Presenting Dakwah in Multi Racial Surrounding

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah..
May this post is with you in the best of health, Insya Allah.

This is my first post in English language. May it helps to people who finds it hard to understand dakwah term in Malay or Arabic, and for others, it never hurts to learn a new language. Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him (pbuh) once said; “Learn other languages, so that you would not be cheated by others.” Languages can broaden our thinking and also our perspective to the world.

Presently at INTEC Shah Alam, where I am currently studying at, I find myself under an array of new situation. The mix of different races (Malay, Chinese and Indian), different ethnics (Melayu Banjar, Java, Iban and Kadazandusun) and even nationality (there is an Iranian girl, German and Japanese lecturers). This is completely new for me, as I have been in an all-Malay boarding school for 5 years before. I’m taking a few months of grace period before I can completely blends in with the people here.


The environment here is very much not like SDAR, my former school. Back then, 99.9% were Malays (>0.1% are Bumiputra, but not Malay), and if you say Malay, then of course they are a Muslim. It is not a problem to talk about Islam openly, recite Al-Quran in the public, or using Al-Quran or Al-Hadith verses in presentation assignments in class. In INTEC on the other hand, due to the multiracial background of the students, even the Islamic body here are barred from using ‘Islamic’ word on the organization. (It was named PSC instead, stands for Professional Student Society.)

Under these circumstances, if we wanted to continue the dakwah for the Muslims, it is better to resort to “Dakwah Bis-sir” (dakwah in secrecy), like usrah and others, from the opinion of Ust. Azizee Hasan (link). But if we want to try to present dakwah openly, there are also a few ways.

How to present Dakwah openly in multiracial surroundings?

1- Be a total Muslim yourself.
- By showing a good example to our friends, then is hoped that Allah may give them ‘hidayah’ to understand Islam better. Islam is a way of life, and ‘action can talk louder than words.’

2- Use every opportunity to showcase Islam
- In college life, you will always be bombarded with assignments by means of slideshow presentations or paperwork. Here, we can use these to tell other people the truth about Islam, or the current issues surrounding Islam, e.g. Palestine, terrorism-related issues or hijab.

3- Learn more about Islam
- By knowing more about Islam, we are better equipped to deal with questions from the non-Muslim who wishes to know more about Islam. We must know how to answer confidently and correctly. If there is something that we are unsure about, let them know so that we are not telling lies or anything that is not in par with Islam.


There are more that can be done to attract the non-Muslim. Most of them might be different than the others, depending on location or the situation of a particular person is. Sometimes, it seems that dakwah cannot be carried out because of the administration misunderstanding on Islam (or in my case, the AUKU), but we must believe that Allah will always help anyone who helps in His religion.

In Al-Quran, Surah Muhammad verse 7:
“O those who believe! If you help (religion-Islam) Allah, He will always help you back and also strengthen your post.”


Always remember, that leaving dakwah must never be an option. it is not dakwah that needed us, but we, each and everyone of us needed the dakwah.