| An Easy Way To Influence Your Friends Posted: 09 Oct 2011 04:08 PM PDT  SHARE DVDs with your friends. When you find a good one, get a couple extra copies. Then let your friends know you saw a really good DVD. If they show any openness or interest, offer to loan them your copy.
Books may contain more information, but most people are more open to the idea of watching a DVD than reading a book. A book is a considerably bigger investment of time.
This is an easy and comfortable way of introducing important information to people you know. Even a good friend might not be willing to listen to you talk nonstop for an hour, educating him on orthodox Islam and its prime directive, but he might be willing to watch a DVD. And the producers have the funds to hire authorities in their fields to share what they know, lending the DVD an influencing power far beyond what you could accomplish in a conversation.
When you mention the DVD, don't say it is the best thing you've ever seen. Say you liked it, but then tell them something you thought was the most interesting part of the film. Or the most intriguing. Or surprising.
For example, when I mention the film, Islam: What the West Needs to Know, I like to mention that one of the people interviewed is an ex-member of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). In other words, he used to be an Islamic terrorist. He grew up in Palestine, where they glorify dying in martyrdom on television. He learned stories from his teachers in school of heroic martyrs blowing themselves up for the glory of Islam. He threw rocks at Israeli soldiers. He smuggled a bomb hidden inside a loaf of bread into an Israeli area, but changed his mind at the last minute and threw the bomb up onto a roof, where it blew up. I thought it was really interesting to hear his take on the Islamization of the West.
When you find a good film, watch it several times, so you will be well-acquainted with the facts and ideas later when you're talking to someone about the DVD. And while you watch the film for the second or third time, keep a notepad handy and jot down what you think are some of the most surprising or intriguing tidbits in the film, and use those to pique the curiosity of people when you talk about it.
In other words, don't just mention the film and say you liked it, and assume the person will be interested. Help her become interested. It is a crucial part you can play to help convert people who aren't really that interested in Islam into people who are interested. You can make a small move in that direction by getting this person interested in watching a DVD.
Use this tool actively. It is a practical mission you could accomplish to help do the one thing that needs to be done: Educate your fellow non-Muslims about Islam. As you find things that work and things that don't work, please come back and leave your insights in the comments below.
We've got a growing list of DVDs to recommend. Check them out: Recommended DVDs.
Learn more about influencing your friends:
§ How to approach a conversation about Islam § Answers to objections when you talk about Islam § How to think outside the persuasion box 
         
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