DAWAH NETWORKING AND EFFECTIVE NETWORKING FOR LIFE IN GENERAL!
Current scenario.
I have observed for years, a severe lack of common sense and simple solutions to various situations.
I’ll mention a few cases to illustrate my point.
A famous Islamic speaker from London, has a big following in real world as well as on social media and has communications apps. But he asks another brother, with considerably less followers and much more unknown compared to the famous speaker, to find a volunteer who can design a poster and so on! Why? Because he doesn’t know how to network or make use of his contacts…!
Another case: A sister has a lot of enthusiasm for Dawah and wants to be involved but for some reason cannot travel far and has limited transportation. Yet she lives in a city, not a village or hamlet! She has all the social media apps at her disposal , is a member of multiple online groups with perhaps thousands of other members, yet will ask. How can I find someone to start something local?
All Because of a lack of networking.
This blog will attempt to give ideas, not just for effective Dawah networking but networking in life generally! Insha’Allah
FACE TO FACE ACTUAL MEET UPS
The best networking is a face to face meet up. Where you could meet as many people as you can either through lunch or coffee. This is a long-term plan. Meet someone, let them see you, see your commitment to them. Over the years, 10 years or so accumulate as many meetups as possible. In the future, these meet ups will come in handy. In this day & age of super online living, it’s actually becoming more and more challenging to meet face to face. So always strive for this.
MULTIPLE SOCIAL MEDIA APPS
Have as many social media accounts and communication Apps. If you want to find a venue for Halaqa or any workshop, you should use your social media for this purpose. We usually use WhatsApp, Facebook etc for statuses just to share a random Hadeeth, Quranic ayah and for other random purposes, so why not use these social media outlets to find a venue?! you actually are not aware of how many contacts you actually have! (who counts this right?!) For instance, you have a 100 contacts on WhatsApp and each contact of yours has 100 other contacts and those 100 have other 100 contacts so potentially you have access to more than thousands of people through a WhatsApp status.
Don’t think too much while updating your status; this can stunt your growth. Be more concerned with your purpose. In order to look incredibly smart sometimes you need to look incredibly stupid so don’t fear!
Here’s an example of how to get a venue for your event:
Check your phone contacts
1 Have a look at each one of your contact in your phone. It could be tedious but results could be amazing. You need to check each of one of your contacts one by one because sometimes we forget simple information. You will definitely find someone who has a venue or they can help you find one.
2 Actually call your contacts. Call! Not sms, not WhatsApp or any other social media communication, but an actual call!
3 After Salam, long time no talk etc. , share your thoughts about how we are working to save people from fitna, striving to make a positive change etc, ask them for a venue for the sake of Allah. And if they are willing to help then Alhumdulilah but if you don’t get what you ask for don’t disconnect the call…
4 Wait for a while and ask them for anyone else whom they know who can help you. There’s no harm in asking!
5 They could ask a friend of a friend of a friend who knows a friend…that knows someone who has a venue! For free! (We have to think positive and always keep to the maxim: “You never know”.
So make tediousness your best friend and absolutely love it!
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” — Herman Cain
Old School Communication:
Write a letter! Old school! This will surprise them and they will be impressed and remember you. People expect an email or a WhatsApp message. But a letter will surprise them, they will, for sure, notice it! And in this age of constant information, the letter will stand out. A letter to appeal to donations from a donor, an invite for a vip to an event, or getting someone away from Islam to a lecture!
Imagine you’re in the 17th Century & your job is to become an effective networking person. Or even in the 80s when all you have are only a home telephone, phone boxes and letters! Think about how you would increase your network and communication then? If you can come up with solutions in that situation then all the modern tools at your disposal are a bonus!
Comment king!
Always make positive comments on pages with large followers. People see your comment and maybe even try to connect with you. Build a reputation of someone who contributes positive comments towards a discussion. Never think you are too important or too big to participate in a Facebook discussion. It could be a question or an observation on something topical. Always contribute positively and write well. People will notice your style and will notice that you contribute positively. You will get noticed and therefore increase your network of friends.
Helping nature :
“Helping others is the way we help ourselves” Oprah Winfrey
Make it your habit to help others in any way you can according to your skills and capacity. This is one of the most powerful ways of expanding network. You are not supposed to spend many hours on it or engage in long-term commitments, keep it simple and purposeful.
