Tablighis fear new round of demonisation after Saudi ban

During their stay away from home — in their mohalla mosques or far-off cities — members of the Tablighi Jamaat spend their time in zikr (remembering the creator) and fikr (worrying about life in the hereafter).But, after Saudi Arabia’s ban on the Jamaat announced this past week, the immediate worry of this global Islamic missionary movement is rooted in here and now — whether it will be proscribed elsewhere too, especially in India, the country of its origin.What has unsettled Tablighi Jamaat members and their sympathisers, cutting across Muslim sects and organisations, is the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs clubbing the organisation with the known extremist Da’wah group, called Al Ahbab, and the use of terms like “danger to society” and “gates of terrorism.”Islamic scholars, community leaders and senior Tablighis believe the ban could not have come at a worse time. Having suffered humiliation during the Covid-19 lockdown when entirely unfounded charges of the Tablighis being “carriers” and “Corona Jihadists” were made, the Saudi ban will now only deepen these biases. While nobody anticipates a ban on the Tablighis in India as they don’t believe in proselytisation, the group does fear a fresh round of demonisation.“It’s like all the imagined horror stories about the Tablighis now have the official stamp of Saudi Arabia, the custodian of Islam’s two holiest sites in Mecca and Madina,” said an Islamic scholar who did not wish to be identified. While court after court rubbished multiple governments’ claims that a gathering of the Tablighis at the Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi was a “super-spreader” event, the misinformation campaign carried out by certain vested interests will now get a new push. The gathering took place in February-March 2020 when Corona had just begun spreading in the country.The only saving grace was that none of the Indian Tablighis picked up from the Markaz and other places in the country were jailed. “Unlike the 1,100 foreigners who languished in jails for months before they were acquitted or let off on bail, the Indian Tablighis who had attended the February 2020 congregation were only quarantined and allowed to go home,” said Tablighi Jamaat’s spokesperson Advocate Mujibur Rahman. He, however, added that “the uncalled-for restrictions on Tablighis’ movement in Saudi Arabia may provide a justification for the anti-Muslim groups in India to demand a crackdown on the apolitical, in-ward looking sect.” medium88343468Started in 1927 by Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Kandhalwi (1884--1944), a product of famous Sunni Muslim seminary Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh, the Tablighi movement has been aimed at making Muslims “better” Muslims. “Though it is said as a joke that the Tablighis are only concerned about things below the earth (the after-life) and above the sky (the spiritual), it is absolutely true. They never talk about politics and power. They preach and practice puritanical Islam, but don’t work on non-Muslims or carry out conversions. There is no case for India to ban them, but an atmosphere of generating animosity can certainly be created,” said Akhtarul Wasey, Islamic scholar and Professor Emeritus at Jamia Millia Islamia.The Saudi step has baffled Muslim scholars. They claim the Saudis have misunderstood the missionary movement and, perhaps, acted at the behest of Ahle Hadees, the literalists who are also called Salafists and follow the Humbli School of Islamic jurisprudence. Riyadh has not released any justification for the ban nor have any reasons been quoted for labeling Tablighi jamaat a “danger to society” or “gates of terrorism”.Scholars also believe that the Saudi government will remain unmoved by the criticism of its decision and not issue any clarifications about why the ban was imposed or explain its scope. “In the absence of such information, it will be easy for mischief makers and vested interests to build narratives that suit them,” said one such scholar requesting anonymity.The Tablighis follow the Hanafi school of thought and are ideologically closer to the Deobandis. “The Saudi government doesn’t like any movement or group which doesn’t follow its own brand of Islam. The Ahle Hadees are more puritanical than the Deobandis or Tablighis and see the Tablighis as a threat because of their huge global networks,” said former chairman of Delhi Minority Commission and Islamic scholar Dr Zafrul Islam Khan.Senior Tablighi member and former chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University Zafar Sareshwala said that had the Saudis tried to understand the way the Tablighis operate, they would have found that the group poses no threat to anyone. “I have prayed with the Tablighis in several mosques in Europe, America, Malaysia, Israel and India. Are not the agencies in these countries aware of their activities? The Saudis seem to have been misled and must clarify that they used the word Tablighi as a generic term which means a ‘call to the faith’,” said Sareshwala.Wasey said if anything, the Saudi step will only alienate the country in the Muslim world. “Even those Muslims who have been ideologically close to the petrodollar-rich Arab country would find the ban a bit of an over-reach,” he said, adding that the imam of Fatehpuri Masjid Mufti Mohammed Mukaram, Jamiatul Ulema, Jamaat-e-Islami, Darul Uloom Deoband and many other Muslim organisations have opposed the ban.” We don’t approve of everything that the Tablighis do, but we know that they have brought many Muslims from ‘maikhana’ (bars) back into masjids,” Wasey said.All India Ulema Council’s general secretary Maulana Mahmood Daryabadi said while some right-wing groups may clamour for a crackdown on the Tablighis in India after the Saudi ban, the government would do well to not rush in with restrictions. “The Modi government, in fact, will like the tribe of Tablighis to proliferate as they never fight for the rights of minorities, never take out morchas and rallies and don’t protest mob lynchings in the name of love vigilantism and animal sacrifices.”