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GREAT MOVEMENTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY
No. 3
THE TABLIGHI JAMA'AT
By Mumtaz Ahmad, Ph. D.
The Tablighi Jama�at is one of the most influential grassroots
Islamic movements of the twentieth century South Asian subcontinent.
It is variously known as the "Jama�at" (party), "Tehrik" (movement),
"Nizam" (system), "Tanzim" (organization), "Tabligh" (Da�wah), and
"Tehrik-I-Iman" (faith movement).
With a modest beginning in 1926 of its da�wah work in Mewat near
Delhi under the leadership of a Deoband-associated sufi-scholar,
Mawlana Muhammad Ilyas (1885-1944), the Jamaat today has followers
and supporters almost all over the Muslim World and the West. Its
1998 annual international conferences in Raiwind near Lahore,
Pakistan and in Tongi near Dhaka, Bangladesh, were attended by more
than one million Muslims from ninety-four countries of the world. In
fact, in recent years, the Raiwind annual conference of the Tablighi
Jama�at has become the second largest religious congregation of the
Muslim World after Haj (the annual pilgrimage to Makkah). Its annual
conferences in North America and Europe also attract about ten
thousand Muslims, probably one of the largest gatherings of Muslims
in the West.
The emergence of the Tablighi Jama�at as a movement for the reawakening of faith and
reaffirmation of religio-cultural identity of South Asian Muslims can be seen as a
continuation of the broader trend of Islamic revival
in Northern India and Muslim Bengal in the wake of the collapse of Muslim political
power and consolidation of the British rule in India in the middle of the Nineteenth
century. In strictly the religious sphere, one manif
estation of this trend was the phenomenal growth of the madrassas (religious
educational institutions) in Northern India which sought to reassert the authority of
the Islamic orthodoxy and to relink the Muslim masses with
Islamic religious institutions. In addition, the pietistic and devotional aspects of
the Tablighi Jama�at owe their origin to the sufi teachings and practices of Shaykh
Ahmad Sirhindi, Shah Wali Ullah, and the founder of
the Mujahidin Movement, Sayyid Ahmad Shahid (1786-1831). These Sufie-activists, who
belonged to the Naqshbandiyah order, considered the observance of Shariah as an
integral part of their sufi practices. It is in this sen
se that the Tablighi Jama�at has been described, at least in its initial phase, both
as a reinvigorated form of Islamic orthodoxy, and as a reformed sufism, although it
did not inherit the vital tradition of political act
ivism of these great sufi luminaries of eighteenth and nineteenth centuries of South
Asian Islam.
The emergence of the Tablighi Jama�at was also a direct response to the rise of the
aggressive Hindu proselytizing movements such as Shuddhi (purification) and Sangathan
(consolidation), which launched massive efforts in
the early twentieth century to "reclaim" those "fallen away" Hindus who had converted
to Islam during the Muslim political rule in India. The special target of these right
wing Hindu evangelical movements were the so-call
ed "border-line" Muslims who had retained most of the religious beliefs and practices
as well as socio-cultural customs from their Hindu past. Mawlana Ilyas, the founder of
the Tablighi Jama�at, believed that only a grass
roots Islamic religious movement could counter the efforts of the Shuddhi and
Sangathan, "purify" the border-line Muslims from their Hindu accretions, and educate
them about their basic beliefs and rituals in order to sav
e them from becoming an easy prey to the Hindu proselytizers.
The Tablighi Jama�at began its da�wa work in Mewat, a Gangetic plateau in Northern
India inhabited by Rajput tribes known as Meos. Most Meos had converted to Islam
between the twelth and thirteenth centuries, the formativ
e phase of the Muslim rule in India. There is also evidence to suggest, however, that
there were several Meo conversions to Islam, followed by reconversion to Hinduism
whenever Muslim political power declined in the regio
n. At the time when Mawlana Ilyas started his religious movement in Mewat, most Meos
were Muslims in name only. They retained much of the socio-religious practices from
their Hindu past. Many of these Muslims kept their o
ld Hindu names and even worshipped Hindu dieties in their homes and celebrated Hindi
religious festivals. The majority of them could not even correctly recite the one-line
Shahadah (the Muslim profession of faith). Their
birth, marriage and death rituals were all clearly based on Hindu customs.
Mawlana Ilyas, an Islamic religious scholar in the tradition of the Deoband School and
a follower of the Naqshbandiya sufi order, came to know of this dismal Islamic
situation in Mewat first through his disciples and late
r through his own several missionary trips there. His initial efforts toward re-
Islamization of Mewati Muslims were essentially to establish a network of mosque-based
religious schools (madrassas) in order to educate the
local Muslims about correct Islamic beliefs and practices. Although he was able to
establish more than one hundred religious schools in a short time in the Mewat region,
he soon became disillusioned with the "madrassa ap
proach," realizing that these institutions were producing "religious functionaries"
but not devoted preachers who were willing to go door to door and remind people of
their religious obligations as Muslims.
Recognizing the futility of the madrassa approach as a basis for creating a
reawakening of religious consciousness and educating ordinary Muslims about their
religion, Mawlana Ilyas decided to begin his da�wa work through
itinerant preaching. The Tabligh movement was thus formally launched in Mewat in
1926, a place that later became the movement�s headquarters. After the partition of
India in 1947, however, Raiwind, a small railroad town
near Lahore, Pakistan, has replaced Basti Nizamuddin as a major center of the Jamaat�s
organizational and missionary activities.
