Tablighi Jamaat
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History
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A Sunni Islamic missionary movement, the Tablighi Jamaat is nearly one hundred years old
The world has been gripped by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic with more than a million people having been infected so far. More than 53,000 have died around the world while more than 2,12,000 have recovered. In India, the total number of cases exceeds 2,000 now. The number has doubled in very quick time and the biggest Covid-19 hotspot in the country has been the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in Nizamuddin, New Delhi where a congregation of thousands of people took place between 1-15 March.
Attendees came from all over India and the world. Authorities jumped to act when 6 people who attended the congregation died in Telangana. So far, more than 9,000 people who either attended the congregation or came in contact with those who did have been quarantined across India. The crisis has also brought focus on the organisation at the centre of it, the Tablighi Jamaat.
What is Tablighi Jamaat?
The Tablighi Jamaat (Society for Spreading Faith) is a Sunni Islamic missionary movement that urges Muslims to return to a pure form of Sunni Islam and be religiously observant, especially with respect to dressing, personal behaviour, and rituals.
The founder, Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi, completed his education at a Deoband madrassa, and while working among the people of Mewat, often questioned how Islam could be renewed, outside of education. He decided that only with “physical movement” away from one’s original place, could one leave behind one’s “Esteem for life and its comfort” for the cause of God. In 1927, Tablighi Jamaat was founded.
What were the aims of Tablighi Jamaat?
It aimed to recapitulate the practices of Prophet Muhammed, from 7th Century AD, and was concerned with the rise of westernisation and secularisation, and not just the Hindu or Christian inroads into the Muslim community (conversions). In the mid 1920’s Ilyas enjoined upon his followers, the practice of gasht (preaching rounds) and adopting local village councils (Panchayats) — reaching out to Muslims who lived near a mosque and summoning them to study the Quran and pray.
In the introduction to Travellers in Faith, Mohammed Khalid Masud explains that the prohibition of da’wa (to call, or invite people) to non-Muslims was designed to avoid confrontation with Hindu revivalist movements of the time. Tablighi Jamaat avoided politics, and concentrated on religious reform and revival. However, this revivalism referred to the restoration of religious tradition, as established in Sufi orders, and schools of Islamic law. It rejected modernity as manifested in materialism or secularism, and its faith renewal movements were rooted deeply in local environments.
What did it evolve into and how was it viewed?
By the mid-1930s, Tablighi Jamaat had a programme of belief, which included, beyond the five pillars of Islam, and Islamic doctrinal staples, the following: Islamic education, modest Islamic dress and appearance (shaving the moustache, and allowing the beard to grow long), rejection of other religions, high regard for Muslims, propagating Islam, self-financing of tabligh trips, lawful means of earning a living, and strict avoidance of divisive and sectarian issues. (Source: Travellers in Faith: Studies of the Tablighi Jama‘at as a Transnational Islamic Movement for Faith Renewal) Tablighi Jamaat’s disinterest in politics or power is what enabled it to gain followers in post-independence India, and eventually across the world, while functioning without any state control. Its benign nature ensured that it was not banned in India like other Islamist or religious organisations, and its center continues in Nizamuddin, in the heart of New Delhi.
A contrary view is that Tablighi Jamaat being ‘apolitical’, (but with followers preaching and espousing a religious way of life) is indeed its political stance. A piece in livemint, states that while Tablighi Jamaat does not preach anything not already taught in Islam, it prefers to be selective, in terms of which parts of the religion it focuses on. The piece cites Mushirul Hasan, former Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, who says that Tablighi Jamaat's claim that it is apolitical is “very convenient.” According to him “no movement is apolitical, every movement has an objective.” Some of the suspicion against the Tablighi Jamaat also arises from the source of its funds, as no one knows how much and from where the money comes in, though members say people donate whatever they want, and the money is used in the markaz.
Tablighi Jamaat is often considered extremely orthodox in its interpretations, with the ability to convert Muslims into radical believers. However, personalising religion, making it an individual’s path, and following a distinction between deen and duniya (religion and politics), Tablighi Jamaat has allowed its followers to come to terms with a secular state. Without a central political power, individuals and their relationship with religion is the primary target of reform.
What have been some criticisms surrounding it?
Yoginder Sikand, author of Origins and Development of the Tablighi Jama’t, cites in an essay that even within the Muslim world, Tablighi Jamaat has received severe criticism. Arshad ul-qadri, an Indian Barelvi ideologue alleged that it was set up by colonial rulers of India to create dissension among Muslims, to blunt their spirit of jihad. The other criticisms has been that in insisting on the separation of religion from politics — defect secularism — Tablighi Jamaat is a dream of enemies of Islam who dread the prospect of Muslims acquiring political power. Further, it teaches jihad as personal purification (jihad al-nafs — a war with an individual’s own desires) rather than holy war, and has been disapproved by clerics in Saudi Arabia, where it is officially banned.
