Tablighi Jamaat

Muhammad Ilyas, the founder of Tablighi Jamaat, wanted to create a movement that would enjoin good and forbid evil as the Quran decreed,[21][22] as his teacher Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi dreamed of doing.[23] The inspiration for this came during Ilyas‘s second pilgrimage to Mecca in 1926.[24] What he lacked in scholarly learning, presence, charisma or speaking ability, he made up for in zeal.[25] He initially tried to establish a network of mosque-based religious schools to educate the Mewati Muslims about Islamic beliefs and practices.[26] Shortly afterwards, he was disappointed with the reality that these institutions were producing religious functionaries, but not preachers.[27]

Ilyas abandoned his teaching post at Madrasah Mazahir Uloom in Saharanpur and became a missionary for reforming Muslims (but he did not advocate preaching to non-Muslims). He relocated to Nizamuddin near Delhi, where this movement was formally launched in 1926,[27] or 1927.[28] When setting the guidelines for the movement, he sought inspiration from the practices adopted by Muhammad at the dawn of Islam.[22] Muhammad Ilyas put forward the slogan, Urdu: "!اﮮ مسلمانو! مسلمان بنو"‎, "O Muslims, become [true] Muslims!". This expressed the central focus of Tablighi Jamat: their aim to renew Muslims socially by uniting them in embracing the lifestyle of Muhammad. The movement gained a following in a relatively short period and nearly 25,000 people attended the annual conference in November 1941.[27]

At the time, some Muslim Indian leaders feared that Muslims were losing their religious identity and were heedless of Islamic rituals (mainly daily prayers). The movement was never given any name officially, but Ilyas called it Tahrik-i Imaan.[29][30]

The Mewat region where TJ started around Delhi[28] was inhabited by the Meos, a Rajput ethnic group, some of whom had converted to Islam, and then re-converted to Hinduism when Muslim political power declined in the region, lacking the necessary acumen (according to one author, Ballard) required to resist the cultural and religious influence of majority Hindus, prior to the arrival of Tablighi Jamaat.[20]

Bishwa Ijtema in Bangladesh

The group began to expand its activities in 1946. The initial expansion within South Asia happened immediately after the partition of India in 1947, when the Pakistan Chapter was established in the hinterlands of Raiwind town near Lahore, Pakistan. The Pakistan Chapter remained the largest until Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan in 1971. Today, the largest Chapter is Bangladesh followed by the second largest in Pakistan. Within two decades of its establishment, the group reached Southwest and Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America.[31] The Tablighi Jamaat's aversion to politics, and also its lack of any direct and practical economic-political-social viewpoints, like the occupation of Palestine, helped it enter and operate in societies, especially western countries and societies where politically active religious groups faced restrictions.[10]

The first foreign missions were sent to the Hejaz (western Saudi Arabia) and Britain in 1946.[32] The United States followed and during the 1970s and 1980s the Tablighi Jamaat also established a large presence in continental Europe.[29] In France it was introduced in the 1960s, and grew significantly in the two decades following 1970.[17]

In Europe Tablighi Jamaat focused on marginalised populations – "migrant workers deprived of any cultural access to European society, `lost` teens, drug addicts". It peaked in popularity and numbers in Europe between the mid-1970s and mid 1980s, and declined thereafter (in France it reportedly started to decline around 1989[29]) as young people from Muslim families, educated in Europe, began to seek "a more intellectual framework for their faith", and moved toward Salafi Islam.[33] In France, as of 2004, it was represented on the French Council of the Muslim Faith.[29] During the first half-decade of the 21st century Tablighi Jamaat went through a major revival in France, reaching 100,000 followers by 2006.[34] However, the United Kingdom is the current focus of the movement in Europe, primarily due to the large South Asian population that began to arrive there in the 1960s.[35] By 2007, Tablighi Jamaat members were situated at 600 of Britain's 1,350 mosques.[36]

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the movement made inroads into Central Asia. As of 2007, it was estimated that 10,000 Tablighi Jamaat members could be found in Kyrgyzstan,[37] that was largely driven by Pakistani members initially.

