Islamist terrorism continues to grow
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
September 01, 2009
While governments in almost all the nations, except some terror patrons like Iran, Syria etc are continuing offensives on Islamist terrorism and millitancy as well as combating radical Islam, there is hidden but steady growth in Islamist millitancy in almost all the Muslim nations. Moreover, under the garb of ´Tabligh Jamaat´, hate speech is continuing to poison brains of young Americans and Europeans. According to several facts, at least in all the cities as well as towns in United States, there are more than two mosques, mostly patronized and run by Asians are holding Tabligh Sessions on a regular basis. So-called religious leaders from Pakistan, Iran, Syria and other Muslim countries are invited in those mosques for giving "Religious Speech", which in reality are nothing but extremely provocative sermons encouraging young Muslims towards Jihad as well as hating Jews and Christians.
Tablighi Jamaat [English: Conveying Group] is an apolitical religious movement for whose principal aim is reformation of Muslims. Although the movement arose out of India's stringent Deobandi traditions, no particular jurisprudence or interpretation of Islam was endorsed. Many members of the movement follow the Deobandi interpretation in Hanafi jurisprudence of Islam, however the scope of their activities is not limited to the Deobandi community.
In 1926, Muhammad Ilyas founded Jamaat as a voluntary, pacifist and independent movement. The main aim of the organization is to work at the grass roots level, reaching out to Muslims in all social and economic classes, bringing them closer to the life practices of the prophet Muhammad. The Six Principles set by Muhammad Ilyas influence most of their teachings. Tablighi Jamaat maintains a non-affiliating stature in matters of politics and jurisprudence to eschew the controversies which would otherwise accompany such affiliations.
Despite its pacifist stance, Tablighi Jamaat has appeared on the fringes of numerous terrorism investigations.
The emergence of Tabligh Jamaat as a movement for the reawakening of faith can be seen as a continuation of the broader trend of Islamic revival in North India in the wake of the collapsed Muslim political power and the consolidation of the British rule in India in the mid-nineteenth century. This emergence also coincides with the rise of various Hindu proselytizing movements which launched massive efforts in the early twentieth century to reconvert Hindus who had previously converted to Islam. Notable among these Hindu revivalist movements were several Shuddhi (purification) and Sangathan [consolidation] movements. The magnitude of these movements generated widespread concerns regarding the vulnerability of non-practicing and new Muslims to conversion.
Tablighi Jamaat originated in 1926 in Mewat, in North India, which was inhabited by Rajput tribes known as Meos. At the time, some Muslim Indian leaders feared that Indian Muslims were losing their religious identity to the majority Hindu culture. There is evidence that several Meo converted to Islam, followed by re-conversion to Hinduism when Muslim political power declined in the region. Meos were generally benighted Muslims before the emergence of Tablighi Jamaat, and they lacked the necessary acumen required to resist the overbearing cultural and religious influence of Hindus.
Muhammad Ilyas, the founder of a Jamaat, wanted to set forth a movement that would exemplify the Quranic decree. "Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong. They are the ones to attain felicity."[Qur'an 3:104] The inspiration for devoting his life to Islam came to Ilyas during his second pilgrimage to the Hejaz in 1926. His initial effort was to establish a network of mosque-based religious schools to educate Mewati Muslims about correct Islamic beliefs and practices. Shortly afterwards, he was disappointed with the reality that these institutions were producing religious functionaries but not preachers. He abandoned his teaching profession at Madrasah Mazharul Ulum in Saharanpur and embarked on his life as a missionary. He relocated to Nizamuddin near Delhi, where Tablighi movement was formally launched in 1926. When setting the guidelines for the movement, he sought inspiration from the practices adopted by Islamic prophet Muhammad at the dawn of Islam. Muhammad Ilyas put forward the slogan, "O Muslims! Be Muslims". This expressed the central focus of Tablighi Jamat; their aim to renew Muslim society by uniting them in embracing the lifestyle of Muhammad. The movement gained a phenomenal following in a relatively short period and nearly 25 thousand people attended the annual conference in November 1941.
