Why the Need to Spread the Message of Allah in an Islamic Society?
The Tablighi Jamaat Movement By FARZANA VERSEY Counterpunch, June 4, 2008 (The following is an extract from ‘A Journey Interrupted: Being Indian in Pakistan’, Harper Collins-India.) He was quiet as we drove to the Marriott Hotel. He asked for a corner table at the coffee shop. Except for his clothes, his beard grown, moustache shorn off, he still gave glimpses of the old confidence. We settled to talk over cups of tea served in bland bone china, the strings of the tea bags hanging out of the pot. ‘Are you embarrassed?’ he queried as he poured out some of the beverage for me. ‘About what?’ ‘Being with me when I am like this?’ ‘No, but did you come here to see people’s reaction?’ ‘I am beyond that now.’ ‘So you don’t feel any anger towards the American war against terror?’ ‘Why should I not? Islam is not about offering the other cheek. See, the time I spent at the Tablighi Jamaat made me realise that I had been leading a false life. Do you know this movement started in India?’ ‘Does ever
