Tablighi Jamaat
Tablighi Jamaat (
Urdu:
تبلیغی جماعت,
Arabic:
جماعة التبليغ, English: Society for spreading faith)
[2] is a
transnational religious movement which was founded in 1926 by
Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi in India.
[5] The movement primarily aims at
Islamic spiritual reformation by working at the grass roots level, reaching out to
Muslims across all social and economic spectra to bring them closer to the practices of the
Prophet Muhammad.
[4][6]
Tablighi Jamaat came forth as an offshoot of the
Deobandi movement. Its inception is believed to be a response to
Hindu reform movements, which were considered a threat to vulnerable and non-practicing Muslims.
[7] It gradually expanded from local to national to a transnational movement and now has followers in over 150 countries.
[4]
Tabligh Jamaat maintains a non-affiliating stature in matters of politics and
fiqh (jurisprudence) so as to eschew the controversies that would otherwise accompany such affiliations.
[8] Although, Tabligh Jamaat emerged out of the Deobandi sub-school in the
Hanafi fiqh, no particular
interpretation of Islam has been endorsed since the beginning of movement.
[8][9]
Tabligh Jamaat has largely avoided electronic media and has emphasized
a personal communication for proselytizing. The teachings of Tabligh
Jamaat are mainly rudimentary and the Six Principles put forward by
Muhammad Ilyas influence most of their teachings.
Despite its pacifist stance, Tabligh Jamaat has appeared on the
fringes of numerous terrorism investigations. Tablighi Jamaat's role as
a springboard to terrorist organizations has been questioned several
times but there is no evidence that the Tabligh Jamaat deliberately act
as a recruiting arm for
Islamic militant organizations.
[4][10] Tabligh Jamaat attracted significant public and media attention when it announced plans for the largest
mosque in Europe to be built in London, United Kingdom.
History
The emergence of Tablighi Jamaat represented the intensification of
individual reformation aspect of the original Muslim and it is not only
the movement of Deobandi but it is a KAAM (work)of every muslim who
belived in One ALLAH and HIS last Messenger prophet Mohammad (SAW). It
was also a continuation of the broader trend of Islamic revival in
India in the wake of the collapsed Muslim political power and the
consolidation of the British rule in India in the mid-nineteenth
century. This emergence also coincides with the rise of various Hindu
proselytizing movements which launched massive efforts in the early
twentieth century to reconvert Hindus who had previously converted to
Islam and Christianity.
[11]
Notable among these Hindu revivalist movements were Shuddhi
(purification) and Sangathan (consolidation) movements. The Tabligh
movement aimed to reaffirm Muslim religiocultural identity of these
borderline Muslims who still carried customs and religious practices
from Hindu past. Unlike common proselytizing movements, TJ never strove
to convert non-Muslims to Islam, rather it exclusively focused on
making Muslims 'better and purer'.
[12][13]
Expansion
The group began to expand its activities in 1946, and within two decades the group reached
Southwest Asia and
Southeast Asia,
Africa,
Europe, and
North America.
[21]
Tabligh Jamaat's aversion to politics helped it enter and operate in
societies where politically active religious groups faced severe
restrictions.
[22] Initially it expanded its reach to
South Asian diaspora communities, firstly in
Arabic countries, and then in Southeast Asia. The first foreign missions were sent to Hejaz and Britain in 1946.
[23]
Before entering Europe, the movement first established itself in the
United States. It established a large presence in Europe during the
1970s and 1980s.
[14] The construction of the
Markazi Masjid in
Dewsbury,
England commenced in 1978 which subsequently became the European
headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat. This centre holds one major gathering
annually, generally in Dewsbury itself. It has also constructed a busy
madrasah, called the Institute of Islamic Education.
[24]
Introduced in France in 1960s, it grew prominently during 1970-80s.
[25] Tabligh Jamaat declined around 1989, although some members still represent it in the
French Council of the Muslim Faith.
[14]
In the few years before 2006, Tabligh Jamaat's influence has
exponentially grown in France, which now has around 100,000 followers.
[1] However, the United Kingdom is the current focus of the movement in the
West, primarily due to the large South Asian population that began to arrive there in the 1960s and 1970s.
[26] By 2007, Tabligh members were situated at 600 of Britain's 1,350 mosques.
[24]
After the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991, the movement made inroads into
Central Asia. As of 2007, it was estimated 10,000 Tabligh Jamaat members could be found in
Kyrgyzstan alone.
[2] The
FBI believes that nearly 50,000 members of Tablighi Jamaat are active in United States.
[4]
By 2008, organization had a presence in nearly 213 countries and with a
global following of 100 to 150 million people, it has now become the
largest Muslim movement in the world. However, it maintains a majority
presence in South Asia.
