Sunday, December 22, 2013

Sayyid Salim bin Umar's Visit to the Tablighi Jamaat in Bangladesh

What follows is a summary of the key points mentioned in Sayyid Sālim bin Umar bin Muhammad bin Sālim bin Hafīdh’s (Habib Umar’s son) recent visit to Bangladesh where he partook in the annual Tablīgh Jamat ijtima. It is one of the clearest examples of Dār al Mustafa’s strong links, praise, reliance and appreciation of Tablīghī Jamāt.


Delivered Thursday 7th February after Salāt ADhuhr to the students of Dār al Mustafa:
He traveled to Bangladesh with Jamāt members from Yemen’s city port Hudayda. The group was headed by one 95+ year old Muhammad Abdul Wahāb who had spent 6 years from the end of Muhammad Ilyas Kandahlāvi’s  life with him.

Sayyid Sālim mentioned that in Tarīqa the Jamāt is mostly Qādiri, that they are people of Tarīqa and are Ahl as Sunnah wal Jamā’ah, but hide their outward links with Tasawwuf so as to be accessible to all.
He then mentioned that Kandahlavi wrote Hayatus Sahāba and Sayyid Sālim’s grandfather (Al-Habīb Muhammad bin Sālim bin Hafīz) wrote the chapter headings and arranged the chapters in the book and that the Tabligh still have a copy mentioning this to this day.
His grandfather spent 7 months in Nizām ud Dīn, the world headquarters of Tablīgh in India as well as visiting Pakistan and Bangladesh.
That letters of correspondence between his grandfather and Kandahlāvi are still kept by them.
He mentioned that the Ijtima is 3 days and centers on building Imān, Ikhlās nearness to Allah and D’awa
550 Jamāts left Hudayda and 200,000 left Bangladesh too various parts of the world after the Ijtima.
That 7 million people normally attend, but due to rain this year it was a 2 day event with 3 million.
He attended that Majlis as Shura with the grandson of Yusuf Kandahlāvi and that it is a gathering based on the Sunnāh.
That he came across 5 Indonesian Dār al Mustafa graduates at the Ijtima.
All types of people attend Shī'a, Sūfī, Takfīrī and no ikhtilāf is discussed. People go out on tabligh and over time become rectified.
That his father, Habīb Umar attended 13 years ago and that before Sayyid Sālim left for Bangladesh his father told him to look at the systematic layout of the ijtima and notice how it organizationally resembles the Hajj of the past.
He then mentioned that Kandahlāvi founded the Tablīgh to revive the Muslim Ummah.
That people from all across the world attend with various of knowledge from laymen to Muftis.
That he was asked to speak to the Arab delegates on the second day and spoke to them about the need for D’awah and avoiding differences.
He said that Bangladesh is mostly Ahl as Sunnāh wal Jamā'ah but there now Salafīs and Takfīrīs there also.
At the end of the gathering he mentioned how the Dār al Mustafa graduates he met seemed unable to transfer the manhaj they had learnt in the Dār into practical teaching. Many students could not even convey and explain basic concepts such as Qurb ila-Allah and Akhlaqaue norcan they explain the Ba Alawī Tarīqa and seem to know little about it.
That students need to be more aware of other Sūfī orders add groups in their areas and how to deal with them.
He was asked what are the benefits of Tablīghs 6 points to which he replied it is a Manhaj of Ahl as Sunnāh like the Ba Alawīyyā emphasising Ilm Suluk D’awah Wala and Amāl.

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