Al-Qalam 
Individuals or organizations working on their own, can do only so much, but as a collective with a common purpose, the sky’s the limit, writes an Al-Qalam Correspondent.
Four powerful Dawah bodies in South Africa have joined forces to work towards the common goal of effectively propagating the message of Islam to all people in the country and beyond.
The informal cooperative dawah collaboration between the Central Islamic Trust (CIT), the National Awqaf Foundation of South Africa (AWQAFSA), Suleiman Nana Memorial Trust (SNMT) the Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI) and Al Jumu’ah International magazine was recently solidified by the establishment of a dawah and Islamic centre at the CIT offices in Johannesburg.
Since the latter part of 2019, these organisations have, through the facilitation of Akhtar Thokan – a long-standing player in dawah – jointly and separately printed and distributed more than a quarter million Qurans, trained more than 3000 people on how to give dawah easily, facilitated four Naseeha seminars, motivational lectures, the online teaching of more than 2000 people and more than 400 people embracing Islam.
This is seen as a groundbreaking collaboration between the four diverse organisations – with different core aims and objectives but with a common purpose of advancing Islam.
“This has “clearly demonstrated the heights Muslims can reach in a short period when they choose cooperation over antagonism”, said Akhtar Thokan the collaboration facilitator and project director.
“There is only so much we can do as individuals or organizations working in isolation but as a collective with a commonality of purpose, the sky is the limit in terms of what we can do and the level of our reach.”
“Regarding the 275 000 Quran printing and distribution, the Quran4Soul legacy project is driven by our burning desire for every Muslim household in South Africa, to at the very least, have a copy of the Quran from which they can benefit.
“No Muslim should be excluded. We hope to ensure that Muslims who can read Arabic have a copy of the Arabic Quran, those who can’t read Arabic have a copy of a transliterated, readable Quran which will enable them to memorize verses of the Quran for prayer and spiritual growth. Furthermore, we aspire to avail translated copies of the Quran and other literature in languages that people of other faiths understand in order to facilitate for a better understanding of Islam” he added.
Apart from the Qurans that are freely available to Muslims, substantial efforts were made to avail Qurans in English, Chichewa, IsiZulu, Chichewa, Sesotho and isiXhosa to people of other faiths as some people enter Islam solely by reading the Quran, according to dawah team member, Abdurrahman Mora Nkokoto.
“Research evidences that many people worldwide are becoming Muslims just by reading translated copies of the Quran. I personally became Muslim after I read an English translation of the Quran. Likewise, I know many people who reverted to Islam by simply reading the Quran in a language they understand, that is why it is absolutely imperative that translated copies are made available to people of other faiths so that they can interact with the primary source of Islam in order to counter the false narratives about Muslims and Islam” he said
Dawah Training
Apart from the Quran printing and distribution initiative, the collaborative effort between the organisations has ensured that more than 3010 people were trained on how to give dawah easily and effectively by means of 1 or 2 days dawah training workshops.
In addition to the dawah training workshops, and in the interest of tarbiyah, the collaboration brought about the establishment of revert classes at the SMNT centre to cater for people whose hearts were recently reconciled to Islam as well as Muslims who never got the opportunity to learn how to read the Quran and learn essential Islamic tenets.
What can be described as arguably the finest achievement of the collaboration is the fact that , despite the lockdowns and the restrictions on movement and interpersonal interactions, more than 400 people from across South Africa and Lesotho have become Muslim through Public lectures , Open Mosque Days, Street dawah efforts and one on one presentations facilitated by the cooperating institutions.
“The co-operation between the seemingly different Islamic organisations in the interest of dawah has benefited many Muslims from different social and economic backgrounds but a lot still needs to be done. We hope to do much more with the continued support of the four organisations as well as the support of the Muslim community at large” he said.
Organisations and individuals who wish to be part of the dawah collaboration or avail support via the contributing of resources or alternatively volunteering their time may contact the projector director on 082 924 9221.
