A forum entitled Literature: A Powerful Tool for Da’wah, organized by the Arabic Language and Literature department together with the Department of English language and Literature, was held yesterday.
The seminar, given Dr Mahmudul Hasan from the department of English Language and Literature and Dr Badri Najib from the Department of Arabic Language and Literature, aimed to tackle the issue of promoting literature as a tool of da’wah.
They both believed that literature is indeed a powerful tool in the propagation of Islamic message, despite the general apprehension of the society towards it.
Dr Badri mentioned that this apprehension stemmed from the mistake of Muslims of having rejected literature wholesale due to the negative message proliferated through it from poets in the time of Jahiliyyah.
Muslims then left the entire genre to the West, where even more non-Islamic ideologies and practices take root.
Both lecturers stressed the importance of Muslims to take literature back, and produce their own literature that reflects the Islamic worldview.
Dr Mahmudul lauded the efforts of the new generation Muslim writers such as Shelina Zahra Janmohamed and Leila Aboulela, who have written critically acclaimed novels which provide a medium for the dissemination of the Islamic message.
The forum, which was in full attendance, was attended mainly by students of the both departments, who wished to gain more gems from their lecturers outside of the classroom.