Pew Research Center estimates there are between 12 and 80 million adherents, spread across more than 150 countries.[9] By some measures this made Tablighi Jamaat the largest Muslim movement in the World. The majority of the followers of the Tablighi Jamaat live in South Asia.[7][8] It is estimated that nearly 50,000 members of Tablighi Jamaat are active in the United States.[7]

An attempt at Salafi expansion among the Muslim Chams in Vietnam has been halted by Vietnamese government controls, which has been of benefit to Tablighi Jamaat.[38]

Six Principles of Tabligh Jamaat

TJ visits a village or neighborhood, invites the local Muslims to assemble in the mosque and present their message in the form of Six Attributes.These six Attributes were derived from the lives of the companions of Muhammad. It is stated in one narration, "My Sahabah (companions) are like [guiding] stars, whosoever follows [any] one of them will be guided."[25] [(Sahih Muslim 6466; 207-(2531) Darussalam ed.), Used in notable Fiqh books for 'judging' purpose]. Muslim's believe, they were the best human beings after Muhammad .Muhammad Ilyas just articulated six demands in the form of Six Sifāt which are quintessential to Tablighi Jamaat's teachings. Its basically a discussion about 6 special Attributes that one have to achieve, which will just make it Easy to follow the entire Dīn. According to them, the objectives are:

1. Kalimah/ ʾīmān [believe with conviction]: 'lā ilāha illā -llāh (There is) No god but Allah, muḥammadur rasūlu -llāh; is a sacred pledge of man with GOD (believe with conviction & adopt the lifestyle) which should transform one's Certainty, Lifestyle & Affection [from Creation to Creator ; Other's to Sunnah & Worldly to Afterlife].
2. Namaz/Salah [Performing the prescribed prayers]: Achieve sahaba standard salah & certainty so that one can get spiritual elevation, piety and a life free from the ills of the material world .
3. Ilm with Zikr [Knowledge with Remembrance]: One have to achieve enough wisdom so that (A) able to differentiate between what is permissible-impermissible, purity-impurity, legitimacy-illegitimacy in all aspects of his/her life (B) Know that, at any given moment, in one's 24-hour existence, what GOD wants of him/ her.| Ilm, Dhikr are interconnected & to get benefit one have to achieve them simultaneously. At each moment in one's worldly existence he/she have to achieve, a conscious awareness, nearness, a ta’aluq [relationship] and Ma'rifa [knowledge] of GOD.
4. Ikram al-Muslim [Honoring Muslims]: Treat fellow Muslims with honor and deference. with all the rest of the Ummah (and by extension, all of creation) – be based on love, compassion, honor, generosity and respect. Instead of demanding them, one should not only forgo his/her rights, but become deeply concerned with giving others at least their due (rights stipulated by the Sacred Law).
5. Sahih Niyyah/ Ikhlāṣ [Only for GOD]: Sincerity of Intention – Reforming one's life in supplication to GOD by performing every human action (especially ibadah & Muamalat) for the sake of GOD and toward the goal of self-transformation".
6. Dawah & Tabligh/ Tabligh-i-waqt [Invitation and Conveyance]: Inviting and Preaching – The sparing of time to live a life based on faith and learning its virtues, following in the footsteps of Muhammad, and taking His message door to door for the sake of faith, so that (A) All of humanity (Including Oneself) until the Day Reckoning embodies the first five of the Six Attributes & (B) All of humanity attains salvation, saved from Hellfire by achieving Heaven.[35]

largest Islamic movement, Tabligh Jamaat encourages its followers to follow the pattern of spending "ten nights a month (Ashra),120 continuous days a year (Teen Chilla), and ultimately 150 days (5 Maah- Beroon) in tabligh missions". During the course of these tours, members are generally seen dressed in simple, white, loose-clothing, carrying sleeping bags on their backs.[49] These members use mosques as their base during this travel but particular mosques, due to more frequent tablighiyat activities, have come to be specifically associated with this organisation. These mosques generally hold the periodic, smaller scale convocations for neighbourhood members.[45]

During their stay in mosques, these jamaats conduct a daily gasht, which involves visiting local neighbourhoods, preferably with the help of a guide.[35] They invite people to attend the Maghrib prayer at their mosque and those who attend are delivered a sermon after the prayers, which essentially outlines the Six Principles. They urge the attendees to spend time in tabligh for self reformation and the propagation of Islam.[57]

Generally, the assumed role of these jamaat members cycle in a way that they may be engaged as a preacher, a cook or as a cleaner at other times. Among Tabligh Jamaat members, this is generally referred to as khidmat which essentially connotes to serving their companions and freeing them for tablighi engagements.[49] The members of the Jamaat are assigned these roles based on the day's mashwara. The markaz keeps records of each jamaat and its members, the identity of whom is verified from their respective mosques. Mosques are used to assist the tablighi activities of individual jamaats that voluntarily undertake preaching missions.[7][8] Members of a jamaat, ideally, pay expenses themselves so as to avoid financial dependence on anyone.[49]

