India needs to outlaw Tablighi Jamaat the secret vessel of international terrorism as done by Saudi Arabia
By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
Tablighi Jamaat (TJ), which is an antechamber of jihadist terrorism is seen by the counterterrorism experts as – wolf in sheep’s clothing. On December 10, 2021, Saudi authorities banned activities of Tablighi Jamaat, also known as Al Ahbab, calling it a ‘danger to society’.
According to media reports, the Saudi government official statement called Jamaat a danger to society and one of the gates of terrorism. In a tweet on December 6, the country’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs said, “His Excellency the Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr Abdullatif Al Alsheikh, directed the mosques preachers and the mosques that held Friday prayer temporary to allocate the next Friday sermon to warn against the Tablighi and Da’wah group”.
The statement issued by the Ministry mentioned that the Minister has directed that the sermon delivered in the mosques should cover topics including the declaration of misguidance, deviation and that it is one of the gates of terrorism, even if they claim otherwise. And to mention their major mistakes and how they are dangerous to society.
The Islamic scholars delivering the religious sermons were instructed to mention that affiliation with partisan groups, including the Tablighi Jamaat, is prohibited in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is not the only country to ban TIJ. In 2013, Kazakhstan banned the Tablighi Jamaat and designated it as an extremist group. The movement is also prohibited in Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Unfortunately, this dangerous entity, which in addition to jihadist recruitment also runs religious conversion projects, while several members of TJ are accused of participating in love jihad notoriety.
It may be recalled here that following Saudi Arabia’s ban on TJ, Punjab assembly in Pakistan where PM Imran Khan’s ultra-Islamist and pro-jihadist party – Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI+ was in majority unanimously adopted a resolution calling the Tablighi Jamaat a force for good and a non-political peaceful organization.
Meanwhile, following ban on activities of Tablighi Jamaat in Saudi Arabia, the majority of the Muslim media launched orchestrated propaganda with the agenda of proving this blood-seeking jihadist vessel as an innocent entity.
In India, the size and strength of this dangerous group are on an alarming rise, while the authorities concerned are yet to take steps in outlawing Tablighi Jamaat in the country. Instead, Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in New Delhi is witnessing a rise in the number of followers of these groups. Every year, New Delhi-based Tablighi Jamaat organizes ‘Biswa Ijtema’ (World Congregation) in Bangladesh, which is participated by hundreds of thousands of people causing traffic disruption and public nuisance – to over two million dwellers of Dhaka city. Every year, emergency patients die as they cannot be taken to hospital because authorities block the roads to facilitate movement of the participants.
It may be mentioned here that the Tablighi Jamaat is a Sunni Islamic missionary movement that was launched in the Mewat region of North India in 1927, by an Islamic scholar and teacher Maulana Muhammad Ilyas, who coined the slogan “Oh Muslims! Become Muslims”. The roots of this movement, which is believed to be active in more than 150 countries and is the largest Islamic missionary movement today, can be traced back to the Deobandi tradition, which originated from the Darul Uloom Deoband a renowned Islamic Seminary in the Uttar Pradesh state of India. TJ claims that their sole objective is to focus on fellow Muslims, who have been distracted by worldly affairs, and they are a peaceful, non-political, egalitarian, and devotional movement that stresses individual faith and the overall spiritual development of Muslims.
That might be the case if we see the movement in its face value and not in toto.
During the past four decades, activities of Tablighi Jamaat continue to spread throughout both rural and urban areas with hundreds of thousands of people joining this jihadist vessel. In most cases, Tablighi Jamaat members maintain direct links with Al Qaeda, Islamic State (ISIS) and similar radical Islamic terrorist groups. It serves the purpose as an important vessel for spreading religious extremism, anti-Semitism and jihad. Most alarming fact is, Tablighi Jamaat’s male and female members are going door-to-door mostly targeting housewives and children with the nefarious agenda of poisoning their minds with anti-Semitism, religious hatred and jihadist cruelty.
It may be mentioned here that, following 9/11 jihadist attacks, the United States government brought activities of Tablighi Jamaat under strict monitoring. According to the US officials, the teachings and beliefs of the Tablighi Jamaat have been a starting point for pushing their members to join the radical Muslim organizations. Also, the Russian authorities have warned about the dangers of the Tablighi Jamaat as well.
During the past four decades, activities of Tablighi Jamaat continue to spread throughout both rural and urban areas with hundreds of thousands of people joining this jihadist vessel. In most cases, Tablighi Jamaat members maintain direct links with Al Qaeda, Islamic State (ISIS) and similar radical Islamic terrorist groups. It serves the purpose as an important vessel for spreading religious extremism, anti-Semitism and jihad. Most alarming fact is, Tablighi Jamaat’s male and female members are going door-to-door mostly targeting housewives and children with the nefarious agenda of poisoning their minds with anti-Semitism, religious hatred and jihadist cruelty.
In the eyes of Pakistani spy agency Inter Service Intelligence (ISI), India, Hindus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are the prime enemies. It particularly sees BJP and RSS as “major enemies”. For these reasons, ISI wants to expedite its agenda of luring Hindus towards religious conversion. A large number of Muslim nations are injecting millions of dollars through ISI in “increasing the number of Muslim populations” in India. They think, increase in the number of Muslim populations would pave the path to implementing the notorious agenda of Ghazwa-e-Hind or conquest of India. Pakistani ISS and its Muslim donors also see Hindutva as the major threat to radical Islamic jihad and caliphate agenda.
During the recent years, especially following Bharatiya Janata Party’s landslide victory in 2014-general elections, enemies of Hindu religion and India have been increasingly depending on Tablighi Jamaat in pushing-forward the anti-India and anti-Hindu agendas.
According to information, Tablighi Jamaat, under the disguise of preaching Islam has been mainly engaged in luring Muslims in love-trapping Hindu females and getting them converted into Islam. Similarly, Tablighi Jamaat members also are continuing its religious conversion projects by maintaining total secrecy.
An intelligence source said, generally the cases of religious conversions are not officially recorded with the authorities concerned in India. These religious conversion rituals are secretly taking place either at the homes of the victims or in mosques and madrassas, mostly during the late-night hours. Following religious conversion, these people start pretending to be seculars or even atheists in order to avoid attending Hindu temples and religious programs.
The source said, almost ninety percent of those converted into Islam do not openly pronounce this amongst their neighbours and even relatives. Instead, they suddenly pretend to be secularists or atheists. But in reality, they are newly converted Muslims. In some cases, these newly converted Muslims are used by Tablighi Jamaat in luring other Hindus towards religious conversions.
Since 2017, TJ has been massively expanding its activities within Rohingya camps in Bangladesh – thus brainwashing them into recruiting them towards Islamist terrorism.
According to counterterrorism experts, for the sake of national security and saving Hindus from falling victims of Tablighi notoriety, Indian authorities need to immediately ban Tablighi Jamaat. Its headquarters in New Delhi should be sealed-off permanently.
