IS THE TABLIGH JAMAAT A NEW SECT?

Question

What is the status of the Tabligh Jamaat? A number of our senior Ulama of Deoband have dissociated from the Jamaat and have branded it a baatil firqah (false/deviated sect). Please view the following statements of the Ulama and comment.

Mufti Zarwali Khan Saheb (Rahimahul laahuTa’ala) had mentioned Tablighi Jamaa’at to be, “… the greatest Kath-thaab Jamaa’at in history,” (recording available online).

(Kath-thaab, that is a great liar)

Mufti Sa’eed Ahmad Palanpuri (Rahimahul laahuTa’ala) had foreseen this and had explicitly mentioned, “If they do not rectify their affairs, then very soon the Tablighi Jamaa’at will become a separate firqah (sect). I can see that terrible day! I can see that terrible day! If they do not rectify their perspective, very soon there will be a new sect of these Tablighi Muslims, and we’ll have to write it from our own pen that this is a misguided sect!” (Lecture for the ‘Ulama at Bangalore, India, on 16th February 2008)

(Mufti Ahmad Palanpuri was the chief Mufti and Shaikhul Hadith of Darul Uloom Deoband)

Mufti Taqi once said (recording available online):

“Beware of ghulu’, ifraat and tafreed (i.e. baseless extremism) for it will cut you (Tabligh Jamaat) off from the Muslim Ummah, and transform you into a separate sect (firqah). This ghulu is taking you towards destruction. This mentality will incinerate this work.

For the sake of Allah understand this well that if someone reasons with you with sincerity then do not understand him to be your enemy and opponent.

These acts (of ghulu’) will one day convert you into a sect. It will sever you from the Muslim Ummah.

The following is mentioned in a fatwa from DarulUloomDeoband:

“Seeing many such acts, not only Mufti Saeed Palampuri, but many Ulama and Buzrugaan-e-Deen, we have heard from them that this Tablighi Jamaat is on the path of becoming a new sect. It is abandoning the methods of the Qur’aan and Hadith and adopting its own methodology and a new deen.”

Moulana Rashid Iqbal Fayrozabaadi Saheb mentioned in an Ijlaas of ‘Ulama-e-Deoband in Partaabgarh:

“The name, Tablighi Jamaat, is very beloved, but it has become a snake in the sleeve. It is a greater danger than the other baatil sects. It has become a looter of Imaan.”

Mufti ‘Abdul Quddoos Rumi Saheb (Rahimahul laahuTa’ala) used to be the former Grand Mufti of Agra and was a mureed of Hadhrat Thaanvi. His son (Mufti Majdul Quddoos Khubaib Rumi Saheb – Khalifah of Moulana Maseehullaah Saheb) is the current Grand Mufti of Agra, the Mufti of Mazaahirul Uloom (Waqf), and holds/used to hold the Sadr Mudarris position too.

Mufti ‘Abdul Quddoos Rumi Saheb (Rahimahul laahuTa’ala) mentions in his kitaab ‘Murawwajah Tablighi Jamaa’at Kay Baaray Main Shar’i Fatwa’ Page 9:

“Now the Tabligh Jamaat has abandoned the path of Tabligh and is following the path of a new sect.”

Elsewhere, in the same kitaab, he also mentions that he had met MoulanaI lyaas (Rahimahul laahuTa’ala) and that he was a maghloobul haal person, who genuinely wanted good for everyone else and wanted them to have the same fikr he had. However, Mufti ‘Abdul Quddoos Rumi also mentions that it was wrong for Moulana Ilyaas and for others to consider their own way of Tableegh to be the most important and only way of Tableegh and to ‘force’ others to follow that way.

I’ve found several kitaabs and websites which show the opinions of our Akaabireen slowly turning away from the Tablighi Jamaat, including Moulana Zakariyyah Kandhelwi who never really had complete munaasibat with the tareeqah of Tableegh of the Tableeghi Jamaat and had often expressed so to his uncle (page 23).

Of those websites, the following are some:

https://sirfhaq.wordpress.com/2023/01/26/dawat-o-tabligh/

https://difaetabligh.wordpress.com/

http://sangeenfitna.blogspot.com/

All of this is apart from the articles and kitaabs on this issue by The Majlis.

From what all the senior Ulama have commented, can we assume that every single person who is associated with the Tablighi Jamaat is no longer upon the Haqq? That slightly worries me, because I’ve always got the impression that the Ulama of Isipingo Beach Madrasah who are in general upon the Haqq are from Tablighi Jamaa’at. If that is so, does the fatwa consider them under the new sect too?

JazaakAllaahu Khairun Was-Salaam.

