| BACKGROUND OF
TABLIGHI JAMAAT |
Prominent amongst the Wahabi-Deobandi organisations
active in the CARs, Chechnya and Dagestan are the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
(HUM--formerly known as the Harkat-ul-Ansar), the Markaz Dawa Al
Irshad and its militant wing, the Lashkar-e-Toiba.A detailed paper
on the HUM was disseminated on March 20,1999,and on the Markaz and
its Lashkar on July 26,1998.
This paper deals with the Tablighi Jamaat (TJ), which is the mother
of all the Pakistan-based jehadi organisations active not only in
the CARs, Chechnya and Dagestan, but also in other parts of the world.
In an investigative report carried by the "News" (February
13,1995), Mr. Kamran Khan, the well-known Pakistani journalist, brought
to light for the first time the nexus between the TJ and the HUM
and their role in supporting Islamic extremist movements in different
countries.
He quoted unidentified office-bearers of the HUM as saying as follows:
"Ours is basically a Sunni organisation close to the Deobandi
school of thought. Our people are mostly impressed by the TJ. Most
of our workers do come from the TJ. We regularly go to its annual
meeting at Raiwind. Ours is a truly international network of genuine
jehadi Muslims. We believe frontiers can never divide Muslims. They
are one nation. They will remain a single entity.
"We try
to go wherever our Muslim brothers are terrorised, without any monetary
consideration. Our colleagues went and fought against oppressors
in Bosnia, Chechnya, Tajikistan, Burma, the Philippines and, of course,
India.
"Although Pakistani members are not participating
directly in anti-Government armed resistance in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia
and Jordan, many of the fighters in those Arab States had remained
our colleagues during the Afghan war and we know one another very
well. We are doing whatever we can to help them install Islamic governments
in those States."
The report also quoted the office-bearers as claiming that among
foreign volunteers trained by them in their training camps in Pakistan
and Afghanistan were 16 African-American Muslims from various cities
of the US and that funds for their activities mostly came from Muslim
businessmen of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UK.
The February 1998, issue of the "Newsline", a monthly of
Pakistan, quoted workers of the TJ as saying that the TJ had many
offices in the US, Russia, the Central Asian Republics, South Africa,
Australia and France and that many members of the Chechen Cabinet,
including the Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya, were workers of
the TJ and participated in its proselytising activities. . One of
them, merely identified as Khalil, said: " It is possible that
France may become a Muslim state within my lifetime, due to the great
momentum of Tablighi activity there. "
According to the "Newsline", the TJ was started in the
1880s to revive and spread Islam. Its annual convention held at Raiwind
in Pakistani Punjab in November every year is attended by over one
million Muslims from all over the world. This is described by the
"Newsline" as the second largest gathering of the Muslims
anywhere in the world after the Haj in Saudi Arabia.
Dr.Jassim Taqui, an Islamic scholar, wrote in the "Frontier
Post" of Peshawar of January 15,1999, as follows:
* The TJ has been able to establish contacts and centres throughout
the Muslim world. (Comment: By "Muslim world" he does not
only mean Islamic countries, but all countries where there is a sizable
Muslim community)
* It has thousands of dedicated and disciplined workers who never
question any order from the high-ups. What has helped the TJ to expand
(without creating alarm in the security agencies) is its policy of
a deliberate black-out of its activities. It does not interact with
the media and does not issue any statements or communiques. It believes
in human communication through word of mouth. (Comment: It does not
bring out any journals or other propaganda organs to explain its
policies and objectives. All explanations to its workers and potential
recruits are given orally).
* During its training classes, it claims to have frustrated the efforts
of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to penetrate it and succeeded
in converting the CIA agents to Islam.
* The TJ claims that it never accepts money from anybody and that
all its workers who volunteer to go on preaching mission have to
spend their own money.
* Even though the TJ claims to be apolitical and disinterested in
political or administrative influence, many of its active members
have come to occupy important positions. Examples are Lt.Gen. (retd)
Javed Nasir, who was the DG of the ISI during Mr.Nawaz Sharif's first
tenure as the Prime Minister, and Mr.Mohammad Rafique Tarar, the
President of Pakistan, who has been an active worker of the TJ for
many years.
* "Those who are close to the inner circles believe that the
Tablighis were the brain who bailed out Nawaz Sharif from the constitutional
crisis. Tarar is believed to be the brain behind the Shariat Bill
(which could not be passed by the Senate) and the concept of speedy
justice through military courts (the military courts were declared
unconstitutional by the Pakistan Supreme Court). However, the contacts
of the Tablighis had always been with Mr.Mohammad Sharif (father
of Mr.Nawaz Sharif) and not with the son. Mr. Nawaz is well aware
of the "tariquah" (the path advocated by the TJ). He has
been with the Tabligh for a fairly long time. He takes part in their
meetings on a regular basis. He donates money to their welfare projects.
As usual, the Tablighis never publicise the donors or the projects
or the beneficiaries. All are committed to remain silent."
Writing in the "Frontier Post" of January 27, 1999, Dr.
Mumtaz Ahmed, another Islamic scholar, said: " Despite its enormous
significance as a mass-based religious movement that has influenced
Asian, African, Arab and Western Muslims alike, the Tablighi Jamaat
has received scant attention in the literature on modern Islam. Maulana
Ilyas, the founder of the Tablighi Jamaat, was of the view that the
Tablighi movement and politically-oriented Islamic groups, although
operating in two different spheres, were complementing each other's
work. Hence, there should be no competition and rivalry between them.
" (Comment:Maulana Ilyas was not the founder of the TJ as stated
in this article. He gave it its present organisational structure
in the 1940s). |
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