It will allow you to connect with new people and different organizations. It will help you boost social skills, making more friends and contact the people with common interest. It also helps you to explore your talent, passion and interest.
So what are you waiting for? Step forward, consider your Dawah goal, look around, reach and help! Opportunities will find you eventually.
Calling people randomly, for no reason!
We are living in times when the only time we call someone is if we need something. We need a favour, or we need to consult with them about something they specialise in. But if you make a habit of keeping in touch with people and actually CALLING them (not WhatsApp call, not voice notes, not any type of messaging!) But actually bona-fide old-fashioned calling!️ the receiver of your call will greatly appreciate this. Over time they will realise that this person genuinely cares about me. This helps in having a genuinely sincere relationship with someone. This relationship will always help in having a strong connection with people.
Your status in society! 
This is in the realm of Facebook. Overall, the overwhelmingly general style of posts that people on FB do consist of: Sharing a video, ranting, political views, a selfie and so on.
But for networking and generally Da’wah networking, get into the habit of posting a status that provokes discussion. These discussions will make you connect with your Facebook friends on a whole new level. Over time, what will happen, when you need someone to proofread your blog or you need a video editor for a dawah video or you need someone who knows someone about something! Then instead of dry likes on your enquiry, you’ll get people reacting to your status in a productive way. They will tag people who can help in your query or project and even share your status! That always a winner of online networking!
Replying to messages no matter how popular you get/are
No matter how much of a public figure you become! No matter how busy you become and no matter who the person is that is sending you a message or asking you something in the comments. Always be in a habit of going through your : WhatsApp messages, Twitter DM, Instagram DM, Facebook messages, LinkedIn inbox and any other inbox. It doesn’t matter if the person who is sending you a message says : “Salaam, how are you?” Or someone who is a youth 17-year-old from Indonesia, India, From Africa or where ever else, always reply! They are human beings and all humans have some qualities of another which you could benefit from! This also humbles you and gains respect.
So! Check all in boxes even the request ones!
Tediousness
I have limited WhatsApp contacts. Limited friends on Facebook, limited followers on Instagram and Twitter, yet by the Fadhl of Allah SWT, whenever I ask for help, I get numerous responses. That’s because I have made the habit of enjoying the tedious nature of checking all comments, all in boxes, going to various pages, reading the ‘About’ section of the page. (If you think about it, when was the last time you read the ‘About’ section’!) All this takes time. Enjoying these little tedious tasks will help you improve your networking skills.
The love of scrolling 
If you are in multiple WhatsApp groups and multiple Facebook groups, then you’ll notice that some groups are super active and others are not. The ones that are super active for example the Dawah motivation WhatsApp Group (DM) is generally very active and busy. Of course you are busy during the day and it is near impossible to check and respond to discussions or tasks on these groups. So what you need to do is don’t see scrolling up the group as a tedious chore. If Make it a habit of going as far as up as possible and take your time to see what the discussion was then this will help you become involved even more and you don’t have that ‘lost’ feeling or ‘too many messages’ thoughts in your head!
Do not see scrolling as a chore, add this to your habit. Do it a few times & you will get used to it. There are many groups, on WhatsApp, on telegram, on Facebook and even on platforms like Instagram! and each group has numerous members. Many a people are members of countless groups! up to 40-50 groups at a time. In this world of super groups, there is a lot of information going through these groups. So in a situation where you need to do a task that a group member has set or some one has ‘tagged’ you in a discussion that took place a few days ago and you missed it, then don’t think (oh no, i have to scroll up..keep scrolling until i find this particular discussion or chat. Rather keep doing this, make time for it, don’t rush it. Because the more you do this, the more up to date with discussions you are! and the more up to date you are , the more people will see that this person is reliable and he/she will get back to you at some point. This is a good reputation to have. As opposed to keep missing key conversations, ignoring all messages where you are tagged or even replying a month later!
Another side to enjoying scrolling and not seeing it as a bore is when you have some time (make time!) to go through a particular YouTube channel/ FB group. People usually will only see the first 2/3 videos or the latest published videos. But what if you scrolled up (or down) and discover there are perhaps hundreds of quality videos! Most people don’t scroll up or down, so be different, access old videos on a channel or a page. You may even come across someone from your area commenting. Why not connect with that person?!
Connecting people. Be proactive in this.
For example: If Someone on FB asks, anyone know any plumbers? Or does anyone know any scholars who can teach Hadith classes or does anyone know the answer to so and so. Tag the people.
