Fatwa on The Tablighi Jama’at
Published by: Dar Al-Ifta, Granada,Spain
Murabitun, 1992
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This fatwa was delivered by Hajj Abdalhaqq Sayf Al-Ilm Bewley at the Sixth Conference of Islamic Fiqh held at the Aula Magna, Faculty of Science, Granada University, Granada, Spain August 1992.
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم.
والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله
عن ابي سعيد الخضري (رضي الله عنه) عن النبي (صلى الله عليه وسلم) قال: لتتبعن سُنَن َمن كان قبلكم شِيرًا شِيْرًا و ذراعآ ذراعا ختّى لو دخلوا جحر ضب تبعتمو هم قلنا: يارسول الله اليهود والنّصارى؟ قال: فمن؟
From Abu Said Al –Khudri, radiyallahu anhu, from the Prophet salla llahu alaihi wa sallam, that he said, ‘you will follow the behavior patterns of those who came before you span by span and cubit by cubit until, if they went down a lizard’s hole, you would follow them’. We said, ‘you mean the jews and the Christians?’ He said, ‘Who else’ (Bukhari)
عن ابن عمر رضى الله عنهما انّ رسول الله صلّى الله عليه و سلم قال: امرتُ ان اقاتِل النّاس حتى يشهدوا ان لا اله الا الله وانّ مُحمَّدا رسول الله ويقيموا الصلاة و يؤتوا الزكاة، فاِذا فعلوا ذلك عصموا منى دماءهم واموالهم الّا يحق الاِسلام، و حسابهم على الله.
From Ibn Umar, radiyallahu anhuma, that the Messenger of Allah, sallalahu alaihi wa sallam said, ‘I have been ordered to fight people until they bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and establish the prayer, and pay the zakat. If they do that, they are safe from me in respect of their blood and their wealth, except when a right of Islam is involved, and their reckoning is up to Allah. ‘ (Bukhari and Muslim)
عن ابي هريرة رضى الله عنه قال: سمعتُ النبي صلّى الله عليه و سلم يقول : والذّى نفسى بيده لولا ان رجالا من المؤمنين لا تطيب انفسهم ان يتخلفوا عَنِّى ولا اجد ما احمِلهم عليه ما تخلفتُ عن سرية تغدو فى سبيل الله، والّذى نفسى لودِدتُ انى اقتل فى سبيل الله، ثمّ احيا ثمّ اقتلُ ثمَّ احيا ثمَّ اقتل ثمَّ احيا ثمَّ اقتل.
From Abu Hurayra, radiyallahu anhu, who said,’ I heard the Prophet, sallalahu alaihi wa sallam, say: ‘By the One who holds mu life in His hands, were it not for certain men among the Muminun who would be upset at being left behind me and for whom I am unable to find mounts, I would not remain behind single expedition going out to fight in the way of Allah By the One who holds my life in His Hands, I would love to be killed and then brought back to life again and then killed and brought back to life again and then killed and brought back to life again and then killed once more.’ (Bukhari)
The aim of this statement is to demonstrate that the movement known as Tablighi Jamaat is being utilized by the enemies of Islam as an effective instrument in their continuing struggle to prevent the emergence of a true Islamic movement in Europe and elsewhere in the world and that it is therefore incumbent on all Muslims to disown it and discourage its activity in every way.
Allah tabaraka wa taala says in His Glorious Book in ayat no 3 of Surat al Ma’ida:
الْيَوْمَ يَئِسَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِن دِينِكُمْ فَلَا تَخْشَوْهُمْ وَاخْشَوْنِ ۚ الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا ۚ
Today the rejectors have despaired of your deen. So do not fear Me. Today I have perfected you deen for you and completed My blessing upon you and am pleased with Islam as a deen for you.(Al Quran 5:3)
These great ayats were revealed during the Farewell Hajj of the Prophet, Sallalahu alaihi wa sallam. Ibn Juzayy says about them in his tafsir:
(Today the unbelievers have despairedof your deen) i.e. despaired of defeating it. It was sent down after ‘Asr on the Day of Jum’a on the Day of ‘Arafat’ in the Hajj of Farewell. That is the day mentioned on account of the victory of Islam and the great number of Muslims present. It is possible that means the present time and not a specific day.
(Today I have perfected your deen for you) This perfection can by reason of its victory and dominance or it can be reason of the completed teaching of the Shari’a and the definitive making clear of the halal and haram.
And it says in the Jalalayn:
(Today the unbelievers have despaired of your deen) despaired of making you revert from it, having at onetime hoped to do so, now that they have seen its power. (Do not fear them. Fear Me. Today I have perfected your deen for you) Its judgements and obligations. After it no halal or haram was sent down. (I have completed My blessing to You) By perfecting it. It is said that this refers to entering Makka in safety.
Thus it is absolutely clear that Allah’s deen, the perfected Islam which He speaks of in the ayat, includes within its scope all the commands and prohibitions and injunctions that Allah revealed in His Book and established for us at the hand of His Messenger and the first Community of Muslims. It is this that every generation of Muslims ever since has inherited.
At the end of his Farewell Khuthba, on the day the ayat was revealed, a khutba devoted to the protection of the total economic and social reality of the Muslim polity, he had, by Allah’s guidance, brought into being, he asked the 1 24 000 Muslims present if he had conveyed the message, ‘yes indeed, you have.’ came the unanimous reply.
