Darul Uloom Trinidad & Tobago

Q. Concerning a lot of discussions on Dawat e Tabligh or Tableegh Jamaat, a lot of scholars and others such as Dr. Zakir Naik and other ulema criticizing and saying it is bidah to participate in Dawat e Tableegh, where are these people getting these views from? They say it is not in Quran and Sunnah about Tableegh. What is your opinion on this matter?

A. The effort of the Tabligh Jamaat is a very noble one which has been very successful and has gained wide acceptance by thousands of great Ulamah throught the world, from the time it has started until today.

This work is simply about reminding Muslims of their faith and instilling in them, the seriousness of practicing Islam. The Tabligh work does not preach any thing against the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah, and it propagates the true message of Islam. The work brings across the message of how a Muslim can gain success in this world and the next, and exhorts the Muslims to hold firmly to the Sunnah of the Prophet (SA). The talks, speeches and advises given, are based on Imaan and striving in the path of Allah, so that the message of Islam can reach the homes of every Muslim. If a survey is taken today, it will be seen that the Tabligh Jamaat is doing an effort just like what the Prophet (SA) and the Sahabah had done. The brothers involved in the effort spend their ‘hard-earned’ monies to travel to distant places in order to spread the message of Islam. They do not ask anyone for anything. Their time is spent fully in the masjid, and they look after their necessities and needs.

Those who speak ill of this noble work, do so on account of their ignorance of what goes on in the Tabligh work, or they are misinformed, or it is possible that some may naturally dislike it for no reason at all.

Alhamdulillah, through the blessings which Allah Has given to this effort tens of thousands of Muslims have reformed themselves, and have changed the course of their lives to the right direction. Thousands (of those Muslims) who never performed Salaah have started to perform it, and also do the other duties as Muslims. On account of this work, a great awakening has come about, and Muslims are now becoming more conscious of their religion.

We see daily, that while there are many Muslims living around a Masjid, only a very few come for Salaah in congregation. The majority stay at home, while many may not even perform Salaah at all. It is on account of this state, we find that today, many Masjids remain empty, locked, dirty, deplorable and unattended. Many Muslims seem to have lost the zeal to attend the house of Allah. We rarely see members of the locality visiting those Muslims who are not attending the masjid or are weak in their religion. To add to this, we find that at times, Christian missionaries come to different localities and pitch their tents, inviting the Muslims to their Crusades. On a weekly basis, we find that Christian missionaries visit the homes of everyone, including the Muslims’ homes, in order to propagate their religion. While all these take place, we find that not much is done, (in fact, in many places, nothing is done) to bring the Muslims to the Masjids, and to attend to them in an effort to strengthen their Imaan and Islam. In this ‘wanting’ situation, we find that most of the time, it is the Tabligh Jamaat who comes around to different localities to revive the spirit of Islam among the Muslims.

So, the gist of this explaination, is that the Tabligh work is a very important and noble effort which is based on the teachings of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet (SA).

And Allah knows best.

Mufti Waseem Khan