CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This part will became the first chapter of this undergrauate thesis. In this

chapter the writer divided the chapter into several sub-chapters, starting from the

background of the problem, the research questions, the theoritical review, the

objectives of the thesis and the systematic of writings.

A. Background

In the globalization era religion becomes one of the issues which

underlies the move of people over the world and also the conflicts which

happened in the world. Some conflitcs which happen in the world such as the

action of terrorism can not be separated from religion matters. The theory of

Samuel Huthingthon about the clash of civilization of Islam and the west seems to

become real when the name of Islam became worse in the world because of the

terrorism action which happened especially after the WTC bombing and London

bombing.Since those tragedies although Islam had a bad image, Muslims tried to

rebuild the image. It seems to be successful strategy as finally Islam becomes the

biggest religion in the world.

The development of Islam in the world became more significant in the

last two decades, as shown by some data that Islam became the biggest religion in

the world with 22.43 % population over the world compared with Christian 1

16.83%,Protestant 6.08%, Orthodok 4.03%, Anglikan 1.26%, Hindu 13.78%,

Buddhist 7.13%, Sikh 0.36%, Jewish 0.21%, Baha’i 0.11%, others 11.17%, Non-

religion 9.42%, and Atheists 2.04%.1 Those data have shown that although Islam

was down, then it changed to be an successful.

Of the whole moslem in the world, the population of Moslems in Africa

becomes the biggest one with 53.04% and the second one is in Asia with 32.16%.2

The most interesting area is Asia especially in Southeast Asia, not only because

around 245 bilion moslems live there, but also because Indonesia has the biggest

moslem population in the World with 88% over the population.

Southeast Asia which is later known as ASEAN is the area which

according to some data covers around 3% of the whole land in the World,

inhabited by around 620 billions people or around 9% of the World population.

With the big number of the population the variety of societies appeared in

Southeast Asia. Regarding from the racial aspect the Malay dominated the society,

but from the religion aspect Islam became the dominant religion. In Southeast

Asia there were around 245 bilion populations (40%) belonging to Islam, but how

Islam came to Southeast Asia is still debatable among scholars. However many of

them still believe that Islam came to Southeast Asia from traders from Gujarat.

With those populations, Islam in Southeast Asia created diversity in the society.

As an example Indonesia which is known as the biggest muslim population in the

World, has two groups ( Nahdatul ulama and Muhammadiyah ),which have been 1 http://www.republika.co.id/berita/dunia-islam/hikmah/14/01/13/mzbetu-hari-ini-islam-jadi-agama-terbesar-di-dunia accesed on friday September 12,2014

2http://www.muslimpopulation.com/World/ 2

playing important roles in islamic teaching, long before the independence of

Indonesia in 1945.

Since the late 1960 the development of islamic of teaching in Southeast

Asia became much bigger. The movement of Dakwah had been spread out in

almost all over Southeast Asia. It successfully created muslim identity in the

society appearing in public sphere. The success of Islam in creating Islamization

in Southeast Asia can not be separated from the influence of islamic movement.

According to Marx L. Gross in his book A Moslem in Archipelago, Islam and

Politic in Southeast Asia 2007 , one of the movement which played important role

in the islamization in Southeast Asia especially since 1950 is the movement which

comes frome Meiwat, India in 1920 called Jamaah Tabligh ( Tablighi Jamaat).

Jamaah Tabligh is an islamic movement founded by Maulana Ilyas in his

hometown in Meiwat, India. This movement was founded because the leader,

Muhammad Ilyas saw that mostly societies in India especially in Meiwat were in

bad condition in term of attitude and religion. They stayed together with majusi

society who thought that their idols were worshiped. With that condition, the

attitudes of its people were far from Islamic teaching. Maulana Ilyas aimed to

change the society with islamic teaching. The rapid success of his efforts can be

seen from the fact that the first Tablighi conference held in November 1941 in

Mewat was attended by 25,000 people and many of them had walked on foot for

ten to fifteen miles to attend the conference.

3

To some extent Jamaah Tabligh is familiar with the term of Khuruj which

means go outside for Dakwah. Someone can be said as the member of Jamaah

Tabligh if he is doing Khuruj, as it is a must for all members of Jamaah Tabligh.

The time for Khuruj is also set by the movement which is 3 days a month, 40 days

a years and 4 Month in a life time.3 This method becomes one of the success keys

of Jamaah Tabligh as it can spread out in other areas in the world.

Since the time it was established, this movement had developed in many

areas in less than 50 years. Almost all of the continents have been visited by

Jamaah Tabligh. The headquarter of Jamaah Tabligh is located in Nidzammudin

village, Delhi, India. It has a central mosque surrounded by 4 guardians. From

Nidzammudin, the movement of Jamaah Tabligh is controlled. The sucessfull one

was in Europe especially in the United Kingdom when they could have the

headquarter in Dewsbury in 1978. It shows that what Jamaah Tabligh offered

towards the society could be accepted in the area. Jamaah Tabligh also exists in

Netherland and they can be seen in the mosque near Leiden University.

The other example on the vast development of Jamaah Tabligh can be seen

in America and Brazil which become favourite places to do activities of Jamaah

Tabligh. Besides America and Brazil, this movement also spread out in Australia

and had significance improvement in that continent. Recently in Australia there

was gathering of Jamaah Tabligh attended by more than 2,000 followers who

come also from the other continents likee North Africa and Asia.

3 http://www.nu.or.id/a,public-m,dinamic-s,detail-ids,4-id,32537-lang,id-c,kolom-t,Jamaah+Tabligh-.phpx

4

The success of Jamaah Tabligh in doing their dakwah is not only for

persuading the Non-Moslem in becoming a Moslems but also remaining the

Moslem to do their obligation towards the religion. The Islamization process in

Southeast Asia can be one example of how Jamaah Tabligh does their role,

According to Marx L Grooss 2007, Jamaah Tabligh showed their identity in

1970s when there was an Islamization process in Malaysia. It can be the first time

when popularity of Jamaah Tabligh increased as it was recorded in Southeast

Asia although they had already come to Malaysia since 1950‘s. The same issues

also came from Thailand when the South society possessed the spirit of

revivalism. Jamaah tabligh had important role toward it. The hijab movement,

increasing mosque attendance, a significant number of new mosques, and

construction of the Saudi-funded Yala Islamic College were yet other

manifestations of this Islamic revival.4 Indonesia, as the biggest Moslem country,

had similar experience. The movement firstly came in the India mosque in Medan,

in 1970s. This place then became the center of Jamaah Tabligh before they moved

to Kebon Jeruk mosque in 1974. Kebon Jeruk Mosque is the center of Jamaah

Tabligh in Indonesia even in Southeast Asia until today. Only in few years, this

movement could reach almost all of parts in Indonesia, even West Papua. In

Indonesia the followers of Jamaah Tabligh increased more significantly. It can be

understood from the Makaz existences. Almost all of the districts have the Makaz.

The spread of Jamaah Tabligh in Southeast Asia became more sigificant in 50

years. Most of the countries in Southeast Asia had been reached by Jamaah

Tabligh eventhough only in certain parts of the countries.

4Gross, Marx L : A Moslem in Archipelago, Islam and Politic in Southeast Asia .5

It proves that Jamaah Tabligh has something special in its followers that

makes them improve their members years by years. At first, this movement

existed only in India. It spread in other regions such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and

the countries in Southeast Asia. They could show their exsistence in Southeast

Asia Moslem countries like Indonesia and Malaysia also in the predomintaly

moslem areas of the countries such as in Thailand, Cambodia, Philiphine and

Singapore. In those countries Jamaah Tabligh can be easily found. The particular

dress like the old clothes becomes the sign of Jamaah Tabligh. Even in Thailand,

it builds and runs University and some islamic schools as already mentioned

before.

