The news media is totally disappointing in their choice of coverage of significant events. They prefer the more sensational violent "KaBOOM" type of stories instead of the spiritually uplifting event, without regard to their significance. News services and reporters avoid the good basic religion and prefer violent clashes or anti-something demonstrations. News media needs to review their mindset, their duty and re-evaluate what contribution and impact they are willing to provide to the 21st century mankind.
There is nary a report by the major news organizations on the Raiwind congregation attended by half million Muslim clerics. The only coverage was on the potential for "TROUBLE" and nothing noted when there was no trouble. This sick minded (psychologically detrimental) journalism must undergo reevaluation process and must evolve fast, if we are to progress to to the next level of mankind.
"Raiwind congregation has Govt on edge"
thefridaytimes.hypermart.net
Preliminary report on this huge congregation in
Pakistan, which will have significant impact and set the tone on the future of this war and political leadership roles in South Central Asia, is provided by Iqbal in Message 16602268
--------------------------------------------
Amir Nafees' Lahore Friday Times column titled
"Raiwind congregation has Govt on edge" which
describes the importance of this meeting and which can
be found in full at
thefridaytimes.hypermart.net
Some excerpts from the column are as follows:
"The congregation has been held uninterruptedly at
Raiwind, about 40 km south of Lahore, since 1938. It
was started at its present location by Maulana
Muhammad Ilyas, a Deoband graduate, and now attracts
an average of 1.2 million faithful over the 3-day
proceedings culminating in the collective dua
(prayers).
While the Tableeghi Jama’at (TJ) is generally known to
be apolitical and non-violent, its Deobandi roots are
now a matter of concern for the government.
Intelligence officials say there is evidence that over
the past few years many activists of Deobandi jihadi
groups and sectarian parties may have become
affiliated with TJ.
Security officials fear that the congregation might be
used by religious-political elements to put further
pressure on the government. In the areas adjoining
Afghanistan, in the NWFP and northern Balochistan, the
rightwing as well as deeply conservative Pashtun
tribes, are already preparing to fight government
forces, if necessary, to register their opposition to
Islamabad’s pro-US policy. Most significantly, these
north western tribal areas of Pakistan are also the
source of most TJ faithful to the annual get-together
at Raiwnd.
Extremists in the north have already taken control of
the strategic Karakoram Highway that links Pakistan
with China’s Xinjiang province, besides seizing Chilas
airport. Meanwhile, tribal lashkars are gathered along
the Pak-Afghan border to cross over and fight
alongside the Taliban militia.
Under the circumstances, the government is taking all
precautionary measures to ensure that the TJ
congregation goes through without any untoward
incident. “We have two concerns: one, that the
religious leaders might use this opportunity to
instigate the people at the congregation; two, that
the congregation could provide potential saboteurs
with a good opportunity to strike, leading to a chain
reaction,” says a top official.
The government is in the unenviable position of trying
to ensure both the security of the people at the
congregation and to prevent them from becoming a
security hazard for itself.
TFT visited Raiwind to speak with the central Amir of
TJ, Qari Abdul Wahab, but was told that Qari Wahab
does not talk to the media. Repeated requests for an
interview were declined.
However, the Amirs of preaching parties, Zulqarnain
and Alamgir, did speak with TFT and said that while TJ
remains a nonpolitical entity, its mission is to call
upon the Muslims to strengthen their faith. “The next
phase is jihad. But first the Muslims have to become
strong,” they said.
They were elusive when asked whether the congregation
would be used by religious elements to foment trouble
for the government. “We are nonpolitical,” they said.
But it is not clear how the TJ intends to counter any
call for jihad if such a call were made by some
elements from its forum.
In the past, leaders of most religious-political
parties have traditionally come to Raiwind to
participate in the congregation. Now, all of them are
opposed to the government’s policy and their parties —
JUI, JUP, JI and a host of other smaller parties and
groups — are protesting against Islamabad’s pro-US
policy. “The fears that the forum would be used
against the government are not uncalled for,” says a
top administration official. "
-------------------------------------------
Here is preliminary report on the message from the
first two days of the meeting, from Iqbal:
Osama-Omar fail miserably to incite violence and
revolution..
Osama letter to people of Pakistan and Jazeera
coverage and authentication of that call of
'revolution' fell on deaf ears for where it was
intended for. This letter was in my opinion a coded
message and a planned attempt to hijack this meeting
of millions pious man who wants to take an asylum from
their worldly worries and happiness by devoting
themselves to win the approval of the God. The letter
timely ugly exploitation was aimed in my opinion to
start the real troubles with million faithful gathered
for annual meeting in the heart of Punjab the province
that is 65% of Pakistan, the province that provides
80% of our army. He failed miserably.
Nobody raised any slogans, nor anyone carried Osama
bin Laden's photographs, even though they were pasted
on one solitary shop -- no body paid any attention.
Similarly, there were no flags or high sounding
clerics surrounded by gun-totting guards. One could
not even find out who the leaders or organisers of the
huge show were. The people attending were asked what
is the use of simple worship when hundreds of Muslims
are being killed in Afghanistan, they said this is the
wrath of God that has fallen on us due to our deviant
ways of life. A Muslim's first duty is to first
transform his own life and then invite others,
howsoever sinful they may be.
On the second day of this annual get-together, on
Friday, the congregation had reached its climax
attracting almost half a million people. This will
continue till the final prayers on Sunday when
hundreds of groups will be formed to spread the
elementary message of Islam to everyone, regardless of
faith or character, be they invaders or invaded,
including Taliban's Afghanistan and Yankees' America.
