On the permanent Hajj: the Tablighi Jama' at in South East Asia

• Published in: South East Asia research Vol. 18; no. 4; pp. 707 - 734
• Main Author: Noor, Farish A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IP Publishing Ltd 01-12-2010
• Subjects: Christian missionaries; Hindus; Islam; Mosques; Muslims; Political movements; Political parties; South Asian studies; Southeast Asian culture; Sufism
• EISSN: 2043-6874
• ISSN: 0967-828X

The Tablighi Jama'at ranks as one of the biggest missionary movements in the contemporary Muslim world and it has spread its network of itinerant members right across Asia. This paper looks at the spread of the Tablighi Jama'at in and across South East Asia in particular, tracing its early arrival in the 1950s to the present. The author identifies it as one of the many currents of globalization that has brought the region closer together in a borderless world that is now being integrated by the forces of capital. Interestingly, the Tabligh is one example of an alternative form of globalization that is faith-driven, and yet spreads across national political boundaries with relative ease. Understanding the Tablighi Jama'at, plus what motivates its members to opt for an alternative understanding and praxis of normative Islam in an age of mass consumerism and global capital, is one of the aims of this paper.