Ijtema
| Native name | تبلیغی اجتماع Tablighi Ijtema |
|---|---|
| English name | Islamic Conference or Congregation |
| Date | 1949 to present |
| Venue | Any open or closed place having a big public capacity |
| Location | Mostly the places where easy transport and large area is available |
| Also known as |
Aalmi Ijtema • عالمی اجتماع (If organised worldwide) |
| Cause | Make Muslims True Muslims |
| Budget | The budget generally depends upon the collection |
| Patron(s) | Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi |
| Organised by | Tablighi Jamaat and other associated muslim organisations and madarsas |
Aalmi Ijtema •
Ijtema (Arabic: اجتماع) is an Islamic congregation organised by Islamic organisations in association with the millions of Muslims. It is an essential part of the Tablighi Jamaat around the world as it plays a significant role on the lives of Muslims, and a huge number of people engage in Ijtema. Many countries celebrate this event in a similar way. According to a European Journal, participation in Ijtema increases religious authority, status and empowerment, and contributes on the Muslim identity through the idea of brotherhood and ummah.
Ijtema is the annual three days congregation of TJ. It has a strong appeal to the South Asian Muslims and its diaspora. The immediate concern of TJ is the moral reform of individuals and purification of the self, often described, as ‘making Muslims true Muslims’ and Muslims should go back to the basic principles of their faith to follow strictly the commandments of Islam in their personal lives and in their dealings with others (Sikand, 2002 and 2006). On the other side, to Masud (2000) this is a faith renewal movement. TJ gets the attention of the wider world through its annual three days congregational gathering that is Ijtema, with millions of people. Ijtema has become a symbol of TJ movement. Ijtema is not only popular among the TJ activists but also to the larger number of people who do not actively engage with it. However, hajj is a farz, compulsory for a financially solvent Muslim. Because of a large number of participating people, ijtema in countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan become a desirable pilgrimage event for the global Tablighi Jamaat activists. However, no evidence of Anthropological research can be found on ijtema in Bangladesh. This is one of the main reasons to choose Bangladesh as the case of study. The European Journal also shows that participation in Ijtema increases religious authority and status, which acts as the means of religious empowerment within the society.
Ethnographic method has used in this research to provide an in-depth understanding of the current notion of Ijtema in Bangladesh. Participant observation, which is the main tool of ethnographic approach, provided a deep insight into the movement and challenging some of the more homogenous accounts of Islamisation portrayed in Bangladesh. This study adopted multi-sited ethnographic method to explore TJ movement (Marcus 1995). Here, it would not be possible to understand this movement conducting traditional single site fieldwork, because the basic principle of Tablighi Jamaat is to move in various places, so I had to move with them in different sites and location to get the holistic perspectives of the movement. The total length of the fieldwork was ten months in Bangladesh with an interval of five months. Apart, form this day-to-day participant observation I used case studies, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs), and informal discussion to gain a holistic perspectives of the movement. In-depth interviews has conducted among selected TJ followers both male and female, religious leaders, leaders of other leading Islamic movements, people from the different social class and TJ organisers at local, national and transnational level.
...
Wikipedia