The method adopted by Mawlana Ilyas to call people to Islam was simple: it was to
organize mobile units of at least ten persons and send them to various villages. These
tablighi units, known as "Jama�ats" (groups) would v
isit a village, invite the local Muslims to assemble in the mosque, and would present
their message in the form of the following six demands:
1. Every Muslim must be able to recite Shahadah correctly in Arabic and know its
meaning. The idea is to affirm the unity of God, to reject all dieties besides Allah,
and to emphasize the obedience to the Prophet (s).
2. A Muslim must learn how to perform Salat correctly and in accordance with its
prescribed rituals.
3. A Muslim cannot claim to be a true Muslim unless he is knowledgeable about the
fundamental beliefs and practices of Islam. A Muslim must also perform dhikr (ritual
remembrance of God) frequently in order to inculcate a
habit of remembering Allah all the time.
For basic religious knowledge, Tablighi workers are required to read the prescribed
seven essays written by Mawlana Muhammad Zakriya, a reputable scholar of Hadith at
Saharunpur madrassa and an early supporter of the move
ment. These essays are now compiled in a single volume under the title, Tablighi Nisab
(Tablighi Curriculum). They deal with life stories of the Sahaba (companions of the
Prophet), and the virutes (fadhayl) of salat, dhik
r, charity, hajj, ritual solutions to the Prophet (darud) and the Qur�an. Written in
simple and lucid Urdu, and based mostly on inspirational but historical suspect
traditions and anecdotes, the essays also constitute, wi
th little change, the basic source material for the formula speech delivered by the
Tablighi missionaries before the assemblies throughout the world. In addition, every
Muslim is also encouraged to learn how to read the Q
ur�an in Arabic with correct pronunciation.
4. It is incumbent on every Muslim to be respectful and polite to fellow Muslims and
show deference toward them. This idea of "Ikram-I-Momin" (respect for Muslims) is not
only a relgious obligation but also a basic prereq
uisite for effective da�wa work. Mawlana Ilyas often told his followers that their
polite manners, modest demeanor and respectful speech will win more converts than
their scholarly presentations and rhetorical skills.
5. A Muslim must always incubate honesty and sincerity of purpose in all endeavors.
Everything is to be done for the sake of seeking pleasure of Allah.
6. The final demand which constitutes the most distinctive feature and innovative
aspect of the Jama�at�s approach to Islamic da�wa work deals with the formation of
small groups of volunteer preachers willing to donate ti
me and travel from place to place spreading the work of God. For Mawlana Ilyas,
preaching is not the work of only the professional Ulama; it is the duty of every
Muslim. Hence, every Muslim must spare time from worldly pu
rsuits on a regular basis in order to travel, "following the footsteps of the Prophet
(s) and giving from door to door, city to city, and country to country" for the sake
of Allah. People are usually asked to volunteer fo
r a "chilla" (forty days of itinerant preaching) which is considered the maximum time
for one stint of outdoor missionary activity for the new members. Those who cannot
afford to spare a forty day stint may undertake a re
treat for one day a week, three days a month, and forty days a year. A four month
travel for preaching is a minimum requirement that every member must fulfill.
These six principles are the cornerstone of the Tablighi Jama�at ideology and ought to
be strictly observed by all members of the Jama�at. Mawlana Ilyas later added another
rule, asking the members to obstain from wasting
time in idle talk and aimless activities, and protect themselves from prohibited
deeds. Since its inception in 1926, the Tablighi Jama�at has witnessed phenomenal
growth and expansion. Mawlana Ilyas was succeeded by his
son Mawlana Muhammad Yusuf (1917-1965) as the leader of the Jama�at. It was during
Maulana Yusuf�s tenure that the Jama�at�s activities extended beyond the confines of
Mewat and covered a larger part of India. Soon Tablig
hi missions started visiting Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and
America. Since then the movement�s numerical strength has grown enormously although no
formal membership or registration has ever been unde
rtaken.
In conclusion, one can make the following observations with regard to the ideology,
methods and impact of the Tablighi Jama�at in the broader context of twentieth century
Islamic developments:
1. The secret of the Jama�at�s success lies in its direct, simple and personal appeal
as well as the limited "religious" demands which it makes on Muslims.
2. The primary instrument of the Tablighi Jama�at workers is the itinerancy, rather
than developing permanent institutional structures for Islamization.
3. The da�wa methodology of the Jama�at is, by its very nature, predisposed to
expansions rather than consolidation or organization building.
4. Over the years the Jama�at has gradually become a "closed system." There has been
absolutely no change in the da�wa method first introduced by Mawlana Ilyas more than
75 years ago.
5. The exclusive focus of the Tablighi Jama�at is individual. It has been assumed that
an individual can sustain his/her moral character even in a hostile social
environment. It is on the basis of this assumption that the
Jama�at does not seem to have concerned itself with issues of social significance and
has not addressed itself to the problems of reforming political and social
institutions while transforming individuals.
6. Tablighi Jama�at detests politics and has always taken a neutral, rather
indifferent, stance on most deeply divisive issues relating to Islam and
socio-policial developments in Islamic societies. Hence, many Muslim and
non-Muslim governments have encouraged the Tabligh activities in order to neutralize
the influence of politically activist Islamic movements.
7. Thus, notwithstanding its declared policy of being a nonpolitical movement, one can
argue that this political stance of the Jama�at has important political consequences.
In India, for example, its view of religion in t
he private affairs of the individual for the acceptance of secularism among Indian
Muslims. The Jama�at has flourished both in the secular political and, in turn, has
lent support and legitimacy to secularism throughout i
ts doctrine. In Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey and Malaysia, it has depoliticized a
large number of reliously-inclined people by turning them into itinerant preachers.
Thus, draining off of a considerable portion of the rel
igious segment into nonpolitical segments has tended to impair severely the efforts of
religio-political groups, such as the Jama�at-I-Islami, to expand their recruitment
and support base.
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