It is, demonstrable, both from Allah’s Book and from the sira that the ‘conveying’ the tablligh of the Prophet, sallalahu alaihi wa sallam, was not merely verbal, but included making sure that Allah’s Message was implemented in every respect and every detail in terms of the knowledge that had to be imparted, the behavior that had to be embodided and most importantly, the governance that had to be established. Later in the same Surat, al Ma’oda, Allah makes it absolutely clear that governing by Allah’s judgements is integral to the revelation of the Message. He says in ayats 49:50.
وَأَنِ احْكُم بَيْنَهُم بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ وَاحْذَرْهُمْ أَن يَفْتِنُوكَ عَن بَعْضِ مَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ إِلَيْكَ ۖ فَإِن تَوَلَّوْا فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَن يُصِيبَهُم بِبَعْضِ ذُنُوبِهِمْ ۗ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ النَّاسِ لَفَاسِقُونَ
أَفَحُكْمَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ يَبْغُونَ ۚ وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ مِنَ اللَّهِ حُكْمًا لِّقَوْمٍ يُوقِنُونَ
Judge between them by what Allah has sent down and do not follow their false notions. And beware of them lest the lure you away from some of what Allah has sent down to you. If they turn their backs, then know that Allah desires to smite them for some of their wrong actions. Many of mankind or people who are want only deviant.
Do they them seek the judgement of the Days of Ignorance? Who is better at giving judgement than Allah for a people who have certainty?
يَا أَيُّهَا الرَّسُولُ بَلِّغْ مَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّبِّكَ ۖ وَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلْ فَمَا بَلَّغْتَ رِسَالَتَهُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ يَعْصِمُكَ مِنَ النَّاسِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ
And then in ayat 67, in the midst of these ayats about the implementation of Allah’s judgements, Allah ta’ala addresses the prophet salla’llahu alayhi wa sallam with the following words:
69 O Messenger! Convey what has been sent down to you from your Lord. If you do not do it you will not have conveyed His Message. Allah will safeguard you from people. Allah does not guide the people of the rejectors.
This makes it clear beyond any doubt that the conveying – the tabligh – of the Message goes hand in hand with the implementation of all the injunctions and commandments and prohibitions of Allah ta’ala contained in it. It follows that unless this is the case, without the implementation of the whole deen as it was sent down and perfected, it is something other than that deen which Allah was pleased with for us. It is not properly speaking Islam. In another ayat Allah ta’ala makes the matter quite explicit when He says in surat at Baqara ayat 208:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ادْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً
O you who believe, Enter into submission totally.
According to the mufasirun the word as-salm, translated here as submission refers to the deen of Islam.
It may seem that in saying this I am laboring an obvious point. What I have said is clearly indisputable and must have the agreement of all Muslims. However, we live in a world where there are, in numerical terms, more people who consider themselves Muslims, in other words, people of Islam, than in any previous period of history and yet according to the way Allah ta’ala categorically defines it in His Book, Islam has ceased to exist. Nowhere in the world is there any group of people governed according to what Allah has sent down in the Book as demonstrated for us by the Prophet, salla’llahu alayhi wa sallam, and his companions, radiyallahu anhum, and continuing through all the subsequent generations down virtually to our own time.
How is it, therefore, possible for so many people to find no incongruity in the fact that they are Muslims when, properly speaking, Islam does not exist anywhere? What has happened is that Islam has been redefined and that this new definition has been accepted by the vast majority of Muslims without their realizing, for the vast majority, that it has happened. It is a confidence trick that has been played on a vast scale, quite consciously instigated and carried out by the enemies of Islam, the colonial powers and their Jewish advisors, over the past 200 years.
As we know from the ayats quoted above and many others it is obligatory for Muslims tobe governed according to the laws of Allah and correspondingly forbidden for them to be governed by any other laws. In order to ensure that this happens Allah ta’ala gives us clear instructions. He Says, subhanahu wa ta’ala, in suratu l Baqara, ayat 193:
وَقَاتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّىٰ لَا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ وَيَكُونَ الدِّينُ لِلَّهِ
Fight them until idolatry is no more and the deen belongs to Allah alone.
In this and many other unambiguous ayats Allah makes it clear to the Muslims that it is not permitted for them to accept the domination of any other authority and that they must fight to ensure that they are governed by Allah’s laws alone. Thus, from the time of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, up until the 1914-18 war the world was divided into two parts, Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb – the part of the world governed by the laws of Allah and the part of the world where that was not the case.
However, from the end of the 18th century onwards, the greed of the European powers, already under the domination of a hidden economic elite, led them to make inroads into the outer edges of Dar al-Islam. This, for the first time, brought large Muslim populations under Kafir control a situation which, as we know, is not acceptable in Islam. To counteract this, the colonialist powers devised the strategy of redefining Islam by removing from it its cornerstone, the doctrine of Jihad. The lead in this was undertaken by the British in India, and systematically and subtly, largely through the use of ‘tame’ modernist ‘Ulama, the Muslims were persuaded that it was not only permissible but even commendable and then finally actually obligatory to submit to Kafir rule. It is beyond the scope of this statement to go into the details of how this extraordinary volte face was achieved but it is thoroughly documented for all those who wish to find out. A Dutch orientalist put the matter very suceintly in a book entiltled De Atjehers in 1894:
The way the Jihad- doctrine is being explained by Mohammedan scholars and is being professed, in a less systematic fashion, by the popular masses, offers an excellent criterion of the standpoint of Islam and the reason for the direction in which the political circumstances of our days increasingly force it. Finally, however, it will have to yield: the doctrine of jihad will be abandoned and will be replaced by the practically harmless doctrine regarding the end of the world, the Messianic or Mahdist expectations… Before it comes to that, however, the last political centre of Islam will probably have been brought under European influence, and all less civilized Mohammedan peoples must have learnt to submit to a strong European rule.
