For the
last few days, Tableeghi Jamaat / Tablighi Jamat (TJ) has a lot been in
focus. Of course, anyone who has seen
this video, or knows me, knows what my stand is, about them. However, for a new person, I am writing down
my take on the Markaz-COVID controversy, because I am sure everyone will first
want to know whether my take is similar to theirs, before they bother reading /
listening to me. So here it is:
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Maulana
Saad personally, TJ as an organization and Muslims as a community made a big
blunder by not cooperating swiftly with the Govt. orders. All three have been making a bigger blunder,
for decades, by pushing Muslims into Dark Ages and making sure that everyone,
including a huge chunk of Muslims, start hating Muslims and Islam.
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Certain
people and groups are making an even bigger blunder by using this crisis as an
opportunity to drum up hatred against Muslims in general. This will hurt not just Muslims, but also
Hindus and Bharat in so many ways and so deeply that they cannot even
imagine.
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I
personally am sick and tired with this stupid sectarianism which is not only
going to hurt the haters & the hated, but is also going to make us lose a
lot more in this war against SARS-CoV-2.
Having said
this, I need to also place here, my understanding of TJ in general. There are some corrections, extensions,
expansions, clarifications that are needed, for this video. I will also put them here. Further, I would also put in my general
understanding about what ails Muslims today, as in, why Muslims are so
backward, despite having ruled over a large chunk of the world till recently,
historically speaking. I shall also
excerpt from an article written by Mr. Asif Ibrahim, ex-Director, IB. I am not editing this properly since I do not
have enough time. Apologies in advance
for mistakes.
General
Aspects of Tableeghi Jamaat’s Work:
One aspect
of TJ’s work is promoting piety: Prayer, Cleanliness, Respect for Elders etc. A part of that effort is also to keep Muslims
away from social ills like drinking, gambling etc. One may look at these as desirable.
TJ is also
not involved in political activities, and does not support violence. These can also be seen as positive aspects of
their work.
The other
aspect of it is its focus on and a strong belief that the only valid way of living
a life is the one espoused / lived by Prophet Muhammad SAW between 607 and 632
CE, in the region of Hejaz. That, to say
the least is highly problematic:
1. Challenges presented by any specific
region for human habitation is different from any other. To non-adaptively import the way suitable in
one to another is not very intelligent.
2. Every time / era presents its own
unique challenges and to expect all challenges will be the best addressed in
the same way is also similarly not very intelligent.
3. Different cultures are probably as
valid as any other cultures. To find
only one to be the only valid one is again rather disingenuous.
4. To reduce all human experience to
that experienced by one human individual
from one culture living in one region in one time window lesser than a quarter century, no matter how sensible
in those circumstances, is being really foolish.
5. For anything further, they tend to
identify a particular cultural context, perhaps specific to the Indian Muslim
social mores of the time TJ was founded, as the only valid way of living for a
Muslim person. This again results in
their foisting a certain way of dressing, talking, naming, praying,
befriending, respecting, looking at the world which are very harmful for Indian
Muslims. I would go so far as to say
that TJ perhaps is the greatest enemy of Muslims.
6. For instance, they promote
isolationism. Everything is Islamic or
unislamic in their dictionary. This
results in Muslims trying to distinguish themselves from whichever milieu they
live in, making them distant, and seem problematic to the other members of the
social ecosystem. This is a vicious
circle that they have put Muslims in, resulting in a great loss to Muslims in
every way possible.
7. TJ’s focus is on what they consider
the rights of Allah. They have very
little focus on the rights of other humans within the social ecosystem. This results in TJ followers specifically and
Muslims generally, not being as productive members for the general society as
they could be.
8. TJ people specifically and Muslims
generally believe that they have the only valid system of living available with
them, and that all others are mistaken in living the way that they do.
9. Since what the TJ specifically and
Muslims generally believe and follow are things that are imported from another
time and another place, these are not amenable to modern living. Muslims fall farther and farther behind the
society generally, and become a drag on it.
10. Muslims are unable and unwilling to
accept that the real reason behind the backwardness in Muslims generally and TJ
members specifically is these, their beliefs.
Instead, they blame all the other more successful groups and believe
that these other groups are scheming against them and keeping them
backward. That is from where stem the
beliefs and statements of people like Maulana Saad that anything that they are
not allowed to do is a conspiracy against Muslims.
11. A small example is that TJ people,
especially when traveling, tend to offer namaz in such a way that it becomes
bothersome to other travellers. To these
people, their right to pray as they must, trumps all others’ rights, since in
their lexicon the others are wrong anyway.