The great numbers of Jamaah Tabligh followers show that their metods

were succesfull in persuading people to follow their belief eventhough they met

some obstacles. The big obstacle of Jamaah Tabligh is mainly from the other

islamic groups especially from Salafy group which considers Jamaah Tabligh as

heathen movement. They said that Jamaah Tabligh is an unlawful movement. It is

supported by the statements of the scholars from Middle East such as Ash-

Shaykh Al-Allama Abdul Aziz bin Baz, Ash- Shaykh Dr . Rabi ' bin Hadi al –

Madkhali, Ash-Shaykh Muhammad Nasir al-Muhaddits Al-Albani etc which

confirmed in their fatwa that this movement was bad. It became the reason why

many moslems, especially from Salafy group banned this movement even those

who come from Southeast Asia.

B. Research Question

6

From the background, we can see that Jamaah Tabligh has many followers

and its identity can be seen in almost all continents in the world, especially in

Southeast Asia. Althought it was banned by the other islamic groups, they could

still survive and even they could increased its followers number. How did Jamaah

Tabligh strategies successfully spread Islam in Southeast Asia ?

C.Theoretical Framework

1. Social Movement

Social movement is the theory that is still debatable among the

scholars. They have different views about the meanings of social

movement. Sedney Tarrow, for example, defined social movements as

cooperative challanges to elites, authorities, other group or cultural codes

by people with mutual purposes and solidarity in suitained interaction with

elites, enemies and authorities. He specifically distinguishes social

movements from political parties and interest group. The different

denotation is argued by Charles Tilly that pronounces social movement as

a series of argumentative performances, display and actions by which

ordinary people made collective claims on other. For Tilly, social

movement are a major vehicles for ordinary people’s participation in

public politics. Then Michael Useem defines social movement as an

organized collective action that is intended to hold a social change.5

5 Ihsan Ali-Fauzi dalam aktivisme islam.Sintesis saling menguntungkan: Hilangnya “orangluar” dan “orang dalam”. Jakarta:2002

7

From these all definitions we know that a social movement is

activities or actions held by a group and has specific programs to create a

change in the society. The movement is also created to maintain its social

order so new ideas can not replace it. The idea of collective actions also

becomes the identity of the social movement because when there is a

social movement, there will be series of actions which need roles of

particular individuals to gather and collect ideas to become the collective

action. The point is that a change without influence or attempt to influence

social structure will not create a social movement.

There are five charasteristics of a social movement as what Ritzer

said in Haryanto book. The first is a movement involving most of the

individuals who attempt protest in a situation or condition. In order to have

a movement, individuals must have specific requirements towards the

movement. The second is that a movement must have a large scope, which

at the first might be from a smaller scope. The third is that a movement

can use all of strategy types in order to reach its purposes or goals. The

strategy can have varied action from the hard way to the soft way, from

the use of violence to the use of persuasive way depending on the purpose

of the movement. The fourth is that although a movement is supported by

particular individuals, the final goal of the movement is to change the

situation or the condition in the society. The last is that the movement is a

conscious effort made to change the society which means that those who

8

engage in the movement may not be fully aware of all his actions, but

they still know the main goal of the movement.6

The social movement also talk about the challange of the

movement either they want to change the elite or the cultural codes. It

means that when we talk about the movement choice we will talk either

they want to affiliate with any political aspect or they focus on the cultural

codes. In political aspect they will meet the government or in cultural

codes that they will meet only the society. Somehow the movemnt can

also transform their choice but the basic idea of the movement or the

ideology is the same. In the case of Jamaah tabligh, if has the basic

ideology that they did not want to join any political aspect in society.

The phenomenon of Jamaah Tabligh movement is also inline with

what we call as a social movement. Jamaah Tabligh appeared as the

answer from the condition in Meiwat which according to Maulana Ilyas

was not in line with the islamic teaching. Therefore, Maulana, as an

Individual tried to create a movement as the results of the Maulana’s

protests in the situation and condition in his hometown. From a small

movement, Maulana Ilyas developed his movement into a large

movement. The idea of Khuruj or dakwah becomes one of the concepts

that makes the society or the members of the movement can move

collectively to do the movement.

6 Ritzer dkk dalam Haryanto, Gerakan sosial politik.Yogyakarta : pustaka pelajar 20079

Another idea of this movement is the soft action towards the

followers, which seems to become the answer to the people in urban

society who miss the idea of spiritualism. To explore the activities of

Jamaah Tabligh the other side of analysis which is about the sufism idea is

needed. Jamaah Tabligh is an Urban sufism movement of which its idea is

inline with the characterisic of Jamaah Tabligh and also the social

movement itself. Fazlur Rahman as stated in the Haidar journal said that

neo-sufism is Tassawuf in a new form. It is characterized by a strong

emphasis to the social morality, strong law, and the spirit of

cosmopolitanism with high tolerance.7

Jamaah Tabligh is primarily urban-based movement which

operates via networks of guilds, business networks, and in-city missionary

activity. Therefore actually Jamaah Tabligh member are middle up to the

high class society. This is different from the other islamic movements

which usually have the tension in the lower class society. The idea of

santri which is usually attached in other islamic groups is not attached in

in Jammah Tabligh. The wonderful success of the movement in recruiting

a large amount of urban groups was described in terms of its ability to

provide a sense of meaning and a comfort zone for working-class laborers

who were suffering for the alienating effects of quick modernization and

mass rural migration to the cities. The Tabligh was particularly effective in

7 Fazlur rahman dalam artikel Haidar Bagir. Tasawuf di Indonesia10

enrolling drug addicts, whom they claimed were "rehabilitated" after

joining the movement.8

Jamaah Tabligh is also familiar with the egaliter movement which

also becomes one of the charasteristics of social movement. It can be

understood from the activities of this movement when they eat and share

together. They throw the attribute of urban society and change into urban

sufism which believes in simple life.

D.Hypothesis

The strategies of Jamaah tabligh to spread islamic teaching in Southeast

Asia are :

1. The policy of Jamaah tabligh was not affiliated with any political aspects.

2. Hard islamic teaching was done through modified “Khuruj” activities.

3. Soft islamic teaching was done through activities transformation to urban

sufism.

E.The Objectives of the Study

There are several objectives on writing this thesis, which are :

8 https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/comparative_studies_of_south_asia_africa_and_the_middle_east/v027/27.1noor.html

11

1. As the requirement to fulfill and achieve a Bachelor degree in

International Relations Studies.

2. To explain the historical background of the movement of Jamaah Tabligh

in Southeast Asia.

3. To look for the factors which caused the growth of Jamaah Tabligh in

Southeast Asia.

4. To find out the strategies of Jamaah Tabligh to spread out Islam in

Southeast Asia.

5. To measure the effectiveness of the dakwah methods of Jamaah Tabligh in

Southeast Asia.

F.Methods of Writing

This thesis uses qualitative and descriptive method, by describing,

recording, analiyzing and interpreting the condition or event relating to Jamaah

Tabligh. The method was based on the theoretical framework which was pulled to

a hypothethical conclusion proven through empirical data. This research is

subsequently expected to provide clarity about the conditions relating to the

activities of Jamaah Tabligh. In this writing, the writer uses several ways to

collect the data in order to discuss the actvities of Jamaah Tabligh, as follows :

1. Library Research is collecting data and information relating to the

examined issues either in form of books, articles, documents or

newspaper.

