Quora Answer: What Methods Do Contemporary Muslims Use to Convert Non-Muslims to Islam?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “What methods do contemporary Muslims use to convert non-Muslims to Islam?  Also, what methods did the first Muslims use to convert non-Muslims to Islam?  Are the two methods the same?” 

In the early days of Islam, in the time of the Prophet (s.a.w.), people were attracted to him by his good character and beautiful manners.  The Arabs called him the best amongst them before he was Revealed to be the Prophet (s.a.w.).  And the people who followed, the first converts, all inherited those qualities. 

The Muslims subscribed to a concept called futuwwah, which is what later evolved into what we now knows as the code of chivalry.  It came to the Christians through encounters with Muslim farisan, knights, in al-Andalus which is what Spain and Portugal; and of course, in interactions during the Crusades.  When the Muslims ruled the lands of the Byzantine and Persian empires after conquest, people converted for various reasons, from lower taxation, to religious conviction to political advancement since the ruling elite were mainly Muslim. 

In the current age, there are Muslim groups that engage in what they consider to be da’wah, proselytisation.  The Wahhabi groups use a method of argumentation that involves pointing out the scientific miracles of the Qur’an, specious arguments involving logic and carefully placed questions to create doubt.  This tends to work against the weak minded.  Whilst they do tend to get converts, which they then parade like some sort of trophy through social media and other means, the recidivism rate is also extraordinarily high. 

There are Sufi groups that practice the old traditional open policy that creates jidzbah, attraction, through the simple beauty of the spiritual practices and their akhlaq, behaviour.  But the purpose of their spiritual practices are not for the purposes of attracting converts.  They are simply another path for spiritual seekers.  Many of the people who come to Islam through other means gravitate here eventually.  And those who come to Islam through this tend to stay.