The group began to expand activities in 1946, and within two decades the group reached Southwest Asia and Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. Initially it expanded its reach to South Asian diaspora communities, firstly in Arabic countries, and then in Southeast Asia. Before Europe, the movement first established itself in the United States. It established a large presence in Europe during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1978, construction of the Dewsbury Markaz in Dewsbury, England commenced which subsequently became the European headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat. It was especially prominent in France during the 1980s. The members of Tablighi Jamat are also represented in the French Council of the Muslim Faith. Tabligh's influence has grown in the increasing Pakistani community in France, which has doubled in the decade before 2008 to 50,000-60,000. However, the United Kingdom is the current focus of the movement in the West, primarily due to the large South Asian population that began to arrive there in the 1960s and 1970s. By 2007, Tabligh members were situated at 600 of Britain's 1350 mosques. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the movement made inroads into Central Asia. As of 2007, it was estimated 10,000 Tablighi members could be found in Kyrgyzstan alone. FBI believes that nearly 50,000 members of Tablighi Jamaat are active in United States. By 2008, organization had a presence in nearly 150 countries and with a global following of 70 to 80 million people, it has now become the largest Muslim movement in the world. However, it maintains a majority presence in South Asia.
Tablighi Jamaat follows an informal organizational structure and keeps an introvert profile. It keeps distance from mass media and avoids publishing details about its activities and membership. The group also exercises complete abstinence from expressing opinions on political and controversial issues mainly to avoid the disputes which would accompany these endorsements. Tablighi Jamaat does not seek any donations and is largely funded by its senior members. It has no permanent membership and organization can be joined or left at discretion.
The organization's activities are coordinated through centers and headquarters called 'Markaz'. Since its inception, the Tablighi Jamaat has maintained its international headquarters in the Nizamuddin West district of Delhi called Nizamuddin Markaz. It also has country headquarters in over 120 countries to coordinate its activities. These headquarters organize volunteer, self-funding people in groups [called Jama'ats, meaning Assembly] ,averaging ten to twelve people, for reminding Muslims to remain steadfast on path of Allah.
Their operations in the UK are coordinated through Dewsbury Markaz, Yorkshire. This centre holds one major gathering annually, generally in Dewsbury itself. The Tablighi Centre in Dewsbury has also constructed a busy madrassah or seminary, where future British Islamic scholars are trained.
Muhammad Ilyas devoted to what he described as "the mission of the prophets". The method adopted by him was simple. It was to organize units of at least ten persons and send them to various villages. These units [jamaat], would visit a village, invite the local Muslim to assemble in the mosque and present their message.
A December 2001 article by the Boston Herald cited Indian security concerns branches of the jamaat were related to Al-Qaeda. Yet "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid apparently did not remain with the group because they were not violent enough. More recently, on July 19, 2006, Indian authorities questioned two clerics of Tablighi Jamaat in Tripura state regarding the July 11th Mumbai commuter rail bombings, which resulted in the death of 209 people and wounded over 700. In their defense Taibur Rahman, the leader of Tablighi Jamaat in Tripura state, said, "Investigators are free to question them and be satisfied, but they should not be harassed." It is also alleged extremist members of MULTA, with ties to the Pakistani ISI, passed into Bangladesh under the guise of members of Tablighi Jamaat.
A soldier of the Pakistani army accused of attacking former Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf, who was later hanged on the orders of military court, was a member of Tablighi Jamaat, claimed by his father in an interview to BBC Urdu. The person arrested like Rafaqat and Hasnain from Rawalpindi in connection with Mohtarmma Benazir's murder are also said to be members of Jamaat, said by their mother to BBC Urdu.
According to an article published in the Winter 2005 of Middle East Quarterly, "In 1995, the Pakistani army thwarted a coup attempt by several dozen high-ranking military officers and civilians, all of whom were members of the Tablighi Jamaat and some of whom also held membership in Harakat ul-Mujahideen, a U.S. State Department-defined terrorist organization." A very direct comment from the FBI in the article stated, "We have a significant presence of Tablighi Jamaat in the United States," the deputy chief of the FBI's international terrorism section said in 2003, "and we have found that Al-Qaeda used them for recruiting now and in the past."
On January 18, 2008, 14 men who were alleged to have been members of the Tablighi Jamaat were arrested in Barcelona, Spain on suspicious of organizing a terrorist attack. During the raids, police confiscated material for making explosives, including four timing devices. Using international intelligence, it is thought the group was planning to carry out an attack on Barcelona.
In recent months, several small or hidden Islamist organizations were identified even in a "Secural Nation" or "Moderate Muslim Nation" like Bangladesh, who´s main agenda are almost similar to Al Qaida. In June 2009, one such organization sent threat fax message to a number of Western missions in Dhaka [capital of Bangladesh], which was never investigated by the authorities concerned for reason unknown.
