1.1 Background of the Research The Tablighi Jamaat
1.2 Previous Studies: General
1.3 Previous Studies: Bangladesh and the UK
1.4 Summary of the Chapters
Chapter Two Islamic Reforms in Bangladesh
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Islamisation in Bengal
2.3 Bengal Muslim under Reform Movements
2.4 Bangladesh and Islam
2.5 The Tablighi Jamaat and Dawah
2.6 The Six Points of the Tablighi Jamaat
2.7 Conclusion
Chapter Three Methodology
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Why Ethnographic Research?
3.3 Multi sited Ethnography: Field, Site, and Location
What is Multi-sited Ethnography?
3.4 Introduction to the Field: Bangladesh and the UK
3.5 The Challenges of the Research
3.6 Problem of the Researcher
3.7 Conclusion
Chapter Four Undertaking a Chilla: Becoming a Tablighi Follower
4.1 Getting into Dawah
4.2 Finding a Chilla Group
4.3 Chilla in Nageswary
4.4 A Day in the Roy Ganj Mosque
4.5 Learning by Doing
Tashkili Gasht: the Case of Hasan Ali and Shukur Ali
Taleem and Mujakkera
The Umumi Gasht
Magrib bad Boyan (Religious Talk after Magrib Prayer)
Chapter Five Spiritual Journey within the Tablighi Jamaat
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Social Implication of Dawah: Participation in Chilla
Status, Authority, and Religious Empowerment
Community Engagement: Mosque Based Activities and Social Entrepreneurs
Transformation, Communitas and Chilla
5.3 The Transformation of Society
Politics and the Tablighi Jamaat
Heavens Above and the Grave Below
Two Cases
5.4 Conclusion
Chapter Six Bishwa Ijtema as a New Form of Islamic Pilgrimage
6.1 Introduction
6.2 The Ijtema of the Tablighi Jamaat
6.3 The Bishwa Ijtema in 2009 and 2010
6.4 The Ijtema and the Hajj: Comparison
6.5 The Ijtema and Visiting Shrines: Comparison
6.6 Ijtema: a New Pilgrimage for the Muslim
6.7 Conclusion
Chapter Seven Reconfiguring Gender Relations
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Marriage in the Tablighi Jamaat
7.3 The Tablighi Jamaat and the Family
7.4 Gender and the Tablighi Jamaat
7.5 Conclusion
Chapter Eight Participation in a Weekly Gasht
8.1 Getting Involved in Dawah
8.2 The Gasht at the Uthman Mosque
8.3 Religious Speech after the Magrib Prayer
Chapter Nine Tablighi Jamaat in the UK
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Muslims in the UK
Bangladeshi in the UK
9.3 Tablighi Jamaat Followers in the UK
9.4 The Implications of the Tablighi Jamaat in the UK
A Mosque Oriented Community
Educating Children by Tablighi Initiatives
The Tablighi Jamaat as a Guideline for Islamic Life in Western Society
Two Cases
9.5 Conclusion
Chapter Ten Searching for a Global Identity
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Identity Formation of the Tablighi Jamaat in the UK
Why Identity is Important
Community, Identity, and the Tablighi Jamaat
Shared Tablighi Experience and Memory
Transformation and Tablighi Identity
10.3 Conclusion
Chapter Eleven Conclusion
Bulbul Siddiqi is an anthropologist, specialising in the Islamic movement in South Asia and the UK, citizenship and identities, development and public health. After undergraduate and graduate studies in anthropology in Bangladesh, he completed his MA in Global Citizenship, Identities and Human Rights at the University of Nottingham in 2007 and his PhD in Anthropology of Religion at Cardiff University in 2014 researching the Tablighi Jamaat in the UK and Bangladesh. His ethnographic fieldwork has included several research trips to Bangladesh and the UK. He is now working as an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science and Sociology at North South University, Bangladesh.
The book uses an ethnographic approach to explore why the Tablighi Jamaat movement remains so successful in contemporary times. It shows that this success results from the positive image that it cultivates, and the systematic preaching activities of Tablighi Jamaat followers, and that the organisation’s apolitical image, the public profile of the ijtema, the humbleness of Tablighi followers, and the attraction of belonging to the global Tablighi community all help to create a positive image of the Tablighi Jamaat among ordinary Muslims. The book also argues that the Tablighi Jamaat remains successful because of its ability to hold its followers within a Tablighi-guided life, which is perceived as protection against the Western lifestyle. Many elements of contemporary Western lifestyle are considered non-Islamic, and so by clearly defining what is Islamic and non-Islamic in modern society, the Tablighi Jamaat provides a way in which Muslims can live in the contemporary world, but remain good Muslims.