12

2. Media Research is collecting data from media like internet websites in

order to find references and sources to accomplish the explanation on the

problem.

3. Interview, is collecting data from several followers of Jamaah Tabligh in

order to know their activities.

4. Proving hypothesis, derived from the meaning of the title, is the discussion

of the problem and the data analysis.

G.The Scope of Research

The research area is used to limit the research which will be handled. The

scope of this research was based on the developmental periode of Jamaah Tabligh

in Southeast Asia from 1950s until the present time. The writer will talk about

some information relating to the strategies of Jamaah Tabligh in spreading

islamic teaching in Southeast Asia. This time limitation was used in order to ease

the observation of the issues as well as to avoid the complexity of the further

analysis.

H.The System of Writing

The system of writing is used to explain what the writer will write in this

thesis. In this thesis the composition will be divided into five chapters which are :

13

1. Chapter one, is introduction. In this chapter the writer writes the

background of the title, the research questions, the theoretical review ,

the objectives of the thesis and the system of writings.

2. Chapter two is the Dynamics of the Development of Jamaah Tabligh. In

this chapter, the writer explains about the history of Jamaah Tabligh and

its development in the world in general and in Southeast Asia in particular.

3. Chapter three, which is The Competition of Jamaah Tabligh in Southeast

Asia, explains about the barriers faced by Jamaah Tabligh. The writer also

explains about the competition of Jamaah Tabligh with the other

movement and also with Salafy group.

4. Chapter four is The strategy of Jamaah Tabligh to Spread Islam in

Southeast Asia. In this chapter the writer explains about what the strategies

of Jamaah tabligh to spread Islam in Southeast Asia were and how they

dealt with the problems they faced by this movement.

5. Chapter five which is the conclusion, concludes about all discussed

chapter.

CHAPTER II

THE DYNAMICS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF JAMAAH TABLIGH

14

The history of Islam and muslim society can be understood as the history

of a movement, and the spread of islamic teaching can not be separated from the

role of groups which concerns about islamic values. For many years muslims have

travelled to many nations, areas, even continents to seek for commerce, politics,

diplomacy and walfare as well as their interest to spread the islamic teaching.

Without the role of those movements Islam will not be claimed as one of the

biggest global religions. One of the movements which I concern about is Jamaah

Tabligh, a sufi movement which becomes the biggest religion movement

nowdays. This movement today spreads out in almost all of the continent in the

world and in this chapter. I would like to bring the readers to understand the

development of Jamaah Tabligh in the world in general and in Southeast Asia in

particular.

A. History of Jamaah Tabligh

The roots of this movement as mentioned in the Islam on the Move by

Farid a Noor can be shown in 1876 in Mewat, North India and the Deobandi

tradition originated from the Darul Uloom Madrasah in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh.

This movement started by Muhammad Qassim Nonotawi and Maulana Rashid

Ahmad Gangohi. Like the Deobandis, the Tablighis were conservative

fundamentalists who were inspired by the reformist of the Salafy movement from

the Arab lands. The Tablighi is the same as the The Movement of Wahabbi

founded by Ibn Wahhab on the Arabic Peninsula who concerned in the pre-

exsisting islamic teaching.

15

Jamaah Tabligh, a movement established in Mewat,India, became the

misionary movement taught in the islamic revivalism. The movement was

established by Maulana Ilyas al Khaldawi in 1920s whose family was closely

linked to the Deobandi leadership and its partnership school, the Mazahiru’l-Ulum

in Saharanpur. The background of this movement is can not be separated from the

spirit to protect the Indian muslims from the influence of both Hindu revivalism

and Cristian missionaries from the West.

Actually Maulana did not give the name of Jamaah Tabligh directly.

Even he said that if I had to give a name to this movement , he would give the

name of "faith movement". Inspiration to devote his life to Islam totally occured

when Maulana Ilyas conducted his second pilgrimage to Hejaz in 1926. Maulana

Ilyas called slogan, 'Aye Musalmano! Musalman bano '(in Urdu), which means:

"O Muslims! Be a fanatic Muslim (perform all the pillars of the shari'a as

exemplified by the Prophet) '.9 From that situation Jamaah Tabligh as the

conservative literalist-fundamentalist neo-salafi movement developed the

movement that accordingly have relationsip with islamic Mysticism (tasawwuf)

and sufi practice as the opposite to another islamic teaching by other more

conservative neo-fundamentalist pieties movements.10

9 http://www.eramuslim.com/umum/jamaah-tabligh-di-tengah-kritisi-positif-dan-negatif.htm#.VCGa6Fec124

10Noor, F.A.(2012). Islam on the Move: The Tablighi Jammat in Southeast Asia.Amsterdam University Press

16

One factor which made the Jamaah Tabligh conservative was its

consistency to hold islamic orthodoxy originated from South Asia and the

historical context to save Indian muslims from the effort of both the Hindus

revivalism and Chirstian Missionary, from the west, which aimed to spread their

religions. In 1920s there was the revival movement of the anti British India

colonialism .11

Since the establishment of this movement and beyond the leadership of

Maulana Ilyas, this movement developed to other areas like Pakistan and

Bangladesh. It can be shown from the first Tablighi conference held in November

1941 in Mewat which was attended by 25,000 people and many of them walked

on foot for ten to fifteen miles to attend the conference. This showed that what

Jamaah Tabligh brought towards the society was accepted.

After the death of Maulana Ilyas in 1944, the activities of Jamaah Tabligh

led by Maulana Yusuf, a son of Maulana Ilyas, were increasing. It started more

developing when the movement was led by Maulana Yusuf son. The activities of

Jamaah Tabligh then reached almost all of the other continents, which eventually

brought to its existance in other parts of the world.

B.The Development of Jamaah Tabligh in the World

In Africa, the biggest muslim population in the world. Jamaah Tabligh

played predominant role towards the spread of the islamic teaching. The condition

of the society in many aspects such as education, culture and welfare gave a big

11 ibid17

chance for this movement to spread their idea to train their followers to become

simple. It is proven by some facts that in some areas in Africa Jamaah Tabligh had

huge number of followers such as in Tini Gambia in West Africa which had 90%

of muslim population. In this area Jamaah Tabligh showed their exsistance in

1960s;however, it was popular in 1990 when their missionaries had the same

knowledge about the language of Gambia. Currently some 13,000 gambians are

involved in Jamaah Tabligh and it increases by the time. The vast growth of this

movement brought worry to some muslim leaders, who strongly believed in sufi

traditions, that Jamaah Tabligh would rule the country. The same is true in

Marocco which had 99% muslim population. Jamaah Tabligh was introduced in

this area under the name Jamaat al-Tabligh wa-al-Da’wah in 1960 although the

government did not recognize the movement until 1975. Similar to the other areas

Jamaah Tabligh focuses on increasing ritual activities, persuading the society to

do activities Prophet Muhammad did.12

Jamaah Tabligh also had the movement in other countries such as Mali,

Mauritania and Niger, with population for about 26 billion people, most of whom

were muslim Jamaah Tabligh contacts had been made among some Toureg tribal

leaders, who in turn have hastened to point out that the group’s activities are fully

unconnected to global jihad.13

The other part of Africa which is South Africa may be seen as the other

part of Africa which had experience with Jamaah Tabligh. The country was 12 ibid

13 U.S State of Departement Country Report on Terrorism. Tablighi Jama’at. American Foreign Policy Council

18

inhabited by 80% of indigenous people , 50 millions of whom are Christian.

