Q: Please advice regarding ijtima, and response to this statement:
“On a serious note, for eid Salaah the sunnah is to read in a musallah outskirts of town. For jumma one has to read in the jami masjid of the town. As for the other masaajid in a town, Abu Hanifah gives permissibility only in the event that the Jami masjid cannot accommodate the people. So how then can it be permissible to read jumma in a field? And then the Salaah is delayed to accommodate the Bayaan which is another problem. Then the Bayaan is at least an hour or 2 last long. This is against the sunnah. Did Nabi sallalahu alaihi wa sallam extend a khutbah to such a length? And in honesty, the Friday at the TJ (Tablighi Jamaat) festival is more a social event than anything else. On a serious note, what exactly do people benefit from at the ijtima? With such a large gathering of Muslims, there could be a great deal of planned action to benefit the ummah if there was strategy. Also, how does it benefit the ummah when all the women-folk are left behind for the entire weekend. Some even having to travel for functions and other things on their own without mahrams. Umm ok there is good intentions but let’s not forget the women of the town, they’ve been forced by social pressure to cook, bake and wash chickens for the past 2 weeks. Oh yes, the brothers don’t want ready made biscuits but insist on home baked biscuits. Last year in Lenz, the large amount of drugs and alcohol that was found in their festival was disgusting. The one in Azaadville approximately 3 years Back, one of the senior TJ member’s son and friends were found in a car in the actual act of Zina (adultery). This is what happens when innovations are established. The entire event is one big bidat (innovation). But tell me did the Sahaba or the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam perform istima?”
A: The person who made these comments is unlearned as is clear from the fact that he cannot even pronounce the words ‘bid’ah’ and ‘ijtimaa’ correctly. (“bidat and istimaa” (sic)
Regarding juma’, it is quite clear that no musjid will accommodate the large amount of people that gather at the ijtimaa. There is therefore, a valid Shar’ee reason to make the Juma at the Ijtimaa. Asking people who attend the ijtimaa to go to different musjids for juma will cause traffic congestion and a host of other logistical problems, and might even result in people missing the Juma salaah. There is no specific or categorical proof to prohibit juma in an open ground, unless the reason for gathering is not Islamic, like people gathering on a sports ground for a cricket or soccer match. We won’t allow such people to make Juma there because the whole event is un-Islamic.
As for the women who are left behind, another sign of ignorance is the statement that “social pressure forced them to cook, bake, etc.” This poor person does not realize that Shariah has allocated household chores to the females and the place of females is at home. When we all go for Eid and Juma, we leave the womenfolk at home. This is the Shar’ee ruling. Yes, we agree that the ladies should not be driving around on their own and going for social visits and functions, even if their husbands are around. A woman should only leave home when there is a necessity, in which case she will not need a mehram if she is going for a distance that is less than 77.7 kms, In any case, it is common practice for women to move around freely even while their husband’s are around. While we totally disagree with this, we cannot blame the ijtimaa for such freedom of movement. This is a matter that the husband at home has to resolve.
As regards this person’s reference to drugs and zina, we cannot accept such flimsy stories without proof, especially from people who have an aversion for the Tableegh Jamaat. Such people will latch onto any flimsy rumour just to bring down the reputation of the jamaat and make them seem bad. Negative minds will always look for negative things, and will be oblivious of the abundant good. Furthermore, assuming the reports of drugs being brought into the ijtimaa and an act of zina being perpetrated in the car are true, that does not mean the ijtimaa is wrong or bad, or that people should avoid going to the ijtimaa.Such acts occur at other places, too. Why don’t we keep our children out of school and university because of the widescale abuse of drugs and the perpetration of acts of zina in these institutes, to the extent that girls are even falling pregnant?
As regards the question of benefit, well it is easy for armchair critics to speak about ‘planned action and strategy’, especially those who are doing nothing constructive for their Deen. Those who participate in the jamaat activities will see the amount of strategy and planning involved. Let me give a few major benefits of the Ijtimaa:
1. People are taught sunnats of Rasoolullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam)
2. They learn suras and the basic duas of salaah.
3. They read five times salaah a day. Some who were not regular with salaah, develop this from the ijtimaa. They even read tahajjud salaah.
4. Sitting in the company of Ulema and pious people is a command of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of Rasoolullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). There is great benefit in this one act alone.
5. There is so much to learn from the lectures that are given at the ijtimaa. There is a wealth of knowledge that people gain from the talks of the Ulema
6. People sit in kitaab reading where they learn of the numerous hadith on the virtues of A’maal. Reading and listening to hadith is itself an enormous benefit.
7. From the ijtimaa hundreds of jamaats are prepared and travel throughout the world for da’wah. What greater planning and strategy than this? Show me even one of the modern day movements or organisations that can achieve such a feat? They are taking Islam to the four corners of the globe.
8. A gathering of Muslims this large is a clear show of Muslim unity and strength.
9. Last but not least, many people have changed their ways and have become better Muslims by attending the Ijtimaa.
Terming the ijtimaa a bid’ah is plain ignorance. A misconception among illiterate people is that everything that was not done by Rasoolullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and his illustrious Sahaaba (radhiyallahu anhum) automatically becomes a bid’ah. If this is the definition of bid’ah, then there will countless Deeni practices today that will be termed bid’ah and that must be shunned. Here are some examples of such practices that were never done by Rasoolullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), or the Sahaaba (radhiyallahu anhum), or even the generation after them:
1) The system of madresa and maktab;
2) The critical and analytic study of hadith.
3) The formalizing of the Usool of Fiqh
4) The formation of mazhabs
5) The current method of building musjids with domes, minarets, and lush carpets
6) The current system of printing Qurans and Deeni books
7) The modern methods used for da’wah
8) Making jihad using modern methods of warfare and modern weapons
9) The study of different sciences
10) Sitting at tables and chairs and sofas.
11) Using the internet and social media for Deeni purposes
12) Having jalsa, Islamic seminars, conferences, etc
13) Building Darul-Ulooms and Madresas.
The list can go on. These are not acts of bid’ah but are done to assist the Deen, to spread the Deen. These acts are among the means and agencies of a’maal, they are not a’maal themselves. Yet, these acts per se never existed in the former times. The reason for this is that there was no need for these practices then. The ijtimaa is a means of bringing people closer to Deen, closer to the sunnah. It does not mean that because such a practice was not done in the time of Rasoolullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and his Sahaaba (radhiyallahu anhum) that it can be condemned as a bid’ah.
Allah Ta’ala knows best
Mufti Siraj Desai
Darul-Uloom Abubakr
Port Elizabeth
South Africa