Formation, Not Information, Is The Goal of Daʿwah
“We have two hundred thousand subscribers”.
“That clip got half a million views”.
“Imagine how many people received that benefit”.
And we believe in that; we think that is a good signal of reform.
This reminds me of how our parents and grandparents warn us about having too many friends, which eventually turn out to be mostly fake and not real ones. We liked having so many connections because every time we felt we knew someone, and someone knew us and showed a happy face as soon as they saw ours, it felt good. It’s social validation. I have so many friends; I must be good then.
We replaced the goal of friendship, which is to gain companions that help us throughout this life, and so we do to them. A real bond takes time to build.
Our wise elders knew that an abundance of quantity meant quality was taking a serious hit, and it’s a matter of time before things collapse if we are lucky; otherwise, we keep living a hollow experience.
Now, back to the daʿwah: we seem to think the numbers are the answer to the goal, so “how many people saw it” becomes the answer, and “what happened to them” gets neglected.
There is a difference between information reaching a person and formation happening inside one.
Information is just the initial phase; there’s still formation waiting to be cared for.
You
could think of information as planting the seed, but plants require
care and maintenance while their fragile leaves reveal themselves to the
world.
This is especially true today, since information can happen in seconds, and in many formats (clips, quote cards, reels, whatever…).
This increase in quantity, as we mentioned before, means quality will take a hit, and so formation takes longer, much longer.
Formation requires returning again and again; it withers if nurtured passively.
See
how some people brush their hair every day and choose the most fitting
products for it; they do so because they realize combing it once doesn’t
mean it will stay like that.
“But we post regularly; isn’t that combing it every day?“.
No, that’s combing random hair strands we find outside, and every day we comb different hair. Sure, we’re combing, but it’s not our hair; it’s not hair we can keep an eye on and customize our efforts for its needs.
The people who could say that are teachers who have students under their wing, not us, random people shouting to the whole world through a few centimeters of glass.
You cannot scroll your way into that special relationship, and that cumulative effect.
This “reach” argument assumes that reaching someone is the same as affecting them, but that’s only as true as someone randomly pouring water, witnessing a plant growing between rocks, and then using that as proof of correctness.
What is “to benefit“?
To benefit is to gain value in your own life, and as a Muslim, our existence has a single purpose:
[56 :الذاريات] { وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ }
“I did not create jinn and mankind except to worship Me“.
What is “to worship“?
It is any act or saying that Allah loves, and it can be the acts that most people think of, such as prayer and fasting, but it is also anything that Allah loves, like smiling and being polite and just; all of it.
Based on this, to benefit is to affect these realities and turn them toward fulfilling the only purpose we all have.
That’s a heavy duty, but a heavy responsibility comes with great reward.
Does the quick act of sharing posts fit that equation? No, it’s too quick and light.
We assume the benefit sticks with them and changes their realities. However, humans are too complex for that; they vary in the stage they are in, what their practical lives look like, what they are currently living through, and the struggles and hardships they face. All of that should make us realize that the mere dissemination of information is wishful thinking.
Something that has no ground to land in passes through. It might feel good for a moment, the same way we appreciate a tree while we are going 100KM/H on a highway. But if it speaks to no real situation, no actual gap in someone’s practice, no struggle they are already inside, then how can we expect it to land? People will move on to the next thing.
Picture someone holding a phone and forming multiple facial expressions, from anger to happiness, to sorrow, all within a single minute. Is that genuine emotion? Or just a mirage?
Is there a precedent we could learn from?
Of course there is: humans love patterns, and this shows how disconnected we are from our predecessors, those Allah commanded us to pray for and follow:
لِلْفُقَرَاءِ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ الَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا مِن دِيَارِهِمْ وَأَمْوَالِهِمْ يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانًا وَيَنصُرُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الصَّادِقُونَ (8) وَالَّذِينَ تَبَوَّءُوا الدَّارَ وَالْإِيمَانَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِي صُدُورِهِمْ حَاجَةً مِّمَّا أُوتُوا وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ ۚ وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ (9) وَالَّذِينَ جَاءُوا مِن بَعْدِهِمْ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلِإِخْوَانِنَا الَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِالْإِيمَانِ وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِي قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِّلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ (10) [الحشر: 8-10]
[8] For the poor emigrants who were expelled from their homes and their properties, seeking bounty from Allah and [His] approval and supporting Allah and His Messenger, [there is also a share]. Those are the truthful.
[9] And [also for] those who were settled in al-Madinah and [adopted] the faith before them. They love those who emigrated to them and find not any want in their chests of what the emigrants were given but give [them] preference over themselves, even though they are in privation. And whoever is protected from the stinginess of his soul - it is those who will be the successful.