According to Pew Research Centre, the group’s missionary activities and loose organisational structure can be exploited by radical elements. In many countries, including India, radicals and terrorists have been associated with it. A piece in livemint , cites Ajit Doval as saying that, “There is a culture of secretism in the organisation, which develops suspicion.” But he goes on to assert that the movement was “never viewed adversely by the government.” However, there are important complexities that need to be understood, beyond the organisation as simply being black or white. The piece cites counter terrorism expert Ajai Sahni, who says, “It has been accepted by India as a religious proselytising organisation with no direct contribution to terror, but what has been found is that some people who were part of it have ended up in radicalisation formations. It is an international organisation with intimate links to the Pakistan Tablighi Jamaat. People are brought in from Pakistan as proselytisers which creates a potential for suspicion. This puts into question the general orientation of the organisation. Deep immersion in any religion, not just Islam, can lead to radicalisation.”
What has Tablighi Jamaat meant across the world?
According to Pew Research Centre, Tablighi Jamaat operates roughly in 150 countries around the world, including Western Europe, Africa, and South Asia. It is hard to monitor and supervise because there are so many, and temporary participants often make the group’s membership. Because of a lack of centralised control, missionaries improvise, rather than follow a standard strategy. As a result, the impact often tends to depend on the methods, intentions, and inclinations of local leaders.
In the British town of Dewsbury, Tablighi Jamaat functions as regional headquarters coordinating activities throughout Northern Europe. Other centers, often focus on local concerns, or serving ethnic populations. In Barcelona, it has geared to the needs of the immigrants of North African origin. In France, while there is a center, most Tablighi groups operate independently, building relationships with local mosques. In Germany, Tablighis have found it difficult to penetrate Muslim communities, comprised largely of immigrants from Turkey — where the Tablighi Jamaat has virtually no presence. And in Western Europe, it has adapted to the reality of religious, social and political pluralism in the region, and has shown a willingness to partner with non-Muslim political institutions to further its ends. In South Asia too, the Tablighi Jamaat has a great following, especially in Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Thailand.
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Stanly Johny, Who are the Tablighi Jamaat?, April 2, 2020: The Hindu
The Tablighi Jamaat, a little known Islamic organisation, has been at the centre of a controversy after dozens of people who attended a religious congregation the group held at its headquarters in Delhi in March tested positive for COVID-19. At least 2,000 people, both from across the country and foreign nations such as Indonesia and Malaysia, had attended the gathering in Nizamuddin that started in early March and went on for a couple of weeks. Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, leader of the group, has been booked by the Delhi police under the Epidemic Disease Act.
Who and what exactly is this group?
Origins
The Tablighi Jamaat (Society of Preachers) was founded by a Deobandi Islamic scholar Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi in Mewat, India, in 1926. As its name suggests, Al-Kandhlawi’s goal was to establish a group of dedicated preachers as a Muslim revivalist society, who could revive “true” Islam, which he saw was not being practised by many Muslims. The slogan Al-Kandhlawi coined for his new organisation captured the essence of its activities — “Oh Muslims, become true Muslims”.
Al-Kandhlawi called upon his fellow Muslims to “enjoin the good and forbid the evil”. This was also a time when Islam and Hinduism had seen several revivalist streams in Asia. India had seen the rise of the Deobandi school in the second half of the 19th century. Scholars like Jamal ad-Din Afghani and Mohammed Abduh called for reformation of faith through their Salafi preachings. In India, Hinduism was seeing revivalist movements such as the Shuddhi Movement in the early 20th century. Al-Kandhlawi’s mission was also to revive his faith, but based on its core teachings and lifestyle of its early leaders. Also in Mewat where the Tablighi was founded, the Meos Muslims, a Rajput ethnic group, had followed syncretic traditions. Al-Kandhlawi wanted to end it all through dawa (proselytising). He sent his volunteers to villages to spread “the message of Allah”.
The organisation grew fast in British India. In its annual conference held in November 1941, some 25,000 people attended. After Partition, it grew stronger in Pakistan and East Pakistan (lately Bangladesh). Now, Tablighi’s largest national wing is in Bangladesh. The group has presence in 150 countries and millions of followers.
Ideology and organisation
Inspired by the Deobandi creed, the Tablighis urge fellow Muslims to live like the Prophet did. They are theologically opposed to the syncretic nature of Sufi Islam and insist on its members to dress like the Prophet did (trouser or robe should be above the ankle). Men usually shave their upper lip and keep long beard. The focus of the organisation was not on converting people from other faiths into Islam. Rather, it is focussed on ‘purifying’ the Muslim faith. The organisation has a loose structure. The Emir is the leader of the international movement and is always related to the group’s founder Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi. The current leader, Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, is the grandson of the founder. The group also has a Shura Council, which is largely an advisory council with different national units and national headquarters.
