The annual Tabligh Jamat ijtemas
Posted by Abd Al Mustafa on Sunday 22nd April, 2007
The tablighi’s who are also deobandi hold their ijtema’s annually. They have other gatherings throughout the year but they have this AGM style Ijtema annually. I have never been to one and have no intention of ever going to one and i do not know what goes on at such gatherings (well, i have a fair idea) nor is this post about criticising the ijtema’s in general.
I am however gonna share a few of my observations on how the TJ go about concerning their annual ijtema’s in my home country, Bangladesh.
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firstly, they always seem to set the date of the event to be just after the Hajj – usually within a the month unless there is some disturbance in the country, sometimes even earlier.
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It is always for three days.
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they send out a message (indirectly, but sometimes even directly) that it is a must to attend.
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if anyone says “you don’t have to go or you shouldn’t go or don’t go“, they are frowned upon as if they are telling people not to perform salah or some other fardh.
seeing as the majority of muslims are poor, awaam and uneducated they are cunningly misled……with rumours and messages such as………
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those who have not been fortunate enough to perform hajj this year should most definitely attend the ijtema.
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attending the ijtema will gain you rewards equivalent of one hajj.
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after the gathering at Al-Arafa’h, the gathering at TONGI is the most important gathering to attend.
Now these poor individuals who do not know when and where their next meal will come from abandon their families (many with many young kids) and trapse round half the country to attend something which is not even recommended for such people let alone a neccessity.
For the average villager it will take them almost a day and for those who are really poor, a whole day (as they do not have the means to use public transport) seeing as they will have to walk all the way.
Simply to have high number of attendees, is it really worth the deception.? “deceiving” in any respect is not worth it, so how can it be justified for this? and in the process the awaam are needlessly being burdened with false hope. And then they claim that they are the NAYEB-E-RASUL (nayeb-e-rasul – difficult to translate to english – in english it would mean “some one, in whom you can see the prophetic character“)
Those that aren’t that well versed with the basics of the deen and attend for the first time return as mufti’s. Bid’ah, Bid’ah, Shirk & Kufr is all you will hear from them for atleast a month (like najdi’s) until slowly they start getting refuted, but that doesn’t do much other than help control their tongues, they are so badly brainwashed that they do not recognise reason or even daleel. Basically, they return as “born again muslims” or is that salafi’s..?
These people who whitewash these kids and laymen are the same people who with issues such as the mawlid for example say; to say or expect muslims to be obligated to practice mawlid is bid’ah and un-islamic, against the sharia’h etc etc. (it is proven that no one expects others to have to practice mawlid, yet the opposers insist that those who practice mawlid, do expect this of others)
What do they preach..? and what do they practice.? shame on such individuals. This post is not about Tablighi Jamat in general so i won’t be going into other area’s of the TJ and just stop here.
The Sunni Voice 
True Life said
Brother, you should attend these gatherings and look for yourself instead of spreading wrong prejudices. Matter of fact all sorts/classes of people gather at the Tungi Ijtema from all around the world.
Abd Al Mustafa: may be i was a bit harsh or couldn’t explain what i was trying to highlight or maybe you simply didn’t understand what i posted. i clearly stated that the post was not about TJ ijtema’s in general, and then i also said towards the end that this post is not about TJ in general.
I was simply pointing out how in bangladesh they go about calling people to attend the gatherings, that’s all my brother.
As for the wrong prejudices, i don’t think i need to attend the gatherings to find anything out since my post is not about what happens at the gatherings.
Hamza Isa said
Salam, I feel a sense of frustration and resentment about the TJ’s in your words, my brother. I am not a TJ but have been in Jammat many times and have even attended their big gatherings that you have referred to in your post. When you say that you have a fair idea of what goes on there I was intrigued…
my brother, TJ’s frequently visit my local masjid, and also back in bangladesh the majority of my relatives are TJ – so plz don’t say i don’t know what i’m talking about.
You experience to date, may I suggest, is limited and is of individuals who have not represented the TJ’s very well, rather like when non Muslims meet some Muslims for the first time and are similarly not impressed with what they hear or see. I agree with you on that, if i had known about the squabble and ramblings between deo/brlwi/salafies before i started practicing, may be i wouldn’t have started practicing.
TJ’s aint perfect, ‘some’ of the brothers are bigoted, unfortunately but, alas, we have that in every effort of Deen.