Bishwa Ijtema (World Gathering) of Muslims at Tongi, Bangladesh

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.[34] 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.[45] The oldest ijtema of the World started in Bhopal, capital city of Madhya Pradesh, India. It attracts people from all over World. Almost 2 million people gather for this annual gathering. The largest of such annual gatherings is held in Bangladesh. The Bengali gathering, called Bishwa Ijtema (World Gathering), converges followers from around the World in Tongi near Dhaka, Bangladesh, with an attendance exceeding 3 million people. In 2018 there was an ijtema in Aurangabad in India which changed the whole scenario of tablighi with minimum attendance of 4 million people gather from around the world under the patronage of Maulana saad khandalwi ameer tablighi jamaat of nizamuddin markaz.[58][59] The second largest Tabligh Jamaat gathering takes place in Raiwind, Pakistan which was attended by approximately 1.5 million people in 2004.[60] In 2011 Pakistan divided the Ijtema into two parts and total 1 million people attended each of the two Ijtema.[61][62]

Due to the orthodox nature of Tablighi Jamaat, they have been criticised for being retrogressive. The women in the movement observe complete hijab for which the Tablighi Jamaat is accused of keeping women "strictly subservient and second string".[34] Tablighi Jamaat has been banned in some Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, where its puritanical preachings are viewed as extremist.[64]

Tablighi Jamaat has also been criticised within Islamic circles and the major opposition in the Indian subcontinent comes from the Barelvi movement. One of the main criticisms against them is that the men neglect and ignore their families, especially by going out on da'wa tours. Tablighi Jamaat participants, in response, argue that both genders should be equally engaged in Tabligh. They further say that women, like men, are also urged to carry the responsibility of Tabligh and that men should facilitate women's participation by providing childcare.[49]

Many critics, especially those from Hizb ut-Tahrir and Jamaat-e-Islami, criticise Tabligh Jamaat for their neutral political stance. They say that Islamist forces, during their conflicts with secular or non-Islamist opponents, could have been helped by Tablighi Jamaat followers. Specifically they criticise the Tabligh Jamaat's neutral position towards issues in South Asia such as the introduction of an Islamic constitution in Pakistan (1950s), Islam vs Socialism (1969–1971), communal riots in India in the 1970s and 1980s, the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat Movement (1974), and Nizam-e-Mustafa Movement (1977).[65] The Tablighi Jamaat, in response, states that it is only by avoiding the political debates that the Tablighi Jamaat has been successful in reawakening the spiritual conscience of the followers. The apolitical stance also helped them operate in difficult times, such as during the governments of Ayub Khan (1960s) and Indira Gandhi (1975–77), when other sociopolitical Islamic groups faced restrictions.[66][65]

The difference of opinion regarding political participation also marks the fundamental difference between the Tablighi Jamaat and Islamist movements. While the Islamists believe that the acquisition of political power is the absolute requirement for the establishment of an Islamic society, the Tablighi Jamaat believes that merely the political power is not enough to ensure effective organisation of the Islamic social order.[67] The exclusive focus of the Tablighi Jamaat's attention is the individual, and members believe the reformation of society and institutions will only be effective through education and reform of individuals. They insist that nations and social systems exist by the virtue of the individuals who form them; therefore, the reform must begin at the grass-roots with individuals and not at the higher level of political structure.[68]

TJ have also been accused of insufficient orthodoxy and association with Sufis.[69][70] Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, the former grand mufti of Saudi Arabia is reported to have said that "Jama'atul-Tableegh ... have many deviations. They have some aspects of bid‘ah and shirk, so it is not permissible to go with them,"[71][72] Another Salafi cleric, Falih Ibn Nafi Al-Harbi, has reportedly complained that TJ "are the originator of fictitious tales and baseless stories and people of bid‘ah."[73]

The U.S. Government has closely monitored Tablighi Jamaat since September 2001.[74] This has revealed that there are no direct links between the organisation and terrorism, though terrorist organisations have recruited from them.[74] Tablighi Jamaat leaders have denied any links with terrorism.[74] The Tablighi Jamaat generally avoids political activities and debates, and instead focuses on religion only.[74] The Jamaat does admit that it attracts all sorts of individuals and doesn't control its membership.[75]

The Tablighi Jamaat rejects secularism, democracy and self-determination and believes in strict allegiance to Islamic lifestyle.[76][77] Some have compared the group's ideology to Khawarij whereas others point out that the Tablighi Jamaat takes a "traditionalist" approach to Islam in contrast to Khawarij puritanical approach.[78][77][79][16]

