Adeel Malik
On 20th August, 2016 (Saturday), Muslim Council of Hong Kong collaborated with iERA to represent the World Dawah Mission on the streets in Hong Kong. It was the biggest Dawah event ever to be held worldwide with more than 150 countries involved.
Muslim Council of Hong Kong then invited and further collaborated with four other Islamic societies in Hong Kong, namely Serving Islam Team Hong Kong, Discover Islam Hong Kong, Helpers of Islam Group Hong Kong and Muslim Students Association of University of Hong Kong. In total, there were three camps set up including Tsim Sha Tsui, Central and Shelley Masjid.
Nearly 50 Muslims came together, men and women, children and old, to give out flyers and converse with people of all faiths about Islam. Nearly 100 copies of the Qur’ān in English and Chinese were given out along with other materials.
When Non-Muslims were asked what comes to their mind when they think about Islam, the responses were – “About God”, “Islam is misunderstood” and “I’ve seen Christians on the streets but I’ve never seen Muslims, so it’s great work that you are doing.”.
Such statements and the overall positive response of the campaigns only encourage the Muslims more to spread the message of Islam on a regular basis.
On the day, two Christian Filipino women embraced Islam in Hong Kong after they stopped by at the stall.
One said:
I always used to go to the Church and think God always sent messengers and Prophets like Moses and Abraham, so why did He send a son like Jesus. So after speaking with the Muslims here it became clear my belief is like theirs –
Jesus was a Prophet and so I accepted Islam.
The other sister said:
My understanding of Islam has always been positive but I always thought I’m not ready to be a Muslim yet.
I was quite scared about my family and the society how they will view me. But today I just felt it was right to become a Muslim and so I did.
Another highlight of the event in Hong Kong was that nearly at the end of the day, an atheist Chinese student stopped at the stall to check what was going on.
She was given the copy of the Qur’ān in English by one Muslim, and then another Muslim took the opportunity to converse with her. He asked her what’s her beliefs and then explained Islam to her using the GORAP (God Oneness Revelations and Prophethood) technique.
She stood there totally focused and just kept listening for nearly an hour. At some points it can be seen she was almost in tears at what she was hearing. She asked about sensitive topics like homosexuality and terrorism too. Again she understood the logic presented to her. She said:
I’m a young journalist. I must say I’ve been truly inspired by what I’ve just heard. I will indeed read the Qur’ān. I would also like to write about this amazing event to tell Hong Kong people what you all are doing.
No doubt the importance of spreading the message of Islam is a duty upon every Muslim in every field. It doesn’t need you to be an expert in Islam nor a scholar or Imam. You just need to know the basics – One Allah, Many Messengers, One Message.
So go and do Dawah at work, in school, with your family and your friends. One of the saddest thing to hear is when Non-Muslims say they have Muslim friends but I’ve never known what Islam really is. Do the Dawah.