[4][27]
Tablighi Jamaat follows an informal organizational structure and
keeps an introvert institutional profile. It keeps its distance from
mass media
and avoids publishing details about its activities and membership. The
group also exercises complete abstinence from expressing opinions on
political and controversial issues mainly to avoid the disputes which
would accompany these endorsements.
[34][35]
As an organization, Tabligh Jamaat does not seek donations and is
largely funded by its senior members. Since there is no formal
registration process and no official membership count has ever been
taken, the exact membership statistics remain unknown.
[36]
The movement discourages interviews with its elders and has never
officially released texts. Even though there are publications
associated with the movement, particularly by
Zakariya Kandahalwi, the emphasis has never been on book learning, but rather on first-hand personal communication.
[7][37] A collection of books, usually referred as
Tablighi Nisaab (Tablighi Curriculum), is recommended by Tabligh Jamaat elders for general reading. This set includes four books namely (
Hayatus Sahabah,
Fazail-e-Amaal,
Fazail-e-Sadqaat and
Muntakhab-
Tablighi Jamaat follows an informal organizational structure and
keeps an introvert institutional profile. It keeps its distance from
mass media and avoids publishing details about its activities
Tablighi
Jamaat follows an informal organizational structure and keeps an
introvert institutional profile. It keeps its distance from
mass media
and avoids publishing details about its activities and membership. The
group also exercises complete abstinence from expressing opinions on
political and controversial issues mainly to avoid the disputes which
would accompany these endorsements.
[34][35]
As an organization, Tabligh Jamaat does not seek donations and is
largely funded by its senior members. Since there is no formal
registration process and no official membership count has ever been
taken, the exact membership statistics remain unknown.
[36]
The movement discourages interviews with its elders and has never
officially released texts. Even though there are publications
associated with the movement, particularly by
Zakariya Kandahalwi, the emphasis has never been on book learning, but rather on first-hand personal communication.
[7][37] A collection of books, usually referred as
Tablighi Nisaab (Tablighi Curriculum), is recommended by Tabligh Jamaat elders for general reading. This set includes four books namely (
Hayatus Sahabah,
Fazail-e-Amaal,
Fazail-e-Sadqaat and
Muntakhab-e-Ahadis).
[38]profile. It keeps its distance from
mass media
and avoids publishing details about its activities and membership. The
group also exercises complete abstinence from expressing opinions on
political and controversial issues mainly to avoid the disputes which
would accompany these endorsements.
[34][35]
As an organization, Tabligh Jamaat does not seek donations and is
largely funded by its senior members. Since there is no formal
registration process and no official membership count has ever been
taken, the exact membership statistics remain unknown.
[36]
The movement discourages interviews with its elders and has never
officially released texts. Even though there are publications
associated with the movement, particularly by
Zakariya Kandahalwi, the emphasis has never been on book learning, but rather on first-hand personal communication.
[7][37] A collection of books, usually referred as
Tablighi Nisaab (Tablighi Curriculum), is recommended by Tabligh Jamaat elders for general reading. This set includes four books namely (
Hayatus Sahabah,
Fazail-e-Amaal,
Fazail-e-Sadqaat and
Muntakhab-
The organization's activities are coordinated through centers and headquarters called
Markaz. Tablighi Jamaat maintains its international headquarters, called
Nizamuddin Markaz, in the Nizamuddin West district of
South Delhi,
India, from where it originally started. It also has country
headquarters in over 213 countries to coordinate its activities. These
headquarters organize volunteer, self-funding people in groups (called
jamaats), averaging ten to twelve people, for reminding Muslims to remain steadfast on path of God.
[27] These
jamaats and preaching missions are self funded by their respective members.
Leadership
Ameer
is the title of leadership in the Tabligh Jamaat and the attribute
largely sought is the quality of faith, rather than the worldly rank.
[32] The ameer of Tabligh Jamaat is appointed for life by central consultative council (
shoora) and elders of Tabligh Jamaat.
[37][39] First
ameer, also the founder, was Muhammad Ilyas, second was his son
Muhammad Yusuf Kandhalawi and the third was
Inaam ul Hasan.
[21] At present, there is a council of two people — Zubair ul Hasan and Saad Kandhalawi — acting as ameer.
[27]
Ijtema - annual gathering
An annual gathering of followers, called
ijtema, is summoned at headquarters of the respective countries. A typical
ijtema continues for three days and ends with an exceptionally long prayer.
[1]
These gatherings are considered moments of intense blessings by Tabligh
Jamaat members and are known to attract members in excess of 2 million
in some countries.
[7] The largest of such annual gatherings are held in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Bengali gathering, called
Bishwa Ijtema (World Gathering), converges followers from around the world in
Tongi near
Dhaka,
Bangladesh and with an attendance exceeding 3 million people, it is
assumed to be the second largest annual Muslim gathering in the world
after Hajj.
[43][44] The second largest Tabligh Jamaat gathering takes place in
Raiwind, Pakistan which was attended by approximately 1.5 million people in 2004.
[45]