Most people are not educated in basics of Deen unfortunately, which is why they are invited to attend these and a lot smaller gatherings. Are you sure that’s the real aim behind such gatherings. why then is it that after returning from such gatherings all you here is bid’ah, shirk, bid’ah from their tongues..??
From my experience, these gatherings are not thought of as an obligation equal to the reward of Hajj…this is simply wrong and not believed, let alone taught. in your experience, do you live in bangladesh day in day out..?? I am not discussing TJ in general, plz remember that!(just the gathering at tongi and how they go about get people to attend)
The issue of the Mawlid is a deep and complex one. One cannot call those who participate in such gatherings anything and those who don’t practice the Mawlid cannot be called anything either – there is a genuine difference of opinion among the scholars. Bigones. the fact still remains that those who practice mawlid do not curse those who do not genuinely practice it. it is the ones who claim mawlid to be haram etc that are attacked or refuted, but those that don’t practice 1. don’t do it coz they believe it to be haram and likewise go round spreading this filth and 2. actually call the people who practice mawlid certain names. The issue of mawlid is not complex, its simple. every sunni group in this world practices it except deobandi’s. does that say anything. why not simply say, its ok but we do not practice it, end of!
Wa salam
Hamza
Abd Al Mustafa: i have not included some of your post, reason being you seem to make it sound like i am discussing Tabligh Jamat in general which i am not so the rest of your post is irrelevant. Also you yourself are heavily deobandi influenced and shaykh nuh is heavily surrounded by deobandies so i cannot take him as a neutral nor you. that does not mean i no longer respect him or you. he is still a great scholar of ahlus sunnah in my eyes and you are still a cool brother.
fadl said
Tableeghi are najdi, hiding under deobandi disguise.
Abd Al Mustafa: well, i personally think that their ways are showing much improvement than their previous generation of Amirs who when approaching muslims, actually used to behave as though they were approaching non-muslims. thats probably why they don’t actually take their dawah to non-muslims becoz they think all muslims are non-muslims, so in a way they are actually taking their dawah to non-muslims. lol!! just kidding!! before deobandi brothers start jumping the gun plz remember i am talking about the previous generation of TJ amirs in my home country and not in general.
irshad said
Are you sure that Deobandis do not practice mawlid? I was taught KOran by a DEobandi Mufti for several summers in Bangladesh. Hesaid that Deobandis do practice mawlid; only thing that they don’t do is the qiyam or standing up. Of course, there are some TJ who’d say that all mawlids are haram— but that Mufti said that the problem is that many uneducated people are in TJ.
Abd Al Mustafa: Thank you for your comment but this post isn’t about mawlid, but i would just briefly mention that, yes! in bangladesh many of tablighi daees are uneducated even in what they are trying to propagate. As for the qiyam, yes a lot of deobandies used to practice mawlid but without qiyam. but they are just as problem creating as the others. creating a big fuss & fitna over something which is perfectly permissible.
Abdul Kaium said
assalamualaikum im tablghi bro (as u wud say) n also i study in a deo institute first thing-we say milad un nabi is bida’ secondly bfor any1 calls tabligh bida’ i wud invite them to spend sum time in the effort. 1 jamaa’ah wnt to south america (i think mexico those places) n there wer so many ppl who hd turned murtad/frgot there deen n sum were descendents of Sahaba(rd) bt Alhamdulillah cz of the effort of deen sum of these ppl got hidayah. so anyway bfor any1 says nething about any effort of deen he should find out about that effort of deen from those brothers who r active in that effort of deen nd not from non-activists in that effort. Jazakallahu Khairan
[Abd Al Mustafa] – wa alaikum as salaam & jazakallah for your comment BUT the issue being discussed is the Annual Tabligh Ijtema held in tongi Bangladesh and how they go about attracting people to the event each year………..so plz stick to the topic. when it comes to tablighi events you here people say “before you call it bidah i invite you to spend some time in the effort etc etc” or “it is obvious that your experience in the effort is limited etc etc”. the main thing is that, the objectives and criteria that the tablighi mullahs use to deem certain sunni practices as bidah and haram makes their tablighi practices to be an even bigger bidah or haram act. However, plz do see at the beginning of the post it clearly states that it is not a general criticism of all tablighi ijtemas. this is not a place for a debate and i thank you for your comment (email me if you want to elaborate further,inshallah) and just to put your mind at rest, i do not condemn everything the tablighies do.
