In my opinion, Muslims who believe with the claim made by Jemaah Tabligh that iman increases by spending time doing tabligh for 3 days in a month, 40 days in a year and 4 months, once in a lifetime are Muslims who are deceived by Jemaah Tabligh and Jemaah Tabligh is deceived by the devil syaitan. I have made my own research on the truth of the claim for about 30 years and I have found that the claim is not right and very misleading. There is not even a single verse of the Quran or Hadis of Prophet Muhammad saw which testify the claim made by Jemaah Tabligh. Iman does not increase by doing more amal or actions (ibadah). Those Muslims who believe with more amal or actions (ibadah) their iman will become strong are deceived by devil syaitan. When a person can be deceived by the devil syaitan, it shows that the person does not have sincerity in all of his good actions. A person who is not sincere in all of his actions or amal is not a believer yet. When Iblis told Allah that he will mislead the whole children of Adam, Allah replied that Iblis can deceive only those who are not ikhlas or sincere, but those who are sincere will be under the protection of Allah. After the demise of Maulana Ilyas, I believe the devil syaitan had succeeded in deceiving the eldest of Jemaah Tabligh. Eldest of Jemaah Tabligh in turn deceived the Muslims in the whole world into the belief that iman increases by spending 3 days in a month, 40 days in a year and 4 months once in a lifetime doing tabligh. The eldest of Jemaah Tabligh also deceived the Muslims into the belief that Muslims need to be rectified first before they can deliver the Great Kalimah to the non-Muslims.
Maulana Ilyas gave Dakwah of the Great Kalimah to the Mewati who had become apostate or in reality were non-Muslims. Maulana Ilyas went to their houses and farms to give Dakwah of the Great Kalimah. However after the demise of Maulana Ilyas, Jemaah Tabligh do not give Dakwah of the Great Kalimah to the non-Muslims as done by Maulana Ilyas but they concentrate on visiting Muslims and their eldest only give lectures in the mosques. What is the truth about how iman increase? According to Quran, iman increases only when Muslims do the work associated with the right of the Great Kalimah which is the work of inviting the whole mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils. Allah says in the Quran with the approximate meaning; you are the best umat send for the whole mankind, you invite them to good and forbid them from evil and you believe in Allah (Ali Imran- 110). When a person does the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding them from evils, that persons will obtain believe or iman in Allah. Does the iman of those who spend 40 days or 4 month in the ways of Jemaah Tabligh increases or decreases? What I had experienced for 30 years, I would say that the iman does not increase but what increases is the desire to practice more actions or amals which Jemaah Tabligh has misinterpreted as an increase in iman.
One indication that shows the iman of Jemaah Tabligh members does not increase is that their intention to practice more actions or amals is often not to please Allah but to gains more rewards from Allah and to be able to enter paradise. A person who has correct iman or has become a believer is sincere in all of his actions. A person who is sincere will not perform any actions with the intention to obtain reward or to enter paradise but to please only Allah. What is being experienced by those who follow Jemaah Tabligh is only an increase in their desire to perform more actions or amals but has been misinterpreted as an indication of increase in iman or believes. Another point which shows that Jemaah Tabligh members did obtain increase in iman but only in the desire to do more actions is that their desire to do more actions is restricted only to the small actions or amal such as wearing jubah or the kurta, having beard, wearing turban, and using miswak while doing ablution. Members of Jemaah Tabligh are not able to perform even the first and the most important sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad saw which is to invite the non-Muslims to accept and recite the Great Kalimah and to remind the Muslims to do the work of fulfilling the right of the Great Kalimah daily to every houses, in every lanes and in every localities. I am criticizing Jemaah Tabligh because I had been with Jemaah Tabligh for more than 30 years and I would like to help them but unfortunately most of Jemaah Tabligh members have chosen to be deceived by devil syaitan.
