There are many jamaats out there that are working towards spreading Islam among the non-believes, kuffars, mushriqs, and munafiqs. I cannot even name most of them but the two I have special respect for are Tanzeem-e-Islami and the Tableeghi Jamaat. While one, Tanzeem-e-Islami, tends to lean towards the sciences of Islam, the other, Tableeghi Jamaat, gravitates towards Islam’s spiritual aspect and that I believe is the essential difference between them. And I think we need to have a grasp of both sides.
Now, before admitting with which jamaat most of my loyalties lie, I’d like to know what you think about the two parties and which one you agree with.
The Islamic Jamaats, well all those that i have seen have a lot of issues they need to adress.
Tanzeem-e-Islami: Its new to me, i have a very nice colleague, very intelligent and professional who is a memeber of TI and has been trying to introduce people to TI. I have listened to him and few of tapes of Dr Israr. He seems to be a learned an and good speaker. But, overall i am not much impressed by them. What they call for is Nizaam on Manhaj of Khilafat, but they themselves have little idea of what it means in today's world. We can all talk about Khilafat-e-Rashida but what about NOW. I feel they do not have even an outline of system of governance that they want implemented. Secondly, i wonder if Dr Israar has prepared people to succeed him, at present it appears to be a one man show.
Tableeghi Jamaat: Lot of work being done by them, must be appreciated. But they are limited to Ibaadaat and thats all. Secondly, there is no room in Tableeghi Jamaat for scholars, for researc, free thought or any answer to present day challenges of humanity. They are like tape records. Even in their sermons they teach people to repeat the same sentences for centuries.
I believe it is well understood that a person does not need to belong to any particular group/Jamaah to be following the correct religion left by Prophet SAW and his great companions in the shape of the Quran and Sunnah.
Most Jamaahs try to find themselves to be the best among the rest. Where as we know that only Allah SWT knows who is the best. When one Shaikh of Sunnah (Anwar Al-Awlaki) was asked as to which he feels is the jammah that the hadeeth of Rasul Allah SAW talks about as being the one on the right path, he says, it seems to him that the people mentioned in that hadeeth are not in the shape of any jammaah today rather they are of the same "thought and approach" and they can be any where in the world scattered - (reference is Anwar Al-Awlaki's stories of Hadeeth - 4 CDs series)
I believe the above answer is the one many balanced scholars today present when asked this question.
So it does not matter which jammah is better really.
This is very insightful.
However, I think Dr. Israr has already outlined a system to bring about a revolution through out our current system of governance: That system is called Islam. Why should a new alien system be introduced when Pakistan can adapt one that has already been proven. On top of his list is complete eradication of interest. And yes, he does seem to be a one man show. Actually now his son is the one man show.
There is no shortage of scholars, alim, mufti, hafiz ul Quran, hafizul Hadith in the Tableeghi jamaat. During ramadan I attended lectures by Sheikh ul Hadith Maulana Palanpuri (wierd name) of India at Masjid Fatima in Queens, NY. I don’t think they are just limited to ibadaat but rather implementation of sunnah in our daily lives. And yes they are like tape records but thats because they believe that our salvation only lies in obedience. One think I agree with you is that they are very closed minded.
I have never learnt anything of value from tableeghi jamaat and the rangroots that they send to go talk to ppl usually dont have the knowledge or ability to discuss anything , all the want t do is press the play button in thir brain and have you shake your head until the tape runs out.
The work of Tableegh as most people call it was started by Maulana Illyaas (RE) In pre-partition India and has spread all over the World, the official name in the US is "Anjuman-i- Ahyaa Al Islam" mainly revival of Islam.
That is one Jamaat that will not accept any funds or donation of Money from any one until you spend time striving in the path of Allah, and not neccessarily preaching to others but learning and bettering oneself.
The reason they do not want to talk about Masail is quite obvious, they recommend we go to scholars for that. but great importance is given to the acquisition of knowledge and practicing what is learned.
The actions of TJ impliedly rejected Islam as system for all aspect of human life - both individual and collective levels! By holding their annual congregation in November every year, they rejected Islamic calender as it is primitive and does not conform with seasons!
^ look at it this way, they did not select a month from christian calendar, but a season that is created by Allah Almighty, and is more suited for gatherings, instead of the humid summer season....
This clearly exhibits that Islamic calender is weak and primitive. You can not run your day to day affair under Islamic calender! You can not grow your crops according to Islamic months.