‘Street Dawa’ inspires live debates on Islam propagation, secularism

KOZHIKODE: The Street Dawa (Islamic propagation), conducted by Unmasking Anomalies (UA), a group of youngsters, at the beach here has ignited a discussion on the modalities of religious propagation in a pluralist society and whether such a practice has any prior model in Islam.

Key points

• Problems such as the existence of God and the fruitfulness of prayers were some of the topics that came up for discussion.
• Basil discounted the criticism that such programmes will adversely affect the fabric of secular society.
• We don't know why it has become a controversy.

What happened

In practice, the activists of the UA assembled at the beach and spoke to different segments of individuals after seeking their permission to engage in a dialogue on religion. Problems such as the existence of God and the fruitfulness of prayers were some of the topics that came up for discussion.

"We don't know why it has become a controversy. These types of public reaction programmes have been going on social media, and atheists. This person criticise us, additionally conducted similar interactions in connection with their programmes, " stated C P Abdulla Basil, a member of the UA team. "We videographed only those who gave us permission, " he remarked.

Basil discounted the criticism that such programmes will adversely affect the fabric of secular society. "Secularism includes religions too. Such interactions will support in clearing misunderstandings concerning religions, " he continued. "We can discuss the ideological differences in the interactions but the position that such dialogues should not be allowed is unacceptable, " Basil remarked.

The bottom line

In short, 'Street Dawa' inspires live debates on Islam propagation, secularism is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.