In Muslim nations, terming Jews and Christians as ´Enemies of God´, are allowed to spread especially through Tablighi Jamaat, mosques and madrassas. Governments do not interfere into such notoriety of the Islamist clergies thus ultimately giving free-style chance to radical Islam in spreading wings.
Tablighi Jamaat [English: Conveying Group] is an apolitical religious movement for whose principal aim is reformation of Muslims. Although the movement arose out of India's stringent Deobandi traditions, no particular jurisprudence or interpretation of Islam was endorsed. Many members of the movement follow the Deobandi interpretation in Hanafi jurisprudence of Islam, however the scope of their activities is not limited to the Deobandi community.
In 1926, Muhammad Ilyas founded Jamaat as a voluntary, pacifist and independent movement. The main aim of the organization is to work at the grass roots level, reaching out to Muslims in all social and economic classes, bringing them closer to the life practices of the prophet Muhammad. The Six Principles set by Muhammad Ilyas influence most of their teachings. Tablighi Jamaat maintains a non-affiliating stature in matters of politics and jurisprudence to eschew the controversies which would otherwise accompany such affiliations.
Despite its pacifist stance, Tablighi Jamaat has appeared on the fringes of numerous terrorism investigations.
The emergence of Tabligh Jamaat as a movement for the reawakening of faith can be seen as a continuation of the broader trend of Islamic revival in North India in the wake of the collapsed Muslim political power and the consolidation of the British rule in India in the mid-nineteenth century. This emergence also coincides with the rise of various Hindu proselytizing movements which launched massive efforts in the early twentieth century to reconvert Hindus who had previously converted to Islam. Notable among these Hindu revivalist movements were several Shuddhi (purification) and Sangathan [consolidation] movements. The magnitude of these movements generated widespread concerns regarding the vulnerability of non-practicing and new Muslims to conversion.
Tablighi Jamaat originated in 1926 in Mewat, in North India, which was inhabited by Rajput tribes known as Meos. At the time, some Muslim Indian leaders feared that Indian Muslims were losing their religious identity to the majority Hindu culture. There is evidence that several Meo converted to Islam, followed by re-conversion to Hinduism when Muslim political power declined in the region. Meos were generally benighted Muslims before the emergence of Tablighi Jamaat, and they lacked the necessary acumen required to resist the overbearing cultural and religious influence of Hindus.
Muhammad Ilyas, the founder of a Jamaat, wanted to set forth a movement that would exemplify the Quranic decree. "Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong. They are the ones to attain felicity."[Qur'an 3:104] The inspiration for devoting his life to Islam came to Ilyas during his second pilgrimage to the Hejaz in 1926. His initial effort was to establish a network of mosque-based religious schools to educate Mewati Muslims about correct Islamic beliefs and practices. Shortly afterwards, he was disappointed with the reality that these institutions were producing religious functionaries but not preachers. He abandoned his teaching profession at Madrasah Mazharul Ulum in Saharanpur and embarked on his life as a missionary. He relocated to Nizamuddin near Delhi, where Tablighi movement was formally launched in 1926. When setting the guidelines for the movement, he sought inspiration from the practices adopted by Islamic prophet Muhammad at the dawn of Islam. Muhammad Ilyas put forward the slogan, "O Muslims! Be Muslims". This expressed the central focus of Tablighi Jamat; their aim to renew Muslim society by uniting them in embracing the lifestyle of Muhammad. The movement gained a phenomenal following in a relatively short period and nearly 25 thousand people attended the annual conference in November 1941.
The group began to expand activities in 1946, and within two decades the group reached Southwest Asia and Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. Initially it expanded its reach to South Asian diaspora communities, firstly in Arabic countries, and then in Southeast Asia. Before Europe, the movement first established itself in the United States. It established a large presence in Europe during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1978, construction of the Dewsbury Markaz in Dewsbury, England commenced which subsequently became the European headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat. It was especially prominent in France during the 1980s. The members of Tablighi Jamat are also represented in the French Council of the Muslim Faith. Tabligh's influence has grown in the increasing Pakistani community in France, which has doubled in the decade before 2008 to 50,000-60,000. However, the United Kingdom is the current focus of the movement in the West, primarily due to the large South Asian population that began to arrive there in the 1960s and 1970s. By 2007, Tabligh members were situated at 600 of Britain's 1350 mosques. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the movement made inroads into Central Asia. As of 2007, it was estimated 10,000 Tablighi members could be found in Kyrgyzstan alone. FBI believes that nearly 50,000 members of Tablighi Jamaat are active in United States. By 2008, organization had a presence in nearly 150 countries and with a global following of 70 to 80 million people, it has now become the largest Muslim movement in the world. However, it maintains a majority presence in South Asia.
