-3 (SI), 2010 European Journal of Economic and Political Studies ‘Purification of self’: Ijtema as a New Islamic Pilgrimage Bulbul Siddiqi1 Abstract: Tablighi Jamaat is one of the influential and widespread Islamic movements among the Muslims around the world, which is originated in northern part of India in 1920s by Moulana Muhammad Ilyas Kandhalawi (1885–1944). It has spread to some 165 countries, including Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, its annual three-day mass congregation, commonly known as ijtema near Dhaka attracts more than five million people. Ijtema is an essential part of the Tablighi Jamaat around the world. Ijtema plays a significant role on the lives of many Muslims in Bangladesh. The huge number of engaging people in ijtema shows its popularity. Many countries also celebrate this event in a similar way. The current paper argues that ijtema provides a new idea of pilgrimage among the Muslims in Bangladesh. This paper also shows that participation in ijtema increases religious authority, status and empowerment. Finally, it examines how does ijtema contributes on the Muslim identity through the idea of brotherhood and ummah. Keywords: Tablighi Jamaat, Ijtema, Bangladesh, Ummah, Dawah, Chilla, Empowerment, Authority, Pilgrimage. 1 Cardiff University, Great Britain. [email protected] 133 Bulbul Siddiqi Introduction ijtema2 is the annual three days congregation of Tablighi Jamaat3. TJ is an Islamic reform movement that is influential and widespread among the Muslims around the world. It has a strong appeal to the South Asian Muslims and its diaspora. The immediate concern of Tablighi Jamaat is the moral reform of individuals and purification of the self, often described, as ‘making Muslims true Muslims’ and Muslims should go back to the basic principles of their faith to follow strictly the commandments of Islam in their personal lives and in their dealings with others (Sikand, 2002 and 2006). On the other side, to Masud (2000) this is a faith renewal movement. TJ gets the attention of the wider world through its annual three days congregational gathering that is ijtema, with more than five million people in Tungi near Dhaka. This is the largest international Muslim gathering outside hajj with about 30 thousand foreign participants across the globe. Ijtema has become a symbol of Tablighi Jamaat movement. Ijtema is not only popular among the TJ activists but also to the larger number of people who do not actively engage with TJ in Bangladesh. However, they take part with the annual ijtema to get the blessings and mercy of Allah. To many Bangladeshi, participation in ijtema acts as a significant pilgrimage outside hajj. However, hajj is a farz, compulsory for a financially solvent Muslim. On the other side, ijtema is not compulsory; rather this is an optional or voluntary action for the Muslims. Discussing the case of Bangladesh, this paper argues that ijtema offers a new form of pilgrimage to the Muslims. Because of a large number of participating people, ijtema in Bangladesh becomes a desirable pilgrimage event for the global TJ activists. However, no evidence of Anthropological research can be found on ijtema in Bangladesh. This is one of the main reasons to choose Bangladesh as the case of study. This paper also shows that participation in ijtema increases religious authority and status, which acts as the means of religious empowerment within the society. Finally, it examines the contribution of ijtema on the Muslim identity through the idea of brotherhood and ummah4. 2 Ijtema is an Arabic word and the meaning is congregation or mass gathering for religious purpose. 3 The Arabic root of the word ‘Tabligh’ means the act of transmitting a message or delivering it to another person (Alam, 1993: 712): fulfilment of a mission. This is interchangeable with dawah (propagation of faith) in modern usage. The Qur’anic use of related words signifies that proclamation of the message is sufficient for fulfilment of the mission. And the meaning of jamaat is group. In Islam, it refers to the preaching group. 4 Ummah refers to the Muslim community. A fundamental concept in Islam, expressing the essential unity and theoretical equality of Muslims from diverse cultural and geographical settings. 