Hundreds of dawah practitioners gathered in Leicester yesterday for the National Dawah Convention which aimed to coordinate efforts to invite non-Muslims in Britain to Islam.
Organised by the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA), Muslim organisations from across the UK attended this inaugural convention to network, share knowledge and strategise on spreading Islam effectively.
The event featured over 100 organisations, with stalls showcasing their work and discussions on effective dawah methods.
iERA trustee Saqib Sattar addressed the attendees, highlighting the rise of Islamophobia and far-right narratives in the UK. Despite these challenges, he emphasised the opportunity to reframe the narrative and invite people to Islam.
He said: “I want you to imagine we have a situation where we have hundreds of community groups, masasjid, dawah organisations engaging in impactful and effective dawah on a consistent basis. Where the dawah is flourishing and where the new Muslims are coming to Islam and they are thriving. Imagine the impact that would have. Potentially it could be transformational.
“Brothers and sisters, this is what this convention is about. It is about a vision for dawah in the UK. This convention we hope is a new beginning of a national movement to equip Muslims as individuals and as part of their communities with the tools, with the conviction to convey Islam, to invite all non-Muslims to la ilaha illallah.”
The convention included keynote speeches, panel discussions, and hands-on workshops, all focused on enhancing dawah skills.
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Influential figures in the Muslim dawah community, including Ali Dawah, Adnan Rashid, Yusuf Chambers, Hamza Tzortzis, and IERA’s CEO Subboor Ahmed were among the attendees.
Founded in 2009 by the world-renowned preacher, Shaykh Abdurraheem Green, iERA has converted 201,288 people to Islam across over 100 countries last year.
In his speech, Shaykh Green stressed that effective dawah primarily relies on speech, not just actions.
He underscored that dawah is a “prophetic mission” that transforms individuals, families and communities.
Shaykh Green said: “Primarily, dawah is going to be through speech. Yes, manners are important but do you seriously think in this country that if you behave nicely and you show good manners, people are going to look at it and say, ‘oh wow, I want to become Muslim.’ Sorry to be brutal, if they see you behaving nicely, they will say, ‘oh look, those people came back from their primitive lands and they came to the West and learned how to behave.’ They will attribute your good manners to themselves, that you learned it from our civilisation.
“I’m not saying manners are not important. They are absolutely important. But they’re not the primary way of giving dawah. The primary way is going to be through speech, through talking.”
Meanwhile, in his speech, iERA’s Yusuf Chambers likened dawah to saving souls from the hellfire.
“Dawah is love, unifying human hearts, and reaching out with the best speech to guide people away from disbelief, idolatry, and worshipping false deities,” he said. “Through dawah, we become the best nation, inviting others to the truth.
“And this is our mission mission – reaching out to them and remonstrating with them in the best possible way, with the best possible speech, and then we become the best nation and an example to all other nations inviting our brothers and sisters away from kufr away from shirk, away from worshipping trees, from worshipping themselves, worshipping statues and icons.”
