Dawah+Committee

=Purpose & Goal=

//[What is the purpose and objective of this committee? How does this fit into the larger purpose of the MSA? etc.]//

//The purpose of the MSA Dawah Committee is to educate the campus community about Islam and to provide reminders to ourselves as Muslims about our deen. As the representative body of Muslims on campus, it is essential that we do our part in letting the community know what Islam teaches.//

"Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best. Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who has strayed from His way, and He is most knowing of who is [rightly] guided." (16:125)

=Structure=

//[How is the committee structured? What are the different positions on the committee? Are there any sub-committees? What are the responsibilities of the committee head? What are the responsibilities of the Cabinet-Liaison? What are the responsibilities of each sub-committee (if applicable)? How is responsibility distributed amongst general committee members? How often did the committee meet? How did the members communicate outside of meetings?]//

The Dawah Committee (D.C.) has a committee head who then chooses the setup of the rest of committee. In the past, individuals were assigned as sub-leaders of certain aspects of the committee (Dawah Table, Outreach, etc.) in some years, while in other years the committee head took responsibility of all D.C. efforts while giving the opportunity for all members to participate in the decision making process.

The Committee typically meets once a week. A google group was also established for email communication outside of meetings. The Cabinet-Liaison is responsible for keeping good communication between the Cabinet and D.C. If the D.C. would like to host an event, the Cabinet Liaison would be responsible for presenting the idea and getting Cabinet Approval. The Cabinet Liaison would also be responsible for guiding the committee head in the reservations process where needed (ex. reserving tables outside of Stamp for Dawah Table, reserving rooms for events, informing the head of Stamp/Campus policies such as food).

The Committee can be broken up into two categories: "Internal Dawah" and "External Dawah."

=Methods=

//[Describe how the committee achieved its previously outlined goals. Were there any events, activities, initiatives planned by the committee? (Link to the appropriate Wiki page).]//


 * Internal Dawah** efforts include any projects lead by D.C. for Muslims (particularly members of the MSA). This has included posting //Hadith of the Week// in the Musallah, hosting an Eid Dinner, the //Images of Truth// project and giving out pamphlets on how to pray salah. In the past, D.C. also established a buddy system for new Muslims to be paired with a buddy from the committee.


 * External Dawah** efforts were all efforts to educate non-Muslims on campus about Islam. This included semesterly dawah events such as Fast-a-thon, What is Islam?, Islam 101, and Discover Islam. In addition, D.C. also hosts a weekly Dawah Table in which we offer to answer questions anyone may have about Islam, pass out information pamphlets about Islam, pass out translations of the Quran, and more. Other external dawah efforts include class presentations about Islam to University classes, presentations and participation with Interfaith Council, and a section of the MSA website entitled "About Islam."


 * Dawah table**
 * A better introductory question is "Do you know anything about Islam?" rather than the more common, "Are you interested in Islam?". Do not lose the floor to the guest. If you have to ask a question of clarification then do not make it open ended. "Do you believe Jesus is the son of God?" is better than "Can you explain your religious beliefs?"
 * Try to tie everything you say back to the most important message in Islam: Tawhid. Do not go out to dispel the misconceptions about Islam as that would put things in peoples' minds that were not there before.
 * If you do not have an answer to a question, do not make something up. Just say you do not know, take their contact info, and say you will get back to them. You can ask someone of knowledge and get back to them later. Do not waste time arguing with those who come to the table just for the sake of arguing.
 * Have a sign-up sheet and assign people to follow up on new people.

=Review=

//[Reflect on the outcome of the committee. Did it achieve its goals? Why or why not? Was the plan executed correctly? Why or why not? What might have been changed in the// plan? Was the planning process effective? //Why or why not? Was the communication between member effective? Was the committee structure effective? What improvements would you have made (in general)?]//

The Committee was able to achieve it's goals but not to the extent with which we would have liked. There is always room for improvement. A few issues encountered were getting a set of committed members who would consistently contribute to D.C. efforts, finding a time where a majority of the members could meet, planning for projects last minute, and planning projects in the midst of many other MSA events.

Subcommittees are highly recommended for the coming year. There should still be one Committee Head, but the tasks should be distributed in such a way that responsibility does not fall on just one person. One person should be in charge of Dawah Table, one in charge of Hadith of the Week, etc. and all these subcommittee heads should be under the supervision of the D.C. Head.

Simple, but key tasks should be done as early as possible. We did not have Dawah Table for two weeks because we were late in reserving tables. We also had less than two weeks of advertising time for Discover Islam because we were late in booking speakers and rooms. These task will make things runs a lot more smoothly. It would also be useful to create an email message template for inviting people to events, thanking people for stopping by the Dawah Table, and offering presentations to professors/instructors.

Meetings should also be made more interactive. Some of the time can be use for planning, but it would be useful to use meeting time to watch dawah videos, do practice dawah situations, etc.

We began working on a "Commonly Asked/Difficult Questions" Gdoc for Dawah Table. Please continue this and ask a local scholar for feedback/approval.