Allah (swt) ordered the Prophet (saw):
“O you wrapped in garments, arise and warn, your Lord Magnify!” (TMQ al-Mudathir, verse 1-3)
Imam Abu Ja’far At-Tabari comments: “Allah commanded the Prophet (saw) to rise up to warn the people that Allah would punish them for ingratitude to their Rabb and their worship of the false gods and the idols to the exclusion of Him who created them and gave them their daily bread. He (saw) was also to tell them of his Lord’s bounty to himself, with the words, “Of the bounty of your Lord let your discourse be..” According to Ibn Ishaq this was his Prophethood (at-Tareekh at Tabari Vol. 6 Par 1156).
It was after this Ayah was revealed that the Prophet (saw) addressed his people to carry his Da’awah. He started to warn them to embrace Islam, accept the Tawheed (oneness) of Allah, the Khaliq (Creator) and the Malik (Sovereign) with no partners, and to accept his (saw) leadership. He did this not through challenging any of the Quraysh, nor through challenging their way of life, rather through expressing the Aqeedah to them for them to embrace it. If they did then he would culture them with Islam as the Ayaat of the Qur’an came down.
This phase of the Prophet’s (saw) Da’awah lasted for three years and he (saw) repeatedly undertook the two actions commanded although he utilised many different styles. So at times he (saw) invited people to his house, at other times he visited them. At other times he (saw) discussed with them at the markets and there are many narration’s pertaining to this. However, he (saw) repeatedly undertook two actions, inviting people to embrace Islam, and building the strong understanding and Iman in Laa ilaha ill Allah, amongst those who accepted his message.
An important point to note here is that there were no Ahkam of Salah, nor Ahkam of fasting or Sadaqah revealed at this point. The Da’awah that was given to them was not to call to a ritual rather it was to an Aqeedah. An Aqeedah that was radically going to change their view to how they should live in this Dunya. They no longer lived for the idols, they no longer acted purely for the sake of this Dunya alone, nor merely to satisfy their desires. Rather they now realised their true existence and its purpose was for the Akhirah (Hereafter) and therefore they had to live life in the manner that Allah(swt) decided for them.
Therefore, the Sahabah (ra) were prepared from day one of embracing Islam to sacrifice everything for the sake of the Deen. Bilal (ra) the Ethiopian slave was placed in the hot burning sun under a large boulder. Sumayah (ra) gave her life, as did Yaasir (ra). This was the strong and unshakable Iman they had. They also understood their responsibility as the carriers of the Deen.
To further illustrate this, the early verses of the Qur’an would always remind them of the success that Allah (swt) would grant them as well as their responsibility. It has been narrated from Ibn Mas’ud (ra) that when the Ayah,
“This is nothing but a reminder to mankind, Jinn and all that exists”(TMQ al-Qalam, verse 52) was revealed they knew then, even though they were a small handful of Muslims at that time, that Islam would come to dominate the world (Jami’u al Bayan an Ta’wil ul Qur’an by Imam at-Tabari).
In fact, when the Mushrikeen would meet the Muslims they would scorn them by jeering, saying “Here are the masters of the Earth who will defeat Chosroes (of Persia) and Caesar (of Rome)” (Raheeq ul-Makhtoom). This was, however, initially the case as the Quraysh did not see in the Muslims any real threat.
Hence the Prophet (saw) would call the people to Islam and would culture those who embraced Islam with the firm understanding, Iman in the victory in this world and felicity in the Akhirah.
The example of how Umar ibn al Khattab (ra) embraced Islam upon finding out that his sister, and her husband, were privately being cultured by Khabbab ibn Arrat (ra) and then coming across the Qur’an has been well narrated by Ibn Hisham (Vol. 1/343). As well as the private culturing of the Sahabah (ra) in the house of al-Arqam.
He (saw) persisted in these actions for three years until Allah (swt) ordered him otherwise. This is what we are obligated to emulate as part of the method to establish Islam.
Hence, the key actions in the first phase of the Da’awah are:
i) Calling people to Islam not through force but intellectual discourse.
ii) Culturing those who responded with a strong understanding of this Deen and strong Iman in order to carry the Da’awah and shoulder its responsibilities.
Therefore, from the Shari’ah rules, the Islamic political party would be obliged to undertake these tasks of carrying the intellectual call of Islam, spreading the correct concepts and illustrating the fallacy of the erroneous concepts.
It would also need to seek to build its body and its members so they become capable of withstanding the responsibilities of carrying the Da’awah of Islam with firm Iman in Allah, His Deen and the resumption of Islam.
It would need to radically change the personalities of those Muslims who were going to take up the responsibility of carrying the Islamic Da’awah to be in line with the Islamic personality. As the Prophet (saw) stated in one Hadith, “No one of you has attained Iman until his inclinations are in accordance to what I have brought (you)” (narrated by Imam al-Isfahani in Kitab al-Hujja and authenticated by Imam al-Nawawi in his Arba’een).