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Tablighi Jamat and the UlamaIt was an ache that it distressed him all the time; he couldn't eat, he couldn'tsleep. was a worry that had engulfed all other worries; it was a topic, theexplanation and elucidation of which took up all energies of his tongue and pen tothe extent that writing on any other subject was a trial for him. He had written toShaykhul Hadith Maulana Zakarya (rahimuhullah), "My heartfelt desire is that at

least my brain, thought, time, and energy should be limited to nothing but thiswork." He used to say, "How can any other occupation be lawful for me when I seethat the soul of Rasulullah (sallallahu 'alaihe wasallam) is distressed (because ofthe weakness of the Muslims' faith and the supremacy of kufr)." One day anattendant complained that he saw a lack of attention and affection in his behaviouras previously compared. He replied, "I am very busy; I feel that Rasulullah(sallallahu 'alaihe wasallam) is in distress; I cannot pay attention to anything else."

He did not attend gatherings where there was little chance of putting forward hismessage; he disliked going for the sake of an obligation only. He used to say, "Ifyou go to a place, go with your message and put it forward, keep your invitationabove anything."

Once in Delhi, he had to perforce attend a wedding ceremony of an acquaintance.He addressed the gathering at the wedding thus, "Today is the happiest of days foryou when even the lowliest is pleased; it is not done to displease even thesweeperesstell me! Do you have any concern of pleasing Rasulullah (sallallahu'alaihe wasallam)?" then he explained that the endeavour to revive the deenbrought by Rasulullah (sallallahu 'alaihe wasallam) was the greatest way to pleasehim (sallallahu 'alaihe wasallam).

This fine references are of the founder of the Tablighi Jama'at, Maulana MuhammadIlyas Noorullah marqadahu, who adored calling to the Faith to such extent that allother sensory pleasures and opinions were dimmed before them; this spiritualpleasure had become sensory and natural for him.

Once, Maulana had defined 'Ishq', (adoration) as such, "The pleasures andinterests of man that are divided between so many things come out and convergeat one point; this is Ishq." This definition was personified in the Maulana himself.He used to sob and cry on the departure of the ummah from its deen. Sometimeshe used to writhe in pain, sigh, sob, and complain, "O Allah! What else should I do?I am not doing enough." Sometimes he used to turn agonizingly on his bed, thenget up and pace the room. One night his wife at last asked him, "What is thematter? Can you not sleep?" he answered, "What can I tell you? If you get to knowwhat I do then the waking ones will become two."

The result of this heart ache and dedication to his aim was that in just a few years,the ache that had bothered one breast caught fire in hundreds. The Mewatis whohad become half Hindu despite being called Muslims, who celebrated many of theHindu festivals, whose villages rarely had a mosque in them, who even used to killtheir newborns; suddenly, little beacons of light sprung up in the same Mewatidwellings. Mosques were built, religious schools and madaris mushroomed, thenumber of huffaz exceeded hundreds, and there was a good number of qualified`ulama. The birth of the love of Imaan extinguished the following of kufr. Thecustoms and traditions that had come to be a way of life for them began to beeradicated. An experienced Mewati explained this in a very clear manner when he

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was asked what was happening in his area; he said, "I don't know anything else,what I do know is some things for which we used to strive and they did nothappen, are happening on their own; some things which we tried to stop withbattles and great endeavour and did not stop, are being stopped on their own."

Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ilyas had a keen concern that if the `ulama did not

overlook the preaching and this task was left to the common man alone, it woulddevelop lots of flaws. His wish was for the educated `ulama to take an interest inthis task and use their God gifted talents for the propagation of this work. Becausemost of his life Maulana had been associated to learning, he knew intimately thepursuits of the madaris, its teachers, and students. He wanted them to join handswith this work of calling to God but he also wanted a way out that would help thoseof the madaris in their learning but not interfere with it. He writes, "Deen canprogress and develop according to the progress and development of learning, andunder the progress and development of learning. It would be the greatest of lossesif my movement caused any set back to learning. I do not mean by tabligh toprevent or hurt progress towards learning"

He used to council the groups going in the way of Allah for tabligh to sit and learn

from the gatherings of elders with the intention of improving oneself, and never tomention their own work in their presence. If the elders asked anything of their ownaccord, well and good, otherwise they were to keep silent. He wrote to ShaykhulHadith Maulana Zakarya rahamahullah 'alaih, "I have an old wish, that thesegroups benefit from the khanqahs, keeping to all the manners of khanqahs, andthat the missionary work be done in particular timings in surrounding villages.(Please) make a plan concerning this after council with the coming groups. Thishumble person is also overwhelmed with the wish to attend with somecompanions; I am also thinking of Deoband and Thana Bhawan."

Hakim-ul-Ummah, Hazrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi was of the opinion that when`ulama educated for eight to ten years failed to solve some matters when on

mission work, what would the ignorant Mewatis do without any formal educationand training? His cautious and farsighted nature was unsatisfied and he fearedsome harm would come out of it. But when he received continuous news that thegroups were working under supervision of the `ulama and getting guidance fromthem, and that they did not mention anything for which they were not allowed, hebecame satisfied.

The founder of the Jama'at always tried to link the workers of Tabligh to the`ulama. He used to stress the importance of `ulama, the need to benefit fromthem, the rewards of meeting them, and used to teach the manners of talking tothem. He used to educate the workers to take the best possible explanation ofthings they did not understand and keep their faith in the scholars. The results ofthis effort became apparent when those big businessmen who were against the

`ulama started attending their gatherings with respect and reverence and invitedthem for discourses to their congregations. They did not have the condition thatonly those `ulama would give talks who had spent time in the Jama'at; allauthentic and righteous `ulama were invited.

The connection of Shaykhul Islam Maulana Sayyed Hussein Ahmad Madani(rahimuhullah) with politics was no secret, but he often gave discourses ingatherings although he had not spent any formal time in the Jama'at. MaulanaSayyed Abul Hassan Ali Nadvi (rahimuhullah), who was the heart and soul of

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Nadvatul `ulama--- and who is unaware of the barrier between the Nadwah andthe rest of the madaris because of its special ambience and isolation of some of itsfounders---his dealing with the founder of the Jama'at was totally different. HazratIlyas respected and loved all `ulama and so he did Ali Mian (rahimuhullah), andgave importance to his advise.

One day Ali Mian said that although the Nadwah had always extended aneffectionate hand towards the people of deen, they had seldom had a positiveresponse; thank God that he, Maulana Ilyas, had been loving towards them. Tearsran down Maulana's face and he said, "What are you saying? Your Jama'at is thatof deen; I am not in favour of leaving out even the people from Aligarh." BesidesAli Mian, Hazrat Maulana Manzoor Ahmad Naumani rahimihullah was also amongMaulana's close associates. Hazrat Maulana Abdul Qadir Raipoori was also afrequent visitor.

Not even a blind person can deny the fruit born by the whole world seems in a stirby its blessing, millions of people have been reformed by joining it; but despite allthis, there is a need for guidance from the `ulama at each step. God forbid, if a riftis created between the Jama'at and the `ulama and the `ulama are made to follow

the Jama'at instead of the other way round, it will have grave results for thereligious circles.