This strategy proved to be devastatingly effective and paved the way to the almost totally unopposed destruction of the Caliphate and the splitting uo of Dar al –Islam into the kafir dominated nation states we have inherited today. What we are left with, are numerious so called Muslim countries, populated by people who consider themselves Muslims, but ruled by systems which have nothing to do with Islam Whatsoever. Their lives are totally dominated by an economic system abhorrent to Allah and His Messenger, a system which Allah openly declares war on in His Book, and yet there is no real attempt anywhere to replace it by what Allah has commanded, in facr quite the reverse is true. The legal system that governs their lives is in every case absolutely opposed to what Allah has sent down. Almost every aspect of their lives, is in direct contradiction to what the Messenger of Allah left to us and yet most people still honestly seem to consider that they are living Muslim lives.
This is only possible because, as happened with Christianity in Europe, the domain of Islam now has been redefined as only applying to prayer and private morality. Islam has been stripped of all its legal and political dimensions and restricted to being a religion in the commonly accepted sense of the word – one way among others which can be used by individuals to have a purely personal relationship with God. As we have seen, and as we all know, this is something absolutely different to that Islam which Allah perfected and was pleased with for us. Yet millions upon millions of Muslims now accept it as Islam.
To shore up this new kind of Islam there have been, throughout the so-called Muslim world, massive mosque-building and restoration programmes in order to fool the people into thinking that Islam is alive and well. At the same time the people are fed a continuous diet, largely through religious programmes in the media, of religious instruction, encouraging them to pray regularly and to be good moral citizens. The private moral aspects of the revelation are stressed to the exclusion of all else. At the same time, of course, any attempt to bring up the legal and political aspects of Islam, the missing nine-tenths of the revelation, is ruthlessly and systematically, stamped out.
In other words, the outward appearance of Islam in its individual aspects is not only permitted but actively encouraged while the vital element, the doctrine of jihad, is completely excluded. It is as if approximately one quarter of the Quran had never been revealed. Doing this entails nothing other than the continued application of that technique referred to previously learned from British colonial rule. Its overt aim is the prevention of Islam in its true reality, a society governed and action according to what Allah has sent down. It allows an outward expression of Islam that reassures the individual but in no way impinges on the domination and economic exploitation of the governing kafir system. At the same time the Muslims have come to accept as a given the united nations map of the world, a world of economic units with fixed borders known as nation states where it is taken for granted that Muslims live peaceably alongside the Kuffar. This situation is unquestioningly accepted by almost all Muslims even though it is categorically unacceptable in the Shari’a. The peaceful co-existence of Muslims and Kuffar as a permanent state of affairs is in reality an absolute bid’a in Islam.
The extent to which this redefinition of Islam has succeeded and the depth of its penetration into the viewpoint of the average Muslim becomes clear when we read extracts from a proclamation from the Caliph Mehmet V issued as recently as 1914:
It is incumbent upon all Islamic peoples, their individuals and their communities, to strive and put forth every effort to deliver any people of the peoples of Islam and any nation of the nations which believe in the Unity of Allah if they have fallen into the grasp of the infidels who are idolators and of the oppressive enemies.
Therefore every Muslim without exception must be considered as a soldier, and therefore it is an imperative necessity that everyone who is able to bear arms should learn the military duties, and be ready for the jihad in case of need. And these duties are incumbent upon individuals, and communities, and peoples, for they are called to be responsible for it in accordance with the saying of the Most High, ‘Make ready for them all the strength you can.’
It is necessary that they should know from today that the Jihad has become a sacred duty and that the blood of the infidels in the Islamic lands may be shed with impunity. They must know that the killing of the infidels who rule over the Islamic lands has become a sacred duty, whether it be secretly or openly, as the great Qur’an declares in its words, ‘then seize them and kill them wherever you find them. Those, We have given you clear authority over them.’
To whoever kills even one single infidel of those who rule over Islamic lands, either secretly or openly, there is a reward like a reward from all the living ones of the Islamic world. And let every individual of the Muslims ion whatever place they may be, take upon him this oath to kill at least three or four of the ruling infidels, enemies of Allah, and enemies of the religion. He must take upon himself this oath before Allah ta’ala, expecting his reward from Allah alone, and let the Muslim be confident if there be to him no other good deed than this, nevertheless he will prosper in the Day of Judgement and we ask the Most High to extend the people of the Faith by the favour of the Lord.