Or someone says on FB or Twitter: I’m in Toronto today, any local daees or practising Muslims, then tag them. Because in turn, when you need something from your contacts, then people will help you!
One big team!
Look at your social media contacts as your big team:
Your mindset and viewpoint towards all your 2/3k Facebook friends, your 1897 contacts in your phone, your 2k followers on Instagram and twitter and your 2k email addresses.
That’s around 8/9 thousand people potentially! Each one of them having multiple skills or specialising in something. Look at the army of contacts as your back up team that you can access whenever you want. But this is all theory until
you actually have to make the effort of getting to know some of them. It will take you years to find an algorithm where you can take advantage of their skills. Begin with that mindset and at least think to yourself that’s a lot of people in my own contacts list. Don’t forget, each contact has probably 8k plus contacts….!!
Now we are talking huge numbers. You have potentially access to the whole world, on standby to help your project!
THE SIMPLE BREAKDOWN
This is how I approach all cases and situations. I have this mindset of connecting people, participating in discussions and keeping in touch beyond the call of duty to a very high standard since the mid 90s, way before the advent all of these modern technological solutions for communication. If the reader of this blog begins to adopt just some of these points and tips, then not only will they be good at dawah resource management Insha’Allah but generally in all their spheres of life, they’ll see a change and an improvement, whether it’s business, educational or any other kind of project.
Always be greedy for friends
Always be greedy to get numbers
Always be the first to ask for numbers!
Happy networking people!
Jzk Khayr for reading!
The podcast to supplement this blog:
Inspiring 😍💟, I loved it, and I will try my best to follow the given instructions 💛,
Best of duas 💛
Alhamdulillah amazing tips
Specially how to get a venue,writing letter to old school and the social media tips of course
JazakAllah khairan
Wow this is an amazing blog
I liked the way you equally spiced it with humor 😂
I would say after reading this I realised that it’s not always easy to network but the way you network makes it more comfortable…
Jzk
Alhumdulillah
One of the best blogs i have read will be helpful not just in dawah but in every aspects of my life👌..I think each and every point is really deep and if followed will definitely help to become a better social person..I usually connect very easily to people but after reading this blog i have realized how many mistakes i have been making, because it’s not just about connecting and letting go but its much more.
Jazakallaahu khairan kaseeran for such a productive blog👍
I think this teaches us how to use the resources we already have to give dawah. To use them in the best possible way, and fully. This can definitely help us in our daily life too. And I completely agree with that commenting on pages with large following will help you get contacts and people will notice you. I’ve tried this and people do notice👍🏼amazing tips!
Mashallah this was absolutely amazing and exactly what I needed. I have a serious problem wit networking. Alhmdulilah I am in contact with alot of good people who are extramely talented and productive.my problem is that I have difficulty keeping in contact, I’ll tell myself I’ll reply in abit and then I get busy before I know it a day has gone by. jzk for this brother it really helped I am going to share this
Enjoy the Benefits of Dawah Networking 💖.
Dawah Networking is a really valuable way to expand your knowledge, learn from the success of others, attain new friends and tell others about Dawah.
I highly recommend Dawah networking as a way to gain new dawah practitioners and to build a sustainable dawah organisation. Here are the top 9 benefits for Dawah pratictioners of getting involved in Dawah networking:
1. Generation of referrals/Increased friendships
This is probably the most obvious benefit and the reason most du’wat decide to participate in networking activities and join networking groups.
The great news is that the referrals that you get through networking are normally high quality and most of the time are even pre-qualified for you. You can then follow up on these referrals/leads and turn them into friends. So you are getting much higher quality leads from networking than other forms of marketing.
The increase in closeness to Allah and His Bondsmen from networking is the major advantage, but there are many others as well.
2. Opportunities
With a motivated group of dawah practioners comes an abundance of opportunities! There are always lots of opportunities that come from networking and in fact this is where the benefits of dawah networking are huge!
Opportunities like joint ventures, client leads, partnerships, speaking and writing opportunities, dawah or revertions … the list goes on, and the opportunities within networking are really endless.
Just make sure you are jumping on board with the right opportunities and don’t go jumping into every opportunity that comes your way. The opportunities that you get involved in should align with your dawah goals/vision, otherwise you might find that you are spinning your wheels chasing after opportunity after opportunity and getting nowhere.
