpose of guiding people without contravening a legal prohibition is legitimate. Drawing on the legal maxim that means take the rulings of their ends (al-wasāʾil lahā aḥkām al-maqāṣid), the author establishes two regulatory criteria (ḍawābiṭ) for employing any medium: legal permission (al-idhn), whether textually specified or derived from general permissibility; and public interest (al-maṣlaḥah), requiring that the benefit outweighs potential harm in a given context.
Classification of Means
The author organizes the means of propagation into several categories:
- Moral and personal attributes (al-wasīlah al-maʿnawiyyah): The internal disposition of the preacher, including patience, strategic planning, seeking divine reward (iḥtisāb), and goodwill toward people.
- State-specific means (al-wasīlah al-khāṣṣah): Functions restricted to the Islamic state and its rulers rather than the general public, including armed struggle (jihād) and physical enforcement when commanding good and forbidding evil.
- Written and published mediums: Authorship, which the author notes—citing Hajji Khalifa—should only be undertaken to address genuine scholarly needs; specialized and general booklets or letters (al-rasāʾil), including modern text messaging; writing book introductions for other authors; contributing to periodicals and newspapers; and utilizing the internet and chat platforms.
- Educational and oratorical platforms: Formal schooling, mosque lessons, and Quran study circles; Friday sermons (al-khuṭbah); spontaneous admonitions (al-mawʿiẓah); academic lectures (al-muḥāḍarah); and panel symposiums (al-nadwah).
- Broadcast and institutional channels: Radio, television, satellite broadcast channels, audio cassettes, scholarly institutions, summer centers, and school activities.
- Direct interpersonal outreach: Visiting places where people gather (such as markets or public meetings), accepting social invitations, reconciling disputes, assisting people with their material needs, conversing during travel, displaying instructional signs in commercial shops, and circulating Islamic magazines in public waiting areas.
Answer updated