Are the means of da'wah (calling to Islam) based on divine text or on independent legal reasoning? Is it permissible to use football in da'wah?

The questioner : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon the noblest of messengers, our Prophet Muhammad (may Allah send the best of prayers and the most complete of blessings upon him). After that:
First: I thank Allah with much good and blessed praise for having prepared this good opportunity to meet our Shaykh (may Allah preserve him), and for blessing us with his life, extending it with strength, health, and well-being. We thankThe Shaykh : him (may Allah reward him with good) for accepting this invitation, and we ask Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) to place all of that in the scales of his good deeds on the Day of Resurrection.
Here is a question that asks: Are the means of da'wah (calling to Islam) to Allah (the Exalted) based on divine text, or are they based on independent legal reasoning? In other words, is it permissible for us, for example, to adopt football as a means and method to attract youth to the da'wah (calling to Islam) to Allah (the Exalted)? Similarly, is it permissible to set up tables to feed them and serve them tea for the purpose of attracting them, and other such means?

The Shaykh : Answer: We do not see that it is permissible to adopt these means as means of da'wah (calling to Islam); that is because at least some of them are among the entertainments. As the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stated in a hadith reported by the Imam al-Nasa'i in al-Sunan al-Kubra and others, from Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah al-Ansari, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . These are four things that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned as being exceptions from falsehood, exceptions from false entertainments. Every amusement that a son of Adam amuses himself with is false, except for these four matters. When we look at some of the entertainments that have emerged in this era, such as basketball, as mentioned in the question, and similar things like table tennis, and so on; it is sufficient for us to justify engaging in them with a legitimate intention, which is strengthening the body. As for adopting that as a means of da'wah (calling to Islam); this is, first, a method foreign to Islam. The Muslims have passed through these long centuries, and it was not known among them that they adopted amusement, even if we considered it permissible amusement, as a path in the path of da'wah (calling to Islam).
And we all know, if Allah wills, that there are matters prohibited by the Shari'ah from the perspective of blocking the means to harm. The prohibition of these matters is not because of their essence, but because it is feared that they will lead to what is contrary to the Shari'ah; whether the contravention is from the perspective of being disliked or from the perspective of being forbidden. I find that what we are pointing to, that the Shari'ah prohibits some means—even if they are in the category of permissibility—when it is feared that they will lead to what falls under the category of being disliked; it seems to me that this has occurred in our time when some people adopted some entertainments as a means—they claimed!—to bring people closer to the da'wah (calling to Islam). All of you know that until recently, some of the Sufis used songs and playing some musical instruments as a reason to bring guests to their Sufism. There were many responses between the people of knowledge and the people of Sufism regarding the prohibition or permissibility of instruments of entertainment and music. The people of jurisprudence and knowledge, without doubt, were in agreement with what the text of the Book and the Sunnah requires regarding the prohibition of entertainments, while the Sufis took another side and went to the permissibility of entertainments; even beating the hand drum and the drum and the like. This is known about the Sufis from old times, and we do not need to remind you of what is known to you to be wrong. Before the Salafi da'wah (calling to Islam) in almost all Islamic lands, it was to alert the masses of people to the falsity of the claim of the Sufis in permitting these instruments. So a generation grew up who took a middle path between those and these, and they interpreted songs, which they called Islamic songs.