134 European Journal of Economic and Political Studies Research Method: Ethnographic method has used in this research to provide an in-depth understanding of the current notion of ijtema in Bangladesh. Participant observation, which is the main tool of ethnographic approach, provided a deep insight into the movement and challenging some of the more homogenous accounts of Islamisation portrayed in Bangladesh. This study adopted multi-sited ethnographic method to explore TJ movement (Marcus 1995). Here, it would not be possible to understand this movement conducting traditional single site fieldwork, because the basic principle of TJ is to move in various places, so I had to move with them in different sites and location to get the holistic perspectives of the movement. The total length of the fieldwork was ten months in Bangladesh with an interval of five months. Apart, form this day-to-day participant observation I used case studies, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs), and informal discussion to gain a holistic perspectives of the movement. In-depth interviews has conducted among selected TJ followers both male and female, religious leaders, leaders of other leading Islamic movements, people from the different social class and TJ organisers at local, national and transnational level. I have taken part with two ijtemas in January 2009 and January 2010 in Bangladesh has a part of my participant observation. I have also taken part in a chilla5 with a TJ group in the northern part of Bangladesh in October and November 2009. Apart from these events, I used to participate with the daily and weekly mosque based TJ activities such as weekly congregation known as gasht. The daily activities involve spending two and half an hour for dawah (invitation), mashoara (formal meeting), and talim (reading from the religious book). I have also spent time to meet my chilla mate at their area to get insight on the efforts at their local mosques. I have visited Kakrail mosque, the headquarter of TJ in Bangladesh to have informal discussion with the senior members of TJ, to collect statistical information, to attend the student meeting with the seniors and to take part with their weekly task that is attending the boyan (religious speech). Background of TJ in Bangladesh Tablighi Jamaat is a trans-national pietistic, apolitical Islamic movement, which was originated in India in the 1920s by Moulana Muhammad Ilyas Kandhalawi (1885– 5 Chilla is originated from chahal, a Persian word. It means forty. The participants in Tablighi Jamaat urge others to spend with the jamaat for forty days exclusively for self-purification. The number of forty in Islam has spiritual significances. For example, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has become Prophet at the age of forty and Prophet Nuh was on his giant boat for forty days (Alam, 1993: 902). 135 Bulbul Siddiqi 1944) follower of Deobandi tradition of Islamic education. Around 1927, Tablighi entered in the Bengal region. The first Bengal provincial Tablighi committee formed under the secretaryship of Moulvi Abul Hayat with Moulvi Aftabuddin, who was sub- editor of The Light (De, 1998). However, this movement found its inroad into East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) just after the partition of Indian Sub-continent in 1947 (Sikand, 2002). During this period, three ijtema centres have developed in three parts of the Subcontinents; they are Bhoopal in India, Raiwind in Pakistan and Dhaka in East Pakistan (Now Bangladesh). Sooner after partition, East Bengal becomes the part of Pakistan and identified with a new name as East Pakistan. This was the formative period of TJ in East Pakistan. TJ was able to recruit people from various backgrounds during this time. In this early stage of TJ in East Pakistan, many people from the professional class and students have involved with TJ (Sikand, 2002). In 1947 East Bengal has become part of Pakistan on the strength of its Muslim identity distinguishing from the Bengali Hindu. However, Brass (1970) argues that Bengali Muslims had chosen to ignore their racial, linguistic, and cultural distinctiveness and to identify themselves with other Muslim communities of India, because it suited their economic and political interest to do so (cited in Madan, 1972: 79). Nevertheless, the definition of identity for East Pakistan changed during the political turmoil of 1969-71, when nationalist domination of West Pakistan becomes the strongest political tool over East Pakistan (Ahmed 2001). Living under new ‘colonial rule’ of West Pakistan, the Muslim people of East Pakistan realised that religion in isolation from culture, ethnicity, language and tradition cannot be the sustainable idea of forming a nation-state. As a continuation of this process in 1971, Bangladesh becomes an independent nation. This was the main period for the Tablighis to create a strong base in Bangladesh. During this time, Bangladesh witnessed the exploitation of Islamic values by the ruling governments in many ways. Many of the governments have started to use Islam to establish their popularity. One of the first major moves was to re-establishment of Islamic Foundation in Bangladesh in 1975 by the Mujib government (first government of Bangladesh). Formal and official constitutional changes took place during the Zia regimes