I stand with Tableegi Jammat…
Media, some select activists tried hard to give Tableegis a bad name
(Dr. Sheikh Arshid)
Tablighi Jamaat is an Islamic preacher’s group doing Dawah throughout the world and is mostly active in Asia like in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka Bangladesh and others. The movement was started in 1927-28 by a well known Islamic preacher, Hazrat Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi, in Mewat region of India in accordance to the teachings and practices of Prophet Mohammad (SAW). Its primary aim is spiritual reformation of Islam by reaching out to Muslims across social and economic spectra.
They are working at the grass root level, to bring the Muslim in line with the understanding of Islam and its teachings. They go door to door without having any materialistic benefit in response.
The teachings of Tableegi Jamaat are exclusively based on Quran and Sunna in expressing their teachings on the bases of “Six Principles” (Kalimah (Declaration of faith), Salah (Prayer), Ilm-o-zikr (Knowledge), Ikraam-e-Muslim (Respect of Muslim), Ikhlas-e-Niyyat (Sincerity of intention), Dawat-o-Tableegh (Proselytizaton).
Tablighi Jamaat denies any affiliation with politics and states that it rejects any violence and gives preference to the teachings based on moral and ethical values. It avowedly avoids electronic media for propagation of Deen and doesn’t believe in present time’s advertisements, posters and use of social networking sites. The emergence of Tablighi Jamaat represents the intensification of individual reformation in social, economic, moral and in other walks of life. It was also a continuation of the broader way of Islamic revival in world.
The Dawah has the main international gathering place or headquarter located at Bangla wali Masjid near Hazrat Nizammudin’s Shrine from last 100 years where number of preachers, worshipers, visitors and guests across the globe gather to learn the teachings of Dawah. The gathering doesn’t last more than 3 or 4 days and then follows quick evacuation of all the people to their home land and in advance they are given full schedule of year for Dawah practices.
Amid huge threat of COVID-19, lockdown was announced throughout the world and in some parts of the world curfew has been imposed to restrict the movement of people. India has equally announced “Janta curfew” on 22th of March and stringent message was given to the public to follow the lockdown and violators will be booked under law.
At some places people have got stuck badly as no traffic movement was seen on next date and people then started to move on foot to try to reach to their places of origin. However, most of the people stayed where they were as they were guided by PM Narendra Modi that “wherever you are stay there, and don’t move ahead”.
Same case happened with the Nizammudin Markaz where a gathering was going on and with the undeclared announcement the gathering was discontinued and Markaz started for quick evacuation of people from there but all transport facilities were either cancelled or had stopped to function.
Worshipers and visitors could do nothing but got stuck badly in the Markaz premises. Now there was only option for the Markaz to accommodate all the worshipers than to make them roam over roads.
In the meantime, the authority of Markaz wrote number of times to concerned authorities like ADC, Tehsildar and police officials of Delhi but no passes were issued to worshipers or visitors so there remains no chance of clearing the gathering. During this entire episode of Markaz Nizamudin all people have been stranded but never violated any law and order and has waited for passes for 4 or 5 days but no green signal was given.
During the outbreak of COVID -19, the entire world has got involved. No gathering of people was allowed anywhere and it was treated as crime and violation of law but prevailing circumstances and undeclared announcement have produced bad repercussions for the stranded people.
The Media and other hate mongers of country have raised fingers and out rightly blamed the Jammat for gathering and cursed them for being responsible for the spread of COVID-19. This fake notion has been widely circulated throughout the world that these Muslims happen to have more social contacts especially during congregational prayers and thus targeted for the carrier of vibrant disease.
For some days, media is doing an unfair job and highlighted unfounded propaganda against the Tableegi Jammat and bashing them that they are also responsible for the spread of disease across the globe. There is no doubt that the Jammat has worldwide activation but that doesn’t mean they have spread the COVID-19 throughout world.
The reaction from the media is biased and baseless, never came into their mind that the deadly disease has originated from China and it is quite incomprehensible that why the Media did not blame China or other effected countries.
The venom against the movement of Tableegi Jammat has projected few more things against them. These people were termed illiterates and ignorant.
The main objective of Tableegi Jammat is that they are totally apoltical and this approach has helped to operate throughout the world without getting suspect of being involved in any blemished activities. Muslims all over the world are attached with the Jammat without provoking any kind of Maslak and do not restrict their activities with a particular school of thought.
They send Jammat to various villages or neighborhoods even to countries spread far and wide and preach in the context of six Islamic principles. The Jammat believes that knowledge of virtues and A’amalu-Saliha (Good Deeds and Actions) and believe the reward will be given in Akhira( Afterlife) . Tableegi ethic discourages and denies in the social engagement having materialistic approach or world means.
Now the blame which has been attempted by the media and other social activists on the Tableegi Jammat that they are responsible for spread of COVID-19 is totally biased and unverified and it has been proved after getting tests of Jammat members done.
The Covid-19 tests came negative and some of them have sent to different quarantine centres. This act of portraying bad picture is completely pretended and feigned. To stigmatize a certain sect of society is ignorance and against the principles of national integration and this could hurt badly the hierarchy of nation as well.
(The writer is a scholar and is a resident of Tral in south Kashmir)