Jamaah Tabligh with their Sufism idea blended among the society and

immigrants coming from South Asia. It can be understood from the historical

background that India, Pakistan and South Africa had the same experience with

the British rule and it influenced the movement of immigrants including the

movement of Jamaah Tabligh.

Eastern Africa also became one of the bases of Jamaah Tabligh because

many expatriate came from South Asia. The states like Uganda, Tanzania and

Kenya which had One-third muslim population of whole population became the

destination program of Jamaah Tabligh. Even in Uganda, Jamaah Tabligh became

one of the allied of Uganda’s Allied Democratic Force which is the separatist

group in those state.14

The movement of Jamaah Tabligh in Africa may become an evidence of

the significant growth of this movement. Another evidence was found in Europe

which also had the same experience with Jamaah Tabligh. It can not be denied

that majority of the societies in Europe was Christian. Still the movement of

Jamaah Tabligh made significance development and achieved its success when

they got funds to make their headquarter in Dewesbury, London in 1978. Since

then the movement of Jamaah Tabligh became easy and it spread other cities such

as Brimingham, Linchester, Glasgow, etc. They also built a building bigger than

the Olimpic Stadium in London which could accommodate more than 100,000

followers.

14 ibid19

In France, this movement spread its activities through the movement of

immigrants who mainly come from Africa and Arab. It can be seen from the

policy made by the government to well-treat immigrants. The movement of

Jamaah Tabligh became the background of the significance increase of Muslim in

France. The goal of Jamaah Tabligh in France is to enlarge its followers in Paris.

Although recently government made some controversial policies towards religion,

the numbers of Islamic followers kept increasing. The movement of Jamaah

Tabligh in Spain concentrated in Barcelona, as it had a long history with Islamic

movement in the past to become one place which operated the movement of

Jamaah Tabligh. From this place, Jamaah Tabligh underlied the fast growing

number of Muslim migrants in Spain.15 In Netherland Jamaah Tabligh has a role

to re-live Muslim’s activities in mosques. Many members of Jamaah Tabligh can

be seen in some mosques located in the country, especially near Leiden

University. This movement aimed at influencing students who come from Muslim

states. That is way many university students became followers of Jamaah Tabligh.

The existence of Jamaah Tabligh movement in Europe brought

significance role towards the creation of Muslim identity in this area. This

movement created Muslim’s pride which allowed them to blend with the western

culture though it was not in line with Islamic teaching.

The movement of Jamaah Tabligh also reached American continent.

Brazil, Peru, Argentina and USA which became the Jamaah Tabligh’s favorite

places to do their activities. There were many movements coming from Southeast

15 Reetz Dietrich.Tablighi Jamaat. Original article by Mumatz Ahmad.n.d20

Asia especially from Indonesia in which many of the Jamaah Tabligh team went

to either Peru or Brazil to spread the Jamaah Tabligh teaching and influenced the

growth of Islamic teaching. Especially in North America this movement had the

biggest followers in this continent. Jamaah Tabligh achieved success in gaining

converts among African-Americans and Caribbean immigrants. Chicago, Detroit,

Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta, New York, and Washington, D.c, are the

major centers of the Jamaah Tabligh activities in the United States. While the

Jamaah Tabligh consistently and primarily addresses itself to related Muslims, it

encourages investigations from potential converts, particularly in the West, where

they are requested to learn about the movement through involvement in its

propagandizing tours. 16

In the United States, some analysts claimed that there may be as many as

50,000 Muslims affiliated with Jamaah Tabligh, and that the influential Islamic

Circle of North America (ICNA) cooperates with, and hosts, Jamaah Tabligh

teams and activities. Jamaah Tabligh headquarter in North American is located

either at the al-Falah Mosque in Queens, New York, or at the Masjid al-Noor in

Chicago. It is also asserted that Jamaah Tabligh receives funds from Saudi Arabia,

and that a number of prominent American Muslims have been linked to Jamaah

Tabligh (including “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh, the “Lackawanna

Six” and al-Qaeda operative José Padilla).17

16 ibid

17 Noor, F.A.(2012). Islam on the Move: The Tablighi Jammat in Southeast Asia.Amsterdam University Press

21

In Australia, the continent only neighboring with Indonesia in Southeast

Asia, this movement also developed through immigrants and teams of Jamaah

Tabligh. The teams which mainly come from Asia came to this continent and did

their activities which influenced the growth of Islam and also the followers of

Jamaah Tabligh. Jamaah Tabligh built Many mosque and Islamic schools to

increase their Islamic capability. In Australia this movement also spread almost in

all over the parts of this state as the last gathering was attended by more than

2,000 participants that also come from Asia.

In the western area we can conclude that Jamaah Tabligh had worked

among the immigrants Muslim communities, especially among Muslims who

came from South Asian origin, and they had worked for over more than three

decades, to establish and grow Islamic teaching. In addition to the propagation of

its standard six-point programs, Jamaah Tabligh in the West has also concerned

with the protection of the religious and cultural uniqueness of Muslims in a non-

Islamic atmosphere. Thus it has been active in construction mosques and Islamic

centers, establishing Islamic Sunday schools for Muslim children and adults,

providing dhabi~lah (ritually slaughtered) meat to Muslim families, and forming

Islamic exercise camps and withdrawals for Muslim youth.18

Finally the discussion focuses on the development of Jamah Tabligh in

Asia in general and Southeast Asia in particular. Asia as the base of Jamaah

Tabligh becomes the center of this movement especially in South Asia. In this

area the movement of Jamaah Tabligh is controlled. India, Bangladesh and

18 Reetz Dietrich.Tablighi Jamaat. Original article by Mumatz Ahmad.n.d22

Pakistan still become the center of this movement and when Jamaah Tabligh do

their biggest gathering those places will become one of the places hold the

gathering.

Not only familiar in South Asia, Jamaah Tabligh also had predominant

role towards Islamic revivalism in Central Asia. The political leader in Central

Asia closely affiliated with the west and communism idea made the Muslim

society feel disappointed with the government. The spirit of Islamic revivalism in

Central Asia was held by many movements, from the soft movement like Jamaah

Tabligh and HTI until the extreme movement like IMU in Uzbekistan. Not

infrequently the activities of Jamaah Tabligh were associated with the extreme

movement and some terrorism actions in Central Asia which made the activities

of Jamaah Tabligh banned. Only in Kyrgyzstan are the activities of Jamaah

Tabligh still appreciated. It cannot be separated from the help of Jamaah Tabligh

towards the education program in that state. They gave many scholarships towards

the student and sent them in their base in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

As the major base of Jamaah Tabligh is in Southeast Asia, only in less

than two decades this movement could reach every state in Southeast Asia. At

first this movement reached in Malaysia in 1950 and then spread to other parts

such as Indonesia, Thailand etc. In Malaysia the movement of Jamaah Tabligh

succeeded to build Muslim identity by creating the spirit of Islamic values. The

connection of Jamaah Tabligh in those states can be seen from activities held in

almost all of the mosques in those states visited by this movement. The members

of Jamaah Tabligh can easily be recognized from special clothes they wear.23

In Indonesia this movement became the fastest Islamic movement. After it

came to Medan in 1970 this movement reached almost all of the parts in

Indonesia, a country with the biggest Moslem population. This place then became

the center of Jamaah Tabligh before it moved to Kebon Jeruk mosque in 1974.

