THE TABLIGHI JAMAAT IN BANGLADESH AND THE UK: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF AN ISLAMIC REFORM MOVEMENT By Mohammad Bulbul Ashraf Siddiqi A thesis submitted to Cardiff University in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of History, Archaeology and Religion Cardiff University September 2014 DECLARATION AND STATEMENTS This work has not been submitted in substance for any other degree or award at this or any other university or place of learning, nor is being submitted concurrently in candidature for any degree or other award. Signed … ………. (candidate) Date 17/09/2014 STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD. Signed …… ……(candidate) Date 17/09/2014 STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. The views expressed are my own. Signed …… ……(candidate) Date 17/09/2014 STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed …… ……(candidate) Date 17/09/2014 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors Professor Geoffrey Samuel and Dr. Santi Rozario. It would not have been possible to complete this thesis without their invaluable support, continuous advice and critical comments that have enriched the thesis. I appreciate all their contributions that helped me to complete my PhD. My supervisors always helped me to get back on the right track when I had lost direction. I am especially thankful to them for helping me to get funding through ESRC funded project ‘The Challenge of Islam: Young Bangladeshis, Marriage and Family in Bangladesh and the UK’. I am also thankful to ESRC for this support to pursue my PhD research at Cardiff University. Professor Samuel and Dr. Rozario’s constant attention and willingness to support me throughout my stay in Cardiff will always remain in my memory for the rest of my life. I would like to express my gratitude to the Charles Wallace Bangladesh Trust for providing a generous grant that supported me to complete my PhD. I am also thankful to the School of History, Archaeology and Religion and the staff who helped me on many occasions throughout my PhD research. I am thankful to Professor SM Nurul Alam of Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh who always encouraged me to pursue PhD research. I would like to thank my friends in Cardiff, London, Nottingham and Bangladesh who encouraged me throughout my research. I am particularly thankful to my friend and colleague Dawn Collins for her versatile support and cooperation during my stay in Cardiff. iii I would like to commemorate respondents from Bangladesh and the UK who helped me a lot to get into the Tablighi Jamaat movement. Many of them spent hours discussing various aspects of the Tablighi Jamaat that have enriched my understanding of the movement. Spending time with them was a major experience in my life for which my gratitude for them is not enough. I would like to thank my wife Mahjaben Nur for her support, encouragement and patience. She has always critically commented on my thesis throughout my research. Furthermore, she always kept faith in me, and that encouraged me to complete the thesis. My parents and sisters have always given moral and financial support when I needed it to complete the thesis, for which my expression of thanks does not suffice. Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to my father who had a dream to see me complete my PhD from the UK that was my motivation to pursue this doctoral research. iv SUMMARY The aim of this research is to provide an ethnographic account of the Tablighi Jamaat, a transnational Islamic reform movement, which originated in India in the 1920s. The movement claims to reinforce faith by preaching among Muslims. Tablighi Jamaat is now operative in 165 countriess with about 80 million followers around the world. This study looks at the Tablighi Jamaat in two very different contexts, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom (UK), where the Tablighi Jamaat has been successful. In Bangladesh, the Tablighi Jamaat is a very large-scale movement where several million people attend the annual congregation (Bishwa Ijtema) of the Tablighi Jamaat every year. The UK has a much smaller following of the Tablighi Jamaat than Bangladesh. There are perhaps 50,000 active Tablighi Jamaat followers in the UK. This ethnographic study shows that the success of the Tablighi Jamaat results from the positive image, which it cultivates, and the systematic preaching activities of Tablighi Jamaat followers. The organisation’s apolitical image, the public profile of the ijtema, the humbleness in personality and behaviour of Tablighi followers, and the