Which Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad saw does Jemaah Tabligh learns to practice? Jemaah Tabligh only learns to practice the small and easy sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad saw such as the sunnah of eating, sleeping, going to the toilet and occasionally they learn about the sunnah of Masjid. What do they learn in their 4 months and 40 days? They learn the small and simple sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad saw which are not even obligatory (fardhu) for Muslims to learn and they are practicing all these small sunnah (sunat), not with the intention to please Allah but with the intention to obtain rewards from Allah. They call themselves as Jemaah Tabligh but they never learn about the sunnah of dakwah or tabligh of Prophet Muhammad saw. As I had explained in many of my previous articles that iman or believe of person only increases when that person does the work which fulfill the right of the Great Kalimah. What is the work that fulfills the right of the Great Kalimah? It is the work of inviting the whole mankind to good and to forbid them from evils. What is good? Good mean to invite those who have not recited the Great Kalimah to recite the Great Kalimah: I bear witness that there is no God except Allah and I bear witness, Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah. Good also mean to remind those who have recited the Great Kalimah, about the meaning of the Great Kalimah and to invite them to fulfill the right of the Great Kalimah. Until and unless Muslims do the work which fulfills the right of the Great Kalimah, Muslims will never become believers. I would say, almost all Muslims all over the world do not have the desire to obtain iman. Since Muslims do not have the desire to obtain iman, they also do not have the desire to know about the work that will increase their iman. In conclusion, almost all Muslims do not want to do the work that will increase their iman but Muslims and non-Muslims all over the world only want to know and do the work that will increase their material wealth.
However, there are still some Muslims who tried to develop method to increase their iman and one of the methods developed is the method use by Jemaah Tabligh. Unfortunately the method use by Jemaah Tabligh is not the same as the method used by our Prophet Muhammad saw. In my opinion, among all Muslims in this word, only Jemaah Tabligh has the desire to increase their iman while the members of other Muslims organization such as PAS or Ikhwan Muslimim do not even have the desire to increase their iman. When there is almost none in this world who is doing the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils the way done by our Prophet Muhammad saw and with the intention only to please Allah, therefore, I am certain that there is hardly any believer in this world. After reciting the Great Kalimah, the first order of Allah to be executed by a person should be to do the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evil. It seems Muslims all over the world including those in Jemaah Tabligh; do not know that after reciting the Great Kalimah, a person needs to fulfill the right of the Great Kalimah which is to do the work of inviting to good and forbidding the evils. Since thousands of years ago, Muslims all over the world understand that the first order of Allah to be performed by Muslims after reciting the Great Kalimah is to perform five times daily prayers and because of that all Muslims after reciting the Great Kalimah do not do the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils. A person, who is a believer or beriman, must performs righteous deeds and a person who does righteous good actions will become believers. A person, who wants to become a believer, must do righteous good action. It is wrong to think or to believe that we have to become a believer first, before we can do righteous good action. What is the righteous good action that will make a person, believer? The righteous good action is to invite mankind to Allah. What does it means to invite mankind to Allah? It means, the non-Muslims are invited to recite the Great Kalimah and the Muslims are reminded about the Great Kalimah and to invite them to do the work associates with the right of the Great Kalimah which is the work of inviting to good and preventing from evils. Many Muslims do not want to do the work of inviting people to good and prevent them from evils, because they think, they have to become a believer first before they can invite others to good and forbid them from evils. This is not true and this type of thinking is from the devil syaitan.
Muslims must do the righteous good actions first before they can become believers. It is not true to think and believe that we have to become believers first before we can do the righteous good actions. Muslims including the members of Jemaah Tabligh think and believe that a person must first become a good Muslims before he or she can invite mankind to good and prevent mankind from evils. In order to become believers or to become a good Muslims, according to Jemaah Tabligh, a person must go out for 3 days, 40 days and 4 months so that he or she is able to do more actions or amals such as prayers, learning and teaching and remembrance of Allah and with these more amals or actions, their iman will become strong. According to Jemaah Tabligh a person will not become believers or good Muslims until and unless they spend time for 40 days and 4 months in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. According to Jemaah Tabligh, Muslims in the whole world should first become good Muslims, before they are allowed to invite the non-Muslims to recite the Great Kalimah. This practice of Jemaah Tabligh is greatly contradictory to the practice of our Prophet Muhammad saw, when Prophet Muhammad saw had ordered his closest companion Abu Bakar (may Allah is please with him) to invite other non-Muslims in Mecca to recite the Great Kalimah, just after Abu Bakar had recited the Great Kalimah. According to the Quran, Muslims must first convey the Great Kalimah to the non-Muslims and remind Muslims about the meaning of the Great Kalimah and invite them to do the work associated with the right of the Great Kalimah with the intention only to please Allah, until Allah is pleased and when Allah is pleased with the Muslims, Allah will make Muslims to become believers. When Muslims have become believers, Allah gives them guidance to do righteous good actions. Only when Muslims have become believers and have righteous deeds or good actions, the promise of Allah to make them leaders in this world will be fulfilled as mentioned in the verse 55 of Surah An-Nur.
