You must establish with every type of person around you a relationship based on da’wah, regardless whether he is the salesman in the market, the taxi driver on the street, the janitor of the building, the one who sits next to you in the mosque,  the law student or a psychology student. Your concern for calling them to Allah MUST be greater than your desire to receive any benefit from them. Then, if the time comes for you go back to your respective dwellings, or if you go out for da’wah in the local area, the meanings and methods of da’wah will open ever wider for you. However, the one who is not calling to Allah in this phase will never be a true caller to Allah in the next phase. This is so because if the heart is able to delay the concern for da’wah now, then the heart is empty from the reality of da’wah in the first place, this reality being a deep concern. And this deep concern is an action of the heart, and actions of the heart can never be delayed. It is possible to delay buying a piece of clothing, delay reading a book, delay having lunch till dinner time, and delay the Dhuhr payer until ‘Asr time (for the traveler). Hence, the outward affairs of the world (like buying and selling) and the afterlife (i.e. prayer) can be delayed, under certain circumstances. However, the acts of the heart, whether they are worldly or of the afterlife, can never be delayed. It is not possible for a person who loves someone, to say, “I will delay my love for you.” Likewise, da’wah is a deep concern, and is an act of the heart. So if you are able to delay the da’wah, then you were capable of delaying this deep concern, and if you are able to delay this, then you are not a true person of da’wah, you only have the outward form of a da’i (a person of da’wah). From amongst the innovations of the Arabs was that if a person died, the women of the household would be heard wailing, lamenting, and mourning. If the women of the household were few in number, women would be hired to assist in the wailing and lamenting (nawwahah in Arabic). One time, three of these women were hired and brought to the house of the deceased. When they arrived they began their wailing and crying, and the people of the house told them to delay their wailing until the funeral procession passed in front of their house. So when the funeral procession passed by they were told to begin. This was so because they were hired, however, the mother of the one who passed away can never be told to delay her lamenting and crying, because her crying began the moment her son passed away. This is why the Arabs say, “The one rented to wail and lament is not like the one whose only son perished in her lap.” This is why it is necessary that the one calling to Allah must be more concerned, and cry about the deen more intensely, than the mother whose only child perished in her lap. Without this, you will never become a true da’i (caller to Allah). Our societies and the communities of the Muslims in the West are not lacking people who can give speeches and admonitions. In every masjid you will find those who can give the Khutbah and public speeches, yet we do not find the desired results. Societies are not transformed through these admonitions and speeches, because most of these speeches are like the nawwahah (lamentation of the aforementioned hired women), and very, very, very, very few in the Ummah can speak like the mother whose only son perished in her lap. So do not accept to delay the da’wah. This does not mean to neglect your studies, rather, make your studies from your da’wah. We  welcome  you  to  be  a  member  of  our  community. Join our email group, to subscribe send an email to: uwsmuslimsinforce-subscribe@yahoogroups.com The pamaphet made use of the works of Sayyidi Abd al-Qadir Jilani, Imam `Abdullah ibn `Alawi al-Haddad, and As-Sayyid Al-Habib ‘Ali Al-Jifry