From this time on it must be the purpose of the Islamic peoples and their target at which they aim, to release the Islamic Kingdoms and the native lands of Islam from the infidels who have usurped the rule over them. There can be absolutely no partnership in the native lands of Islam, for the rule of infidels over Islam is not lawful and it is not allowable that the Muslims should be judged by a non-Muslim at any time whatever and he cannot be patient under the rule of the infidels, and the honour of the Muslims is that they should not be subjects to others, and it is their glory that they should have the lordship, and that they should always be followed by others. This is what Islam requires. And Islam will be completed and perfected in the Muslim if he knows it and practices it.
Therefore we have seen fit to direct to all the people of the Faith the following proclamations concerning the following matters:
1. That the buying of anything although it be a trifle from the infidels who have usurped the rule over the Islamic kingdoms and who continually manifest enmity to the Muslims, is absolutely forbidden.
2. Compliance with the commands issued by the infidels who have usurped the rule over the Islamic Kingdoms and who are openly hostile to the Muslims, is absolutely forbidden.
3. That the giving of the taxes to the infidels who have usurped the rule over the Islamic countries and who are hostile to the assembly of Muslims, is absolutely forbidden.
4. The duty of sending the lawful amount of zakat to the centre of the Caliphate is enjoined.
yes, the time for that has come, and it is incumbent upon us, the company of the Islamic peoples, that we should rise up as the rising up of one man, in one of his hands the sword and in the other the gun and in his pocket balls of fire and annihilating missiles and in his heart the light of the Faith.
Such must be the aim of all Muslims from now on, and they must strive for this end and fight with their wealth and their selves for this end, seeing that the Jihad is a duty laid down for this object. And we hope that the native land of Islam will be saved after this from being called the World of Deviance (Dar al-Fisq). and that it may be closely bound to the seat of the Caliphate, and it may rightly be called the Dar al Islam in all meaning of that name and that we likewise maybe of those whose faces are white on the Last Day in the presence of the All-knowing and All-Wise, and that we may escape from the reproach of the honoured Prophet, may Allah bless his and grant his peace’
This is an exposition of the correct, straightforward, orthodox Muslim position coming from the very centre of Muslim orthodoxy. Yet it is almost inconceivable to imagine it being made in the present time and if it were made it would certainly be considered by almost all Muslims to be the rabid outpouring of the most unacceptable kind of Islamic extremist group.
This complete change of perspective, this redefinition of Islam in the most fundamental way, has taken place within the space of scarcely more than a single generation.
One result of this new Muslim perspective, something which would have been impossible with a correct understanding of Islam, was that the kafir powers were able to recruit and import cheap labour from among the Muslims under their control, which has led to the build-up of sizeable Muslim minorities in parts of the world where there was previously no Muslim presence particularly in Western Europe. As they well knew from their long experience of colonial rule, wherever Muslims gather together there is always the danger, despite all that has been done to subvert it, of true Islam recurring. In the Muslim world, as we know, the puppet governments, fronting for the kafir economic power elite, have the situation well under control, but there was no way for the kafir governments to impose direct control on their imported Muslim minorities. It is here that the Tablighi movement of North India has come into its own.
The Tablighi Jama’at or Jama’at Tabligh were precisely the instrument needed to apply, among the Muslim populations of Europe, exactly those techniques that have proved so effective elsewhere in the world. That of misdirecting the energy of ordinary well-intentioned Muslims in such a way that they could feel that they were living active Muslim lives without impinging in any way on the dominant kafir power structure.
As we have already seen, the British in India, having on several occasions felt the brunt of true Muslim resistance to kafir domination, were continually looking for ways of infiltrating and subverting Islam and eventually succeeded in their strategy of eliminating the doctrine of jihad and completely changing the way Muslims related to kafir domination. One of the methods they used in fulfilling their aim was that of keeping a very careful eye, through their comprehensive spy network, on every new Muslim group and movement. Any which in any attempted to remind the Muslims of their true obligations were speedily stamped out but any which served the purpose of the British and helped them consolidate their control over the Muslims were left alone and discreetly encouraged. One example of this was, of course, the infamous Ahmadiyya movement. Another, was the Tablighi movement of Muhammad Ilyas.
The Tablighi Jama’at was set up in the early part of this century in reaction to the British encouraged militant Hindu movement of the same period, to combat the threat among the Muslims of conversion to Hinduism. After watching it closely for some time, the British authorities realized that here was exactly what they were looking for, a Muslim movement that totally absorbed the energy of its members and yet did not threaten British economic and political domination in anyway. They saw the ‘Tablighi Jama’at rapidly develop into movement involving thousands of previously troublesome Muslims so that all their energy, instead of, as previously, being directed outwardly against their legitimate kafir enemies, was now directed inwardly towards the rest of the Muslims. Here was a movement which harnessed the energy of Islam and prevented it from having any effect whatsoever in this political arena, a movement which complied in every respect with the new expurgated pacifist version of Islam of the colonialist modernist ulama.
It was, therefore, one of the groups allowed to flourish by the British and in due course the good news was passed on to other interested parties. This is the reason for the mysterious blanket acceptance of the Tablighi movement throughout Europe and the rest of the world, the reason that they have apparent carte blanche to travel anywhere in the world they wish, the reason that their massive gatherings are not interfered with in any way and the reason why they alone among ‘Muslim movements’ are being allowed to grow inside Muslim countries where so many of their brothers are being imprisoned, tortured, and killed on a daily basis.