This same attitude resulted in Maulana Saad and TJ hurting our war
against SARS-CoV-2 in a big way.
12. Among the other effects of TJ brand
of ‘reform’, Muslims tend to withdraw from even their neighbours, who in the
original teachings of Islam are very important.
TJ’s Islam is imprecise, improbably and impossible. It makes Muslims a burden, pests or parasites
to the society. The TJ mindset, present
in Muslims for the last 800 years, resulted in Muslims having made no important
scientific discoveries or inventions.
Although before Ijtehad was ruled undesirable and unislamic, Muslims did
make great contributions to Chemistry, Optics, Astronomy, Mathematics, Medicine
and other fields.
13. Opposing TJ’s stupid beliefs is seen
as Islamophobic and anti-Muslim, which to the eyes of any decent human being is
simple human decency. Some of the TJ
beliefs and actions are so scintillatingly stupid that it is difficult to
believe that they actually do do that. For
example, for them, performing ablutions before prayers in a particular way
trumps any other norms of society. Since,
during ablutions, one’s feet should not be in a dirty place, many TJ folks tend
to put their feet inside the wash-basin and wash them there. Not only is it risky for the person doing it,
it is also extremely nauseating to any observers who may have to use that wash
basin after these people. However, opposing
even these obvious minor mores resulting in these minor anti-social activities
is seen as curtailing the rights of Muslims.
14. All these things result in young
minds believing that (a) Islam offers the only valid way of living, (b)
Currently accepted interpretation of Islam is the only valid interpretation of
Islam, and (c) TJ Islam is the only valid Islam.
15. All these three counter-factual
beliefs in young minds result in them falling farther and farther away from the
mainstream society wherever these people live.
16. TJ is only the latest nail in the
coffin of Muslim sensibility. If you
look at Muslims historically, during the times prior to Al-Ghazali (died 1111
CE), who won the race for interpreting Islam decisively (circa 1200 CE), you
find that Muslims / Arabs / Persians were living in effectively secular Islamic
dispensations, and doing a lot of Scientific, Mathematical, Philosophic and
Rational work. Post Ghazali win, Muslims
have done well in architecture, literature and even in some limited
technological areas, however, nothing fundamental about reality has been
discovered or developed by Muslims since.
17. Till the time Al Ghazali’s writing
decisively won the Islam-interpretational battle for the Muqallids (Blind
Followers), the Muftis (Interpreters of Islam) were required to be Mujtahids
(Enlightened Reasoners). A specific
movement promoting the Mujtahids / Ijtehad was Mu’tazila. Al Ghazali was an enemy of Mu’tazilites. Mu’tazilites believed that good and evil are
not always determined by revealed scripture or interpretation of scripture, but
they are rational categories that could be "established through unaided
reason"; because knowledge is derived from reason; and reason, alongside
scripture, was the "final arbiter" in distinguishing right from
wrong. This part alone made them the
enemy of those who followed the Hadith and Tafsirs. These latter were supported by Al Ghazali for
reasons that had to do with more than just the dichotomy between Reasoning /
Following. But the result was that,
never again did Muslims ever believe that reason has a part to play in the
understanding of Islam. No wonder,
Muslims are always the followers (of what they are told is ancient Islam) and
extremely rarely, the reasoners.
Unfortunately for Muslims, the world can only run on reason, not on
blind followership. Thanks, Al Ghazali
from making our lives miserable.
18. Most supporters of Al Ghazali do not
see this connection. For that we need to
go on a little more of a detour.
19. The Nizamiyyah were a group of the
medieval institutions of higher education established in the 11th
century by Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk (Abu Ali Hasan ibn Ali Tusi, a Persian scholar
and vizier of the Seljuk Empire). The
name Nizamiyyah, as well as the Dars-e-Nizami, the syllabus still followed in
Islamic seminaries in India / South Asia, derive from his name. Founded at the
beginning of the Seljuk Empire, these Sunni Islam theological schools are
considered to be the model of later madrasahs, or Islamic religious schools,
including Darul Uloom, Deoband, from which the founder of TJ completed his
studies. The most famous and celebrated
of all the nizamiyyah schools was Al-Nizamiyya of Baghdad (established 1065),
where Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk appointed Al Ghazali as a professor.
20. Al Ghazali redefined the Mufti in
Islamic realms, from a mujtahid to a muqallid.
