Da'wah

Hijab opens with the ethic of ongoing reward: building a masjid and enabling worship, learning, and shahada generates continuing benefit after death through downstream good deeds done in that space. This frames Islam not only as a truth-claim system but as a civilization-building program with cumulative social and spiritual impact.

Shaykh Uthman ibn Farooq introduces himself from Louisville, Kentucky, in the South Bible Belt. He and his team came to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary — the biggest Baptist Bible University in America — and challenged all professors and Bible scholars to a debate. Twenty of them accepted. The challenge is designed to demonstrate that the Islamic case for prophethood and biblical criticism can stand up to scrutiny from multiple opponents simultaneously.

Mary asks whether Muslims actively try to convert people, given the history of Christian proselytizing. Uthman confirms: yes, in Islam we share the message — this is called dawah. But nobody can be forced to become Muslim. The Quran states: there is no compulsion in religion. Uthman gives the historical example: Muslims ruled India for many hundreds of years and ruled Spain (Al-Andalus) for centuries. During all of this time, Christians, Jews, and Hindus lived there freely under Islamic rule — because forced conversion is not permitted. This is in contrast to what happened during the Spanish Inquisition, where religious coercion was practiced. Islamic dawah is an invitation, not a compulsion.