Activities
The Tablighi Jamaat members have declared they are not political. They have also decried violence in the name of religion. They say the Prophet Mohammed has commanded all Muslims to convey the message of Allah, and the Tablighis take this as their duty. They divide themselves into small Jamaats (societies) and travel frequently across the world to spread the message of Islam to Muslim houses. During this travel, they stay in local mosques.
The group’s modus operandi is peaceful and it is focussed entirely on the Muslim community worldwide. “There is a culture of secretism in the organisation, which develops suspicion,” Ajit Doval, now India’s National Security Adviser and a former intelligence boss, said in 2013. “The movement was never viewed adversely by the government.” But the Tablighi Jamaat has been banned in some Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, whose governments see its puritanical preachings as extremist.
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Tablighi Jamaat: The group blamed for new Covid-19 outbreak in India, April 2, 2020: BBC
The Tablighi Jamaat have come into the spotlight after an event they held in the Indian capital Delhi has spawned a number of Covid-19 clusters across the country. But exactly who is this group and why did they hold a big gathering in Delhi? BBC Hindi's Zubair Ahmed reports.
Who are the Tablighi Jamaat?
The organisation was founded in 1926 in the northern Indian region of Mewat by prominent Islamic scholar Maulana Mohammed Ilyas Kandhlawi. Its aim was to inculcate "true" Islam among the "Umma" (Global Islamic community) - many Muslims at the time felt that their political and religious identities were being compromised under the British Raj.
The organisation flourished in what was then undivided India. This did not change when the country was partitioned after independence in 1947. It has a strong following in both Pakistan and Bangladesh.
What is its mission?
The Jamaat's founder, Mohammed Ilyas, once famously said, "Oh Muslims be good Muslims" - and that is in essence, the organisation's main objective - to promote the ideals of Islam among Muslims.
Its members claim that it is a non-political organisation which aims to build an Islamic society based on the teachings of the Koran. The Jamaat sends out delegates to different countries for 40 days a year and sometimes for shorter durations. The preachers believe in person-to-person contact, so they knock on the doors of ordinary Muslims to give them the message of Islam.
What happened in Delhi?
The Delhi conference, an annual event, was inaugurated on 3 March though there are differing accounts of when it may have ended. What is clear is that once it ended many people - including 250 foreigners - chose to stay on.
It is thought that some of them were carrying the Covid-19 infection, that has now been transported across the country.
One of its members, Waseem Ahmed, told BBC Hindi that hundreds of delegates left before the lockdown came into effect on 24 March, but that more than 1,000 followers, including many foreigners, got stranded, as all modes of transport and international flights were cancelled.
Since then, police have cleared out the hostel where these foreign nationals were staying and quarantined them in another location in Delhi. Efforts are now on in every state to trace and test people who were at the event as the number of Covid-19 cases linked to the event steadily rises. On Thursday morning, local media put that number at 389.
How large is the group?
Tablighi Jamaat is now a global religious movement, with followers in more than 80 countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia and the US.
The Jamaat has its own headquarters in every country it operates in, but its global spiritual centre remains the Markaz (centre) in Delhi.
This is housed in a multi-storey building in Nizamuddin, a prominently Muslim residential area in Delhi. The Markaz comprises a mosque and dormitories that can accommodate 5,000 people.
The Jamaat also organises big events in other countries. In Bangladesh, it holds an event called the Biswa Ijtema which is believed to be the second-largest gathering of Muslims in the world after the Haj.
The group also has some famous South Asian personalities as its followers.
Some of its more famous followers include members of Pakistan's national cricket team, including 90s batting stars Shahid Afridi and Inzamam ul-Haq. South African cricketer Hashim Amla is also a follower.
Former Pakistani Presidents, Farooq Legari and Mohammed Rafiq Tarar were also believed to be the followers while former Indian president Dr Zakir Hussain was also associated with the movement.
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Islamic religious outfit Tablighi Jamaat (TJ) has earned plenty of bad publicity after the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in India. This explainer will help you understand the history, organisational structure and functioning of the organisation.
What is Tablighi Jamaat (TJ)?
It is a Sunni Islamic missionary movement engaged in spreading the religion. The name Tablighi Jamaat means 'outreach society to spread the faith’.
When was TJ formed? How big is the organisation?
It was formed by Deobandi Islamic scholar Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Khandhalawi in 1927 in Mewat. In just two decades, the organisation grew bigger and established units in many parts of north India. At present, it has 150-250 million members. It has good presence in Kerala too.
In Pakistan, TJ is headquartered in Raiwing in Lahore. The Pakistan chapter was formed after the partition of India. Bangladesh chapter is headquartered in Tongi. TJ has good presence in the United States, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
What is Deobandi movement?
