Known as the pacifists, Tableeghis reiterate their commitment to peaceful preaching of Islam at another annual gathering in Raiwind near Lahore. The gathering concludes on Sunday with a collective prayer. An estimated one million faithful gather for three days of prayers in Raiwind, the headquarters of Tableeghi Jammat, gathering Muslims from 150 countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada, Germany, Brunei, Canada and South Africa.
The Tableeghi Jamaat is a quietist, apolitical movement of spiritual guidance and renewal that originated from Deobandi scholarly movement in the Indian subcontinent, whose networks now reach around the world.
This Jammat never glamorously published nor show their beliefs openly in public. They preach quietly from door to door to give advice of salat (prayer) only, without mentioning another aspect of multi-faceted Islam.
Membership in the Tablighi Jamaat entails its male members leaving their homes in small groups, for varying periods of time, to teach correct Islamic practices to fellow Muslims and to invite them to join the Jamaat in the work of da`wa or tabligh [proselytizing].
It is almost next to impossible to find out who are the leaders or organisers of the huge gathering in Raiwind. The mammoth congregation of the faithful is said to be the largest after the Hajj pilgrimage in Makkah.
No banners of holy war. No demagogic calls for a ferocious battle against “infidels”. Nobody raises slogans. No flags or high sounding clerics surrounded by gun-totting guards.
On the last day of the congregation, hundreds of groups are formed to spread the elementary message of Islam to everyone throughout the world.
Jamaat Tableegh originated in the United India after the failure of the Khilafat movement in 1927. Due to British occupation, most of the Islamic scholars turned from political action to the apolitical association.
With this background, Maulana Muhammad Ilyas, a pious, learned religious leader based in Delhi founded the Jamaat.
Maulana Ilyas originally founded the movement to help the Mewatis, villagers who had so intermixed with Hindus that they had adopted many Hindu customs.
After some training, the Mewatis returned to Islamic practices and in turn started making da’wah (invitation) to others.
The Jamaat-e-Tableegh emphasizes six fundamentals and participants are expected to give “bayan” (short talk) on these same topics. These six points are; Kalma, (Allah is one and Muhammad PBUH is his last prophet), Salat (Five time prayers), Ilmu Zikar (Remembering God and Give education and get education), Ikram-e-Muslim (love and respect for humanity), Tashih-e-Nyiat (purity of intention) and Tabligh (spending time in the Allah’s paths).
Tableeghis underline the necessity to pray for God’s forgiveness and mercy. “Picking guns and fighting for power is forbidden and useless, unless we win the blessings of God,” says a Tableeghi.
As distinct from all other sects, the Tableeghis do not apostatise anyone. They prefer to invite everybody from every faith to embrace God’s message for his own good. The method is simple and non-coercive.
Tableeghis abhor politics, avoid worldly gratification, lead a simple life, reject consumerism and prefer to devote their energies to spread the message of God.
Relying on volunteerism and self-dedication, they devote a part or whole of their lives for spreading Islam while emphasising five essentials of Islam.
Their aloofness from politics, simplicity, politeness, non-sectarian and non-violent ways has given them a unique identity.
However, for some, Tableeghis are escapists, who rather than tackling the problems faced by the Muslim world are trying to find solace in isolation.
Those opposing the quiet movement narrate stories in which the earning male member left the house for Tableegh for one year, without making any arrangements for his family. But the quiet movement is only spreading.
Tableeghis have kept their group totally non-hierarchical, despite running a massive campaign and organising largest religious gatherings in South Asia. It’s a voluntary movement evolving its own norms and working patterns without getting bogged down under an organisational structure. The Tableeghi Jamaat essentially focuses on developing a character-structure that is puritan and submitting to the will of God.
Spread over four or five square kilometers, the big city they set up every year outside Raiwind, an unending mass of people gather to offer collective prayers, and again spread out to convey the self-assuaging message of God.
Unaffected by the world around them, Tableeghis keep on their non-violent, as they disappear from Raiwind on into their quiet campaign.
http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/articledetails.php?id=37658