The Tablighi Jama’at at has quite simply become an instrument employed by the dominant kafir authorities throughout the world to syphon off the energy of millions of active but misguided Muslims in order to as far as possible prevent the growth of any legitimate Muslim aspirations for that true Islam defined by Allah in His Book in the ayats quoted at the beginning of this statement. This is the case whether the leaders of the Tablighi movement know it or not, admit it or not, and like it or not.
To understand why the Tablighi Jamat is so popular with the kafir authorities and how this misdirection of Muslim energy has been enabled to take place it is necessary to look no further than their own programme as set out in their handbook, ‘The teachings of Islam’ a book whose study is held by many among them to be a important as the study of the Qur’an itself. The section devoted to their actual programme and method is at the end of the book and entitled ‘Muslim degeneration and its remedy’.
This title in itself provides the keynote for one of the basic fallacies of the whole movement. So much of their activity is based on having a bad opinion of Muslims, something in fact forbidden by Allah and completely contrary to the practice of the Messenger, who, as we know, refused to listen to anything that would give him a bad opinion of any of the Muslims. It says in the book.
But when one turns his eyes away from the pages of the history books and looks at the Muslims of today, one sees the picture of a people sunk in misery and disgrace, a people who possess no real strength or power, honour or dignity, brotherhood or mutual love, and reflect no virtues or moral character worth the name. One cannot find any sign in them of those noble deeds which at one time used to be the symbol of each and every Muslim. Nowadays there can hardly be a living person who can be said to have the purity or the sincerity of conscience. On the contrary, Muslims are sunk in vice and sin. They have wandered away so much from the path of virtue which at one time used to be their ‘hall -mark’, that the enemies of Islam talk and discuss their affairs with delight, contempt and ridicule.
It is impossible from this standpoint to approach any Muslim correctly. We know from the Book of Allah and the words and example of the Messenger of Allah, salla’llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, that by the simple fact of his acceptance of Allah and his Messenger a Muslim is already superior to any kafir. Muslims need to be reminded of this, not to be told how dreadful they are. It is this attitude that so delighted the British in India and has continued to delight the enemies of Islam ever since. It makes the whole movement extremely inward looking and negative. Its members are continually finding fault with themselves and other Muslims, leaving no room for that good opinion of Allah and their fellow Muslims which is the life-blood and indeed the very power source of any true Islamic movement.
Then, after several pages of what is really inadequate and simplistic analysis of the situation of the Muslims in the world in which the author, in the name of the method of tablig, advocates a return to the re-establishment of the Book and the Sunna, he proceeds to make the following statement:
It is now up to us to set about the revival of the obligatory task of ‘Tablig’. It will be only then that we can hope to regenerate the true faith of Islam in the masses. By this means alone can we recognize and truly understand both Allah ta’ala and His Holy Prophet. Hazrat Mohammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and will be able to clearly understand and finally submit to their commands and wishes. To achieve this, we will have to adopt the exact methods and ways which are laid down and were demonstrated by the Holy Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) himself when he reformed the pagan Arabs. Allah taala says in the Qur’an:
‘Indeed the Holy Prophet is the perfect example for you to follow’
In this very connection Hazrat Malik (rahmathullahi alayhi) said: ‘reformation of the last (part) of this (Muhammad’s Ummat) will not be possible except by adopting the method which was used in the beginning (by Hazrat Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).’
As we saw from the ayats quoted at the beginning the tabligh of the Prophet himself, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, was nothing other than the complete implementation of the deen in all its ramifications. However, the author then goes on to define his version of the exact prophetic method by outlining five actions, claiming that this is ‘nothing else than the way of life followed by our ancestors and the early Muslims’
They consist of:
1. To memorise and correctly recite the kalmia(meaning the shahada)
2. To do the prayer punctually and regularly five times a day
3. To develop attachment of body and soul to the Holy Qur’an
4. To devote some time each day to doing dhikr.
5. To consider every Muslim as brother.
(This last point must, of course, be taken within the context of the statement quoted above whereby every Muslim is, in their eyes, a miserable sinner.)
The author then follows up this extremely limited and totally personal programme with the following astonishing claim. He states that putting this programme into practice:-
Will automatically ensure the growth and expansion of Islam in its true form.
and further:
It was exactly this type of work which every Prophet of Allah had to do as his sole occupation.
And then:
The worthy Companions of Hazrat Muhammad, salla’llahu alayhi wa sallam, as well as many other distinguished Muslims of the early period of Islam, spent the whole of their lives in striving hard and struggling for the religion of Islam in this very manner.
He then goes on to equate this with the propagation of Islam in its entirety and says:
If we realize this we can appreciate that the propagation of Islam is our real mission in life, and therein lies our very existence as Muslims and also our success, glory and ultimate salvation. The opposite is also true that by neglecting this important task we suffer from moral degeneration and social degradation. The only remedy for this is that all of us must sincerely repent our lethargic and injurious past and take immediate steps to revive the act of Tabligh as our major occupation. It is only then that we can expect the mercy and compassion of Allah ta’ala to flow, to bring us triumph and happiness both in this life and the hereafter.
And then specifies it further, Remember that this is being put forward as the complete practice of the Prophet, salla’llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, himself, without any qualification:
….As and when some persons find themselves ready to take up this sacred task, they should try to contact their friends or such persons in their neighbourhood who may already be engaged in this work and spend a few hours a week in their company. The next step will be to spend, under the guidance of those people, full three days a month outside in a locality or a village other than one’s own. Later, but as early as possible, to pass one full month, or better still, forty days annually in some distant area in similar manner. Lastly, the real requirement in the ‘Tabligh’ is to spend continuously four months once in the lifetime, in a given place or area.