[10] And [there is a share for] those who came after them, saying, “Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in faith and put not in our hearts [any] resentment toward those who have believed. Our Lord, indeed You are Kind and Merciful”.
Allah, Exalted is He, affirmed that they are truly faithful, not mere Muslims who might or might not be true believers. It’s an immense testimony that only Allah can inform us about.
{وَمَن يُشَاقِقِ ٱلرَّسُولَ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ ٱلۡهُدَىٰ وَيَتَّبِعۡ غَيۡرَ سَبِيلِ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِۦ مَا تَوَلَّىٰ وَنُصۡلِهِۦ جَهَنَّمَۖ وَسَآءَتۡ مَصِيرًا} [النساء: 115]
“And whoever opposes the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows other than the way of the believers - We will give him what he has taken and drive him into Hell, and evil it is as a destination”.
Notice how He, Exalted is He, did not suffice to mention the Messenger, which would have been enough, but instead added another check: the way of the believers.
Who are these people? Read the previous āyāt again. It’s those whom Allāh informed us are true believers: the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them. The people Allah chose to carry the message after His Prophet died. That’s an immense responsibility, which indicates their immense status. Isn’t that…just beautiful?
Al-imām Sufyān ath-Thawrī’s mother advised him not to care how much he had written, but whether it showed in how he walked, in his forbearance, in his composure. That’s a simple application of “quality over quantity“.
Al-imām al-Albānī, when asked how a knowledge seeker should begin, said: by priority, by what is most obligatory and relevant to him in his life.
The same goes for real daʿwah work, which we turned into mere broadcast instead of a process of cultivation.
How did we fall for this?
Let’s make an analogy: two people communicating through a tin-can telephone, and someone comes between them, cuts the wire, places a tin-can on each end, and then emits messages of his own making back to the other side.
This is what the current digital world is. Social platforms intercept the message and package it with metrics and polish, which makes both parties believe there is more impact than there actually is.
This reminds me of how people speak on LinkedIn.
And sure, this was also possible face-to-face (i.e., yes-men), but the digital world amplified it beyond control; it stripped the physical indicators and gave everyone a platform to speak from.
Let’s compare that to how the Prophet ﷺ called people to Islam. We know he had proximity and familiarity; he knew his people, and he had personal relationships with many of them, and that is even more evident if we look at the first people to accept Islam: his wife Khadījah, his best friend Abu Bakr, and his cousin Ali, may Allah be pleased with them all.
That’s how he started: he sat with them, and they sat with him. His mere presence helped shape them over time.
His Companions learned Islam bit by bit, and they had him, the best teacher ever. You also probably know they learned ten āyāt at a time, which is the opposite of the huge load of information we have today.
See now where the mother of Sufyān got her wisdom from? She was connected to the way of the believers.
What’s even more impressive (if we are humble enough to accept it) is that ten āyāt are way too much for us. This is clear to anyone familiar with how many meanings scholars could extract from a single āyah. It’s short on the surface level, but the depths are bottomless.
The Companions realized this and understood that’s how formation works: you can only absorb what you have soil for, and the soil is your current life, your current needs, your current struggles.
Those people changed civilizations, but only after they changed themselves.
They physically demonstrated that quality is better than quantity in battle: three hundred were victorious over a thousand, and a thousand over three thousand.
One might say: But the Prophet ﷺ also sent letters to the kings of his time, and they were just letters, not cultivation.
That’s a good observation; however, notice that the condition mentioned is knowing that the information lands where it could grow. When the Prophet ﷺ messaged these kings, he knew they had the knowledge to understand everything they needed to make a decision, as is evident by their reactions, and especially Hiraql, the Great One of the Romans, and an-Najāshī of al-Ḥabashah, who accepted Islam.
Today, we suffer from deep ignorance; we can’t unpack the context of comprehensive statements.
Also, notice how he sent it to the kings and didn’t send letters to everyone repeatedly. That is very different, see?
Are platforms worthless then?
Not at all.
What I mean is that the metric is wrong.
We should not measure daʿwah by how many people saw something, because that means nothing.
Instead, let’s ask ourselves: Did it settle in anyone? Did it find its way quietly into the fabric of how they act?
How do I know that? That’s a different topic, but the short answer is: it starts from within. Build yourself first, and the road will then be more visible.
Don’t rely on someone’s device registering its view because the pixels on its screen displayed the content.
Daʿwah is not distribution.
We just fell into the trap of social media. A system made by greedy people to kill our attention spans, promote fast-paced content, and milk our pockets.