Deobandi is a Sunni revivalist movement formed around Darul Uloom Islamic seminary in Uttar Pradesh's Deoband town. It was formed to oppose British colonialism, which the scholars thought, was corrupting Islam.
What is the organisational structure of TJ? TJ does not have a defined organisational structure. But it has a hierarchic network of elders. The head of the congregation was known as Ameer. The post was abolished after the death Maulana Inamul Hasan Kandhlawi, who headed the organisation from 1965 to 1995. Now, an international advisory council (Alami Shura) charts out the organisation's plans.
What are the basic tenets of TJ?
Kalimah (declaration of faith), Salat (five-time prayers), Ilm-o-Zikr (knowledge), Ikraam-e-Muslim (Respect of Muslim), Ikhlas-e-Niyyat (Sincerity of intention) and Tafrigh-i-Waqt (sparing time). TJ members work only among Muslims and teach them the life practised by Prophet Muhammad.
Is the organisation hit by factionalism?
Yes, the outfit has been hit by factionalism since the death of Zubair ul Hasan Kandhlawi, grandson of Maulana Muhammad Zakariyya al-Kandhlawi. Now TJ has three prominent factions (or camps), one each in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
What is Markaz Nizamuddin, where the prayer meeting was held recently?
It is the India headquarters of TJ. Markaz means centre. It is headed by Maulana Saad Kandhalwi, great-grandson of Maulana Muhammad Ilyas. TJ workers, who pass through Delhi before and after their preaching tours, visit the headquarters so often. These visits are scheduled well in advance. Markaz functions like a hostel and can accommodate more than 8,000 people at any given point of time. Workers take part in instructional activities while they are at the Markaz.
How does a congregation function?
At the congregation, various small groups of preachers are constituted. A senior member is anointed the leader of the group. These groups visit designated destinations through mosques to spread Islamic practices among Muslims.
Analysis of the role
Jenny Taylor, September 8, 2009: The Guardian
The problem with this 'extremist' sect is not that it proselytises, but it seems to have so little contact with the outside world.
The Tablighi Jamaat is the most successful of the many such groups to form after the Mutiny (known to India, where it comes from, as the Uprising) in the mid-19th century. Eighty million-strong today, the group shuns the harsh outside world, and creates an atmosphere of spirituality, solidarity and purpose among themselves that proves extremely compelling. Deobandi-inspired, adherents are interested only in reviving the faith of weaker Muslims, and thus helping to ensure either a passport to paradise, or the rule of Islam on earth, whichever comes soonest.
Neither is the Tablighi Jamaat "ultraorthodox" – in fact rather the opposite. Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, founder of the Muslim Institute and godfather of the Quilliam Foundation, is against the huge 12,000-capacity mosque the sect wishes to build in Newham because, as he told me, he believes they peddle "fairy tales”.
Their reliance on unorthodox stories of mythical heroes, their other-worldliness and pietism, their veneration for the founder and his family, and their ritualisation of certain select scriptures and practises like the chilla – a 40-day preaching tour all are obliged to undertake annually – has led one scholar to conclude that they function like a sufi order, something that the "ultraorthodox" Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia for example completely condemn.
It is because they are not activist enough that frustrated young zealots become fodder for the shadowy jihadi-groomers who infiltrate their ranks, say some.
Anthropologist Roger Ballard has for many years accused policy-makers and journalists of "protestantising" Hinduism and Islam in Britain. In their avowed intent to render all religions "equal", they also render them all the same – and thereby betray their ignorance about very real and urgent differences. Christianity reaches out to others and thereby saves itself the corrupting effects of the ghetto – privatisation, stagnation and paranoia. Islam in Britain too often wants to remain aloof, uncontaminated – and unreal.
To have harboured terrorists does not necessarily mean that Tablighi Jamaat is therefore a hotbed of terrorism, but it does mean we need to take it much more seriously. We should not allow this strange parallel world to continue. Newham Council has for two years failed to enforce planning requirements on the Tablighi Jamaat mosque next to the Olympic stadia – the very mosque which organised gatherings attended by Abdullah Ahmed Ali.
Instead of patronising and protestantising the Tablighi Jamaat, Christians in particular need to acknowledge the spiritual hunger of young men yearning for meaning, identity and a heroic role in life, as indeed is happening at the Springfield Project in Birmingham, opened by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Where secular Britain fails is where Tablighi Jamaat wins. One Muslim responding toa blog post on my website about the Tablighi Jamaat says: "TJ is the best thing that ever happened to me." We need to understand why that should be so. And that means engaging with real Muslims as friends, and real Islam as an accountable social entity. It means getting mosques registered for civil marriages for instance, and enforcing the same planning controls as for any other building.