He also defined the limits within which the Nizamiyyahs were to accept
Greek foundational philosophies, the parent of all Scientific and Mathematical
and thus, Technical, Military, Economic, Political and Cultural success today.
21. Mu’tazili philosophers highly valued
Aristotle’s Organon. The works of Al Ghazali
and other Persian Muslim logicians often criticized and limited the acceptance
of Aristotelianism. The use of
Aristotelian logic in Islamic theology had already begun to decline from the
10th century, with the rise of Ash’ari theology to the intellectual mainstream. Ash’ari’s rejected Causal Reasoning in favour
of clerical authority. Al Ghazali,
supporting Ash’aris ensured the rejection of Causal Reasoning and Aristotle,
widely considered the father of Science.
22. From Ash’aris, through Al-Ghazali,
Nizamiyyahs, Darul Ulooms, TJ and Maulana Saad, we stand today at the cross
roads where a number of Muslims have been brought up on a generous daily dose
of anti-Science diet. We are insistently
told daily to specifically ignore the principle of Causality and stick to blind
followership of whatever, men with no moustaches and large flowing beards think
of early Islam, and thus the orders of the Almighty Lord and owner of all
realms.
23. This counter-factual belief system
then is the basis of all backwardness in Muslims.
24. How can it be corrected? Who can correct it? These questions have answers that I have no
ability to find and/or communicate.
However, all I can do is encourage all educated Muslims, especially the
youth to do the following:
a. Try living through reason and
evidence and not through received dogma.
b. Respectfully, but firmly oppose the
elders / peers who promote dogma.
c. Help explain life in terms of
causal, scientific, rational and evidential truths to youngsters.
d. Understand that there is no evidence
that any religious model of reality (most definitely including Islam) correctly
understands it.
e. Understand that the current
interpretation of Islam is not the only possible valid interpretation of Islam.
f.
Understand
that TJ Islam is not the only Islam, let alone, the only possible explanation
of reality, or even, the only Islam.
g. Do not defend the indefensible acts of
religious zealots & TJ generally and of Maulana Saad specifically.
h. Cooperate, work with and live as the
mainstream.
i.
Do
understand that any violence or stupidities done by any Muslim will reflect upon
you. You will be expected (reasonably or
unreasonably) to accept the responsibility for the same. If you ask me, it is indeed the responsibility
of all Muslims (TJ, or otherwise; Practising, or otherwise; Believing, or
otherwise) to reign-in the stupid elements within our community. Why is it reasonable to say this? Because when we support the fight for the
rights of other Muslims, in and as Muslims; when we say that injustice with one
Muslim is injustice with all Muslims, then we cannot say that wrongdoings of
one / some Muslims is not our responsibility.
What have we done to curb them?
Who will curb them? If
non-Muslims try, they are labelled as anti-Muslim Islamophobes. WE have created this no-win situation for
ourselves, by not opposing elements like the TJ amongst us.
j.
This
crisis created by Maulana Saad and TJ will blow over. Everything generally does. But this is a grand wakeup call for all
persons with Muslim names. Either give
up everything Muslim, which might even mean giving up your family, and even a
part of your very self, or make sure that Muslims integrate with mainstream,
and all those who wish to take you 1400 years, or even 100 years back are
thoroughly discredited by us Muslims.
Remember, no one else can do it, even if they want it, without a tremendous
amount of bloodshed. We, ourselves, MUST
kill the cancer of this unreasonable, irrational, isolationist mentality that TJ /
Salafis / Muqallids / Modern-day Asharis promote. Else, start writing our own obituary.
Current Markaz-COVID-19
Controversy:
A lot of
Muslims feel hurt at the blatantly communal coverage of the blunder, by the
Godi media. While there is merit in the
accusation that most of the mainstream media is doing everything they can do to
drum up hatred against Muslims in general, Muslims also need to look at some of
the facts of the matter. I would like to
ask a few questions of all the Muslims who are feeling hurt in this matter:
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If
we choose to always deny our responsibility, then what else can we expect? When has any Muslim person ever accepted any
responsibility for Islamic terrorism?
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Why
did the NSA have to visit Maulana Saad (MS) before he agreed for clean up? Did no one in TJ ever advise MS to start
worrying about the pandemic, especially when TJ has presence in so many
countries?
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Why
did MS insist that the health advisory to close places of worship was a
conspiracy against Muslims/Islam?
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Why
we insist on living in this country, and insist on changing its ways, despite
having asked for, being given and having accepted our own country in 1947?
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And
if this country has such a large heart to accept us, why does it not occur to
us that the Hindus are actually BETTER than us?