This mosque now becomes the center of Jamaah Tabligh in Indonesia and in

Southeast Asia. Only in few years this movement reached almost all of the parts

in Indonesia including West Papua which was reached by Jamaah Tabligh in

2009. Now about 1,000 Muslims had linked Jamaah Tabligh there. Jamaah

Tabligh squads are obstructed by native Papu customs (especially the affinity for

pork) and the huge Christian missionary attendance.19

In Thailand this movement also had the predominant role towards the

Islamization process in the minority Moslem society in Southern Thailand. The

hijab movement became the example of the idea created by this movement. In

addition, this movement also built many schools to teach student. Construction of

a weighty amount of new mosques, and building of the Saudi-funded Yala Islamic

College were yet other appearances of this movement. Recently In 2003, some

100,000 Muslims from Southeast and South Asia came to a mass Jamaah Tabligh

meeting at Tha Sala in Nakhon Si Thammarat province.20

In the minority Moslem population like in Philippine, Singapore, Vietnam,

Cambodia and the others, activities of Jamaah Tabligh can also be shown. It

became one of the movements which built of some mosques and also the

19 Op cit

20 Op cit24

increased mosque attendance. They also somehow tried to create Moslem identity

in the minoriti Moslem population.

CHAPTER III

THE COMPETITION OF JAMAAH TABLIGH IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

The great success of Jamaah Tabligh in the world generally and in

Southeast Asia particularly showed that they did a good job and hard work to gain

this achievement. Only in less than two decades this movement became the global

movement. Although it seemed very easy for Jamaah Tabligh to gain their

followers, actually they had many obstacles to do their activities. As an example,

when there was success from the movement, the other movements or institutions

had negative view of the movement.

A. The Obstacle of Jamaah Tabligh in Some States

25

The movement of Jamaah Tabligh also got negative view or skeptical view

from other groups as well as the government. Member of Jamaah Tabligh needed

to deal with condition in which their movements development was distrubed since

the governmnet banned their activities as a result of the negative view. As an

example, in Central Asia this movement was directly banned by the government

because they were associated with terrorism action in the state. The political

situation in Central Asia was not stable, as the system they thad was not in line

with what society needs.

In Central Asia many governments used the idea of totalitarianism which

means that the government controls the society and it had limited access in public

sphere. It became a problem when many Central Asia societies were Moslem but

the government did not concern with Moslem policies and even they tended to

have west or communism idea. Those problems made the spirit of Islamic

revivalism in Central Asia high and it increased the Islamic movements in Central

Asia. Some Islamic movements appeared in Central Asia ,but the government of

some states said that almost all Islamic movements were terrorist, and so Jamaah

Tabligh.

The statement of the government about the Islamic movement can not be

separated from some terrorism actions which occured in Central Asia. In

Uzbekistan, for example, an extreme Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan founded

by Juma Namangani was responsible for some terrorism actions there. As a

consequence the government banned this movement followed by other

movements like Hizbut-Tahrir and Jamaah Tabligh. Hizbut-Tahrir movement 26

founded by Taqiuddin al-Nabhani in 1953 in Palestine also contributed to the big

development in Central Asia. The rapid increase of the followers highlighted the

spirit of Islamic revivalism in Central Asia. However, this movement was also

banned by the government of some states as it was assosiated with terrorist groups

and was responsible for some terrorism actions in Central Asia.

The ban of some islamic movements such as Hizbut-Tahrir in Central Asia

also influenced the activities of Jamaah Tabligh. This movement was also

assosiated with the image of terrorism by the government of some states in

Central Asia except Kirgizstan. The members of Jamaah Tabligh were blamed by

some suicide bombing in the state though Jamaah Tabligh claimed thay had

nothing to do with those kinds of action. The rapid increasing number of

followers then disturbed and created barrier to the activities of Jamaah Tabligh in

spreading the ideas.

What happened in Central Asia was almost the same as what happened in

the western states such as Europe and America. The problem of the development

of Jamaah Tabligh was also about negative view, but the government had their

own policy. In the Western state, the government did not ban the activities of

Jamaah Tabligh; the government only supervised the activities of Jamaah Tabligh.

The idea of promoting human right about the freedom of people believed in the

west states gave the right to the society or any movements to do their activities as

long as they did not disturb other people.

27

The problems faced by Islamic movements and also Jamaah Tabligh in the

west states were already predicted by Samuel Huntington about the clash of

civilization among Islam and the west. Islam got negative view after there were so

many violences happened in Islamic society influenced by the west and vice

versa. In the end, it made the relationship of both parties worse. Even in the west

the stigma that Islam is the bloody religion can not be separated. In 2000s some

terrorism actions happened underlying the extreme activities of Islamic radicalism

done by the Al-Qaeda network. Because of that the image of Moslem in the west

state became worse and many Moslems got discrimination especially after the

9/11 tragedy in WTC.

Since then, Islam tried to build a better image and it was successful after

many people in the west became Moslem and Moslem identity was created in the

West. As the number of followers increased, Jamaah Tabligh dealt with the same

problem as the old one which was the issues of terrorism and extremism.

Jamaah Tabligh became the biggest movement existing in the West so

when there were extremism or terrorism issues, this movement became the first

movement supervised by the government. This can be seen when there was station

bombing in London, Jamaah Tabligh become one of the movements interrogated

by the government. It can also be proven when Jamaah Tabligh aimed to build

the biggest mosque in London it took few years for government to give

permission. Similiar strick supervision was also done by the government of

Germany, France and USA.

28

In the west states the obstacle of Jamaah Tabligh was more influenced by

the movement of Islam itself. If the name of Islam was worse in the world then

Jamaah Tabligh also got big obstacles to spread their idea. As an example after

some terrorism actions in the west, such as WTC bombing, Islam was blamed for

those actions which made Moslems got some discrimination and negative view in

public sphere. It eventually became obstacle for Jamaah Tabligh in spreading

Islamic values.

Different from Central Asia and the West states the obstacle of Jamaah

Tabligh in the Middle East and some African states was more influenced by the

government and the society particularly in term of Islamic law. If in the Central

Asia and the West states the issues of terrorism underlied the policy issued by

government to prevent the activities of Jamaah Tabligh, the Middle East and

African states, which are basically more Islamic states, put more concerns on the

issue of halal and haram which was also influenced the government.

The movement has been unsuccessful in Arabic-speaking Muslims of the

Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula, although it is active in Palestinian

territory and even in Israel. Saudi Arabia has strictly delimited its movements in

that country, although it empathizes with its determinations somewhere else.21

Those regulations cannot be separated from the influence of Wahabbi or Salafy

group which occured in Saudi Arabia which influenced the policy making in

Saudi Arabia. When they send the policy to the government then the government

will implement that policy. Many Islamic states see Saudi Arabia as the center of

21Reetz Dietrich.Tablighi Jamaat. Original article by Mumatz Ahmad.n.d29

the Islamic teaching. Therefore, if there is a policy towards one case at least the

other Islamic states will think about it and so does Jemaah Tabligh.

B. The Wahhabism as the Obstacle of Jamaah Tabligh

Wahhabism was created in the eighteenth century in the province of Najd,

a broad desert area positioned in central Arabia. Najd has often been labelled as a

desert wasteland, standing in marked distinction to the more multiethnic Hejaz

region, which houses the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina.22 Muhammad

Ibn Abd al-Wahhabis is the man who founded this movement. The aim of this

movement is to bring back the Islamic teaching as what Sunnah and Quran said.

This movement was very strict towards the movement which was in line with

Islamic teaching. They think that what they use are the true of Islam as in

accordance with the Sunnah and Quran. The Wahhabis teaching can spread out in

many regions because of the aid coming from the Saudi Arabia government. By

those aids they send many teacher and somehow they make the Islamic scholar

have the statement like what the government needs.

