JEDDAH, 20 November — Khaled Al-Rumaih, director of the Islamic Education Foundation (IEF) in Alhamra, has highlighted his organization’s role in disseminating the divine message of Islam among non-Muslim expatriate workers in Jeddah and educating Muslims about their own religion.
Marking the occasion of IEF’s annual festival, scheduled to be held at the conference hall of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Nov. 25, he said: “We tell non-Muslims about the magnanimity and graciousness of our religion, Islam, in an appealing and convincing manner.”
About 2,200 expatriates, especially Filipinos, Indians, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis and Eritreans have embraced Islam thanks to the efforts of IEF’s volunteers. The newly reverted Muslims also include Americans, Europeans and other nationalities.
The IEF, which is supervised by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Propagation and Guidance and supported by Saudi businessmen and philanthropists, is one of the most active dawa organizations in the city.
“Dawa is part of us” is the theme of this year’s annual festival, which will be opened by Jeddah Governor Prince Mishaal ibn Majed. The event will spotlight IEF’s achievements and future programs.
“We take care of the newly reverted Muslims, by providing them with Islamic education. We also arrange Umrah and Haj trips for them,” Rumaih said.
The IEF organizes Islamic lectures at prisons and hospitals, participates in traffic and security awareness campaigns as well as tourism festivals. More than 145,000 people benefited by its summer camp at the old airport this year.
The Caravan of Goodness is one of IEF’s programs. It is sort of a mobile dawa unit, which visits the Corniche and other major commercial centers where people gather in large numbers. People are asked questions related to religion and culture and given prizes.
Dr. Zakir Naik, director of the Bombay-based Islamic Research Foundation and a well-known dawa worker, recently visited IEF’s office in Alhamra and held discussions with senior IEF officials and dawa workers on how to propagate Islam among non-Muslims effectively.
“Naik also spoke about an international dawa training course conducted by his foundation,” a press statement said. He said dawa workers could reach perfection through practice. Naik, a successful debater, said he went for debates with prominent Christian and Hindu scholars well prepared to answer any possible questions.
Answering a question, Naik said that different methods could be adopted for dawa, depending on the person whom you are approaching. He said that there are 20 most common questions raised against Islam and Muslims throughout the world. A successful dawa worker must learn to answer those questions.
Naik revealed his foundation’s plan to publish a book giving answers to 10 of those most common questions in detail.