Given that this is being presented as the complete prophetic method, as followed by the Messenger of Allah and the Companions, it is scarcely surprising that it found, and continues to find, the complete approval of the enemies of Islam, since there is no mention anywhere of anything which might even slightly inconvenience a kafir government. How different this is from the actual practice of the Prophet, salla’allahu’alayhi wa sallam.
No one was more loved and trusted by his people than the Messenger of Allah, salla’llahu alaihi wa sallam, before he began to deliver the Messege. But from the day he made his Prophethood public he met implacable hostility from the very people who until that time had held him in the highest regard. Later in his life he said that one of the gifts he was given by Allah was that of striking fear into the hearts of his enemies at a month’s distance. This is inevitably the case whenever and wherever the Message of Islam is truly conveyed, since it always, by definition, strikes at the very roots of every other system with which it comes into contact. History has shown from the very beginning, every time that Islam is truly propagated, the prevailing kafir power structure immediately feels threatened by it.
How different it is in the case of the Tablighi Jama’at at. An article in that mouthpiece of the kafir elite, the British weekly, The Economist, entitled ‘The Other Side of Islam’, which advocates in its most extreme form the modernist-revisionist version of Islam we have been talking of, ends with a glowing testimonial to the Tablighi Jama’at. It says, ‘so long as such movements exist, and attract millions of Muslims, essential Islam remains alive and well’. What more eloquent condemnation could there be than approbation, from such a source. If, quite contrary to feeling threatened, the kafir authorities positively welcome what is happening, as they clearly do in the case of the Tablighi Jama’at, then it must be that something other than true Islam is being propagated.
Under the subtitle ‘Procedure to Work’ the whole method is The most important factor in the task of Tabligh is the manner and method of approach, which simply means to follow closely the lines adopted by the worthy Companions of the Holy Prophet (salla’llahu alayhi wa sallam) strictly in accordance with his teachings and practices. The method adopted by the Holy Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) was as follows:
A Jamaat or group of at least ten men should be formed. One of them should be selected ‘amir’(leader). They should get together in a mosque, make ablutions and offer tow rakaat nafil prayers. After this, all should supplicate together and beseech for Divine mercy, help and guidance for success in their efforts and remaining steadfast and resolute in their task of Tabligh. For all this time, ‘zikr’ should be recited by all and every precaution should be taken not to indulge in idle talk. On reaching the place for ‘Tabligh’ once again the ‘Jamaat’ should supplicate and beseech for Allah Ta’ala’s mercy and help in their mission. The place of Tabligh will be the vicinity of a mosque of the locality where the work is to be conducted. A part of the ‘Jamaat’ should be detailed to tour the locality calmly and quietly inviting people to the mosque, where ‘ta’leem(reading and teaching out of religious books) should be in progress and later the ‘namaz’(prayers) of the time should be offered. After this, one of the members of the ‘Jamaat’ should place before the people, in an affectionate and calm manner, the importance and urgency of reviving Islam in each and every Muslim as ordained by Allah Ta’ala and the Holy Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) giving out as simply as possible the cardinal points of Tabligh and the way to accomplish them. Finally, the people should be persuaded, again in a cordial manner, to join hands in this sacred task and come out to do the work of Tabligh like the Jamaat itself.
There is nothing more. This is, according to Tablighi Jamaa’t, the whole of Islam. Under the heading of ‘Genenral Principles’, the following point is made:
6. No controversial matters or points of secondary importance be discussed at anytime. The total time must be devoted to bringing out the Divinity, Oneness and Omnipotence of Allah Ta’ala and to confine all talk to the main points of ‘Tabligh’, which are in real sense the basic principles to be followed by each and every Muslim at all times.
Anything, therefore, other than the five main points of the Tablighi programme previously enumerated is either a ‘controversial matter’ or a ‘point of secondary importance’ and may not be discussed. Thus, a programme originally designed to ensure that the adherents of Tablighi Jama’at did not come into conflict with the British authorities in India has now been extended to include all aspects of Kafir domination in the World. The members of the Tablighi Jama’at are actually forbidden to question it at all. No wonder the enemies of Islam are delighted.
Then, in the section entitled, ‘Summary and Conclusion’ the author makes the definitive statement which conclusively places the Tablighi Jama’at in the Indian modernist camp of the rewritten, jihad free Islam of colonialist rule and explains how it was able to become the useful tool of the kafir forces which it in fact has:
Jihad may normally mean fighting a war against oppressors and non-believers. In the practical sense, however, it means spreading of Kalima of Allah and enforcing of Allah’s Commandments, which is also the ultimate aim of ‘Tabligh’.