attraction of belonging to the global Tablighi community, all assist to create a positive image of the Tablighi Jamaat among ordinary Muslims. In addition, family and peer pressure, and a variety of personal reasons explain why people join the movement. v In the thesis, I also argue that the Tablighi Jamaat remains successful because of its ability to hold its followers (both new and long-term) within a Tablighi-guided life. A Tablighi-guided life is perceived as a protection against the Western lifestyle. Followers define many elements of contemporary Western lifestyle as non-Islamic. By clearly defining what is Islamic and non-Islamic within contemporary society, the Tablighi Jamaat provides a way in which Muslims can live in the contemporary world, but remain good Muslims. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION AND STATEMENTS ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii SUMMARY v TABLE OF CONTENTS 7 Chapter One Introduction 1.1 Background of the Research 11 The Tablighi Jamaat 11 1.2 Previous Studies: General 17 1.3 Previous Studies: Bangladesh and the UK 22 1.4 Summary of the Chapters 24 Part 1: Bangladesh Chapter Two Islamic Reforms in Bangladesh 2.1 Introduction 29 2.2 Islamisation in Bengal 30 2.3 Bengal Muslim under Reform Movements 35 2.4 Bangladesh and Islam 42 2.5 The Tablighi Jamaat and Dawah 46 2.6 The Six Points of the Tablighi Jamaat 52 2.7 Conclusion 53 Chapter Three Methodology 3.1 Introduction 56 3.2 Why Ethnographic Research? 57 3.3 Multi sited Ethnography: Field, Site, and Location 65 What is Multi-sited Ethnography? 67 7 3.4 Introduction to the Field: Bangladesh and the UK 70 3.5 The Challenges of the Research 78 3.6 Problem of the Researcher 82 3.7 Conclusion 83 Chapter Four Undertaking a Chilla: Becoming a Tablighi Follower 4.1 Getting into Dawah 86 4.2 Finding a Chilla Group 89 4.3 Chilla in Nageswary 93 4.4 A Day in the Roy Ganj Mosque 93 4.5 Learning by Doing 96 Tashkili Gasht: the Case of Hasan Ali and Shukur Ali 96 Ta’leem and Mujakkera 98 The Umumi Gasht 101 Magrib bad Boyan (Religious Talk after Magrib Prayer) 103 Chapter Five Spiritual Journey within the Tablighi Jamaat 5.1 Introduction 105 5.2 Social Implication of Dawah: Participation in Chilla 106 Status, Authority, and Religious Empowerment 106 Community Engagement: Mosque Based Activities and Social Entrepreneurs 112 Transformation, Communitas and Chilla 120 5.3 The Transformation of Society 129 Politics and the Tablighi Jamaat 130 Heavens Above and the Grave Below 132 Two Cases 134 5.4 Conclusion 141 8 Chapter Six Bishwa Ijtema as a New Form of Islamic Pilgrimage 6.1 Introduction 144 6.2 The Ijtema of the Tablighi Jamaat 146 6.3 The Bishwa Ijtema in 2009 and 2010 148 6.4 The Ijtema and the Hajj: Comparison 164 6.5 The Ijtema and Visiting Shrines: Comparison 166 6.6 Ijtema: a New Pilgrimage for the Muslim 172 6.7 Conclusion 182 Chapter Seven Reconfiguring Gender Relations 7.1 Introduction 185 7.2 Marriage in the Tablighi Jamaat 187 7.3 The Tablighi Jamaat and the Family 196 7.4 Gender and the Tablighi Jamaat 200 7.5 Conclusion 209 Part 2: UK Chapter Eight Participation in a Weekly Gasht 8.1 Getting Involved in Dawah 213 8.2 The Gasht at the Uthman Mosque 216 8.3 Religious Speech after the Magrib Prayer 219 Chapter Nine Tablighi Jamaat in the UK 9.1 Introduction 224 9.2 Muslims in the UK 226 Bangladeshi in the UK 228 9.3 Tablighi Jamaat Followers in the UK 231 9.4 The Implications of the Tablighi Jamaat in the UK 236 A Mosque Oriented Community 236 9 Educating Children by Tablighi Initiatives 245 The Tablighi Jamaat as a Guideline for Islamic Life in Western Society 249 Two Cases 249 9.5 Conclusion 257 Chapter Ten Searching for a Global Identity 10.1 Introduction 261 10.2 Identity Formation of the Tablighi Jamaat in the UK 263 Why Identity is Important 263 Community, Identity, and the Tablighi Jamaat 268 Shared Tablighi Experience and Memory 276 Transformation and Tablighi Identity 283 10.3 Conclusion 286 Chapter Eleven Conclusion 289 Appendices The Ideology of the Tablighi Jamaat: Three Sermons 299 Appendix A: Transcript of a Sermon at Kakrail after Completion of the Chilla 302 Appendix B: Transcript of a Sermon during the Chilla Delivered by Moulana Abdul Khalek 310 Appendix C: Transcript of a Sermon in a Ta’leem Session organized for Women at Khilgaon in Dhaka 315 Glossary 321 References 327 10 Chapter One Introduction This first chapter introduces the Islamic reform movement, the Tablighi Jamaat, which is the subject of this thesis. It gives an initial account of my research on the Tablighi Jamaat, and discusses previous research on the movement.