Reconfiguring the gender relation: The case of the Tablighi Jamaat in Bangladesh

Abstract

The international Islamic reform movement Tablighi Jamaat (TJ) began in India in the 1920s and has now spread over much of the world. Barbara Metcalf and others have raised the question of the impact of TJ practices in the area of gender relations. This article investigates this issue based on the author's fieldwork in Bangladesh. TJ teachings stress the importance of male authority within the family in a way that conflicts hardly at all with ‘traditional’ Bangladeshi patriarchal attitudes. However, the central practice of TJ, dawah (communicating the message of Islam) is carried out in ways that encourage positive and cooperative relations between husband and wife, and allow for female agency in a number of ways.

Keywords:

• Tablighi Jamaat
• Islam
• piety
• gender
• family

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to my PhD supervisor, Prof. Geoffrey Samuel. Without his guidance and numerous comments, it would not have been possible to finish this paper. I also express my appreciation to my wife Mahjaben Nur, who took part in ta'leem sessions and interviewed female TJ members in Bangladesh to support my research.

Notes

 1. Dawah is regarded as God's way of bringing believers to faith and the means by which prophets call individuals and communities back to God. Reformist sub-movements interpret dawah as calling Muslims back to the purer form of religion practiced by Muhammad and the early Muslim community.

 2. The word tabligh means transmission or communication of a message or revelation; fulfilment of a mission. In contemporary usage, it is interchangeable with dawah (propagation of faith).

 3. Chilla originates from chahal, a Persian word meaning ‘forty’.

 4. Sunnah implies established custom, normative precedent, specifically based on the example of Prophet Muhammad. The actions and sayings of Prophet Muhammad are believed to complement the divinely revealed message of the Qur'an, constituting a source for establishing norms for Muslim conduct and a primary source of Islamic law.

 5. After completing the first three chilla, TJ members are advised to complete one chilla each year. This chilla is referred to as the nesabi chilla, the scheduled chilla for each year.

 6. The TJ headquarters (markaz) is based at the Kakrail Mosque in Ramna, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

 7. Dua are special prayers or supplications performed in addition to the five regular prayers each day (salat).

 8. This is another special kind of prayer, which is performed to seek guidance from Allah when one is in a confusing situation or struggling to take the right decision. The recommended time for performing istikhara is after the esha or evening prayer.

 9. In Bangladesh, a group of people goes with the groom on the final day of the marriage to the bride's house. This journey is known as barjatra.

10. The gaye holud is a standard part of most Bangladeshi marriages.

11. As Janson notes for The Gambia, where a similar development has taken place, this also means that a whole area of ritual and ceremonial activity traditionally under the control of women is now being eliminated (2008, 19).

12. The word ta'leem is related to ilm or Islamic knowledge, and refers to the process by which ilm is acquired (Alam 1993).

13. This is a preparatory gathering at Tongi, which takes place one month in advance of the annual ijtema to organise the work plan and discuss their targets with the members. It is aimed primarily for TJ followers who have already completed at least one chilla, but other TJ followers also take part.

14. The ijtema is the annual three days’ congregation of TJ. In Bangladesh, it is held in Tongi near Dhaka. In terms of numbers, the ijtema in Tongi is the second largest Islamic gathering after the hajj. Due to the very large number of participants, TJ has now begun two separate three days’ congregation in Dhaka to accommodate more participants.

15. I sat in a separate room with the men. There was a microphone in the men's room, so that the speech delivered by the senior man could be transmitted to the women's room. The house also had two different entrances, so that women and men did not need to meet or interact with each other face-to-face.

16. See White (2010) for an example of a rural Bangladeshi woman (‘Amma Huzur’) who has attained a significant amount of religious authority in her rural community through her involvement in TJ.