This clear exposition of the divergence between the rewritten modernist view and the correct traditional view of the doctrine of jihad goes back, as we have seen, to an essential difference in political outlook. The modernists accept to a great extent the situation they live in. Consciously or un consciously they have adopted the Western Liberal values that became current in the Islamic world as a result of economic and political penetration. Their attempts to reform Islam aim at incorporating these values within it. They have completely acquieseed in the division of the Islamic world into national states. Islamic unity is for them a vague religious ideal. The Indian modernists even condoned colonial rule and limited the scope of the jihad obligation to such an extent that resistance against colonialism was forbidden. This redefinition of jihad against the ayats of the Book of Allah and against every precedent of the history of the Muslims up to and including the proclamation of the last Caliph earlier in this century which was previously quoted, has meant that all the aggressive energy of the millions of Muslims involved in the Tablighi movement is exclusively directed inwards towards other Muslims and leaves the kafir powers free to pursue their Godless exploitation of the Muslims completely unimpeded.
Finally the author goes on to make the following astonishing claim of exclusivity for the Tablighi movement from which one can only conclude that all other Muslims are considered by them to be misguided:
In conclusion, it can be said that there is no way to gain honour, happiness, peace and tranquility in this life other than to adopt and firmly hold on to the work and system of ‘Tabligh’, for which everyone of us must use all his energies and wealth.
By this statement, the Tablighi Jama’at is clearly shown to be an exclusive sect of Muslims, which de facto excludes from right guidance all Muslims who do not follow its peculiar definition of what it means to convey the message of Islam, a definition which is clearly erroneous and far removed from the one which Allah gives us in the Qur’an.
As we have seen, the ludicrous claim is made that the programme of the Tablighi jama’at comprises in every respect the way followed by the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, and his companions, radiyallahu anhum ajmaeen, in their establishment of Islam, in fact the opposite is true. From its inception and as has been clearly demonstrated by its subsequent development, the programme of the Tablighi Jama’at was designed, while giving the appearance of Islamic activity, to leave in place the very kafir forces whose explicit intention was precisely the prevention of the establishment of Islam in any real way. Whereas the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, and his Companions, radiyallahu anhum ajmaeen, and all who have truly followed them, spent their lives and all their energy in combating precisely those forces which the Tablighi Jama’at so conscientiously avoids offending in order to bring about that governance by the laws of Allah which the true establishment of Islam necessarily entails.
The actual effect of the Tablighi programme is precisely the same as that produced by the techniques applied to their Muslim populations by the puppet governments of Muslim countries who rule in the name of their kafir paymasters-thousands upon thousands as well-behaved, docile Muslims praying in their mosques, quite content to live under a system which is opposed to Islam in every way and which is openly dedicated to the suppression of true Islam wherever it emerges.
One extraordinary and highly significant omission from the Tablighi programme is any mention of the third pillar of Islam, the obligation of Zakat. It is, of course, with zakat that social and political organisation enter into Islam. Its collection and distribution are one of the things that differentiate the Muslim umma from the kuffar and which indeed, in order to be carried out correctly, mean that the Muslims must be economically independent from the kafir system. As we know, the first Khalifa, Abu Bakr as –Sidiq radiyallahu anhu fought, staking the continued existence of Islam itself to ensure that salat and zakat did not become separated from one another and his great wisdom has been proved, and his supremely courageous decision vindicated beyond question, by the events of our own time when it can be clearly seen that one of the key elements in the decimation of the power of the Muslims has been precisely the elimination of the collection of zakat. However, in the complete Islamic programme expounded by the Tablighi jama’at the absolute obligation of zakat, the third pillar of Islam, is apparently accorded no importance at all.
There are other definitely questionable aspects of the organization and day to day practices of the Tablighi Jama’at some of which are definitely makruh in terms of fiqh and which cause offence to great numbers of Muslims wherever they go throughout the World. Among these is the way they, uninvited, take over local mosques for days at a time, sleeping and eating in them and imposing their own programme in complete disregard of the actual needs and on-going organization of the community concerned. The way they disrupt the worship in the mos ques they visit by their announcements immediately after the fard prayers and their offensive recruitment drives, one result of which is to keep away from the mosque a lot of people who would normally be present. The way they always treat other Muslims as inferior beings in need of guidance. The way that they are shut off by the Tablighi method from any other outlook. The way they automation like repeat the same stock speeches, regardless of the people they are speaking to. The way they address their message solely to Muslims, the vast majority of whom are as knowledgeable or more knowledgeable than they themselves, and ignore the kafir populations among which they move who are really the people to whom the message should be directed. This last point is particularly pertinent in view of their claim to be exactly following the Book and sunna, since Allah’s words are frequently, and sometimes specifically, directed towards the kuffar and all the efforts of the Prophet, salla’llahu alayhi wa sallam, and the Companions, radiyallahu anhum ajma’een, were devoted to conveying Islam to them.(Kuffar)
These and many other things have made the member of Tablighi Jama’at extremely unpopular with many communities of Muslims throughout the world. However, many continue reluctantly to tolerate them because of what is perceived as the beneficial effect they have on so-called lapsed Muslims. In fact what they do, in the manner of Christian evangelists, is to play on the guilt of insecure people and then offer them an emotional environment in which they can redeem themselves and find others in similar plight who are ready for the same treatment. Such ‘conversions’ are frequently very superficial and sometimes psychologically quite dangerous for the individuals concerned. But what I hope has been made quite clear from what has gone before is that far from people returning to Islam, what is in fact happening is the creation of what almost amounts to a new religion-a kind of Unitarianism incorporating some of the rites of worship of Islam which takes its place alongside the other religious under the governance of people whose interest lies in preventing, at any cost, the laws of Allah from being enacted and therefore true Islam from being established.