The issues of Jamaah Tabligh also remained the same. When the scholars

already had a statement, then they spread out the statement to other states

affiliated with the missionary of Wahhabis in South East Asia. The reason why

Jamaah Tabligh could not have significance followers in Middle East and Arabic

peninsula was because of the influence of Wahhabis which claimed that Jamaah

22 Bas, N.J.D.(2004). Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.

30

Tabligh is forbidden and Wahhabis would do the preventive action to stop this

movement. Like in Somalia there was a conflicting action when Wahhabis faced

Jamaah Tabligh.

Some of the fatwa or the statements of the Islamic scholars especially

those who belonged to Wahhabis group which criticized the idea of Jamaah

Tabligh are23:

Abdul Aziz bin Baz rahimahullah said: Ash-Shaykh Al-Allama

said anyone who preaches in the way of Allah can be called" preachers "means:

(Tell what comes from me (the Prophet), although only one paragraph), but the

Indian Tablighi Jamaat ma'ruf today have so much superstition, heresy, and shirk.

Consequently, should not khuruj with them except for a knowledgeable, outgoing

(khuruj) with them in order to deny (their evil) and teach science to their .

Meanwhile khuruj, simply go with them then it should not .

Ash- Shaykh Dr . Rabi ' bin Hadi al - Madkhali said may Allah

bless Ash- Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Baz ( above exclusion permitting of khuruj

with him about Tablighi Jamaat evil to deny them and teach them science , pen ) ,

because if they are willing to accept the advice and guidance of ahlul ilmi then

there would be no objection to khuruj sense with them . Yet in reality , they are

not willing to accept the advice and do not want to refer from their evil , because

of the strength of their fanaticism and their strength in following the desires . If

23 Syeikh Rabi' bin Hadi Al Madkhali. Fatwa Ulama Tentang Jamaah Tabligh, diterjamehkan oleh Ust. Muhammad Elvi Syams, Lc.2007

31

they actually receive advice of scholars , they would have left their manhaj of the

vanity and the path will ahlut ahlus monotheism and sunnah . if so the problem ,

then it should not come out ( khuruj ) with them as manhaj as- salih Salafush

which stands on Qur ' an and Sunnah in terms tahdzir ( warning ) to the Ahl-ul-

bid'ah and warnings not to hang out and sit with them . That is ( not permitting

khuruj with them implicitly , pen ) , because including expanding the number of

them and help them in spreading error. This includes acts of fraud against Islam

and the Muslims , as well as a form of participation with them in terms of sin and

abomination . Moreover their allegiance to each other over the four Sufi orders

that her beliefs are hulul , wihdatul form , shirk and kebid'ahan .

Ash-Shaykh al-'Allama Shaykh Muhammad bin Ibrahim Alusy

rahimahullah said behold, this organization (Tablighi Jamaat, pen) there is no

good to him. And really it as heresy and heretical organization. By reading their

books, then actually we find apostasy, heresy, an invitation to worship the graves

and shirk, something that can not be tolerated. therefore God-willing, we will

argue and unload error and iniquities.

Ash-Shaykh Muhammad Nasir al-Muhaddits Al-Albani

rahimahullah said Tablighi Jamaat does not stand on the manhaj of the Qur'an and

the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallaahu 'alaihi wasallam and understanding as-

righteous ones." He also said: "Preaching Tablighi Jamaat is a modern mystic

who is solely oriented character. Aqeedah As for improvements to the public, then

they do not in the least, because-according to them-can cause disunity". He also

said: "So Tablighi Jamaat does not have a scientific principle, which is where they 32

are the ones who are always changing with the tremendous changes, in accordance

with the existing circumstances and conditions.

Ash-Shaykh al-Allama Abdurrazzaq 'Afifi said the fact they are

Ahl-ul-Bid'ah are distorted and the congregation Qadiriyya and others. Khuruj

they are not in the path of Allah, but in the way Muhammad Ilyas. They are not

preaching to the Qur'an and Sunnah, but to Muhammad Ilyas, their sheikh in

Bangladesh (ie India, pen).24

From the above fatwa, it can be seen that basically there are several

reasons why then famous ulama stated that Jamaah Tabligh was categorized as

misleading. One of them is : the view of those ulama to see the activities of

khuruj. Khuruj according to them is not a kind of dakwah method of Rasulullah.

There is no limitation especially the matter of time of how long the khuruj should

be completed. Dakwah can be done anywhere anytime. Even delivering one verse

of Quran with good intention can be categorized as a da’wah. Differently, the

khuruj of Jamaah tabligh, like what the ulama said, was done following the ways

Muhammad Ilyas did dakwah. They did Khuruj instead of following ash-sunnah

from prophet Muhammad PBUH. Khuruj itself has its own concept which

according to some ulama is not relevant as it is done in 3 days in a month, or 40

days in a year and 4 months in a life time.

C. The Competition of Jamaah Tabligh in Southeast Asia

24 Syeikh Rabi' bin Hadi Al Madkhali. Fatwa Ulama Tentang Jamaah Tabligh, diterjamehkan oleh Ust. Muhammad Elvi Syams, Lc.2007

33

In Southeast Asia, there was no banned activities from the government

towards the activities of Jamaah Tabligh. The obstacle of Jamaah Tabligh in this

location was about its competition with other groups. The competition was either

from Islamic groups or the other groups such as the Christian missionary and

others. Like in Thailand for example, the competition of Jamaah Tabligh dealt

with a problem with activities of Buddies missionary which also had a

competition with Wahhabis. In Cambodia and Myanmar Jamaah Tabligh also had

a competition with other religions such as buddies and Hindus missionary. The

real obstacle of this movement can be seen in West Papua, Indonesia. In West

Papua, though the biggest Islamic movement was Jamaah Tabligh it did not mean

that they had easy access to spread its idea. In fact the custom tradition and the

Christian missionary had a big role towards the obstacle of Jamaah Tabligh.

Based on its historical background, Christian missionary was the biggest and

oldest group in Papua and even in Indonesia. That is why they did not admit

Jamaah Tabligh as a movement developing in their area.

Though the obstacle of Jamaah Tabligh mostly came from the other

religion missionary, in Southeast Asia the most obstacle of Jamaah Tabligh was

from the other Islamic missionary or group especially Wahhabis or Salafy group.

This movement always became the barrier of Jamaah Tabligh to spread the idea.

In Thailand, the biggest groups which existed were Wahhabis and Jamaah

Tabligh, both of which had the rivalry to gain their followers. Salafy was more

developed because they got funds from the Saudi Arabia government to build

schools and Islamic schools though actually they already had University, unlike

34

Jamaah Tabligh which only had Islamic schools. In Philippines Jamaah Tabligh

had to work hard to develop it because the Salafy group which joined the

belligerent of Moslem area controlled the area and eventually prevented Jamaah

Tabligh activities. In Indonesia Jamaah Tabligh faced the same problem as in

other states, in the west Jamaah Tabligh faced the Christian missionary, but in

other areas like in Java, Jamaah Tabligh faced Salafy group, which aimed at

preventing the activities of Jamaah Tabligh. They said Jamaah Tabligh was

haram, misleading and kafir. They also spread the statements from Islamic

scholars in many parts of Indonesia through social media to make image of

Jamaah Tabligh very worse. They created provocative statement to ban the

activities of Jamaah Tabligh.

Basically the activities of Jamaah Tabligh in the world were not so easy,

although they had the increasing number of followers. The different obstacle of

Jamaah Tabligh in the world is that in Central Asia and the West states Jamaah

Tabligh dealt with the issues of terrorism and framing or public opinion. In Arabic

peninsula and Middle East the Islamic law became the problem of this movement

and in Southeast Asia the competition among the other missionary and Islamic

group it self underlied the amazing development of Jamaah Tabligh.

