The largest gathering of South African Muslims was in Azaadville, west of Johannesburg, responding to an invite by the Tablighi Jamaat movement.The apolitical and non-controversial approach of the Tabligh Jamat has seen them successfully operate in almost every country of the world where they have called upon Muslims to revive the qualities present in the life of the final messenger, Muhammad (PBUH). In the past two decades the number of people, especially young Muslim males, attracted to the manner in which the Tabligh Jamat operate has swelled in South Africa and around the world.
Every year the group invites Muslims to a three or four day gathering in an open field, called an Ijtima, where large tents are erected to house the congregants. Food, parking and security is also arranged for those who attend and elaborate plans are drawn up months ahead of time and executed by hundreds of people on a voluntary basis.
The thousands who gather listen to talks by senior Islamic scholars who have sacrificed large portions of their life for the establishment of the movement and in so doing, the revitalization of Islam. Their talks focus on the importance of faith in one God and the prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH), prayer, knowledge, service to humanity, sincerity and making an effort towards uplifting goodness.
Groups of Muslim men from the gathering are then called on to volunteer their time to spread the same message to the rest of the Muslim public through out South Africa and the rest of the world. They are constituted into a jamat or group, with an ameer or responsible person, appointed as a leader from amongst them. They are then directed to head out along a predetermined route where they will meet other Muslims and pass on these key Islamic messages. Usually the jamat will travel from town to town taking up residence in the local masjid or mosque. Using this as their base, they will learn the basic tenets of Islam and then move within the local community encouraging other Muslims to all strive out like themselves to learn their religion.
The movement has a long history. It was founded in 1926 by Moulana Muhammad Ilyas Khandlawi in the rural Mewat villages surrounding New Delhi in India. Distressed by the lack of Islamic knowledge and practice amongst the Meos people, the Moulana set out under trying circumstances to invite these villagers to accompany him and start learning Islam once again. His efforts soon spread and his message reached out to Muslims across all social and economic strata.
The movement is viewed by many as one of the greatest tools and possibly the only organisation that can unite the Muslim Ummah because of their policy of steering clear from any controversial issues and politics.
The followers of the group, commonly known as Tablighis, are encouraged to respect and be tolerant with Muslims who differ ideologically as well as with other religious groups. Those who participate in the activities of the Jamaat find it easy to understand as all the teachings are restricted to matters of the Islamic religion about which there are no differences of opinion. It is not uncommon to find followers of the different schools of jurisprudence in one active group or Muslims from different nationalities and cultural backgrounds moving from place to place. Europeans, Africans, Asians, Hanafis, Shafi’ees and even Salafi’s all work together effectively for the upliftment of their faith.
A crowd of 30 000 people is expected to attend the Ijtima in Azaadville this year making it the largest Muslim gathering in South Africa for a single purpose. It will conclude on Monday morning with a mass dua or prayer for the guidance of humankind. Other Ijtimas, like the Biswa Ijtima in Bangladesh see up to 3 million people attending while the Raiwind Ijtima in Pakistan easily attracts a crowd of over 1, 5 million devotees
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