Tablighi Jamaat follows an informal organizational structure and keeps an introvert profile. It keeps distance from mass media and avoids publishing details about its activities and membership. The group also exercises complete abstinence from expressing opinions on political and controversial issues mainly to avoid the disputes which would accompany these endorsements. Tablighi Jamaat does not seek any donations and is largely funded by its senior members. It has no permanent membership and organization can be joined or left at discretion.
The organization's activities are coordinated through centers and headquarters called 'Markaz'. Since its inception, the Tablighi Jamaat has maintained its international headquarters in the Nizamuddin West district of Delhi called Nizamuddin Markaz. It also has country headquarters in over 120 countries to coordinate its activities. These headquarters organize volunteer, self-funding people in groups [called Jama'ats, meaning Assembly] ,averaging ten to twelve people, for reminding Muslims to remain steadfast on path of Allah.
Their operations in the UK are coordinated through Dewsbury Markaz, Yorkshire. This centre holds one major gathering annually, generally in Dewsbury itself. The Tablighi Centre in Dewsbury has also constructed a busy madrassah or seminary, where future British Islamic scholars are trained.
Muhammad Ilyas devoted to what he described as "the mission of the prophets". The method adopted by him was simple. It was to organize units of at least ten persons and send them to various villages. These units [jamaat], would visit a village, invite the local Muslim to assemble in the mosque and present their message.
A December 2001 article by the Boston Herald cited Indian security concerns branches of the jamaat were related to Al-Qaeda. Yet "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid apparently did not remain with the group because they were not violent enough. More recently, on July 19, 2006, Indian authorities questioned two clerics of Tablighi Jamaat in Tripura state regarding the July 11th Mumbai commuter rail bombings, which resulted in the death of 209 people and wounded over 700. In their defense Taibur Rahman, the leader of Tablighi Jamaat in Tripura state, said, "Investigators are free to question them and be satisfied, but they should not be harassed." It is also alleged extremist members of MULTA, with ties to the Pakistani ISI, passed into Bangladesh under the guise of members of Tablighi Jamaat.
A soldier of the Pakistani army accused of attacking former Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf, who was later hanged on the orders of military court, was a member of Tablighi Jamaat, claimed by his father in an interview to BBC Urdu. The person arrested like Rafaqat and Hasnain from Rawalpindi in connection with Mohtarmma Benazir's murder are also said to be members of Jamaat, said by their mother to BBC Urdu.
According to an article published in the Winter 2005 of Middle East Quarterly, "In 1995, the Pakistani army thwarted a coup attempt by several dozen high-ranking military officers and civilians, all of whom were members of the Tablighi Jamaat and some of whom also held membership in Harakat ul-Mujahideen, a U.S. State Department-defined terrorist organization." A very direct comment from the FBI in the article stated, "We have a significant presence of Tablighi Jamaat in the United States," the deputy chief of the FBI's international terrorism section said in 2003, "and we have found that Al-Qaeda used them for recruiting now and in the past."
On January 18, 2008, 14 men who were alleged to have been members of the Tablighi Jamaat were arrested in Barcelona, Spain on suspicious of organizing a terrorist attack. During the raids, police confiscated material for making explosives, including four timing devices. Using international intelligence, it is thought the group was planning to carry out an attack on Barcelona.
In recent months, several small or hidden Islamist organizations were identified even in a "Secural Nation" or "Moderate Muslim Nation" like Bangladesh, who´s main agenda are almost similar to Al Qaida. In June 2009, one such organization sent threat fax message to a number of Western missions in Dhaka [capital of Bangladesh], which was never investigated by the authorities concerned for reason unknown.
In Muslim nations, terming Jews and Christians as ´Enemies of God´, are allowed to spread especially through Tablighi Jamaat, mosques and madrassas. Governments do not interfere into such notoriety of the Islamist clergies thus ultimately giving free-style chance to radical Islam in spreading wings.
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