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And
that Hinduism as a social system is BETTER than our system?
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Do
any of the Muslim countries that Indian Muslims spend their working lives in,
even allow them permanent residence, let alone citizenship?
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When
are we ever going to act like good humans instead of 'bad' Muslims?
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Does
any Muslim ever have balls to oppose these ulema when they stand up and curse
science and scientists and some even have the temerity to ask us to not make
Hindu friends?
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Why
do we always expect others to be fair to us, without ever being fair to others?
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And
how many questions do you want me to ask you before you think that we actually
need to take SOME responsibility?
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So,
while the many Hindus do definitely spread hate against Muslims, do we ever
think about what we actually deserve? I,
being born in a Muslim family, living in a Muslim family, in a Muslim ghetto of
my town, am thoroughly fed up with Muslims.
We are pests. We never
contribute, but always keep asking for more.
Why should they not be fed up?
What do we ever do in order to gain the love and the confidence of our
Hindu brothers and sisters?
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And
what do we do when we are in the majority?
Do I need to talk about the cruelty of Muslims in Pakistan? Of Pakistan’s cruelty on East Pakistan Hindus
and Muslims? About the terrorist murders
in Bangladesh? Of ISIS? Of Boko Haram?
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And
who do you have the power to correct, yourself or others? Will you clean your own bedroom first, or be
bothered about how I keep my bedroom?
Which one do you have the power to clean up?
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Why
don't Muslims ever focus on improving Muslims, as human beings, not some idea
of what we should have been 1400 years back?
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Why
do we keep asking Hindus to become better, when even communal Hindus are
actually better and fairer than average Muslims anywhere in the world?
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I
suggest that educated Muslims take lead in figuring out how we can make
ourselves better humans. Do not leave
that job to be done by MS, TJ or other assorted ulema. It is OUR job. EACH ONE of us is responsible for becoming
better humans. Become that. And then I promise you that my country and my
fellow Indians will not subject you to seeing such kind of reportage as you are
seeing today. My Indians have the
largest heart in the whole world. Just
give them a chance to keep you in it!
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As
for the Markaz-COVID blunder, ALL ANYONE NEEDS TO DO IS TO HONESTLY ACCEPT
THEIR MISTAKES... and do their very best to never repeat the same mistakes.
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Maulana
Saad, my Tableeghi brothers and sisters... ARE YOU LISTENING? Please stop being
childish. Please understand that we have no options but to follow Govt
instructions, AS THEY (will have to) CHANGE from time to time.
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Please
stop opposing Govt instructions. Please stop opposing scientific advice. Please
start learning Sciences and Mathematics. Please stop trying to go back 1400
years.
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Please
know that we are all one: ALL HUMANS,
not just Indians, not just Muslims, not just Sunnis, not just Deobandis, not
just Tableeghis.
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Please
know that the virus does not and CANNOT distinguish between Hindus and Muslims;
Mosque-goers, Temple-goers, Church-goers and Inside-own-soul-goers.
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Your
stupidity will kill not just you, but your beloveds too. And the rest of us
too.
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I
know I will die one day. But I would like to die for a reason better than
merely your bullheadedness.
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See
for you, your 'steadfastness' in your belief is a good enough reason for you to
die for. For me it is definitely now. For that reason, for you, I am stupid. But what you must realize that your sentiment
is fully requited by me.
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And,
also, just by the way, I do not give you the right to murder me. And no one
else does that either. Not even your own family members.
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Unfortunately,
your pretensions to knowing Islam notwithstanding, Islam does not give you,
EVEN, the right to kill yourself. Your life belongs to Allah. And exposing
yourself to the virus will result in your going to hell.
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Tableeghi
brothers and sisters, know that following the likes of Maulana Saad will get
you also shunted to Jahannum. Wanna go
there? Be my guest. Just don't drag the rest of us there.
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Instead,
Be safe. Be happy.
To my
Muslim hating brothers and sisters, I would like to say this:
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Hatred
always eventually hurts the hater too.
Please do not hurt yourself.
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Please
understand that similarities are more important in winning a war than
differences; togetherness is more important than one-upmanship.
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By
pillorying Muslims in general you are actually doing something very much
against the principles of Hinduism.
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Any
improvement always comes when the insides change. Work with the Muslims that are trying to
change the Muslims for the better.
Because any other option will result in worse outcomes.
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Read
history. All pandemics are spread the
most by different kinds of religious activities. This is not the time to start counting how
the adherents of which religion hurt which war against which pandemic.