(End of the Question by the Brother from Saudi Arabia)

Our Answer and Comment

For decades have we commented on the deviation and ghulu’ (haraam bigotry) of the Tabligh Jamaat. We have sincerely provided naseehat for the Tablighi elders, but to no avail. Bigotry blinds the intelligence. The brain cells are deprived of operating in equilibrium. Ghulu’ was the downfall of the Nasaara. The Qur’aan Majeed states: “Do not commit ghulu’ in your Deen.”

Anyone who proffers sincere naseehat to the Jamaatis is viewed as an enemy and an opponent. The Tabligh Jamaat had also regarded Hadhrat Masihullah (Rahmatullah alayh) to be an opponent of ‘Tableegh’. Since they believe that all Tabligh is confined to their innovated methodology, they stupidly, denounce all other methods which were in vogue since the eras of the Sahaabah. Their bigotry constrains them to hallucinate that the Tabligh of the Sahaabah was exactly like their innovated methodology which was recently fabricated.

With their bigotry have they convoluted the meaning of Fi Sabeelillaah, diverting it from its original and true meaning, and applying it to their innovated ‘khurooj’ for their brand of tabligh.

While we acknowledge that the Jamaat has accomplished much in the sphere of Tabligh, they will be undoing all the benefit if they do not take stock of their deviation and remedy the malady of ghulu’ which is setting them on the path of becoming a baatil sect.

Although some Ulama have already branded the Tablighi Jamaat as a baatil sect even describing it as being a snake in the grass, we have hitherto hesitated to adopt the ultimate view of excommunicating the Jamaat and lumping them with the 73 baatil sects mentioned in the Hadith. The reason for our hesitation is:

Undoubtedly the Jamaat has rendered considerable service to the Ummah.
The vast majority consists of ignorant laymen who do not necessarily share in the ghulu’ of the minority which also includes some or most ‘elders’ of the Jamaat.
Generally, the Tablighi groups operating in the Musaajid do not introduce any of the bigotry of their deviated ‘elders’ whoever they may be.

We really do not know if the Tablighi Jamaat has any elders. Even if they did have genuine elders, today they are bankrupt. There are no true elders directing the affairs of the Jamaat. Both Raiwand and Nizaamuddin are in the control of quacks, cranks and molvis whose objective is the dunya.

The emphasis of the Tabligh Jamaat is on the sustainment of its innovated methodology, its bigotry, gaining recruits and merrymaking ijtimas controlled by fellows who utilize these functions for monetary gain. The true Sunnah is far from their methodology.

Nahyi anil munkar (Prohibiting vice) is alien to their methodology, hence they are at home with fussaaq and fujjaar, and they have no qualms when they dilute the Shariah and compromise the ahkaam of the Shariah. For the sake of gaining numbers, they are prepared to throw in their lot with the people of baatil. Recently here in South Africa, the Raiwand deviates flagrantly supported the baatil interfaithers of the NNB Clique. Although the Ulama explained to Maulana Kathani the grave error of the Jamaat lying in bed with the likes of the Munaafiqs of the NNB Clique of Juhala, Raiwand twisted the arm of Kathani to compel him to openly support the NNB shayaateenul ins.

Our advice for sincere Jamaatis who do not align themselves with the corrupt attitude of their ‘elders’ is to reflect. The Jamaat is undoubtedly sliding into gross deviation. It is on a trajectory into the domain of baatil where it will metamorphose into a baatil firqah to be lumped with the 73 deviated sects mentioned in the Hadith.

The Tableegh work of the Jamaat can still be maintained on a straight road by excising both Raiwand and Nizaamuddin from the Tabligh equation. There is too much fitnah emanating from these two sources. Sincere workers of the Jamaat should continue the work with sincerity, without bigotry and without reference to the decrepit, decayed and deviated Raiwand and Nizaamuddin headquarters which are controlled by men of the dunya, who manipulate the Deen for their worldly and nafsaani agendas. Tabligh is not in need of Raiwand and Nizaamuddin. They are responsible for too much fitnah which has resulted in the satanic split of the Jamaat into two warring factions with daggers at each other’s throats.

Question

Answer

No, we cannot make such an assumption. There are numerous Jamaatis who are aware of the ghulu’ and deviations which have crept into the Tabligh Jamaat. They do not align themselves with the ghulu and bid’ah. Also, innumerable jamaatis of the rank and file are not aware of the deflection of their ‘elders’ in Raiwand and Nizaamuddin. They do not understand the nafsaani politics of their ‘elders’.

The desire and dua are that the Tabligh Jamaat takes stock and understands the gravity of its deviation, and institutes measures to salvage itself from the mess of ghulu’ in which it is drowning and from which it will emerge as another baatil sect.

23 Safar 1445 – 9 September 2023