{"id":1618,"date":"2002-09-25T01:05:05","date_gmt":"2002-09-25T06:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=1618"},"modified":"2002-09-25T01:05:05","modified_gmt":"2002-09-25T06:05:05","slug":"lackawanna_arrests_cast_light_on_the_tablighi_jamaat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/lackawanna_arrests_cast_light_on_the_tablighi_jamaat\/","title":{"rendered":": Lackawanna Arrests Cast Light on the Tablighi Jamaat"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tr>\n<td><img><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"right\">\n<div class=\"caption\"><\/div>\n<p><\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>The arrests last week of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com%2Fheadlines_comments.php%3Fid%3D718_0_24_0_C\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">six American Muslims<\/a> have implicated the actions of the <a href=\"http:\/\/tabligh.com%2Fwhat.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Tablighi Jamaat<\/a>, a relatively unknown group (even among Muslims) that has its followers in the United States <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rediff.com%2Fus%2F2002%2Fsep%2F21us.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">fearing a crackdown<\/a> on its activities and members. Some of the six arrested men have admitted travelling to Pakistan (and later Afghanistan) to study with the groups followers. \u201cAs soon as I heard Lackawanna, I knew Tabligh Jamaat would come up,\u201d notes one Indian Muslim in New York. \u201cThere is nothing else for Muslims living there.\u201d The group, founded in 1927 by Maulana Mohammed Ilyas, an Indian Muslim scholar, emphasizes the spiritual and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.icna.org%2Ftm%2Fgreatmovement3.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">moral correction<\/a> of oneself and one\u2019s community. It has spread from its base in South Asia as far as the US, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.japantoday.com%2Fe%2F%3Fcontent%3Dfeature%26id%3D308\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Japan<\/a> and Africa. The (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.globalwebpost.com%2Ffarooqm%2Fmy_misc%2Freadings%2Fwomen_hadith.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">mostly male<\/a>) adherents believe that tabligh (prostelytizing) was encouraged by the Prophet Mohammed and usually talk to less observant Muslims in order to <a href=\"http:\/\/leb.net%2Fpipermail%2Flexington-net%2F2000-February%2F001823.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">strengthen their faith<\/a>. Critics (Muslim ones) liken the group to Jehovahs Witnesses and feel they may have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.islamsa.org.za%2Flibrary%2Fpamphlets%2Fahadith_120.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">misinterpreted a hadith<\/a> to support their actions. While most Muslims feel they are dedicated and sincere (and harmless), others feel they are intrusive and judgemental (since a visit from them means they have branded you a weak believer). But despite the purely religious intent of their activities, prosecutors\u2019 accusations of political subversion have a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tehelka.com%2Fchannels%2Fcommentary%2F2001%2Fmay%2F15%2Fcom051501peace7.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">precedent<\/a> in India in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hvk.org%2Farticles%2F0702%2F229.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">multiple<\/a> cases. And because of the loose organization of the group, the lack of a formal spokesman, and a traditional shunning of the media, clarification of any Al Qaeda-Tablighi Jamaat connection may be difficult to find. \u201cThe elders will never talk about it,\u201d said a Tabligh member in New York. \u201cThey will just say, make dua, make dua (prayer).\u201d <\/p>\n<p><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.\u00a0 He is based in London, England.\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As US prosecutors probe for clues in the arrest of an alleged Al Qaeda cell, a low profile Islamic group is accused of complicity &#8211; yet feels it has nothing to hide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":531,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>: Lackawanna Arrests Cast Light on the Tablighi Jamaat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As US prosecutors probe for clues in the arrest of an alleged Al Qaeda cell, a low profile Islamic group is accused of complicity - yet feels it has nothing to hide.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/lackawanna_arrests_cast_light_on_the_tablighi_jamaat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\": Lackawanna Arrests Cast Light on the Tablighi Jamaat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As US prosecutors probe for clues in the arrest of an alleged Al Qaeda cell, a low profile Islamic group is accused of complicity - yet feels it has nothing to hide.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/lackawanna_arrests_cast_light_on_the_tablighi_jamaat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"altmuslim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2002-09-25T06:05:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"zahedamanullah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"zahedamanullah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/lackawanna_arrests_cast_light_on_the_tablighi_jamaat\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/lackawanna_arrests_cast_light_on_the_tablighi_jamaat\/\",\"name\":\": Lackawanna Arrests Cast Light on the Tablighi Jamaat\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2002-09-25T06:05:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2002-09-25T06:05:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba\"},\"description\":\"As US prosecutors probe for clues in the arrest of an alleged Al Qaeda cell, a low profile Islamic group is accused of complicity - yet feels it has nothing to hide.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/lackawanna_arrests_cast_light_on_the_tablighi_jamaat\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/lackawanna_arrests_cast_light_on_the_tablighi_jamaat\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/09\/lackawanna_arrests_cast_light_on_the_tablighi_jamaat\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\": Lackawanna Arrests Cast Light on the Tablighi Jamaat\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\",\"name\":\"altmuslim\",\"description\":\"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics &amp; 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