Law enforcement officials says that Tablighi Jamaat's presence all around the world and its apolitical stance have been exploited by militant groups.[80] Philip Haney described Tablighi Jamaat as a "trans-national Islamist network".[18] The Tablighi Jamaat has been described as "a conduit and a fertile recruiting ground for jihadi organizations such as Al-Qaeda and Lashkar-i-Taiba".[16][81][82] However, Tablighi Jamaat itself has not been accused of terrorism by US officials.[74][83] Leaders of the Tablighi Jamaat have denounced Al-Qaeda.[80] According to Alex Alexiev, "perhaps 80% percent of the Islamist extremists have come from Tablighi ranks, prompting French intelligence officers to call Tablighi Jamaat the 'antechamber of fundamentalism.'"[82][84][85]

Tablighi members who have been charged with terrorism include: Zacarias Moussaoui (charged in the United States in the 11 September attacks), Hervé Djamel Loiseau (French citizen found in Afghanistan), and Djamel Beghal (Algerian-born French citizen and Al Qaeda member who was convicted of plotting to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris),[17] Syed Rizwan Farook.[18] In a foiled January 2008 bombing plot in Barcelona, Spain, "some media reports" stated that a Muslim leader in the city stated that the fourteen suspects arrested by police in a series of raids (where bomb-making materials were seized) were members of the Tablighi Jamaat.[7][19]Other terrorist plots and attacks on civilians that members of Tablighi Jamaat have been connected with include the Portland Seven, the Lackawanna Six, the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, the 7/7 London bombings, the 2007 London car bombs, and 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack.[7]

The American Foreign Policy Council's report on Tablighi Jamaat states:

The available data today indicates that TJ, at least in the preponderance of locations around the World where it is found, can be considered ipso facto a passive supporter of jihadist groups via its reinforcement of strict Islamic norms, intolerance of other religious traditions and unwavering commitment to Islamizing the entire planet. . . However, its eschewal of politics (at least publicly) has enabled TJ, in most venues, to escape suppression by wary government organs.[86]

According to Marc Gaborieau, its philosophy and transnational goals include the "planned conquest of the World".[82][87]

Many outside observers have described the group as "apolitical" at least in part because it avoids media and government notice, operates largely in secrecy, and has missionaries that lead austere lifestyles with principled stands against social ills.[82] Three western experts on Islam, for example, have described it as a:

peaceful and apolitical preaching-to-the-people movement.[82][88] —Graham E. Fuller, a former CIA official and an expert on Islam, (author of The Future of Political Islam)

completely apolitical and law abiding.[82][89] —Olivier Roy, a prominent authority on Islam at the French National Centre for Scientific Research

an apolitical, quietist movement of internal grassroots missionary renewal (While comparing its activities to the Alcoholics Anonymous for the efforts to reshape individual lives)[45] —Barbara D. Metcalf, University of Michigan

Another describes it as having an "apolitical stance" which

has helped it to penetrate and operate without hindrance in Muslim and non-Muslim societies where politically activist Islamic groups face severe restrictions.[10] —Mumtaz Ahmad

Tablighi Jamaat is an extremely secretive group and the core of the group does not disclose how it operates. Despite claims of being apolitical, it has ties with the political and military sector of countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh,[16][82] and in the West, a number of young men have passed through the group on their way to an extreme, militant interpretation of the religion.[17]

The Tablighi Jamaat operates in every sense as a secret society in this country [Britain], as much as elsewhere [...] Its meetings are held behind closed doors. We don’t know who attends them. How much money it has. It publishes no minutes or accounts. It doesn’t talk about itself. It is extremely difficult to penetrate

— TJ scholar, Dr. Patrick Sukhdeo, the director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, [90]

In Pakistan, prime minister Nawaz Sharif (whose father was a prominent Tablighi member and financier) helped Tablighi members take prominent political positions.[91] For example, in 1998, Muhammad Rafique Tarar, a Tablighi sympathiser, took the ceremonial presidency while, in 1990, Lt. Gen. Javed Nasir assumed the powerful director-generalship of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's chief intelligence agency. In 1995, after Benazir Bhutto, who was less sympathetic to Islamist causes, returned to the premiership, the Pakistani army thwarted a coup attempt by several dozen high-ranking military officers and civilians, some of whom were members of the Tablighi Jamaat and some of whom also held membership in Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, a U.S. State Department-defined terrorist organisation.[82][92] In January 2016, in what was "probably the first time that any restriction has been placed on Tableeghi Jamaat" in Pakistan, the Punjab government banned preaching on university campuses, and banned Tableeghi Jamaat (and other non-students) from preaching and staying in campus hostels.[93]

Tablighi Jamaat attracted significant public and media attention during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.[94][95][96]

