Page 256 - Quranic Wisdom - New.indd

The Importance of an Intellectual Audience

the whole of the Arabian Peninsula. This strategy worked. First,
the best minds of Makkah embraced Islam, then after a period of
some years, the whole of Arabia entered the fold of Islam. This
fact is indirectly referred to in the Quran, in the chapter Al-Nasr
(Help): “When God’s help and victory come, and you see people
entering God’s religion in multitudes.” (110:1-3)
The second aspect of this approach is that it is extremely
useful for a dai, that is, a preacher. When you do dawah work
with an intellectual or an educated person, your knowledge will
be enhanced. From ordinary people you will receive little in
the way of intellectual stimulation, but intellectuals will always
present you with different kinds of challenges. They raise the
kind of questions, which start off a re-thinking process.

According to the Quranic account, all of the prophets
invariably addressed the intelligentsia of their time.
Their first target was the people of intellect.

Wherever there is a challenge, there is development. This
formula applies likewise to dawah work. When a dai faces an
intellectual challenge, he is bound to inquire, to re-think, to
study more and more, to prepare his mind afresh. This starts a
process of intellectual development—as a matter of compulsion
rather than by choice.
The most important human achievement is intellectual
development. Without this, a man is reduced to the level of an
animal. The obvious importance of intellectual development is
in itself enough to prove that the best way to proceed with dawah
work is to start with the intelligentsia. The saying that things are
known by their result applies equally to the method of dawah.

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