'Saudi govt misled, we condemn terrorism', says Tablighi Jamaat in response to ban

Following Saudi Arabia's crackdown on the orthodox missionary movement Tablighi Jamaat, Spokesperson of the Tablighi Jamaat of Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz have now dismissed the claims relating the organisation to terrorism. Days after Saudi Arabia banned the Islamist proselytising movement, Tablighi Jamaat, claiming it to be related to terrorism, the group have now said that the organisation condemns terrorism and does not support it. It further stated that the Saudi government have been misled into making the call.

In a video message from the UK, Sameeruddin Qasmi, Spokesperson of the Tablighi Jamaat of Hazrat Nizamuddin Markaz, said that Tablighi Jamaat has no connection with terrorism but actually condemns the same. “It is a big allegation on the Tablighi Jamaat. It has no connection with terrorism. Tablighi Jamaat is the group that stops terrorism, condemn terrorism and disowns terrorism," the spokesperson said.

Further rubbishing the attack from the Saudi government, the group claimed that its members talk for Muslims and not terrorism. "We don't allow anyone to speak against any religion, community and country. We talk only for five pillars of Islam, none of our men has ever been found involved in any terrorist activities," he asserted. "The Saudi government might have been misled," he added in the message.

Saudi Arabia warns people against Tablighi Jamaat

Earlier, Saudi Arabia’s Friday preachers were directed to warn people against the Tablighi Jamaat group and its ‘misguidance that leads to terrorism.' Kingdom’s Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr Abdullateef Aal-Sheikh last week ordered the preachers of the mosques to dedicate the Friday sermon that fell on December 10, to raise warnings against the Tablighi and Dawah group. In a Twitter post, the Ministry said, “His Excellency the Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr Abdullateef Al-Sheikh, the preachers of mosques in which Friday prayers are held, are instructed to dedicate the next Friday sermon 6/5/1443 AH to warn against (the Tablighi and Da’wah group).”

Tablighi Jamaat, which originated in India in 1926 during British rule, is estimated to have 350 to 400 million members across the globe. United States Institute of Peace has described the group as an “Islamic revivalist organisation” before noting that, in nations such as the UK, France, and America, the group “has appeared on the fringes of several terrorism investigations, leading some to speculate that its apolitical stance simply masks ‘fertile ground for breeding terrorism.’”

Image: PTI