Tablighi Jamaat

Alex Alexiev, vice president for research at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C., is convinced that Tablighi Jamaat would actively involved in future terrorist activities in the US and abroad. Here is my notes on this Tablighi Jamaat movement. . 

Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Kandhalawi (1885-1944) launched Tablighi Jamaat ("Proselytizing Group") in 1927 in Mewat, India, not far from Delhi. Ilyas's followers were intolerant of other Muslims and especially Shi'ites, let alone adherents of other faiths. Indeed, part of Ilyas's impetus for founding Tablighi Jamaat was to counter the inroads being made by Hindu missionaries. They rejected modernity as antithetical to Islam, excluded women, and preached that Islam must subsume all other religions

The Tablighi Jamaat canon is bare-boned. Apart from the Qu'ran, the only literature Tablighis are required to read are the Tablighi Nisab, seven essays penned by a companion of Ilyas in the 1920s. In practice, all Tablighis preach a creed that is hardly distinguishable from the radical Wahhabi ideology. By the late 1960s, Tablighi Jamaat had not only established itself in Western Europe and North America but even claimed adherents in countries like Japan, which has no significant Muslim population. According to Pew Research Centre, Tablighi Jamaat operates roughly in 150 countries around the world. While most Tablighis still live in Muslim-majority countries, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, the group also has a significant presence in parts of Western Europe, particularly the U.K., France and Spain. Its European membership has been estimated at about 150,000 or more.

The movement's rapid penetration into non-Muslim regions began in the 1970s by large-scale Saudi financing of Tablighi Jamaat. As early as 1978, the World Muslim League subsidized the building of the Tablighi mosque in Dewsbury, England, which has since become the headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat in all of Europe.

The austere and egalitarian lifestyle of Tablighi missionaries and their principled stands against social ills leads many outside observers to assume that the group has a positive influence on society. However, the West's misreading of Tablighi Jamaat actions and motives has serious implications for the war on terrorism. According to Pew Research Centre, the group’s missionary activities and loose organisational structure can be exploited by radical elements. 

References:
https://www.meforum.org/686/tablighi-jamaat-jihads-stealthy-legions 

https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/the-history-of-the-tablighi-jamaat-and-its-place-in-the-islamic-world-120040300331_1.html

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2010/09/15/muslim-networks-and-movements-in-western-europe-tablighi-jamaat/