Dāʿī

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The Dāʿī or Dāʿiya ( Arabic الداعي ، الداعية 'Der Rufer', plural دعاة / ad-duʿāt ) is a person who practices Daʿwa , i.e. who calls for the Islamic faith or a certain Islamic teaching, whereby this can also be connected with a political claim. Such missionaries played a particularly important role in the history of the Ismaili movement. Nowadays, different types of Islamic preachers who appear in mosques or on television are called Duʿāt. There are sometimes very different ideas about the qualifications required.

Role of the Dāʿī among the Ismailis

Among the Ismailis from the end of the 9th century a Dāʿī had both the role of a missionary who won new followers and proclaimed the Ismaili secret doctrine to the chosen ones, as well as that of a political agent. Together with the expected Mahdi, the Ismailis ultimately wanted to overthrow the ruling Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad . Because of their intent to overthrow, the Dāʿīs had to act conspiratorially; in the cities they camouflaged themselves e.g. B. as merchants. The Ismaili Fatimids created a propaganda organization for their mission. The network of missionaries provided information from all over the Islamic world. After the establishment of the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt, the Ismaili mission was organized very systematically, with an upper Dāʿī at its head. An inner mission was addressed to the Sunnis in Egypt; they were the Shia not imposed doctrine, but you campaigned for a conversion. In every provincial capital, a Dāʿī worked alongside the judge. The outer mission continued to work conspiratorially. The government was able to stir up unrest in other countries through the Dāʿīs and thus had an instrument of foreign policy. The Ismailis of the Mustaʿlite branch are still led by an upper Dāʿī.

The Dāʿī in modern Islam

In today's Islamic understanding, a Dāʿī or Dāʿiya is someone who brings people closer to Islam and calls them to faith. The legal scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi , who worked in Qatar , wrote on the occasion of the first international Daʿwa conference in Medina in February 1977, a treatise entitled Ṯaqāfat ad-dāʿiya ("The formation of the Dāʿiya"), in which he dealt with the various educational requirements that a a believing Muslim must have in order to be able to do successful missionary work. He emphasized that the Dāʿiya must have a "real education " ( ṯaqāfa wāqiʿīya ) in addition to the various Islamic sciences . This includes knowledge of the “reality of the Islamic world” ( wāqiʿ al-ʿālam al-islāmī ), the “reality of global anti-Islamic forces” ( wāqiʿ al-quwā al-ʿālamīya al-muʿādiya li-l-islām ), the “Reality of contemporary religions” ( wāqiʿ al-adyān al-muʿāṣir ) and other “realities”.

The Islamic Youth Movement of Malaysia ABIM also outlined certain characteristics that a Dāʿī should fulfill in the 1980s. This includes devoting himself entirely to Daʿwa work, while also making sure that he opens up to society and does not withdraw from it. He should be in possession of knowledge ( ʿilm ) and know the milieu in which he practices Daʿwa in order to be able to respond to its ideas. And he should be principled, decisive, and trustworthy. ABIM holds special Daʿwa workshops and seminars to train the Duʿāt.

literature

  • Verena Klemm: Memoirs of a mission: the Ismaili scholar, statesman and poet al-Mu'ayyad fi'l-Dīn al-Shīrāzī . Tauris, London, 2003.
  • Mohammad Nor Monutty: Perception of social change in contemporary Malaysia: A critical analysis of ABIM's role and its impact among Muslim youth . Diss. Temple University 1989. pp. 215-218.
  • Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī : Ṯaqāfat ad-dāʿiya . Muʾassasat ar-Risāla, Beirut, 1978.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinz Halm : The Empire of the Mahdi. The rise of the Fatimids 875–973. CH Beck, Munich 1991, p. 25
  2. ^ Claude Cahen : Der Islam I , Frankfurt am Main 1968, p. 262
  3. ↑ Heinz Halm: Die Schia , Darmstadt 1988, p. 211f.
  4. ↑ Cf. al-Qaraḍāwī: Ṯaqāfat ad-dāʿiya . 1978, pp. 140-149.
  5. ↑ See Monutty: Perception of social change in contemporary Malaysia 1989. pp. 215f.
  6. ↑ See Monutty: Perception of social change in contemporary Malaysia 1989. pp. 216f.
  7. ↑ See Monutty: Perception of social change in contemporary Malaysia 1989. pp. 216f.
  8. ↑ See Monutty: Perception of social change in contemporary Malaysia 1989. p. 217.