May Allah help everyone who is involved in the work of da’wa, ameen.

What advice would you have for someone who is active in da’wah, and having a hard time with praise/compliments? If you are say “the face” of some youth da’wah group and people are constantly tell you how good you are, etc.

I’m fearing riyya’ and, as a sister, the attention makes me even more uncomfortable.

SubhanAllah that is a great story sister HanoonaMuslimah. May Allah fill our hearts with iman and amal of the righteous people. May Allah reward all you people.

I just wanted to add that I think the best dawa is done by shwing a good example. Live our lives in curtousy to our non-Muslim bretheren so that they can see how Islam can make them a better person.

I have an example I think I heard this story from Siddi Osama Cannon about a man he knows….

There was an older non-Muslim couple who’s love for eachother had faded long ago. They stopped sharing a room, and virtually the only bond that was holding their marriage was their kids. They both felt they had a moral obligation to stay together until death, living in a civil manner towards eachother (but with no love) in order to keep the family together.

One day the man in his late 50′s was walking his dog through a park and there was a group of Muslim brothers having a picnic on the grass. The Muslims saw him watching them and they invited him to come eat with them. Because the man was one of these eclectic fellows, who loved experiencing new foods and cultures he accepted. And so they all started eating and talking.

The Muslims out of respect and love for eachother were all serving eachother food and putting food for eachother on eachothers plates and feeding eachother, and they did not spare the non-Muslim of this hospitality. So the non-Muslim man asked what the significance of serving eachother was. The Muslims replied, “We feed eachother because it increases the love we have for eachother.”

The man that night contemplated on this, and the next meal with his wife, he turned off the TV and fed her her entire meal. She was very pleasantly surprised. From then on, he made it an effort at every meal to feed her. Her happiness increased with time and she began feeding him back.

Sobhanallah this simple act ended up rekindling all the love and romance they had for eachother in their lives and their marriage was happier than it ever was. After a time, the wife asked her husband, “What made you decide to feed me that day?” And to which he told her the story of the Muslims he had had lunch with. She said, “Imagine if this one detail of Islam has brought so much joy and good into our lives, imagine what Islam can do for the rest of our lives?” And so they converted together MashALlah and they now live out their lives as happy Muslims.

So, this is just to show you that for some people they don’t need proof, they don’t need doctrine, they may not even need explanations… just a simple kind word, a smile, a friend… something to show them how they too can find happiness with the gift of Islam.

Akhtukum fel Deen
Zawjat AbdulRahman