The Tableegh Jamaa'ath.
As soon as you finish your prayers in a mosque, a person from Tableegh Jamaa’ath would stand up and announce: “Brothers, elders and friends! Please remain (in the mosque) after sunnah prayers. In-shaa-Allaah, there will be an important talk about deen.” or, he will say: “Allaah has kept the success in this world and in the hereafter in His deen. Please remain (in the mosque) after rest of the prayers. In-shaa-Allaah, there will be an important talk about deen.”
Fairly enough, any muslim who hears this, rightly gravitates towards the call, issued in the name of Allaah and His deen (religion). The talk - called bayaan - after finishing the prayers, usually has some or all of the following components:
2. Exaltation and glorification of Allaah and His powers.
3. A narrative pertaining to one of the messengers of Allaah.
4. Reminder about the inevitability of death; the condition in the graves; description of the tribulations of the judgement day; the suffering in the hell and the pleasures of the heaven, etc.
5. An episode from the life of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the life of his companions, usually their suffering and sacrifices in Jihaad (holy wars).
6. A reminder as to how their sacrifices helped the deen to reach the later generations.
7. A fikr (concern or anxiety) is expressed about our brothers of the ummah who are groping in the darkness, ignorant of the deen, and how to make the fellow muslims follow the deen .
( The above valid points are utilised in the later part of the speech to propagate the work of the Jamaa'ath.)
8. A praise about the excellent ‘work’ (‘Kaam’, in Urdu) or ‘effort’ (Mehnat) started by their elders to reach the above goal, which requires going out in groups ‘in the path of Allaah’ for four months at the earliest opportunity, to learn ‘deen’ and teach it to other brothers.
( Some people in the gathering respond by giving their names for the expedition (Khurooj) for four months. After the speaker senses that no more names are forthcoming for four months, then the requirement (taqaaza) is reduced from four months to forty days and then from forty days to three days. )
9. A question will be put forth: If Allaah’s messenger and his companions could sacrifice their entire life and wealth in the path of Allaah, can we not at least do this to learn the deen, which procedure, after all, demands only 10% of our time: 40 days in a year and 3 days in a month ?
10. Finally, an appeal to those who did not volunteer their names for the mission :- to at least make an intention in their hearts to go out in this path at some other opportunity.
The bayaan (talk) will almost always be interspersed with such sayings which are attributed to the Prophet and some other incidents and sayings relating to unspecified ‘buzurgs’ (elders), which cannot be accepted in the light of Qur-aan. While quoting, they will usually say, in a Urdu speech, “Farmaaya” (meaning ‘said’) without telling who said it. It is left to the audience to guess who said it.
Some of them will say that if a muslim learns to practise the above points well, then he will become ready and qualified to do greater things. Others, when questioned about the limited agenda, will say that the six points include everything. For example: If we question as to why there is no programme for learning Qur'aan, they say it is included in the third point, "(acquiring) knowledge", while in reality no programme worth its name exists for the followers of the Jamaa'ath to learn Qur'aan.
However, I deem it to be a fitna - an undesirable trial. Creating a new agenda for the ummah amounts to creating another division in the ummah.
Never in his lifetime would have our beloved prophet uttered the words like "Chay Number" (Six Points). Not once. I hate to hear our brothers keep on harping upon this to no end.
Allaah has asked us to enter into Islaam, fully. The quotation from Qur'aan :
" O you who believe! Enter into Islam wholly ; and follow not the footsteps of the evil one; for he is to you an avowed enemy." (Qur-aan 2:208)
In view of the above clear command, there is no scope to limit our activities
to a newly compiled agenda. The argument that it is meant only to initiate
brothers to make them ready for greater things is not true, because the
agenda has remained static for about six decades.
A new, seventh point "To Quit Vanity" (Tark-e-LaYa'nee : to quit vain
talk and vain activities) was introduced into the list. But still only
the 'six points' are mentioned.
They argue that the six points include everything If the six points constitute the whole of Islaam, nothing more and nothing less, then why replace the name given by Allaah and coin a new term for it. Was not the deen given through Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) complete? Was there anything lacking in it or was there anything superfluous? What authority do we really have to choose in the matters of deen?
The founder of the Jamaa'ath, Mohammed Ilyas, had indicated while commencing this movement that this work is not the real work and that his later followers would commence ' the real work' . This assurance would have served to satisfy the critics of his times, but now the time has come to question as to what is that ' the real work'. ( Please click on this link to see the full text of speech and its Urdu original.)
Effort is made to bring all muslims within the bounds of this movement and those who have not joined this movement are looked upon with regret and sadness and the members implore Allaah earnestly to bring all muslims into this 'right path'. Those who are members of this movement are the ones who receive most of the benefit of the fourth point "Honouring Muslims", by helping one another.
The sixth point: "to spare time for spreading deen", is in fact spending time to spread the practices of this new division in the ummah.
They cherish being called “Tableegh Jamaa'ath” but pretend that it is a name that the group has unintentionally earned and that this is nothing but the same effort that our beloved prophet and his predecessors and his companions carried on.
This is not true.
We shall first study a gist of the routine activities of the members
of the Jamaa'ath, as taught to them by their elders and then see how these
activities run contrary to the interests of Islaam.
If all of the above time and even more is spent in a really good cause for deen, then every minute thus spent is worthy. But in reality, the work goes against Allaah's commnads, as you will eventually come to know.
The daily activity while they are at home include:
Millions of our sincere brothers in Islaam, who are genuinely concerned and anxious about the state of the ummah and who wish to reform themselves and the brothers in deep ignorance, have joined this movement. They are working honestly in the firm belief that this movement is the only effort through which the ummah could be saved from hell-fire. Because they have been told so by their elders and they believed it. Moreover, there are results which support their belief. People who have been so away from mosque and prayer, persons who indulged in drinking and gambling are now reformed and are coming to the mosque.
So, there is not even a remote chance that these brothers will ever suspect that there could be something wrong with this movement, and much less be able to see the conspiracy to frustrate the potential of Islaam to save mankind from hell-fire and establish peace and justice in the world.
But I was driven to dissatisfaction with this movement, because of WHAT
IT DOESN'T DO, rather than WHAT IT DOES. And by Allaah's grace,
that led me to discover its real face.
|
|
||
|
|
|