3. Connections
Dawah networking can benefit your Imaan in so many ways. Give it a try and reap the rewards for yourself.
Dawah networking can benefit your life in so many ways
“It’s not WHAT you know, but WHO you know”. This is so true in dawah too. If you want a really successful dawah institute, then you need to have a great source of relevant connections in your network that you can call on when you need them.
Networking provides you with a great source of connections, and really opens the door to talk to highly influential people that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to easily talk to or find.
It’s not just about who you are networking with directly either – that person will already have a network you can tap into as well. So ask the right questions to find out if the person you are networking with knows who you want to know!
4. Advice
Having like-minded Du’wat to talk to also gives you the opportunity to get advice from them on all sorts of things related to Dawah or even your personal life and obtaining that important work-life balance.
Networking is a great way to tap into advice and expertise that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to get hold of. Just make sure you are getting solid advice from the right person – someone that actually knows about what you need to know and is not just giving you their opinion on something that they have no or very little experience in.
5. Raising your profile
Being visible and getting noticed is a big benefit of networking. Make sure you regularly attend Dawah and social events that will help to get your face known. You can then help to build your reputation as a knowledgeable, reliable and supportive person by offering useful information or tips to people who need it. You are also more likely to get more Dawah leads and referrals as you will be the one that pops into their head when they need what you offer.
6. Positive Influence
The people that you hang around with and talk to do influence who you are and what you do, so it is important to be surrounding yourself with positive, uplifting people that help you to grow and thrive as a Dawah Practioner. Networking is great for this, as Dawah Practioners that are using networking are usually people that are really going for it, positive and uplifting.
7. Increased confidence
By regularly networking, and pushing yourself to talk to people you don’t know, you will get increased confidence the more you do this. This is really important as a Dawah Practioner, because your Dawah Skills growth is very dependant on talking to people and making connections.
Networking is great for people that aren’t confident as it really pushes them to grow and learn how to make conversations and lasting connections with people they don’t know.
I was certainly not confident when I started networking, in fact it completely petrified me! But as I do it more, the more confident I get and the easier it becomes, and the more benefit I get from it.
8. Satisfaction from helping others
I really love helping other people, and networking is a fantastic way that allows me to do this easily. Dawah Networking is full of Dawah Practioners that have problems or issues within their Dawah that need solving, and there is great satisfaction from helping someone to solve a problem they have and get a fantastic result from it.
9. Friendship
Lastly, this one is more personal related rather than Dawah related, but is a big benefit none-the-less. Many friendships form as a result of networking because (mostly) you are all like-minded Dawah Practioners that want to grow your Dawah Outreach, and you meet and help each other regularly, so naturally strong friendships tend to form. Some of my strongest friendships have been started from Dawah Networking.
Kindest Regards
Kashif Bashir
#Gadr 🥀 http://www.gadrhuddersfield.info 💖
Golden Age Dawah Retreat
Jzk Khayr! Fantastic!
Ma shaa ALLAH!
Amazing and Practical tips to get involved in Dawah. An effective Networking is quite important when you are a da’ee and you are on the mission of Dawah.
Few tips from the whole blog I use when in my circle and they make a significant difference.
Jazak’ALLAH Khayr ✨
Amazing tips Subhan’Allah..
In sha Allah will try to implement these and be proactive in connecting with people👌👌
Jazak’Allahkhayr!
Very helpful & practical.
Jzk Khayr
JazakAllah one of the best blogs i read. will implement these beautiful friendly tips InShaAllah.
Alhumdulilah. Any particular points?
Very effective tips Ma Shaa Allah
Dawah project needs ample of people to work on it. We need video editors, graphic designers, content writers etc and for all these work we need like minded and positive people around us. So, here the tips given for networking is great. Specially, the positive commenting on social media pages will increase followers, yes this one really works well. I have tried this.
And one more thing I understood from this blog is that we must use our social media effectively and don’t shy away from or feel that we are too important to ask our followers for help, we must be humble and approach people who can help us.
And also it helps us to become more confident person and influence people positively around us.
Their the many good tips in this blog I have pointed few of them. But it’s a must read because these tips are not only beneficial for dawah purposes but also other fields.
Jazak Allah hu khair
Jzk Khayr for the extensive feedback. I’m especially pleased that you understood that this blog could help those in other fields, other than dawah..
A much needed blog. These are really beneficial and practical tips. JazakAllah for such amazing networking tips. Will surely try these.