The Tablighi Jama'at has a global reach. But its simplistic approach finds quite as many followers as critics. Educated Indian Muslims, in particular, say it seems dated that Muslims should be urged to go around preaching, even when this is at the cost of their jobs and education. Mohammad Saleem Hayat on how he resisted the Jama'at's counsel that he give up his university life to stay 'pure'
It was near the ramparts of a South Delhi mosque that I first learnt about how Tablighi Jama'at had achieved its global reach. Soon after namaz was over one day, I found an elderly Arab expounding on the virtues of self-abnegation and complete devotion to Allah.
From the body language of the small assembly it looked like the
sermon had received a favourable reception. Only, I was not convinced. And, perhaps noticing my uneasiness, the Arab approached me and launched forth in colloquial Arabic that I could barely comprehend. And it was no loss either – for his ideas interested me not one bit.
He asked me what I did. When I told him I was in the process of completing my studies, he urged, "Da anka kulla zalik wakhruj fi sabilillah". (Just give it up and devote yourself to the path of Allah). He then proceeded to warn me about the evils of the university system in which none, according to him, could stay virtuous. Did I not know that a good apple inside a basket full of rotten fruits too would soon get affected?
So, what precisely did he want me to do? Become virtuous, of course! And that, he said, was possible only through tazki-e-nafs (soul purification); by going out with fellow Muslims and educating them in the virtues of Islam. "Exhort them to perform the namaz daily," he said. "This is the only way Muslims can become spiritually strong."
This last bit impressed me even less. For which true Muslim needs to be told this? Had this Arab travelled here all the way from Saudi Arabia simply to re-state the obvious? And did Indian Muslims need to be taught Islam by an Arab?
But the Tablighi Jama'at – with centres in nearly 80 countries across the world – believes that Muslims do need to be re-taught these basics. It's all there in the slogan of its founder, Maulana Mohammad Ilyas Kandhalwi: Ai musalmano musalman ho jao (Oh you Muslims, become true Muslims). His central message is so deceptively simple that it can be easily missed by anyone who performs the namaz five times daily. Yes – for this message is basically for those who do not do so. And it is they whom the Tablighi Jama'at principally addresses: to Muslims who fall short of being true Musalmans.
Barbara Metcalf, a University of California scholar of South Asian Islam, has called Tablighi Jama'at an "apolitical, quietist movement of internal grassroots missionary renewal". And one former CIA official and author of "Future Of Islam", Graham E Fuller, too has characterised the Tablighi Jama'at as a peaceful, apolitical movement.
Thus, what Tablighi Jama'at aims at is to revitalise those Muslims whom it believes to be in danger of losing their Muslim identity. However, as prominent Islamic scholar Maulana Waheeduddin Khan told TSI: "It is a fact that the Tablighis seek to familiarise common Muslims with the simple teachings of Islam. This is good work. It is just that the methods the followers of the Tablighi movement adopt are not geared to generating modern awareness among Muslims."
Ilyas founded the Tablighi Jama'at in the late 1920s in the erstwhile princely state of Mewat, India. Ilyas was a prominent member of the Deobandi movement, and throughout the Jama'at's history the two movements have collaborated at certain elementary levels.
At the Tabligh's international headquarters – the Markaz in Nizamuddin, New Delhi – preachers are organised in groups called Jama'at, each consisting of 10 to 12 Muslims who fund themselves.
Tabligh in Arabic means to convey (the message of God). So, when an individual goes out in a Jama'at, he strives to imbibe six qualities: Firm belief in the Kalimah (There is no God but Allah, and the Prophet Mohammad is His Messenger); concentration and devotion in salaat (namaz); Ilm and Dhikr (the thirst for knowledge and remembrance of Allah); Ikrame Muslim (the treatment of fellow humans with honour and deference); Ikhlas-i-Niyyat (doing everything for the sake of Allah; and Dawat-o-Tabligh (spreading the Prophet's message).
Tablighi Jama'at sets guidelines for local mosques, where Muslims come for their daily prayers, and the preachers make two weekly visits to Muslims (one in areas surrounding the local mosque and the other to one nearby). There are also two daily taleems (discourse) that send out the faithful along the path of Allah three days a month, 40 days a year, and four months in a lifetime; and a daily mashura (council) discusses ways of stepping up Tablighi activity in various Muslim localities.
The Tablighis hardly ever concern themselves with political affairs; they hold that there is no scope for politics in Islam. This overemphasis on devotion to Allah brings them nearer to Sufism – but for all that the Tablighis are generally found to lack a complete understanding of Islam. And they do not lay quite enough emphasis on the Quran and the Hadith.
What's more, many of their practices are so ritualistic that, to some, they amount to deviating from the path of the Prophet and his companions. Their biggest drawback, though, is that the Tablighis are hardly bothered about educating their flock.
What nonetheless makes them distinct from other Muslim groups is their simplicity of manner and endless humility; and they approach all Muslims, poor and affluent alike, with identical zeal. They make no distinction when inviting people to dine with them: the poor are just as welcome as the moneyed. And, most importantly, they donate liberally in cash and kind – which could be the reason why such a large number of Muslims are attracted toward them.
The Tablighis are least bothered about international political rights or wrongs, believing that all oppressors will, in the fullness of time, be brought to book by Allah and exposed before all humanity. It is perhaps this deep faith in God that preserves them in the face of the most hideous adversities. But most Muslim scholars denounce this overemphasis on preaching. "It is simply not fair to urge Muslims to go around preaching, even if this is at the cost of their official duties and educational pursuits. Islam does not favour this," says Maulana Wahiduddin Khan.