By their activity the Tablighi Jama’at have usurped the good will and energy of millions of gullible, vulnerable Muslims and induced them into wasting their precious time and energy going in a direction which, as has been seen, will never result in any growth of Islam but will, on the contrary, prevent such a growth from ever taking place. Therefore, let no Muslim feel tyrannized into compliance with the methods of Tabligh because their harm far outweighs their benefit.
When challenged by their complete importance in the face of kafir dominance, the stock Tablighi reply is to say that they are not yet strong enough to do anything about. This, coming from a sect whose continual boast is the vast numbers that gather at their periodic ijtima’s. It is not uncommon to hear the figure of three million bandied about in respect of their annual gathering in the sub-continent and of prayer lines kilometers in length. In England and elsewhere figures in tens of thousands are frequently quoted.
In this respect Allah ta’ala says is surat al- anfal ayat 65,66:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ حَرِّضِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ عَلَى الْقِتَالِ ۚ إِن يَكُن مِّنكُمْ عِشْرُونَ صَابِرُونَ يَغْلِبُوا مِائَتَيْنِ ۚ وَإِن يَكُن مِّنكُم مِّائَةٌ يَغْلِبُوا أَلْفًا مِّنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَّا يَفْقَهُونَ الْآنَ خَفَّفَ اللَّهُ عَنكُمْ وَعَلِمَ أَنَّ فِيكُمْ ضَعْفًا ۚ فَإِن يَكُن مِّنكُم مِّائَةٌ صَابِرَةٌ يَغْلِبُوا مِائَتَيْنِ ۚ وَإِن يَكُن مِّنكُمْ أَلْفٌ يَغْلِبُوا أَلْفَيْنِ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ
O Prophet! Spur on the believers to fight. If there are twenty of you, steadfast, they will overcome two hundred, if there a hundred of you, they will overcome a thousand of those who reject, because they are a people who do not understand. )Al-Quran 8:65,66)
Now Allah has alleviated it for you, knowing there is weakness in you. If there are a hundred of you, steadfast, they will overcome two hundred, if there are a thousand of you, they will overcome two thousand by Allah is with the steadfast.
And the Prophet, salla’llahu alayhi wa sallam said, ’12,000 Muslims will never be defeated for lack of numbers’.
From this it is clear that in the case of the Tablighi Jama’at lack of strength cannot be considered a valid excuse. If the leaders of Tablighi Jama’at are sincere, let them hold their next annual gathering on the East bank of Jordan and then let them cross the river and march to Al-Quds and liberate it from its Jewish kafir occupation.
The fact is that the Tablighi Jama’at is a cancerous growth within the body of the Muslim umma whose only raison d’etre has become its own obsessive need to continually grow in size. It is absorbing and dissipating the positive energy of thousands upon thousands of Muslims in a useless exercise of self-aggrandisement and by doing so it actively prevents the establishment of true Islam and governance by the laws of Allah.
In the light of all of the foregoing:
We declare that the Tablighi Jama’at is, by its own admission, a deviant sect of Islam and that it is being used by the enemies of Islam to help them in their continuing battle to prevent governance by the laws of Allah from being re-established in the world.
We therefore call on the leadership of the Tablighi Jama’at to acknowledge that they are directly responsible for the misguidance of millions of Muslims and to abandon their present programme which only furthers the interest of the enemies of Allah and to teach their members a correct and complete understanding of the deen of Allah, particularly in respect of the obligation of Jihad against the Kuffar.
We therefore call on all members of the Tablighi jama’at to reject the subversive role they have been unwittingly persuaded to play and to leave this sect which is being used by the enemies of Islam to prevent Allah’s deen being restored and governance by His laws re established.
We therefore call on all Muslims to disown the Tablighi Jama’at and to discourage its activities by refusing to give its members permission to step in mosques and to use them for their activities. And we call on all Muslims to reject the modernist perspective of Islam they have been given and to respond to Allah and His Messenger by giving their wealth and their lives to see the totality of Islam once again re-established on the earth.
Allah’azza wa jall says in His Glorious Book in Surat at –Tawba:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ يَلُونَكُم مِّنَ الْكُفَّارِ وَلْيَجِدُوا فِيكُمْ غِلْظَةً ۚ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الْمُتَّقِينَ
O you who believe Fight those of the kuffar who are close to you and let them find you relentless. Know that Allah is with the Godfearing.
) Al-Quran 9:123)
إِنَّ اللَّهَ اشْتَرَىٰ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُم بِأَنَّ لَهُمُ الْجَنَّةَ ۚ يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَيَقْتُلُونَ وَيُقْتَلُونَ ۖ وَعْدًا عَلَيْهِ حَقًّا فِي التَّوْرَاةِ وَالْإِنجِيلِ وَالْقُرْآنِ ۚ وَمَنْ أَوْفَىٰ بِعَهْدِهِ مِنَ اللَّهِ ۚ فَاسْتَبْشِرُوا بِبَيْعِكُمُ الَّذِي بَايَعْتُم بِهِ ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيم
Allah has bought from the believers their selves and their wealth in that for them is the Garden. They fight in the way of Allah, and they kill and are killed. A promise binding on Him in the Torah and the Evangel and the Qur’an. And who is truer to his contract than Allah? Rejoice then in the bargain you have made. That is the Great Victory. ) Al-Quran 9:111)
(End)
