The more things change the more they remain the same. In the 1970s and the 1980s, it used to be heartwarming ‘reports’ such as Neil Armstrong’s acceptance of Islam upon hearing the sound of Adhan on the moon. The personalities have kept changing but the triumphant message underlying each conversion story is the same: Who can stop Islam now that such notables have started embracing it? God is great!
What is different in the 2020s however is that where there used to be third-person accounts of such events, thanks to AI now the ‘evidence’ could be an audio of a Billy Graham waxing lyrical about Islam or a video of Christiano Ronaldo reciting Surah Ikhlas.
It is obvious that Billy Graham would never extol the virtues of Islam. So is the fact that Ronaldo’s recitation cannot possibly be so good. What is disturbing however– even if, for the sake of argument, such reports are accepted at face value– is that so many Muslims think that Islam needs validation and endorsement from celebrities. That rich and famous individuals can somehow favour or honour Islam by the act of embracing it, when it ought to be the other way around. If such an event ever happens, the beneficiary (as far as the Muslims are concerned) has to be the celebrity, not Islam.
Even more worrying is that it is passionate Muslims who, aiming to win converts to Islam, are guilty of this sort of thing (by generating such material or by applauding and distributing it). They fail to realize that enthusiasm is a poor substitute for sincerity. That by resorting to celebrity testimonials (whether true or fabricated), they end up reducing Islam to the level of fashion items and the so-called beauty products that rely for their sale on this sort of marketing.
The roots of the problem can be traced back to the tactics of Christian missionaries that have for centuries been obsessed with winning converts from other creeds and thereby saving their souls. Many of them have traditionally misused Romans 3:7 to justify their lies that supposedly ‘glorify’ God. Sadly, not a few Muslims have come to hold the same opinion. The issue of the permissibility of lying for a noble cause hinges on the larger question of whether the ends justify the means. Islam’s answer to the question, regardless of the nobility of the cause, is an emphatic, unqualified no. Sadly, the desire to win converts gets the better of the judgment of many.
Unfortunately, it is a rare Muslim indeed who bothers to find out what the Quran has to say on this (or for that matter any other) issue. Therefore, no prize for guessing why so many Muslims keep violating this explicit Quranic injunction by pressing into service arguments borrowed from mysticism, philosophy, historical narrations, mythology, the Bible, and sometimes their own fertile imaginations– anything that is, except the Quran!
What with the infamous history of missionary Christianity, this whole ‘propagation’ of religion business has acquired an unsavoury undertone. It smacks of a campaign to win converts using all means at one’s disposal, by hook or by crook. Muslims who take their religion seriously would do well to engage in communicating Islam instead of propagating it. Because communication is where their job ends. They must not concern themselves with how many individuals (if at all) are won over as a result. Also, since many Muslims are Muslims merely by virtue of an accident of birth, this communication must not be thought to be exclusively with the non-Muslims.
The only meaningful conversion (on the part of non-Muslims as well as previously nominal Muslims) is one that happens for the right reasons. If the individual is won over by means of a gimmick, an emotional trick or a lie, and not as a result of valid reasoning, such conversions are short-lived. Such ‘victories’ are therefore meaningless– in fact, they are counterproductive because when sooner or later the converts get to know better (as they usually do), they feel tricked and thereafter remain cynical of anything that has anything to do with religion. As for the outsiders who are able to see through the tactics straight away, they only become more hardened in their resolve not to touch religion with a bargepole. The enthusiasts who are quick to use anything that even looks like supporting Islam therefore end up doing more harm than good.
Muslims need to stop obsessing over enrolling recruits to their religion and their mosques. They are not in a competition in which the victory belongs to the most numerous. They need to focus more on living their lives as genuine Muslims instead of constantly worrying about correcting others. The best call to Islam is that which is done without preaching. Living Islam is no-doubt much harder than talking about it; and that is precisely why so many prefer the latter.
It is true that a Muslim must be able to give a convincing account of his belief. He should be able to respond convincingly to criticism of it; and for that, he needs to have valid arguments that support his position. As for proactively presenting his religion to outsiders, again he must be careful to use sound reasoning only. For it is very easy to compromise on the quality of arguments employed, thereby doing a great deal of harm all around.
The Quran has left no vital question unaddressed, the present issue being no exception. It explicitly defines what constitutes a valid set of arguments when it comes to communicating Islam. It insists that the arguments must be exclusively Quranic. No mortal can possibly make a better case for Islam than God makes in the Quran, which is His verbatim and unadulterated speech. Any attempt to wander outside this domain is tantamount to overstepping one’s authority.
Unfortunately, it is a rare Muslim indeed who bothers to find out what the Quran has to say on this (or for that matter any other) issue. Therefore, no prize for guessing why so many Muslims keep violating this explicit Quranic injunction by pressing into service arguments borrowed from mysticism, philosophy, historical narrations, mythology, the Bible, and sometimes their own fertile imaginations– anything that is, except the Quran!
