Puliya wali masjid one of the nearest masjid New Delhi railway station paharhganj area
Sachin Baghel
Maqbool Khan steps out of his house at 4.45am wearing a white kurta-pyjama and an off-white skull cap over his tightly cropped hair. He sports a beard but no moustache and is heavily doused in attar (perfumed oil). The polished black button on his grey waist coat strains against his middle-aged paunch as he joins several others for fajr, the morning prayer. He lowers his gaze whenever he sees a woman approaching. He doesn’t listen to music and is least concerned about politics. He tries to avoid any fights, and mostly keeps to himself except when he is talking to fellow Muslims about Islam.
Khan is part of the fast-growing proselytizing Islamic movement, Tablighi Jamaat (group of preachers), which was started in 1926 in Mewat province by Islamic scholar Maulana Muhammad Ilyas.
Unlike other proselytizing groups, Tablighi Jamaat is an itinerant movement that does not aim at converting non-Muslims but instead tries to revert what they call ordinary Muslims into believing Muslims and revive the faith. Even though there is no official count, the Pew Research Center’s Religion and Public Life project states that their number ranges from 12 to 80 million, spread across more than 150 countries.
Tablighi Jamaat finds itself in the news because earlier this year several central Asian countries that were once part of the USSR—Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan—banned it, largely because they interpret its back-to-basics approach to Islam as extremist.
A Wikileaks document released in 2011 suggested that al-Qaeda operatives used the Tablighi Jamaat’s headquarters at Nizamuddin in New Delhi as a cover to obtain travel documents and shelter. Some believe the movement is a fertile recruitment ground for extremists.
In fact, it has been called the “antechamber of fundamentalism”, and “supremacist movement” that promotes isolationism, mostly because the organization doesn’t have any constitution or formal registration which obviously means no one knows who gets in or out of it and no one keeps a track of the past or future of the members.
Kafeel Ahmed, one of the suspects from India arrested for the failed attack on Glasgow airport, happened to be associated with the movement. Two of the 7/7 bombers, Shehzad Tanveer and Mohammed Siddique Khan, had also prayed at a Tablighi mosque in Dewsbury, which in no way proved that the Tablighi Jamaat was involved, but added to the suspicion.
“The Sudanese member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hamir Mohammad, had tried to secure for himself a visa into Pakistan as a Tablighi member; the Somalian Muhammad Sulayman Barre had likewise tried to enter Pakistan from India by adopting the same guise, Abu Zubair al Haili, commander of the Mujahedeen Battalion of al Qaeda in Bosnia Herzegovina, travelled from Bosnia to Pakistan under the guise of being a Tablighi while Saudi national Abdul Bukhary who was on the watch list of numerous countries had managed to get himself into the Tablighi markaz in Nizamuddin, Delhi, while claiming to be a Tablighi too,” says Malaysian political scientist Farish Noor in his book Islam on the Move, published in 2012.
Much of this could arise from the low-profile and secretive nature of Jamaat.
“There is a culture of secretism in the organization, which develops suspicion,” says Ajit Doval, former director of India’s Intelligence Bureau. “The movement was never viewed adversely by the government.”
Afsal S210 days ago
Nice place for namas. opposit new delhi railway station.
Md. Meftahul Zannat1 year ago
Nice & Cosy Mosque. A Muslim restaurant is on top of it.
Compass Clock1 year ago
A historical masjid in a very busy and congested place, surrounded by many shops, it has all the required amenities for a masjid. The parking is a challenge as the hawkers surround the area and it's a busy foot fal place. Please pray for the entire ummah. I pray Allah to bless us al with Aafiyah, bless barakah in our health time and money and make easy our affairs.
Abdullah basheer2 years ago
May the almighty bless the people who built this mosque. I was worried about my Isha prayer. with my uncle on my side we went to the masjid offered with peace.
Munaf Memon2 years ago
Location front of New delhi railway station. Masjid size is middle. Good for Namaz for all muslims.
Usama faisal2 years ago
Very convenient place for the people whos first experience for journy of delhi n spacially for the people while arriving new delhi railway station ,, for salah n for rest, from morning 5 to eving 10 only
New Delhi railway station paharhganj area
Khan is part of the fast-growing proselytizing Islamic movement, Tablighi Jamaat (group of preachers), which was started in 1926 in Mewat province by Islamic scholar Maulana Muhammad Ilyas.
Unlike other proselytizing groups, Tablighi Jamaat is an itinerant movement that does not aim at converting non-Muslims but instead tries to revert what they call ordinary Muslims into believing Muslims and revive the faith. Even though there is no official count, the Pew Research Center’s Religion and Public Life project states that their number ranges from 12 to 80 million, spread across more than 150 countries.
Tablighi Jamaat finds itself in the news because earlier this year several central Asian countries that were once part of the USSR—Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan—banned it, largely because they interpret its back-to-basics approach to Islam as extremist.
A Wikileaks document released in 2011 suggested that al-Qaeda operatives used the Tablighi Jamaat’s headquarters at Nizamuddin in New Delhi as a cover to obtain travel documents and shelter. Some believe the movement is a fertile recruitment ground for extremists.
In fact, it has been called the “antechamber of fundamentalism”, and “supremacist movement” that promotes isolationism, mostly because the organization doesn’t have any constitution or formal registration which obviously means no one knows who gets in or out of it and no one keeps a track of the past or future of the members.
Kafeel Ahmed, one of the suspects from India arrested for the failed attack on Glasgow airport, happened to be associated with the movement. Two of the 7/7 bombers, Shehzad Tanveer and Mohammed Siddique Khan, had also prayed at a Tablighi mosque in Dewsbury, which in no way proved that the Tablighi Jamaat was involved, but added to the suspicion.
“The Sudanese member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hamir Mohammad, had tried to secure for himself a visa into Pakistan as a Tablighi member; the Somalian Muhammad Sulayman Barre had likewise tried to enter Pakistan from India by adopting the same guise, Abu Zubair al Haili, commander of the Mujahedeen Battalion of al Qaeda in Bosnia Herzegovina, travelled from Bosnia to Pakistan under the guise of being a Tablighi while Saudi national Abdul Bukhary who was on the watch list of numerous countries had managed to get himself into the Tablighi markaz in Nizamuddin, Delhi, while claiming to be a Tablighi too,” says Malaysian political scientist Farish Noor in his book Islam on the Move, published in 2012.
Much of this could arise from the low-profile and secretive nature of Jamaat.
“There is a culture of secretism in the organization, which develops suspicion,” says Ajit Doval, former director of India’s Intelligence Bureau. “The movement was never viewed adversely by the government.”