Talking to The News, a Tableeghi, who had been to
North America on a preaching mission, insisted that
Taliban should have invited the Americans to Islam,
rather than pick a fight. He was even worried that
their sacred mission of inviting the non-Muslims to
the virtues of Islam has met a setback with the
September 11 terrorism. There is no room for
perpetrating or harbouring terrorism, or killing
innocent people in Islam, emphasised another who had
come to Raiwind from Malakand Agency from where more
than 10,000 volunteers have left to join Taliban in
their holy war.
Unaffected by the religious edicts of holy war, the
Tableeghis will keep on their non-violent, pedagogic
mission, as they will disappear from Raiwind on Sunday
into the wilderness of their invisible campaign.
By the way I noticed that this meeting had 65% of
Pushtuns, the whole of the nation has taken a sign of
relief at this peaceful event where unfortunately no
one covered the 1-1.5 million over three days gathered
in name of Islam but quietly praying for washing of
their collective sin, that is really required by the
Muslims as they have quite a bit of baggage since 11th
Sept. The biggest single event after Hajj is the event
that is going on right now in Lahore, to our very
pleasant surprise the whole event has rejected the
call of violence, if one thing I was worried about was
this event reaction, by rejecting the violence of
Osama and Omar the dual evil devils of modern age. I
see absolutely no threat to our government. The
mammoth congregation of the faithful is said to be the
largest after the Hajj pilgrimage at Makkah.
Million followers of the "Tableeghi Jamaat" (Group of
Preachers) begged God's forgiveness on Friday while
keeping themselves strictly aloof from what's
happening in Afghanistan or on the streets of
Pakistan. Spread into four or five square kilometres,
one could see an unending mass of people who have
gathered just to offer collective prayers, feel their
ground and again spread out to convey the
self-assuaging message of God. The largest number,
almost 65 per cent, was of the Pakhtuns with almost no
Baloch and least of all Sindhis among their ranks.
Unlike jihadi outfits and religio-political parties
calling for holy war, the Tableeghis, known as the
pacifist pedagogues of the faith, reiterated their
commitment to peaceful preaching of Islam, rather than
resort to violent means.
Without calling names or finding faults with others,
be they various Muslim sects or non-believers, the
Tableeghis focussed on their own self-purification
through continuing to pray to God and avoiding secular
temptations for worldly things or gratification of
politics our clerics have become so fond of.
There were no banners of holy war, nor anybody made
demagogic calls for a ferocious battle against the
"infidels". They, rather, insisted on spreading the
message of God to those who remain ignorant of His
calling.
If any one would have given a call for walk to Lahore
40 KM away and remove the government, no one could
stop them, no one is ready to fire on people or roll
tanks over their heads, the very reason that people
are not taking advantage is the fact that silent
majority is very vocal in demonstrating by not
demonstrating on the streets, where everyone has to
work to make ends meet, demonstrations are a luxury
business. I do not expect them to demonstrate by
keeping quite and going about their routine without
listening to Osama-Omar daredevil acts bordering
insanity is the biggest service they do to themselves.
Without indulging in any kind of polemics or accusing
anyone, almost every Tableeghi underlined the
necessity to pray for His forgiveness and beg for His
mercy. Picking guns and fighting for power is
forbidden and useless, unless we win the blessings of
God, said a very senior Tableeghi.
Although mainly from Deobandi school of Islam, the
Tableeghis not only differ with their original sect
for indulging in politics, but also insist on the
propagation of non-sectarian view of Islam on whom
nobody has a monopoly or have a right to exclude any.
They preach and practice very simple, ritualistic and
rudimentary version of Islam that appeals to the
common man and attract those who have no one to resort
to but God.
Their emphasis is on Haqooq-Allah (duty towards God),
rather than Haqooq-ul-Ibad (rights of the people),
since they believe that all our sins, deprivations,
difficulties and miseries are due to our distance from
God and nothing can compensate that except a total
resort to win His blessings and forgiveness.
As distinct from all other sects, including all
religio-political parties, the Tableeghis do not
apostatise anyone. With a firm belief in monotheist
God and his last Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), they give
absolute priority to pedagogy of faith and prefer to
invite everybody from every faith to embrace His
message for his own good. No more, no less. Their
method is too simple and non-coercive.
They abhor politics, avoid worldly gratification, lead
a simple life, reject consumerism and prefer to devote
their energies to spread the message of God to
everyone and every nook and corner of the world.
Relying entirely on volunteerism and self-dedication,
they devote a part or whole of their life for the
cause of spreading Islam while emphasising five
essentials of Islam. Their aloofness from politics,
simplicity, politeness, non-sectarian and non-violent
ways attract many simplistic Muslims, guilty, sinful,
and non-Muslims. The Tableeghis politely ignore all
accusations against them and keep going on their
mission.
However, they can be termed, in some ways, as a kind
of escapists, who rather than tackling the problems
faced by the Muslim masses focus on praying to God for
forgiveness. This is also precisely, the escape route,
that attracts most of its followers. In a way, the
Tableeghis are a blessing who do not profess a creed
of hate or exclusion.
In a traditional social soil of tolerance, they are
more successful than all sectarian or
religious-political parties put together and have
succeeded in building a mass base without a clerical
organisational structure. Astonishingly, they have
kept their group totally non-hierarchical, despite
running a massive campaign and organising largest
religious gatherings in South Asia. It's a voluntary
movement that has evolved its own norms and working
patterns without getting bogged down under an
un-palpable organisational structure.
The self-image of a Tableeghi is the image of a The
Tableeghi Jamaat essentially focuses on developing a
character-structure that is puritan and submitting to
the will of God, rather than an open and free man.
The big city they develop each year outside Raiwind
also portrays their kind of life-style that replays
sixth century in the modern age with, of course, some
modern cooking techniques. |