And how right he is! For consider: had I heeded that elderly Arab's counsel, would I have been able to file this story on the Tablighi Jama'at today?
It was near the ramparts of a South Delhi mosque that I first learnt about how Tablighi Jama'at had achieved its global reach. Soon after namaz was over one day, I found an elderly Arab expounding on the virtues of self-abnegation and complete devotion to Allah.
From the body language of the small assembly it looked like the
sermon had received a favourable reception. Only, I was not convinced. And, perhaps noticing my uneasiness, the Arab approached me and launched forth in colloquial Arabic that I could barely comprehend. And it was no loss either – for his ideas interested me not one bit.He asked me what I did. When I told him I was in the process of completing my studies, he urged, "Da anka kulla zalik wakhruj fi sabilillah". (Just give it up and devote yourself to the path of Allah). He then proceeded to warn me about the evils of the university system in which none, according to him, could stay virtuous. Did I not know that a good apple inside a basket full of rotten fruits too would soon get affected?
So, what precisely did he want me to do? Become virtuous, of course! And that, he said, was possible only through tazki-e-nafs (soul purification); by going out with fellow Muslims and educating them in the virtues of Islam. "Exhort them to perform the namaz daily," he said. "This is the only way Muslims can become spiritually strong."
This last bit impressed me even less. For which true Muslim needs to be told this? Had this Arab travelled here all the way from Saudi Arabia simply to re-state the obvious? And did Indian Muslims need to be taught Islam by an Arab?
But the Tablighi Jama'at – with centres in nearly 80 countries across the world – believes that Muslims do need to be re-taught these basics. It's all there in the slogan of its founder, Maulana Mohammad Ilyas Kandhalwi: Ai musalmano musalman ho jao (Oh you Muslims, become true Muslims). His central message is so deceptively simple that it can be easily missed by anyone who performs the namaz five times daily. Yes – for this message is basically for those who do not do so. And it is they whom the Tablighi Jama'at principally addresses: to Muslims who fall short of being true Musalmans.
Barbara Metcalf, a University of California scholar of South Asian Islam, has called Tablighi Jama'at an "apolitical, quietist movement of internal grassroots missionary renewal". And one former CIA official and author of "Future Of Islam", Graham E Fuller, too has characterised the Tablighi Jama'at as a peaceful, apolitical movement.
Thus, what Tablighi Jama'at aims at is to revitalise those Muslims whom it believes to be in danger of losing their Muslim identity. However, as prominent Islamic scholar Maulana Waheeduddin Khan told TSI: "It is a fact that the Tablighis seek to familiarise common Muslims with the simple teachings of Islam. This is good work. It is just that the methods the followers of the Tablighi movement adopt are not geared to generating modern awareness among Muslims."
Ilyas founded the Tablighi Jama'at in the late 1920s in the erstwhile princely state of Mewat, India. Ilyas was a prominent member of the Deobandi movement, and throughout the Jama'at's history the two movements have collaborated at certain elementary levels.
At the Tabligh's international headquarters – the Markaz in Nizamuddin, New Delhi – preachers are organised in groups called Jama'at, each consisting of 10 to 12 Muslims who fund themselves.
Tabligh in Arabic means to convey (the message of God). So, when an individual goes out in a Jama'at, he strives to imbibe six qualities: Firm belief in the Kalimah (There is no God but Allah, and the Prophet Mohammad is His Messenger); concentration and devotion in salaat (namaz); Ilm and Dhikr (the thirst for knowledge and remembrance of Allah); Ikrame Muslim (the treatment of fellow humans with honour and deference); Ikhlas-i-Niyyat (doing everything for the sake of Allah; and Dawat-o-Tabligh (spreading the Prophet's message).
Tablighi Jama'at sets guidelines for local mosques, where Muslims come for their daily prayers, and the preachers make two weekly visits to Muslims (one in areas surrounding the local mosque and the other to one nearby). There are also two daily taleems (discourse) that send out the faithful along the path of Allah three days a month, 40 days a year, and four months in a lifetime; and a daily mashura (council) discusses ways of stepping up Tablighi activity in various Muslim localities.
The Tablighis hardly ever concern themselves with political affairs; they hold that there is no scope for politics in Islam. This overemphasis on devotion to Allah brings them nearer to Sufism – but for all that the Tablighis are generally found to lack a complete understanding of Islam. And they do not lay quite enough emphasis on the Quran and the Hadith.
What's more, many of their practices are so ritualistic that, to some, they amount to deviating from the path of the Prophet and his companions. Their biggest drawback, though, is that the Tablighis are hardly bothered about educating their flock.
What nonetheless makes them distinct from other Muslim groups is their simplicity of manner and endless humility; and they approach all Muslims, poor and affluent alike, with identical zeal. They make no distinction when inviting people to dine with them: the poor are just as welcome as the moneyed. And, most importantly, they donate liberally in cash and kind – which could be the reason why such a large number of Muslims are attracted toward them.
The Tablighis are least bothered about international political rights or wrongs, believing that all oppressors will, in the fullness of time, be brought to book by Allah and exposed before all humanity. It is perhaps this deep faith in God that preserves them in the face of the most hideous adversities. But most Muslim scholars denounce this overemphasis on preaching. "It is simply not fair to urge Muslims to go around preaching, even if this is at the cost of their official duties and educational pursuits. Islam does not favour this," says Maulana Wahiduddin Khan.
And how right he is! For consider: had I heeded that elderly Arab's counsel, would I have been able to file this story on the Tablighi Jama'at today?
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