The work of Jemaah Tabligh has been going on in India and Pakistan for about one hundred years and many of the Muslims in India and Pakistan who are still alive, had been doing the work of Jemaah Tabligh for more than five to six decades. Let us examine the political conditions in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Who are made by Allah, the rulers of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh? In recent times, all the persons whom Allah made the rulers of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were mainly the non-Muslims or Muslims who only entered Islam and certainly they were not from among the believers. Why the leaders of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were not from among the believers and those who have righteous good actions? Why Allah did not make the Muslims from Jemaah Tabligh to become the leaders of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as Allah has promised in the verse 55 of Surah An-Nur. The promise of Allah is always true. Allah never lies. In case there are Muslims in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who are believers and have righteous good actions, certainly Allah will make them the leaders. Is there any Muslims in the sub-continent of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh who are believers and righteous? In my opinion there are none in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh among the Muslims who are believers and have righteous good actions.
This clearly shows the iman of Muslims does not increase with the work of Jemaah Tabligh. There are many Muslims who are involved in the work of Jemaah Tabligh in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh for more than five to six decades and why there is none from among them who have the believe and righteous good actions as mention by the above verse 55 of Surah An-Nur. Members of Jemaah Tabligh preach to the whole world that to increase iman a person needs to spend times doing tabligh for 3 days in a month, 40 days in a year and 4 months, once in a lifetime. Why in countries which are active with the work of Jemaah Tabligh, such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, there are none who have believe and righteous good actions as mention in the verse 55 of Surah An-Nur? This shows that Jemaah Tabligh is spreading lies and fitnah to the Muslims in the whole world. Jemaah Tabligh lies to other Muslims and also to themselves. Jemaah Tabligh has made a false claim which they derive not from the Quran and Hadis but from their own limited mind and false experience. When the work to obtain iman is wrong, even a person who had done the work of Jemaah Tabligh for more than 60 years will not obtain the level of iman and righteous good actions as mention in the above verse 55 of Surah An-Nur.
During the time when I was actively involved with Jemaah Tabligh, I was always wondering, why my iman was not increasing. I was told by the ulama of Jemaah Tabligh that the work of Jemaah Tabligh is the work of Prophet Muhammad saw and the outcome of the work is an increase of iman. Although I had been doing the work of Jemaah Tabligh for a very long time and I had been observing all the tertib as advised by the elders of Jemaah Tabligh, unfortunately I found that my iman was not increasing. I was frustrated with the outcome of my work and because of that I was certain that the work of Jemaah Tabligh is not the work of Prophet Muhammad saw. In case the work of Jemaah Tabligh is the work of Prophet Muhammad saw, then the outcome of the work must be observed such as an increase of my iman. Also I am certain that the so called ulama in Jemaah Tabligh are not really ulama but just people of the book or ahli Kitab. When the present ulama of Jemaah Tabligh rejected my proposal to do the dakwah work on non-Muslims, I became more convinced that work of Jemaah Tabligh is not the work that by the permission of Allah can increase my iman and I was completely awaken from my sleep and dream with Jemaah Tabligh. During that time I realized that the present elders of Jemaah Tabligh are liars and I was completely convinced that the work of Jemaah Tabligh is not the work of our Prophet Muhammad saw. In July 13th 2009, I decided to leave Jemaah Tabligh and do the work of dakwah which I personally believe to be the work of Prophet Muhammad saw in my locality. Since then, with the grace of Allah I have been able to spend some time daily in my locality to do the work of dakwah similar to the work done by Prophet Muhammad saw. And with the grace of Allah, now, I am able to visit not only Muslim houses but also the houses of non-Muslims in my locality.
