Tablighi Jamaat is a fast growing Islamic revival group that is popular in Southeast Asia. It has been in the headlines of late because of its role in the spread of coronavirus. The group ignored all warnings and went ahead with mega conventions even after the outbreak of the virus. 250,000 people gathered in one of its conventions in Lahore and 16,000 in Malaysia, which was described as the ground zero for coronavirus outbreak in Southeast Asia. In January, right before the outbreak of coronavirus, a staggering two million people assembled over three days for a Tablighi Jamaat conference in Bangladesh, which was a testimony to the power of this movement.

Tablighi Jamaat has garnered a huge following in Southeast Asia, where “moderate Islam” is often said to be growing. The group claims to be non-political, yet it aims to return Muslims to Islam as it was practiced in the days of Muhammad. The obvious question is how any Islamic group that wants to steer Muslims back to the seventh century, when Muslims amassed a great empire, and not be political. In reality, Tablighi Jamaat is anything but apolitical. Its teachings are rooted in violent jihad, and what makes Tablighi Jamaat particularly dangerous is its ability to advance by means of deception, even in the United States. This is the true face of Tablighi Jamaat:

Tablighi Jamaat is used as a conduit by Islamic Terrorist organizations to felicitate travel for their members. Iyman Faris, an Ohio truck driver accused of a terrorist plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge in 2003, used the Jamaat to secure travel to Pakistan in order to accomplish an assignment for the Al Qaeda. The Tableeghi Jamaat came under the eyes of federal investigators in the United States following the 9/11 terrorist attack after its name popped up in at least four high-profile terrorism cases. ‘We have a significant presence of Tablighi Jamaat in the United States, and we have found that Al Qaeda used them for recruiting, now and in the past,’ Michael J. Heimbach, the then deputy chief of the F.B.I.’s international terrorism section, is quoted as saying in an NYT report from 2003. Stratfor, a reputed geopolitical intelligence platform, published a detailed report on the Tablighi Jamaat and its links to the world of Global Jihad. The report says that there is evidence of ‘indirect connections’ between the Jamaat and anti-Shiite sectarian groups, Kashmiri terrorists and the Taliban.

“Tablighi Jamaat and its links to terrorist organizations: History of association to Al Qaeda, Taliban and Kashmiri terrorists,” OpIndia, March 31, 2020: