What should we focus on, our Shaykh, after learning the creed and calling to it in our invitation of people, and what is the proposed methodology in that?

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, our Shaykh. You have established the foundations of the creed in this land, but the invitation, or the methodology of invitation among people, may sometimes require something other than the creed. For example, when we speak to a person about prayer, he may not listen to us or pay us any attention, even though the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) included, for instance, Mus'ab ibn 'Umar, who went to Madinah and the people of Madinah all embraced Islam through him. And Abu Dharr al-Ghifari stayed with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) for one month, then went to Ghifar and many of his people embraced Islam through him, and he had not learned anything of the matters of religion. We, the learned, or those who consider ourselves learned, speak to people and they do not pay us attention or lend us a listening ear. What should we do, or on what methodology should we proceed after the creed, so that we can bring people out of what they are in? Please advise us, may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : Islam is not just creed; Islam is creed and rulings, worship and rulings, behavior and morals. So we said just now, and we always say, that knowledge begins and precedes action, and even precedes creed. Therefore, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said in the verse we mentioned earlier: We are now afflicted with much philosophy, so we say we want a methodology. The methodology is found in the Qur'an and the Sunnah: And you are now saying we invite people to prayer and they do not respond. This is a question that does not stem from the knowledge we must learn. Why? Because we are not obligated to guide the hearts of people to the truth to which we invite them; rather, we are only obligated to invite. So your saying that we invite them to prayer and they do not respond—very well, and what is to be done? Do we force them? Allah the Exalted said: ...
Besides the common people, it came in Sahih Muslim that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: What is the meaning of this hadith? It means that the prophets to whom they called, all of them called to the truth, yet the proportion of followers differed in number among these prophets who called to the truth without dispute among them. So what is the point of surprise in your saying that we invite those who abandon prayer to prayer and they do not respond? It means that the ground is not prepared to accept this good, this rain of good. But I do not miss that in the course of your speech you said the Companion did not have any knowledge with him. I think this was a slip of the tongue, because no one goes out to invite unless Allah has filled his heart with knowledge and faith. But perhaps you meant to say he did not have much knowledge, like our story, meaning. In any case, the methodology is mentioned in the Book and the Sunnah, so what is required of us is only to follow the path of the believers in knowledge, action, and sincerity: I wanted to say that the reason for the lack of impact of some callers on those called returns to two things, or at least to one of them: the two things are little knowledge and little sincerity in action. I wanted to say this, then I remembered the hadith: We cannot say of the Prophet that he called without knowledge and that he called without sincerity. So we will now say something other than what I intended to say before I put this hadith in your ears. Any caller who calls a people to the truth, whether they are polytheists or disbelievers whom he calls to Islam and they do not respond to him, or they are Muslims but with Islam they are deviating from much or little of Islam—this caller or that, when he calls these or those, either he is right and sincere in his calling, and yet he finds no effect from his calling, in which case the cause is then in those called; or the cause is from him, as it is said: "The worm of vinegar is in it and from it." And nothing prevents me from saying that many callers may possess both knowledge and sincerity, and yet they do not find the effect; and perhaps they do not possess knowledge and sincerity, or at least one of them, and they do not find the effect. So if one of us feels that his calling does not reach the hearts of those called, let him blame himself; this is better for him than blaming others. And now, with you for five minutes to walk, if Allah wills.