New Delhi: Amid much support from several Muslim quarters for Tablighi Jamaat (TJ) over the issue of its alleged connection with Al Qaeda, the evangelical Islamist organization hit back at the allegations. Rejecting the claims made by the WikiLeaks revelation, TJ said that “it is not a shelter for terrorists.”In one of the first interviews ever to the media after the recent WikiLeaks disclosure, Maulana Yusuf Suleri, one of the top functionaries of the Jamaat, while talking to TwoCircles.net rejected every allegation associating Tablighi Jamaat with Al Qaeda or any group engaged in violence.
“I should make it very clear to you, the media and everybody who is interested in knowing our stand on the issue (of Al Qaeda), that we neither indulge nor support any kind of violence on the name of Islam or any thing at all. In fact we condemn their doings (Jihadi violence) on the name of Islam,” said Maulana Suleri in a brief conversation that this correspondent had in a small
room on the first floor of Banglewali Masjid, as the India or the world headquarters of Tablighhi Jamaat is popularly known.
Needless to say that camera was not allowed openly within the mosque located in Basti Hazrat Nizamuddin area of the national capital.
In fact Maulana Suleri went on to the extent of saying that “the violence which is done by people (Jihadi or Al Qaeda) is unIslamic and the Jamaat condemns it in strongest terms.”
“Here we talk and practice purifying and reforming people of the material/worldly influence. We engage in perfecting Namaz, strengthening Iman (faith), remembering Allah, treating every body with compassion and brotherhood and helping people and preparing for hereafter,” said Maulana Suleri while briefly summing up the work of Jamaat.
According to the recent revelations made by WikiLeaks, Al Qaeda used Tablighi Jamaat as a cover to take shelter and travel documents. As per the American file reports Guantanamo Bay detainees disclosed this to the US officials that at least three of the hardcore inmates at the prison stayed at the Delhi headquarters of the evangelical Islamist organization.
The allegations invited severe criticism by Muslim organizations and individuals who said the alleged link between Al Qaeda and the Jamaat is nothing but “just a conspiracy to malign the image of what is actually a purely religious movement.”
{In the picture Banglewali Masjid, Headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi}
“I should make it very clear to you, the media and everybody who is interested in knowing our stand on the issue (of Al Qaeda), that we neither indulge nor support any kind of violence on the name of Islam or any thing at all. In fact we condemn their doings (Jihadi violence) on the name of Islam,” said Maulana Suleri in a brief conversation that this correspondent had in a small
room on the first floor of Banglewali Masjid, as the India or the world headquarters of Tablighhi Jamaat is popularly known.
Needless to say that camera was not allowed openly within the mosque located in Basti Hazrat Nizamuddin area of the national capital.
In fact Maulana Suleri went on to the extent of saying that “the violence which is done by people (Jihadi or Al Qaeda) is unIslamic and the Jamaat condemns it in strongest terms.”
“Here we talk and practice purifying and reforming people of the material/worldly influence. We engage in perfecting Namaz, strengthening Iman (faith), remembering Allah, treating every body with compassion and brotherhood and helping people and preparing for hereafter,” said Maulana Suleri while briefly summing up the work of Jamaat.
According to the recent revelations made by WikiLeaks, Al Qaeda used Tablighi Jamaat as a cover to take shelter and travel documents. As per the American file reports Guantanamo Bay detainees disclosed this to the US officials that at least three of the hardcore inmates at the prison stayed at the Delhi headquarters of the evangelical Islamist organization.
The allegations invited severe criticism by Muslim organizations and individuals who said the alleged link between Al Qaeda and the Jamaat is nothing but “just a conspiracy to malign the image of what is actually a purely religious movement.”
{In the picture Banglewali Masjid, Headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi}
