Tabligh to yourself at home, please

Cults need leaders and huge followings. Migrant workers from Bangladesh and Myanmar perhaps provide such a need for the Jemaah Tablighi. 

So do professionals and layperson Malay-Muslims in need of this thing called “salvation”. But I shall talk about the Tablighi movement and the spread of coronavirus.

One may want to understand why I do not like to spend time listening to any sermon from the Tablighi group. Out of respect, perhaps three minutes to say “Waalaikumsalam and Terima Kasih" (And upon you, peace and Thank you) or “Yes, Hello and Sorry, Goodbye” like greeting members of the Jehovah’s Witness.

I had an early unpleasant brush with this cult group that originated from India. At 16, I heard an elder brother of a 14-year old Tablighi member, went on a parang rampage to destroy a Lembah Bujang temple.

At 16, I chased a 14-year old member of a Tablighi group, out of the school compound of the boarding school I was in. He had disrupted a school concert! 

I was upset. A few bands were about to plays songs such as D’Lloyd’s “Kasih Sayang”, Chicago’s “Saturday in the Park,” and Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re an American Band.” And one girl was about to sing “We May Never Love Like This Again,” the theme song from the 70s movie “Towering Inferno”. 

I was mad that a little Tablighi mullah went on stage, snatched the microphone from the bewildered master of ceremonies, and told us to stop this haram (forbidden) show and that we all must repent or we will go to hell. 

The music teacher was mad at the boy clad in a green robe. As the boy left the stage in Tablighi haste, headed for the gate, in the dark, my friends and I were instructed to “arrest” him for disrupting public order. He left school and disappeared into the night. So, that was my first encounter with a Tablighi member.

All cult groups, including The Tablighi, should stay home under lockdown, and preach wisdom -- to their family. 

But if one is still stubborn and insist on gathering in time of Covid-19, please seek treatment through your bomoh (shaman) or traditional healing. In the time of a pandemic, to still gather and say God will protect, is simply an irresponsible act. Arrest them, by God's Will.

Once a Tablighi group visited me. The first ten minutes they tried to make me feel guilty. They left annoyed eventually, confused with my questions about eternity and the idea of harmonising oneself.

Kissing shrines, stones, walls - these are unhygienic acts. Neither holy nor godly. Repent. Karl Marx said religion is the opium of the masses. Today religious cults can be the Covid-19 of the planet. Be safe all! Stay Home!

The Tablighi is a cult group. I can't follow. I am too liberal and still loves rock and roll music. No hope. My view of the cult group may be different from those who have studied them, and in this case of the Jemaah Tablighi. 

I don't know what others find in their research, but I interacted with many individuals from the group. Since young, I have read about cults and the tariqats. 

There are plenty in Johor. I know which ones are hygienic, which ones are not. I eat with my hand too. Culturally tasty. But not with a group sharing a huge plate. I'd say unhygienic and culturally unsavoury.

And many a progressive cultural anthropologist would agree, culture must enable, not disable the self and society. If a practice is filthy and degenerating, one must abandon it and move to newer heights. Leave. Or rebel against it. No, I don't see cults as sensible. They are not "philosophical" in practice, leading to "cult-hero worship".

I once said to a Tablighi group who coaxed me to follow them to preach from house to house that it is better for me to stay home, read a novel than follow them. They got annoyed, wanted to debate about the virtue of leaving family and my worldly studies and preaching to others about salvation and eternity.

I still don't understand why some Muslims wail and kiss the shrine of some holy men. Men worshipping men. There are so many Islamic cults that practice this, as I learned about since I was very young.

I once asked a Tablighi group what siddiq-amanah-tabligh-fatonah means: truth, trust, teaching, transcendence, as it loosely means. They said they don't know that much but my question is not important, let alone my question on the nature of the self and the ultimate self. 

Socrates

These are the basic philosophical questions that could get a group like this mad. The question that these group hated most are the simplest, yet most profound, as Socrates would say. And Socrates was the most annoying philosopher one could not live by without examining.

A Tablighi group once asked me to join them to do the work of God. I said no. I am not a prophet. They got annoyed. I asked myself: Why abandon the world and preach asceticism? We might as well be born straight into another planet.

Islam does not promote unhygienic practice. Nor cultish work. Islam is a philosophical inquiry, not a confused cult. 

The best form of dakwah and tabligh (preaching and conveying Islam) is to stay at home and preach to oneself. You don't have to leave home and spread confusion. Does Islam tell people to leave your family for weeks to do tabligh? Good tabligh is staying home and enjoying your time with the family.

Spiritual practise without hygiene is not holy. It filths the soul. Cleanliness come from within. Shintoism can teach this, well. Go to Narita airport, look at the city drains and see the koi fish swimming or read a Haruki Murakami novel to understand what Shintoism teaches. 

Most importantly in Malaysia, the culture of dirty public toilets, filthy restaurant kitchens, garbage all over, clogged rivers must change. Get our act together, Malaysians! We cannot be letting our rivers and city drains be as clogged as Jakarta, the sinking city of Indonesia.

Tabligh may mean to spread the message. But without wisdom, illness can be spread. Be wise. Think science first.

Maybe the Tablighi people need to start eating with fork and spoon using individual plates. Not sharing a huge tray of food eating with their hands and sharing each other’s saliva at the time of coronavirus. 

This is basic hygiene that any child in a kindergarten of the first world can understand.

Stay home!

O' Malaysians. You are not being forced to fight an enemy in the fields. You just have to stay home. We should curfew citizens big time to prepare for more hospital beds. Not let thousands run around all over the country. 

Impose martial law, Malaysia. Temporarily. People are not paying attention. The healthcare system will collapse soon if people do not heed the warning.

The new government is busy deciding who will take which seat while the wartime-warlike crisis is not attended to. We are at war. 

We cannot afford to read the continuing fight between the Pakatan Hilang Harapan and Pakatan Pintu Belakang (Lost hope coalition and Backdoor coalition) in this political drama that began since Dr Mahathir Mohamad became prime minister back in 1981.

Had the new government not played golf with those seeking favours, but spend time planning for the major crisis, we would not have seen chaos that has gone out of hand. We will see Italy.

My suggestion is to use any emergency rule powers for this global war man versus coronavirus we are in. People are not taking it seriously. Because the new government is vague in its existence and blur in making decisions.

"Perintah Berkurung (Curfew order)" and "We must stay at home". These are easier words for Malaysians to understand, especially for the stubborn ones. People do not understand what social or physical distancing is as a governmental plea. Too mind-boggling. Yes, Malaysians, let the army, too, stroll for all the good and safety reason this time.

Face it, world. The global-corporate capitalism is crumbling under the weight of the coronavirus. Think outside the world's box then. Think of the evolution of communes in a not-too-distant future!

When Malaysia's new backdoor government was created, it didn't know it would be at the front door awaiting a major catastrophe.

But finally, the still-considered-illegal Malaysian government is acting accordingly. Citizens must cooperate. 

And lastly, I thought of this, as temporary military rule becomes a reality: a corona coup d’état by the Junta is a situation of a double use of consolidating power in time of Corona.

Be safe, be healthy, all. A message for the cult group: "Do your Tablighi work at home if you plan to understand Islam" wisely. As you don’t know what you’ll be spreading widely.

---

AZLY RAHMAN is an academician, international columnist and author of seven books available here. He holds a doctorate in international education development and Master’s degrees in six areas: education, international affairs, peace studies, communication, fiction and non-fiction writing. He is a member of the Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education. Twitter @azlyrahman. More writings here. - Mkini