The Tablighi Jamaat is often considered extremely orthodox in its interpretations of Islam, with the ability to convert Muslims into radical believers
The Tablighi Jamaat (society of preachers) was founded by a Deobandi Islamic scholar, Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi, in Mewat, India, in 1926 with the objective of establishing a group of dedicated preachers as a Muslim revivalist society, who could reclaim “true” Islam, which he felt was not being practised by many Muslims across the world.
The slogan Kandhlawi coined for his new organisation captured the essence of its activities — “O Muslims, become true Muslims.” By the mid-1930s, the Tablighi Jamaat had a programme of belief, which included, beyond the five pillars of Islam and Islamic doctrinal tenets the following: Islamic education; modest Islamic dress and appearance; rejection of other religions; high regard for Muslims (yet allowed to operate in India since 1947); propagating Islam; self-financing of Tablighi trips; lawful means of earning a living and strict avoidance of divisive and sectarian issues.
The Tablighi Jamaat is often considered extremely orthodox in its interpretations of Islam, with the ability to convert Muslims into radical believers. They believe that the Prophet Mohammed has commanded all Muslims to convey the message of Allah to the world and the Tablighis take this as their solemn 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. This free spread and the access to the remotest part of the country with ease has enabled them to meet vulnerable and deprived sections of the non-Muslim population in India.
Some fringe groups within the organisation are backed by the power of petro-dollars, the Inter Services Intelligence’s (ISI) dirty money machine, the vast network of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and other anti-national entities. These elements have converted a large section of the population in the last 70 years with ease and without coercion.
Radicalism and its role in acts of terror: Some Tablighi Jamaat followers have worked as allies of jihadi and sectarian organisations. However, once they joined militant organisations, they cut off their links with the Tablighis. However, over the years, the terror groups have used some of the Tablighi Jamaat congregations as recruitment camps. Some fringe elements in the Tablighi Jamaat have been sympathisers and supporters of jihadi organisations such as the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (Hum), the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
As per WikiLeaks, “Some of the 9/11 al-Qaeda suspects detained by the US in Guantanamo Bay had stayed in the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in Nizamuddin West, New Delhi years ago.”
According to Pakistani security analysts and Indian investigators, HuM members, involved in the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in 1999, were members of the Tablighi Jamaat.
The 2011 US investigation reports suggest that the Tablighi Jamaat had supported members of the Al-Qaeda to get visas and funds to travel from Pakistan.
Saad, the new Khalifa: Born on May 10, 1965, Maulana Muhammad Saad is the Amir (chief) of the Tablighi Jamaat. He is the grandson of Maulana Muhammad Ilyas, who founded the Jamaat. Maulana Saad became the chief of the Tablighi Jamaat on November 16, 2015 and claims to have 100 crore followers in 214 countries.
This huge number includes almost three-four crore converts in western Uttar Pradesh (UP) that the Jamaat has successfully targetted in the last 70 years in connivance with the so-called secular political parties.
The Tablighi Jamaat has changed the religious landscape of UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala and Maharashtra extensively by targetting vulnerable and marginalised sections of the non-Muslim population allegedly aided by the secular ruling elite of India by creating a votebank for secular parties and in return, converting millions of citizens by exploiting weakness of Article 25(1).
This Article guarantees to every person and not merely to the citizens of India, the freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion.
The Tablighi Jamaat used its weapon extensively for the last 70 years by inviting many radical preachers and import of petro dollars to facilitate the growth of the Muslim population from less than seven per cent in 1947 to 14.5 per cent in 2011 to likely 16.8 per cent in 2021.
Furthermore, there are indeed some links between the fringe elements in the Tablighis and the world of jihad.
First, there is evidence of indirect connections between the group and the wider radical/extremist Deobandi nexus composed of anti-Shiite sectarian groups, Kashmiri militants and the Taliban. As per Intelligence reports, Rohingyas residing in camps in different parts of the country have a direct link with the Tablighi Jamaat.
The Coronavirus pandemic 2019-2020: Amid the Coronavirus lockdown, patients from Nizamuddin were tested and found to be positive for the virus, which resulted in the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Government registering an FIR against Kandhlawi for arranging a Tablighi Jamaat programme despite restrictions on such gatherings after March 16 at the Nizamuddin Markaz. The Tablighi Jamaat congregation took place between March 13 and15 but over 2,000 people stayed back in the Markaz. They had sought help from authorities for vacating the premises on March 25. On March 31, an FIR was filed against Kandhlawi and others by the Delhi Police Crime Branch under Section 3 (the 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.
Later the police slapped the 304 charge (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) while the Enforcement Directorate has filed a money laundering case and the IT department is scanning the bank accounts and suspicious transactions of the Tablighi Jaamat.
Why Tablighi Jamaat antagonised their defence: Spitting and pelting stones have almost become weapons of war for the Tablighis. It makes one question as to what can be the reason for this kind of deplorable behavior? According to some news reports, there have been protests against medical staff and resistance against going to hospitals is not related to Covid-19. Some of the issues cited by them are the Citizenship Amendment Act, the National Register of Citizens, Triple Talaq, Babri Masjid and so on.
Unfortunately, some parts of the community are still focussing on politics and discrediting the Government at any cost while the entire nation is combatting the national health emergency. The country must take the threat of the Tablighis as an eye-opener for future planning that must include a ban and seizure of assets. We must identify ancillary units of the Tablighi Jamaat so that they can be stopped from operating under different names. We must punish the traitors of COVID-19, immediately amend Article 25(1) so that the money and preachers from outside the country can be restricted in their operations (it is a national security threat), set up an expert committee to re-examine provisions under Article 25-30 in the Indian Constitution and give additional power to the police to identity and book anti-nationals. It is important that Deoband, Barelvi, Salafi ideologies managing the network of mosques in India must be brought under Government supervision and control just as the temples of India are supervised under the Religious Endowment Act, 1873. An absolute freedom in the name of religion and at the cost of the nation must be immediately curbed.
(The writer is Editor-in-Chief, Opinion Express and regular columnist with The Pioneer)
