Al-Tabligh Movement in Yemen: More Activities and Official Support

The Tabligh Movement has been active over the last few years in an exceptional manner. It started its activities following September the 11 attack, though several Islamic propagation groups stopped their work for security reasons or under lack of financial resources and prompted by US announcing the start of its war on terror.

Over the last two years, the Tabligh Movement has, along with making collective and individual field trips, turned as well to building mosques and camps in different Yemeni areas benefiting from the official facilities granted to them. Authorities view them to be an alternative for some groups that make use of religion and propagation to make people gather around them as is the case with some Islamic parties.

Still, we have to turn back to know something about these group and its principles. Al-Tabligh Group is an Islamic group whose propagation is built on conveying Islams message to all accessible people. It binds its followers to allocated part of their times to propagate the Islam's message away from any partisan or political affiliation.

Its establishment and prominent leaders

This movement or group was established in 1867 at the hands of Sheikh Mohammed Alyas Al-Kandhalwi who taught at the grandest school of Ahnafs (A school of Islamic Law) in the Indian Peninsula.

The most leading personalities of this group are Sheikh Abdu Al-Wahab who teaches in one of the groups main powerhouses in Pakistan and Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Jaberyati and several others.

Beliefs and attitudes

The founder of the movement set six principles for propagating the Islamic message: pleasant address 'None God but Allah and that Mohammed is Allah's Prophet', performing prayers, supplication and teaching, honoring every Muslim, devotion and the exodus for Allah's cause.

Their way in propagation can be summed in what follows:

1. A small group of volunteers who choose to propagate Islam's message in a certain place as every propagator (Da'ayah) takes his blanket and sufficient food and pocket money. Still austerity is an important thing for a propagator. Upon arrival to their destination, some are selected to clean the place at which they will reside, mostly mosques; while others come out to ask people for attending mosques and hearing the sermons. The people will be later divided into groups and one propagator with each group will be there to teach them ablution, cleanliness, prayers, Quran recitation, etc.

Al- Tabligh Movement in Yemen

The group existed in Yemen by the end of 1970s and its activities were received with support and encouragement because the group affiliates themselves to propagation and have no involvement in politics. It has involvement nationwide; however, their activities have increased over the last period benefiting from the general atmosphere that facilitated their task.

This group's activities wrapped up this year with a conference held in Haradh, an outlet on Yemeni-Saudi border, as over 50,000 people from across the nation attended the conference activities. It was also attended by over 5,000 leading propagators from some Gulf countries, India and Pakistan including Sheikh Abdu Al-Wahab and Ibrahim Al-Jaberyati.

After Saudi Arabia prevented them from holding it in its lands, the group decided to hold the conference each year in Haradh by the end of the pilgrimage season.