35

CHAPTER IV

THE STRATEGIES OF JAMAAH TABLIGH TO SPREAD ISLAM IN

SOUTHEAST ASIA

The phenomenom of the growth of Jamaah Tabligh became the proof of

the success of this movement. The success of this movement can be said as

spectacular as Jamaah Tabligh was a new movement. Millions of people have

traveled over the world to propagate the Islamic teaching taught by Maulana

Ilyas. With Jamaah Tabligh, Islamic teaching can be spread out in many areas,

states or regions including in Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia becomes interesting region to research because the

movement of Jamaah Tabligh becomes the important movement in the

Islamization process in Southeast Asia. It cannot be denied that this movement

was successful in some states in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Malaysia and

Indonesia. However, it does not mean that they did not have the activities in other

states like in Cambodia, Philippines, Burma and etc. They had activities in those

36

areas but the activities were not as big as the three major muslim bases in

Southeast Asia.

Jamaah Tabligh is what has been discussed in the social movement

theories. It aims to change the condition in the society with its own strategies

which are different from other movements. It becomes one reason why then

Jamaah Tabligh can develop to other areas particularly in Southeast Asia. The

idea of the social movement was the idea of collective action and I identified that

this movement used that kind of concept. There are several strategies of Jamaah

Tabligh to spread Islam in Southeast Asia as the political choice of Jamaah

Tabligh. There are two more important strategies used by Jamaah Tabligh to

spread islamic teaching in Southeast Asia which is the hard islamic teaching

through Khuruj activity and the soft islamic teaching through transformation

activity to urban sufism. Those strategies will be explained as follows :

1. The policies of Jamaah tabligh do not affiliate with any political aspects.

In Southeast Asia Jamaah Tabligh changed the society from non-

Moslem people to Muslim identity society. The hijab movement in

Malaysia and Thailand cannot be separated from the idea of this

movement. As an example, this movement somehow reduced the conflict

in Thailand because accordingly they did not affiliate in the political

aspect in Thailand. That is why the government of Thailand did not give

strict supervision when they dealt with this movement. It also became the

other strategy of Jamaah Tabligh in developing its movement. In Malaysia,

37

Jamaah Tabligh also got loose supervision from the government. It was

different from the other movements like Kumpulan Mujahedeen Malaysia

and the other group affiliated with Party Islam Se-Malaysia which got

attention from the government. Those happened because of the strategy of

Jamaah Tabligh which did not interfere with the political process in one

state. That policy was also implemented to other areas like Indonesia,

Philippines, Vietnam and etc. Such as in Indonesia there were many

demonstration happened, but there was no suspicion that the

demonstration was done by Jamaah Tabligh. It was different from the

other movements which somehow did the demonstration. With this policy

many people particularly in Southeast Asia wanted to follow this

movement because they would not face the government if they did the

activity.

2. Hard way of islamic teaching through modified “Khuruj” activities.

The second strategy is by doing Khuruj which means going

outside for dakwah or spreading Islamic teaching. People can be said as

the followers of Jamaah Tabligh when they already did the khuruj

activities, and it becomes the hard way of islamic teaching through

modified Khuruj activities. The activities of Khuruj from Jamaah Tabligh

can be said as the representative of the collective action in social

movement because khuruj is done by not only one person but also a group

of people and it becomes the continuous program of Jamaah Tabligh.

38

The activities of Khuruj were done by Jamaah Tabligh with the

several requirements, like in terms of time and activities. Firstly, Khuruj is

scheduled in 3 days in a month, or 40 days in a year and 4 months of life

time. It means that when members want to become Jamaah Tabligh

followers, they must prepare the time to do those activities. Then when

people want to do the activities of Khuruj they will be divided in to several

groups, in which one group consists of 5-10 members . They are usually

selected by the members of Jamaah Tabligh shura. Usually the majelis will

blend the members which are the old member and new member. The ratio

is around 7 old member and 3 new members. Then they will send the

group to the village or area determined previously. In the village where

they are preaching, Jamaah Tabligh uses the mosque as a base camp.

Then they split into people's homes to urge people to attend a meeting at

the local mosque and they will convey religious messages. In that

meetings Jamaah Tabligh then asks the people to join the movement.

The idea of Khuruj as the collection action of Jamaah Tabligh

becomes the main strategy of Jamaah tabligh to search followers. With

Khuruj, Jamaah Tabligh developed to almost all parts of Southeast Asia.

When Jamaah Tabligh came to Southeast Asia, the Khuruj activities also

became the background of the Jamaah Tabligh coming from India. That is

why when Jamaah tabligh comes to one region, the region which has the

Indian identity will become the priority because at least they will

understand the language. As an example, when this movement came to

39

Indonesia, the first place to visit was Medan which had many immigrants

from India. The missonary which comes usually uses Urdu language and

when they are blended with indigenous people ,they will learn its local

language to do their activities in other places.

The importance of the Khuruj activities towards the movement of

Jamaah Tabligh can also be known when finally this movement spread to

almost all parts of Indonesia part, from Sabang to Merauke. Firstly in 1952

when this movement came to Medan to spread-out its idea, the members

applied the idea of Khuruj. After they arrived in Medan, this movement

also attempted to develop in Indonesia and increased their capability. 1955

becomes the first time when Jamaah Tabligh came to Java and it

developed to almost all of the cities in the Java island. They came to

Madura, Surabaya,Yogya and the other also because they did the

obligation from Jamaah Tabligh to do Khuruj which made the movement

reach the corner of the states such as Papua. For the other Islamic

missionary the location of Papua was very rare to observe but Jamaah

Tabligh with their Khuruj could reach this area and finally it became one

of the areas with many followers.

In the area of Malaysia peninsula the activities of Khuruj were

illustrated by Farish a Noor clearly. He demonstrated that by the 1970s

Jamaah Tabligh was already creation its way across the Malaysian

Peninsula and taking the first steps towards the states along the east coast

and the north. The Jamaah tabligh entrance in the northern state of 40

Kelantan was helped and assisted by the Indian Muslim diaspora network

across Malaysia. It was over the Indian Muslim network that the Jamaah

Tabligh increased its first adapts (and future leaders) who would carry the

message of the Jamaah Tabligh method up north into what has been

observed as the Malay rural heartland that extends all the way to the

southern Thai provinces of Patani, Jala, Satun and Narathiwat.25 It means

that because of the Khuruj activities the followers of this movement

increased and grew to other areas in Southeast Asia.

For many reasons Khuruj still becomes the main important strategy

behind the rapidly increasing number of Jamaah Tabligh. Why then after

Jamaah Tabligh missionary come to one area then the Islamic followers or

Islamic identity will increase as the effect of what has been done the

Jamaah Tabligh followers. Khuruj itself does not work alone in the rapid

success of the development of Jamaah Tabligh. In fact Khuruj cannot walk

alone to become the single factor of the Jamaah Tabligh development.

3. Soft way of islamic teaching through transformation activities to urban sufism.

One of the important ideas to identify is about what is so called

Urban Sufism. Sufism in general meaning means to escape from the

world. It means that the materialistic things usually used in life are

omitted because sufism followers only concern on heaven needs. They

25 Noor, F.A.(2012). Islam on the Move: The Tablighi Jammat in Southeast Asia.Amsterdam University Press

41

even do not care about what happen around them. Usually Sufism

followers live in the corner in one area and they live a simple life.