Shah Md. Saeed Chishti said
Mohtaram Shaikh Abd Al Mustafa(DB!)
As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatllah. I have read your post with attention. Only last year I attended the last year’s Tongi Bishwa Ejtema with the ejajat/permission of my Shaikh(DB). No description is not enough to picture the activities of this congregation.
************* plz save us the fairy tales **********************************
Ma as-salam
Shah Md. Saeed Chishti (Afi anhu)
[Abd Al Mustafa] – since you are so fond of furfura peer, here’s a fatwa from furfura madrassah http://sunnibarta.wordpress.com/2007/05/28/%e0%a6%a4%e0%a6%be%e0%a6%ac%e0%a6%b2%e0%a7%80%e0%a6%97-%e0%a6%9c%e0%a6%be%e0%a6%ae%e0%a6%be%e0%a6%a4-%e0%a6%b8%e0%a6%ae%e0%a7%8d%e0%a6%aa%e0%a6%b0%e0%a7%8d%e0%a6%95%e0%a7%87-%e0%a6%ab%e0%a7%81/
ps. here’s my bangla blog http://sunnibarta.wordpress.com i’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Md Irfan said
i want to know about sunni, taglib and ahle adis jamat. how they r different. y we r not unique muslims
[Abd Al Mustafa] – Inshallah azzawajal. obviously, i will not attempt to answer your questions myself but rather, provide links to literature by esteemed scholars of ahlus sunnah.
who are the ahl al sunnah..??? http://groups.msn.com/sunnah786/whoaretheahlalsunnah.msnw
…….more here: http://groups.msn.com/sunnah786/home.msnw
if you are still not satisfied with info, you can forward your queries to the following forums, http://www.yanabi.com or http://sunniport.com and i’m sure you will find what you are seeking. inshallah!
Abd al-Rahman Nur`ani said
al-salam `alaikum:
If anyone wants to learn about the Barelvi-Deobandi divide, there is a lot of literature. This includings “al-Mu`tamad al-Mustanad” and “al-Dawlah al-Makkiya” of Shaykh Ahmad Rida Khan al-Barelawi, “Meher-e-Muneer” of Hadhrat Mawlana Pir Syed Meher Ali Shah Golrawi (r), “Subhan al-Subooh” of Imam Ahmad Rida Khan Barelawi , as well as “Bahareen-e-Qati`ah” of Mawlana Khaleel Ahmed Saharanpoori Ambethawi, “al-Hifdh al-Iman” of Mawlana Ashraf `Ali Thanawi, “al-Muhannad `ala Mufannad” of Mawlana Khaleel Ahmed Saharanpoori Ambethawi, “at-Tahqîqât lidaf`ut-Talbîsât” of Mawlana Na`im al-Din Murabadi (which is a reply to “al-Muhannad `ala Mufannad”), amongst other books.
Also, one may refer to the internet debate between Abu Anas/Kareem `Abdullah and Raffiq Ahmed on the Barelvi-Deobandi divide
Wasalamu `alaikum
– abdal rahman
AFZAAL FAROOQ said
ASSALAMALIKUM
MAKE DUA FOR ALL MUSLIMS
W SALAM
Shireen Khan said
Assalamu Alaikum. Instead of spreading hearsay, we should rely on evidence. I came across this interesting article in a secular Bangladeshi newspaper. Please check it out.
http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2009/02/01/c***r.htm
[Abd Al Mustafa] – wa alaykum as salaam. so, evidence in ur words is what the secularists testify about islam or any islamic groups..??
the article further strengthens my arguement. And as for the comments which u expected would dismiss my claims…well, if one was to ask a thief if he was a thief, what answer wud u get..??
Once again, u have clearly missed the point. if u read the whole post u will notice that the comments are not about TJ in general.
shafee ismail rangila said
** comments censored – not to the point **
[Abd Al Mustafa] – if u cannot comment on the issue raised plz don’t comment at all. whether u agree or disagree with the post plz ensure ur comments are to the point. the point being raised here is that the TJ in bangladesh are using lies, falsehood and misguidance to attract people to this particular gathering. thanx for your input but no thanx!
shafi said
assalamu alaikum