The Importance of Persuading People to Good

The Importance of Persuading People to Good

by Nisaar Y. Nadiadwala on Friday, August 12, 2011 at 2:59pm

Many readers  have been asking me.. How do you manage to write so effectively that  many of your readers agree with you ?I tell them.. my writings are basically persuading people to adopt Islamic values. It is not that they agree with my writings but it is rather the other way.. it is I who write on  issues what people already agree with but they could not express it so I express on their behalf. For example getting married by 21, which young practicing Muslims would disagree ? But I present it in a persuading manner.

   Writing to promote good values or persuade readers or people to discard evil is like sales... keep on presenting it in one or other style..keep persuading people even if they put you off. Be tolerant, patient and keep going. If you notice the headlines on my notes, they are my ad copies to attract readers to enter my shop (my mind)  and be attentive to what I present from different perspective and I wind up asking them to implement the values I showed them. Alhamdolillaah most of them agree because they already agreed  before reading my notes. My notes just persuaded  them to air their agreements .

   We all are persuading others or being persuaded by others. A child persuades his parents for ice creams chocolates and toys.. the parents persuade the child to take up good habits and study properly.....The religious teachers persuade us to do good.. and shaytan persuade us to do evil..Each have their own ways and methods. Infact shaytan has challenged that he will persuade mankind till the day of Qiyamah. He never gives up till we die.

   Every time you read the Qur'an it keeps on encouraging your to do good and abstain from evil and that is why there are stories and advices repeated in the Qur'an as a reminder but even then while promoting the same Qur'an through implementing its teachings many of us give up half the way. Many of  us are not good persuaders when it comes in promoting the values of Quran in the Qur'anic terminology. Refer to the last verse of Surah al e Imran ch 3 : fasbiroo was-saabiroo...be patient and keep patience...continuously...When you are persuading a person to stop smoking or be regular in prayers don't give up after a few efforts. No one can persuade you to give up except yourself, as the sahih Hadith says : Allah keeps on accepting the supplications of a believer as long he does not think that his supplications are not being accepted... in other words he gives up ...

 Are we persuading with a real intensity ? Do we really use our persuading skills to improve and correct people's creed, behaviour heretic ideolgoies upto our potentials? Observe the salesman selling bananas or tomatoes. Those are perishable goods and must be sold by the day end. Observe his persuading skills when he does not want his costumer to go without buying. He pleads, he is soft, tolerant to your criticism....but will the same salesman   be persuading with the same intensity of patience  upon knowing that his friend is into some haram? Persuading skills if implemented in life can also cool down many fights between spouses as well

   Now  let us put ourselves under that hat of that banana seller and check how strongly we persuade people when we try to stop them from haram or invite them to good..

Nisaar Nadiadwala speaks and writes on socio-educational issues from Islamic viewpoint. He canbe reached at mnisaar@gmail.com

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