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Love. Not hate.
--
CORRECTIONS:
There could
be several mistakes in the video, as well as in the writeup here. I request you to look at the big picture
instead of getting lost in minutiae. I
also request you to not resort to whataboutery (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism) when you are reading this /
listening to this. That others may make
the same or worse mistakes does not let us off the hook. As I used to be told when I was a kid: if the
other person jumps in a well, will you also do that?
-
2:04
– Exponential Growth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_and_chessboard_problem,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kas0tIxDvrg,
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/03/17/why-exponential-growth-is-so-scary-for-the-covid-19-coronavirus/#531e75634e9b,
https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/x2f8bb11595b61c86:exponential-growth-decay/x2f8bb11595b61c86:exponential-vs-linear-growth/v/exponential-vs-linear-growth
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2:33 – Delhi Govt closes schools etc.: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/delhi-shuts-schools-colleges-cinema-halls-to-counter-coronavirus/articleshow/74595247.cms?from=mdr
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2:44 – Delhi govt bars gatherings of more than
50 (which means it applies to Delhi Markaz also): https://www.livemint.com/news/india/delhi-govt-bars-gatherings-of-more-than-50-gyms-clubs-spas-shut-till-31-march-11584346990614.html,
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/coronavirus-outbreak-no-religious-social-political-gatherings-of-over-50-in-delhi-till-march-31/articleshow/74650421.cms
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3:02 – NSA visit ; https://news.abplive.com/news/india/coronavirus-scare-nsa-ajit-doval-nizamuddin-area-tablighi-markaz-evacuation-1187028,
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/markaz-leadership-agreed-to-vacate-nizamuddin-mosque-after-nsa-ajit-doval-intervention-1662090-2020-04-01,
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/markaz-leadership-resisted-then-nsa-ajit-doval-dropped-by-at-2-am/story-RhL243HMbRgTGBbriNIVzL.html,
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/newsindia/markaz-leadership-resisted-then-nsa-ajit-doval-dropped-by-at-2-am/ar-BB11ZDP4,
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/coronavirus-covid-19-india-in-row-over-delhi-mosque-event-an-audio-clip-and-nsa-ajit-dovals-talks-2204428
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5:09 – “Ulema” should be “Ulema and Leaders”. Ulema = Religious scholars
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6:25 – Satish
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6:38 – My nephew
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6:54
– Hotel is mentioned for generalization purposes
-
7:23
– Maulana Saad: https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/maulana-saad-khandhlawi-tablighi-jamaat-nizamuddin-cleric-coronavirus-history-of-controversy-objectionable-sermons-covid19-india-delhi-news/572762,
https://www.jagran.com/news/national-who-is-maulana-saad-relation-with-controversies-delhi-nizamuddin-markaz-tablighi-jamaat-coronavirus-suspect-delhi-nizamuddin-markaz-20157254.html,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Saad_Kandhlawi,
https://aajtak.intoday.in/video/coronavirus-outbreak-india-delhi-nizamuddin-tablighi-jamaat-chief-maulana-saad-controversy-1-1176941.html,
-
9:38
– Dahariya = a worldly person
-
15:15 – Interesting hadith about camel: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Camel_Urine_and_Islam,
https://questionsonislam.com/question/did-prophet-pbuh-advise-drinking-camels-urine,
https://www.ilmgate.org/consumption-of-camel-urine-clarification-from-islamic-tradition/,
https://www.facebook.com/zakirnaik/posts/camel-urine-as-treatmentthere-are-several-scientific-proofs-in-the-past-as-well-/1016155178547328/
--
Excerpts
from “Tabligh, Religion, and Corona”
Mr. Asif
Ibrahim IPS, former Director of the Intelligence Bureau.
“Tabligh
men organised a congregation of 250,000 participants near Lahore in Pakistan on
March 11, despite the request of the Pak authorities to postpone or cancel it.
And they gifted the perils of Corona virus, and deaths to whole of the Muslim
world from Gaza to Malaysia. They have orchestrated a similar affliction in
India, and brought death and gore to many families across the country.
“The
arrogance comes to the Tabligh men from the belief that they are doing God’s
work, and God is their refuge. Care and
caution, the advice of the medical practitioner, a directive of the
government-- go to hell.”