Between 27 February and 1 March 2020, the movement organised an international mass religious gathering at a mosque in Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The Tablighi Jamaat gathering has been linked to more than 620 COVID-19 cases, making it the largest-known centre of transmission of the virus in Southeast Asia.[97][98] The Sri Petaling event resulted in the biggest increase in Covid-19 cases in Malaysia, with almost two thirds of the 673 confirmed cases in Malaysia linked to this event by 17 March 2020.[99] Most of the Covid-19 cases in Brunei originated here, and other countries including Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines have traced their cases back to this event.[100][101][102]

Despite the outbreak, Tablighi Jamaat organised a second international mass gathering on 18 March in Gowa Regency near Makassar in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Though the organisers initially rebuffed official directives to cancel the gathering, they subsequently complied and cancelled the gathering.[103][104]

Yet another gathering was organised in Pakistan near Lahore at Raiwind, for 250,000 people.[105][106] The event was "called off" in response to the officials' requests, but the participants had already gathered and communed together. When they returned, the virus travelled with them, including two cases in the Gaza strip.[107] During testing, around 40 members of the Tablighi Jamaat were found to be COVID-infected. Another 50 people including four Nigerian women, suspected to be the carriers of the virus were quarantined 50 km from Lahore. In Hyderabad, Sindh, 38 members of the organisation were found to be positive for coronavirus. Raiwind, the place where the event was held has been locked down by Pakistani authorities and the police arrested Tablighi Jamaat members from their offices in Sindh and Punjab for violating the law.[108]

A member of the organisation stabbed a policemen while trying to escape from an isolation facility.[109] During this crisis, the Pakistan government found itself in a helpless situation.[110] Ninety four more Tableeghi Jamaat members tested positive for the corona virus on 31 March, 2020 in Hyderabad, in the Sindh province.[111] As of 21 April, the event was said to be responsible for around 27% of the Covid-19 cases in Pakistan.[112]

The Tablighi Jamaat wanted to arrange the program somewhere in Vasai, Maharashtra. After the outbreak of COVID-19 in Maharashtra, the Government of Maharashtra and Mumbai Police called off the meeting. After the rejection from the Government of Maharashtra, the Nizamuddin faction of the Tablighi Jamaat held the religious congregational program (Ijtema) in Nizamuddin West, Delhi.[113][114][115] The Delhi Government's order of 13 March that no seminars, conferences or any big event (beyond 200 people) are to be held was apparently ignored by the organisation, and the Delhi Police also failed to enforce it.[116][117] There were also other violation of rules by foreign speakers including misuse of tourist visa for missionary activities and not taking 14-day home quarantine for travellers from abroad.[118]

At least 24 of the attendees had tested positive for the virus among the 300 who showed symptoms by 31 March 2020.[119] It is believed that the sources of infection were preachers from Indonesia.[120] Many had returned to their states and also provided refuge to foreign speakers without the knowledge of local governments.[121] and eventually started local transmissions especially in Tamil Nadu, Telengana, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir and Assam. The entire Nizamuddin West area has been cordoned off by the Police as of 30 March, and medical camps have been set up.[122] After evacuation from the markaz, of the scores of jamaat attendees, 167 of them were quarantined in a railway facility in south east Delhi amid concerns over their safety and transmission of the virus. The Tablighi Jamaat gathering emerged as one of India's major coronavirus hotspots in India,[123] after 1445 out of 4067 cases were linked to attendees according to the Health Ministry.[124][125] On 18 April 2020, Central Government said that 4,291 cases (or 29.8% Of the total 14,378 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in India) were linked to the Tablighi Jamaat, and these cases were spread across 23 states and Union Territories.[126]

Questions have been raised as to how the Delhi Police allowed this event to proceed in the midst of a pandemic,[127] while a similar event was prohibited in Mumbai by the Maharashtra Police.[128] Once the COVID lockdown came into effect in Delhi from 22 March onwards, the missionaries remaining in the Nizamuddin Markaz were trapped, and the functionaries began to seek assistance from the authorities for their evacuation.[129] As of 4 April, more than 1000 cases, representing 30% all confimed cases in India, were linked to the Nizamuddin event. Some 22,000 people that came in contact with the Tablighi Jamaat missionaries had to be quarantined.[130] On 31 March 2020, an FIR was filed against Muhammad Saad Kandhlawi and others by Delhi Police Crime Branch under Section 3 (penalty for offence) of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and Sections 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease), 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease), 271 (disobedience to quarantine rule) and 120b (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.[131][132][133] On 8th April, 2020, the Delhi Police traced Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi in Zakirnagar in South-East Delhi, where he claimed to be under self-quarantine.[134] Many other members of the missionary group have also been booked for allegedly helping spread the disease, including by hiding in mosques, a police official claimed. However, the Government of India has denied that it is singling out Muslims.[135]