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Does falling short prevent one from inviting people to Allah? And does it become an excuse to close the door of da'wah? Or is it obligatory to invite people [to Allah] even with shortcomings, taking into account the effect of lacking a role model?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A caller to Islam must be a role model in what he enjoins and forbids, otherwise the impact of his preaching will be weakened. It has been said: "If you want to preach to people, preach to yourself." Nevertheless, a person's shortcomings in his religion are not an excuse to abandon enjoining good and forbidding evil and calling to Allah. For if preaching were limited to the infallible, no one would have preached after the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Al-Hasan al-Basri said: "And who among us does what he says? Satan would wish that he had triumphed by this, so no one would enjoin good or forbid evil." A Muslim must strive to be a role model, and if his soul overcomes him, that is not an excuse to abandon calling to Allah.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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