Sufism in Jamaah Tabligh is different though the essence is same.

Jamaah Tabligh uses the idea of Urban Sufism which means the activities

of the followers are done in the urban areas. They still live a simple life

but they immigrate to other areas to search followers or even they stay in

one area, which is different from the Sufism in the old meaning as its

followers do not travel to other areas.

What happens in the phenomenon of Jamaah Tabligh is illustrated

well in the article of Reetz, He said that in Malaysia and Indonesia the

social bases of the Jamaah Tabligh provision are more miscellaneous than

in South Asia. Its early followers in these countries were immigrant

Muslims from South Asia, but through the past two decades it has entered

the Malay Muslim community, especially in pastoral areas. Today the

unpackaged of its provision comes from urban-based, well-educated

youth. In Indonesia, where the Jamaah Tabligh has operated in close

partnership with such nonpolitical Islamic improvement movements as the

Muhammadiyah and the Nahdatul Ulama, its activities have attentive on

renovating abangan (syncretic, Indic oriented) Muslims into santri (purist)

Muslims. Thus the Jamaah Tabligh in Indonesia, unlike India and

Pakistan, has been related both with the 'ulama' and with urban-based,

modern, educated Muslim youth. With the growing affluence of migrant

42

trading communities, the Jamaah Tabligh following has grown more

middle-class in South Africa, and also in some communities in the West.26

The success of the Jamaah Tabligh owes much to the committed

missionary work of its members and followers, its humble message, and its direct,

personal request to and associates with individual Muslims. Jamaah Tabligh

members go from door to door and invite people to join their ranks and spread the

word of God that latter known as Khuruj. Their program of requesting Muslims to

leave their families, jobs, and home towns for a time and join in a system of

communal learning, worship, preaching, and other devotional activities has

proved very effective in building a community type of structure with close

personal relationships and mutual moral and psychological support.27

Jamaah Tabligh nowadays becomes a movement in Southeast Asia with

many followers. The barrier dealt with Jamaah Tabligh does not disturb the

development of this movement. I assumed that this movement becomes the

biggest transnational movement in Southeast Asia compared to Wahhabis which

comes from the original Moslem state. With the idea of apolitic, Khuruj and also

urban Sufism this movement later can appeal in almost parts of Southeast Asia,

particularly in and in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

26 Reetz Dietrich.Tablighi Jamaat. Original article by Mumatz Ahmad.n.d

27 ibid43

Chapter V

CONCLUSION

The history of Islam is the history of movement. Islam as the religion

which has many bases in the world has many and different movements underlying

the development of their followers. In the world, Africa still becomes the base of

Moslem population followed by Asian. In Asian, Southeast Asia becomes one of

the interesting places to describe, for there was around 40% Moslem living there

which has competition with the other big religions like Hindu or Buddish. It is

different from the other areas in which Islam only has a competition with the

samawi religions which are Jews and Christian. Then there is also Indonesia

which has the biggest Moslem population over the world. From those several

reasons Islam in Southeast Asia is interesting to research.

As we know that the history of Islam is the history of movement. Marx l

gross said that one movement that influenced the spread of Islam in Southeast

Asia is Jamaah Tabligh. Jamaah Tablig is a movement that founded by Maulana

Ilyas in Mewat, India. This movement has the idea to have the islamization

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process in some states in the world. Begun in India, this movement spread to the

neighboring countries which are Bangladesh and Pakistan. This movement then

found their success after the first Tablighi conference in 1941 attended by more

than 25,000 followers who walked on foots to arrive in the conference area.

After Maulana Ilyas passed away the development of this movement did

not decreased even under his son Maulana Yusuf and then followed by his son.

This movement developed in all over the world. The first success is the building

of their base in Dewsbury ,London. Since then the recognition of Jamaah Tabligh

as the transnational organization was determined to this movement. They even

developed to the other continent such as Africa, America, Australia, Europe, and

Asia.

The rapid development of Jamaah Tabligh does not mean that they did not

have any obstacles. In fact the obstacle of this movement came from many aspects

of environment. Such as in Europa and America the issues of terrorism and

negative view of Islam became the obstacle. In Middle East and Arabic peninsula

the Islamic law became the reason why then many government banned the

activities of this movement as in central Asia the government associated the

activities of Jamaah Tabligh with the issues of extremism. Those reason become

the dynamic of the development of Jamaah Tabligh in all over the world.

In Southeast Asia, though there were no issues of banned activities of

Jamaah Tabligh from the government and also the issues of terrorism, Jamaah

Tabligh had to compete with the other groups which became the little barrier of

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this movement such as the Christian missionary, Hindu missionary, Salafy group

in particular which was very strict to ban the activities of Jamaah Tabligh, and the

other Islamic groups which also appeared in Southeast Asia. In fact Jamaah

Tabligh still could survive and increased their followers. Even they could reach

many areas which could not be reached by the other Islamic movements such as in

Papua, Indonesia.

The rapid success of the development of Jamaah Tabligh and the survival

of Jamaah Tabligh towards the obstacle can be analyzed with the theories of

Social movement. This theories describe as, collective challenges to elites,

authorities, other group or cultural codes by people with common purposes and

solidarity in sustained interaction with elites, opponents and authorities. This

theories also explained that the success of movement will be gained if they have

collective action, purpose, solidarity, strategy, ideas and the other aspect of

movement.

Jamaah Tabligh can be understood with the theories because they have

several ideas which match with the social movement. The soft action of this

movement can be understood by the strategy of movement. As we know that

Jamaah Tabligh did not have any hard ways or extreme actions to gain followers.

They chose to use persuasive way towards the society to ask them to join the

movement. Then the idea of Khuruj which means go outside for dakwah, became

the obligation for the followers of Jamaah Tabligh. The people can be said as the

followers of Jamaah Tabligh if they do this action. In social movement those

activities can be understood as the collective action and the strategy or idea done 46

by Jamaah Tabligh was new in the society. Because of this action this movement

could reach a far place in Indonesia which is Papua. We can also understand the

movement of Jamaah Tabligh by the phenomenon of Urban Sufism which means

the Sufism with the urban style. Many followers of Jamaah Tabligh come from

middle-upper class, businessman, student and others. Many of them stay in the

urban area but then they have the Sufism styles. It means that they do not fully

escape from the world as the Sufism idea in old meaning. Such as in many places

in Malaysia, Jamaah Tabligh can be easily recognized with the simple clothes and

particular things.

Therefore, basically those factors and strategies underlied the movement

of Jamaah Tabligh. With those strategies Jamaahtabligh can survive or even

increase their followers in facing the obstacle and the social environment context

to spread the Islamic teaching in the world in generally and Southeast Asia

particularly.

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Fazlur rahman as citied by Haidar Bagir. Tasawuf di Indonesia.n.d

Gross, M.L.(2007) : A Moslem in Archipelago, Islam and Politic in Southeast Asia.NDIC press

Hari ini Islam Menjadi Agama Terbesar di Dunia.2013. accesed on friday September12,2014,at,http://www.republika.co.id/berita/dunia-islam/hikmah/14/01/13/mzbetu-hari-ini-islam-jadi-agama-terbesar-di-dunia

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http://www.nu.or.id/a,public-m,dinamic-s,detail-ids,4-id,32537-lang,id-c,kolom-t,Jamaah+Tabligh-.phpx https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/comparative_studies_of_south_asia_africa_and_the_middle_east/v027/27.1noor.html

http://www.eramuslim.com/umum/jamaah-tabligh-di-tengah-kritisi-positif-dan-negatif.htm#.VCGa6Fec124

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