Why don't Muslims have missionaries like Christianity does?

Question

Why doesn't Muslims have organized missionaries for humanitarian activity like Christians do?

It would be a very effective way of spreading Islam, as it has proven effective for Christianity. Even if it doesn't help much to spread Islam, Muslims can do it just anyway.

Why are Missionaries ignored in Islam?

NOTE: Please do not down-vote without first understanding the question.

Answer 1

Da'wah is considered a duty of every Muslim.

There are several documented cases of missionary work in the history of Islam. If you look at it, Islam was rarely spread by organized missionaries, but by powerful individuals. The Prophet Muhammad SAWS himself and his closest companions were powerful and honest people whom everyone respected. The first missionary movements were liberation wars against kings who did not support freedom of religion.

A person who spends all his time preaching to others will often not be respected by people outside the religion. If someone comes up to you while you're waiting for a bus and preaches to you, it can be quite annoying. This can be counter-productive to the spread of Islam.

Islam spread fastest by doing, rather than talking. A person who is a brilliant scientist, charismatic businessman, or brave humanitarian will gain more respect than someone who spends his whole time preaching to people. If this person denotes himself as a devout Muslim, by excusing himself for prayer when working with non-Muslims or fasting during Ramadan, people will associate him/her with Islam.

Passive da'wah can prove to be more effective than active da'wah. And there are also some semi-missionary groups like Islamic Relief who actively da'wah, by helping others.

Answer 2

Da'wah is (فرض كفاية) meanings if a certain group of people of a community raise/come up and do da'wah, than the obligation of Da'wah is taken away for the rest of the community. But because we are in a corrupt age, Da'wah is (فرض عين) on every Muslim according to their ability and knowledge.

Ibn Baaz said:

“At a time when there is a shortage of callers, when evil is prevalent and ignorance dominates, da‘wah becomes fard ‘ayn on everyone according to their ability.”

Da'wah has three aspects to it.

1. The call/message
2. The caller
3. The called

now number two, the caller, in Arabic is (Adda'ee/الداعي), and the caller is the one who gives or spreads the message of Islam, you may also call the person a missionary or anything else that is it's synonym. So one cannot say there are no missionaries in Islam, as for organized missionaries, as I mentioned above, Da'wah is obligatory on all Muslims according to their ability, and their knowledge. It is part of Da'wah to at least have a Da'wah plan, what to do, how to present, and so on.

Sources: Islamic online university, Da'wah training course, module 1