Since I do the work similar to the work of our Prophet Muhammad saw, I can feel my iman has increased and one of the evidence that show my iman has increased is the increase in my understanding of Quran and Hadis. As mention in Hadis, when a person is loved by Allah, Allah will give him understanding of Quran and Hadis. All praise is to Allah who has freed me from Jemaah Tabligh which I believe, had deceived me for more than thirty years. Initially I was very angry but later on I started to realize that it was not Jemaah Tabligh which had deceived me but the devil syaitan which have deceived the elders of Jemaah Tabligh and they in turn have deceived me and many others. At the time of Maulana Ilyas the work was similar to the work of our Prophet Muhammad saw but after the demise of Maulana Ilyas, the devil syaitan succeeded in deceiving the elders of Jemaah Tabligh.
Members of Jemaah Tabligh think that they are good Muslims as compared to all other Muslims. They think Allah has given them guidance and they are on the right path. They think they are exceptionally good Muslims because they were able to spend 3 days in a month, 40 days every year and 4 months once in a lifetime to do the work of tabligh. With all the sacrifices they and their families have made, they believe they are believers and their actions are righteous good actions. Similarly PAS members also think that Allah has given them guidance and that, they are on the correct path. As members of Jemaah Tabligh, PAS members also think that they are believers, because they have more actions or amals as compared to UMNO members whom Pas members think as kafir. Nik Abduh the son of Dato Nik Aziz in one of his speeches said, Allah promise to give the power to rule the world to the believers (which he mean PAS members) but those who are the follower of syaitan (UMNO) has snatched the power from them (PAS) and now Allah has ordered PAS members (believers) to march to Putra Jaya with green carpet in order to snatch back the power from UMNO, the followers of syaitan. Nik Abduh also told the audience that PAS certainly will fight even to the extent, the green carpets are tainted with blood. In every aspect, the behaviors of PAS members are the same as the members of Jemaah Tabligh. Both of the groups think they are already believers and have righteous good actions but in reality they are not believers but they have only entered Islam and they are similar to most of other Muslims in this world like UMNO.
In the verse 55 of Surah An-Nur, Allah promised those who believe and do righteous deeds to be leaders in the lands. Allah is true to His promise and Allah never lies in His promise. However the promise of Allah will only be fulfilled when Muslims fulfill the conditions laid down by Allah. When none of the Muslims in the whole world have really become believers and have righteous deeds, then the promise of Allah will never be fulfilled like He gave power to Prophet Muhammad saw and the four caliphs in Medina. I believe, since the time of the companions of Prophet Muhammad saw until today, the promise of Allah in the verse 55 of Surah An-Nur is not being fulfilled by Allah because there is not a single Muslim who reached the level of real believer and thus Allah made the only Muslims or non-Muslims to become leaders of Muslims. Except for the companions of the Prophet Muhammad saw, all the leaders of Muslims in the world today are not from those who are believers and have righteous deeds.
Why the present leaders of Muslims are not believers and have righteous deeds or good actions? Why Allah chooses those who are not believers to become leaders of the Muslims? Allah chooses those who are not believers to become leaders of Muslims as a punishment to the Muslims. Why does Allah punish the Muslims? Allah punish the Muslims because the Muslims have disobeyed the very first order of Allah, the order to do the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils. When Muslims are not doing the work of inviting mankind to good and forbidding mankind from evils, Muslims will not become believers and Muslims will not have righteous deeds or good actions and Allah punishes the Muslims by giving them bad leaders. Thus, Muslims will not have the leaders who are believers and have righteous deeds as mention in the verse 55 of Surah An-Nur. Finally, the doa of Muslims will not be accepted by Allah and Allah will not help the Muslims against their enemies. Indeed, Allah will not fulfill His promise to make Muslims leaders in the land as long as there are none among the Muslims who are real believers and have righteous deeds in this world.
Prof. Dr. Nasoha Saabin
September 2012
Dean of Faculty of Optometry
Twintech International University College of Technology
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
