Jama’at At-Tabligh and Al-Dawaa, the safe path to violence
Jama’at at-Tabligh is classified as a group of
preaching and guidance. It directs its message and Dawaa to Muslims and
non-Muslims in a simplified manner, away from intellectual and jurisprudential
differences, as well as political differences. They aim – as the group proclaim
- mainly for calling people to true Islam, rather than to change political
regimes and establish what is called the "Islamic state".
The group, which became pervasive around the world
as its member up to 85 million people worldwide, holds an annual gathering of
more than three million people in Bangladesh, the largest gathering of Muslims
in the world after the haj pilgrimage.
The group is accused of being an incubator for
Takfirites, or as breeding grounds for members move later to other Islamist
groups, such as Muslim Brotherhood, Traditional Salafism, which take the methodological
as a means of changing societies, or jihadist Salafism that emerged in the
early 1990s.
Jama’at At-Tabligh was founded in 1920 by Muhammad
Ilyas Kandhlawi (1885 - 1944), born in Kandhla. It is considered the oldest Islamist
group in the world; it was founded 4 years before the Brotherhood (1928).
Delhi, India,
is the headquarters of Jama’at At-Tabligh, but the headquarters of the group
moved to Pakistan later, and the founder took over of the group until his death
and his son Mohammed Yusuf became the leader of the group later.
The group spread rapidly in India, due to it based
on two basic principles: First: To inform those who did not receive the Islamic
Dawaa from non-Muslims around the world. The second principle is to preach the
Muslims and encourage them to pray. After that the group entered into Pakistan,
Bangladesh and several neighboring countries in the Indian subcontinent.
Its cadres headed to Egypt and North Africa in 1951,
and spread within the Egyptian society, so that it became in the second rank after
the Salafism, in terms of numbers of its members, as the estimated number of its
members in Egypt alone, more than 250 thousand people.
Ibrahim Ezzat, an Egyptian preacher in Upper Egypt
(1938-1983), was the adopter of this group in Egypt, its headquarters in Tummwah,
Abu Al-Nimras, in Giza.
Due to the leadership of Ezzat, who has a Salafist ideology,
Jama’at At-Tabligh has been influenced by the nature of him.
Ezzat’s Gate to Extremism
The majority of those affiliated with jihadist
groups were greatly influenced by Ezzat’s thought and affiliated with the
Islamic groups through him. This is evident through his poetry, were sung by
senior religious and jihadist chanter, most notably the Syrian singer Abu
Mazin, and Abu Rateb, Such as "The Epic of Dawaa", "Allah
Akbar", "Pre- Steps Terror," and other poems by the gunmen.
Jama’at At-Tabligh’s members were influenced by the
most famous Sufi schools, such as Chishti, one of the most famous Sufi schools
in the Indian sub-continent (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan).
Chishti founder, Sheikh Ahmad Ibdal al-Chashti, who
known as
(The Sun of the Kingdom of India) born in 534 AH in Chisht in Khorasan, one of
the Iranian provinces (died in 633 AH).
Some studies indicate that Jama’at At-Tabligh took
into consideration the ideas of the Sufism leaders in education and guidance, these
studies indicate also they took their ideas from Nur (Nurism), in Turkey,
(1896) which
was founded by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi in 1896.
Jama’at At-Tabligh relies primarily on a smooth and
easy manner to attract the non-religious people as the clients of cafes, clubs,
and cinemas to put them in a religious environment, three days monthly, 40 days
yearly, four months in the lifetime.
Jama’at At-Tabligh has unwritten and inherited assets
of work and literature, knew and agreed to apply, in the field of Dawaa, based
on the following:
• If they go out for Dawaa, they have to choose one
of them to be their leader; they do not have specific positions, no permanent
jobs, and assign a group of themselves to call the people of the villages they
entered.
• They do not stay in mosques, and do not be guests to
anyone, but each one of them takes a simple bed, and enough food, and a little
money to spend on himself, the austerity is the dominant feature, and then go
out calling people to hear the sermon.
The two sides of the same coin
Despite the asserting of Jama’at At-Tabligh to not use violence or
demanding political changes, many of them, especially within Egypt, have related
to many jihadist, and thus the group has become the "safe passage"
for young people specifically to the Islamic trend and violent organizations.
During the expanded investigations, which included
most of the leaders of all factions of the Islamist Movement, following the
assassination of the late Egyptian President Mohammed Anwar Sadat, on October
6, 1981, it was found that many members and leaders of the factions,
"Jihad Organization" has begun its Religious activities,
through Jama’at At-Tabligh, and most famous of these Aboud Al-Zomor one of the
most famous Jihad leaders.
It was also proved that Ibrahim Ezzat had hinted to
Mohamed Abdel Salam Farag the ideologue of the Egyptian Jihad group, the author
of "The Absent religious duty," and the first person accused of
assassinating Sadat, that he was a believer in the ideology of jihad organization,
but for many reasons he could not join, in the same time, Farag hinted, that
the organization of jihad could enlist the members of Jama’at At-Tabligh in
secret and individually, to work in the ranks of the organization of jihad,
"I bring you people from the street to the mosque and you responsible for recruitment
them" he said.
Jama’at At-Tabligh has disappeared for a long time
from the Egyptian scene in particular, as well as the international scene, but
they are fighting for survival. They have re-emerged publicly and are active in
the Egyptian street again in the downtown’s cinemas in Cairo, late 2017.
The Egyptian authorities, called a number of leaders
of the group, to investigate the state of proliferation carried out by its
elements.