“Today, in
the age of Covid-19, the saving grace for us is science, medicine, and
information. We know how the virus spreads, and how to fight it. But Tabligh people are redoing the Catholic
Church of medieval Europe. They believe that Corona virus is a curse of God let
loose on the sinful humans to teach them a lesson; and a solution to this
problem is religious rites, prayers, and visit to a mosque. The punishment has descended from God on
people for being too much with the world, and for absenting from the
mosques/temples. The answer to this threat is not closing the gates of
mosque/church, but opening them to allow people bow before the altar of God.”
“The
problem of Tabligh Jamaat is not only a lack of knowledge about the modern
world and how it works, but also of religion, which it champions. The
illiterate clerics feed the common Muslims that Corona virus is a conspiracy to
damage the religious traditions of the Muslims. Mosques are ‘deserted’ because
Muslims have no love for or fear of God, and they are mandated to ‘populate’
it. Though many Muslims associate
themselves in India with the activities of the Tablighis, which is a
puritanical movement, and seeks to drag the Muslims 1400 years back, most of
the Muslims are very critical of it, and oppose it tooth and nail. They call it
‘Taklifi Jamaat’, as, according to them, it maximises difficulties of its
followers and of the Muslims. They see it as an enemy of the Muslims, since it
persuades the Muslims to renounce the
world, and take to prayers and propagation of the puritanical form of religion
as a full-time activity.
“The
Tablighis move in cities, towns, and villages, and stay in the mosques, and
engage with the Muslims of the locality. They tell the young minds to distance
themselves from the world, education, career, and wallow in the opium of
religion. Many Muslims believe the Tablighis indulge in what the worst enemy of
the Muslims would dream to do. They emaciate the community, preaching them to
shun academics, politics, business, and so on, as they are irrelevant in the
eyes of God. They tell the followers
what the Bible says: See the birds in the air. They sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns. Yet God feeds them. Are you not much better than
them? Inference of this is: there is no
need to open your shop, earn money, plough field. Allah would take care of
everything, even of the children they give birth to.
“They
inform the participants about what happens after death, in the grave, and
thereafter, and how to prepare for that. This worldly life is too insignificant
to bother about. Once one becomes Tablighi, nothing interests him, except
religions and its precepts.”
“The irony
is that when the grand mosque Kaba in Mecca (was) closed, Tablighis (were)
‘propagating’ the ‘correct’ form of Islam going door to door among the Muslims
during a pandemic. The touchstone of
religion is belief, the strength of science is doubt. Science questions and
doubts everything it arrives at. By this method, it evolved, discovered secrets
of nature and gave humans solutions to problems like plague, measles,
small-pox, etc. But, if you doubt a religious precept, or the Zeus himself, you
are a friend of Satan. Older the percept, and the temple, the closer you are to
God, and his mercy.
“Yuval
(Noah) Harari, writer of the celebrated book ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of
Humankind’, says ‘When a thousand people believe some made-up story for a
month–that is fake news. When a billion people believe it for a thousand years–that
is a religion, and we are admonished not to call it fake news in order not to
hurt the feelings of the faithful.’ Interestingly, most communities moved away
with time. They threw religious directives, and scriptures out of their window.
Muslims are the only community on the earth shouldering the burden of religion
in its (purported) pure form, and not surprisingly, they are the most backward
people on the earth.”
- See more
at: http://southasiajournal.net/tabligh-religion-and-corona/
--
Another
account of TJ stupidity can be seen at https://theeasternlink.com/pakistan-corona-super-spreader-in-islamic-world/
--
Final Request:
Please help the Nation fight
this war with SARS-CoV-2. You will find
many aspects of this war distasteful. A
lot of people will make a lot of mistakes.
Many will unethically use this crisis to line their own wallets and
consolidate their power. But please
understand that for the virus we are all one.
Therefore we will have to be all one.
Please work under the Govt. leadership that we have, with your best
efforts. Please do not lose yourself in
the TJ messages about the right clothes and events and social behavior. Please do not worry about praying in the mosques. What we need now is the right scientific
response to the attack of the virus.
Give that.
We have a strongman for a Prime
Minister who carries the people’s imagination.
This is precisely what we need in order to address this crisis
effectively. Though I am sure many
mistakes will be made. But decide who
you are – a human or a SARS-CoV-2? Be
with the human team.
The world will be very different
on the other side of this crisis. Many
old ways will become invalid. Many new
ways invented. If you are still desiring
to return to the world 1400 years back, you will make us all lose. Worse, Maulana Saad has hurt the cause of
Indian Muslims more than anyone has ever done.
Let him get his just desserts.
Worry about the rest of the humanity.
And keep your chin up. We will win.