As the top leaders of the two parts of the divided Tabligh Jamaat in Bangladesh could not agree on a single Ijtema, two separate world Ijtemas are going to be held in Tongi near Dhaka next January.
After a meeting with leaders of both sides in Dhaka on Thursday, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said that the two top leaders of the two sides were asked to agree on holding Ijtema together but they could not do so. That is why it was later proposed to those leaders that they should discuss and decide who will do Ijtema first and who will do it later.
But in the end, the two sides could not agree on that.
"We told them to conduct the Ijtema like last time and they accepted," Mr Khan told reporters.
According to the decision of the meeting regarding the scheduling of the World Ijtema led by the Home Minister and the law and order meeting, the section led by Maulana Zubair Ahmad will organize the Ijtema on January 13-15, and the section led by Maulana Wasiful Islam on January 20-22.
In 2017, leaders of Tabligh Jamaat, the organizer of the World Ijtema, split over a statement by India's Maulana Mohammad Saad Qandalvi. Since then the two groups have organized and participated in two separate Ijtemas in Bangladesh.
What is the root cause of conflict between two groups in Tabligh Jamaat?
The two groups have been organizing two Ijtemas for several years.
Two groups of Tabligh Jamaat have been organizing two World Ijtemas for several years
After a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the government is once again allowing Biswa Ijtema.
The World Ijtema of the Tablighi Jamaat has been held regularly since 1967 on the banks of the Turag River at Tongi near Dhaka and is attended by many Muslims from outside the country.
The World Ijtema is attended by millions of people and is considered to be the largest gathering of Muslims after the Hajj.
Bangladesh Tablighi Jamaat conflicted and divided in Delhi
The conflict between the Tablighi Jamaat, the largest organization of Sunni Muslims in the Indian subcontinent, first became public in November 2017, when two groups of activists clashed in Kakrail, their headquarters in Dhaka.
The following year, the two sides clashed over the possession of the Kakrail mosque.
At the center of this conflict of Tabligh is the central leader of the Tablighi Jamaat in India
, Mohammad Saad Kandalvi.
Basically, some of Mr. Kandalvi's statements greatly angered a section of the Tablighi Jamaat in India. Darul Uloom Deoband of India in particular strongly criticized his statement.
The Tabligh controversy surrounding Maulana Saad is out in the open
Elections and Kandalvi controversy followed the Ijtema
The exposure of Darul Uloom Deoband's anti-Sad stance had an impact in Bangladesh as well. The top leaders of Tabligh Jamaat of Bangladesh were divided.
In July 2018, the then-leader of Hefazat Islam Ahmad Shafi, known as Maulana Shafi, gave official support to the anti-Sad faction of the Tablighi Jamaat.
Maulana Zubair Ahmad is leading the anti-Sad faction in Bangladesh and Maulana Wasiful Islam is leading the pro-Sad faction.
"The leader of one group is Zubair (Maulana Zubair Ahmad), and the leader of the other group is Wasiful Sahib (Maulana Wasiful Islam). They used to preach Tabligh together, now they have gone to different ends," Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters on Thursday.
Saad Kandalvi's statement divided Tablighi?
Mr. for some time. Kandalvi had been talking about the need for some reforms in the Tablighi Jamaat, which in 2017 caused a split among the top leaders of Tablighi in India.
One of his statements was that "religious education or religious preaching should not be done for money". Many believe that this statement is against taking money in exchange for conducting activities like Milad or waz mahfil.
Saad Kandalvi also said at this time, "Teachers of madrasas should come to the mosque and pray instead of praying inside the madrasas, so that contact with people increases."
These statements caused intense anger among the followers of Darul Uloom Deoband and their statement that Mr. Qandalvi's speech is outside the belief and creed of Ahle Sunnat wa'al Jamaat.
The reasons behind the strengthening of Islamists in Bangladesh
A large number of worshipers participated in the Ijtema.
Biswa Ijtema has now become one of the largest gatherings of Muslims
Why can't the divided be united?
The Home Minister of Bangladesh held several rounds of meetings with both sides of the divided Tabligh Jamaat. Even the government constituted an advisory committee of Islamic thinkers to settle the dispute, but it yielded no results.
Zaheer Ibn Muslim, one of the leaders of the Tabligh Jamaat, felt that the split in the Tabligh Jamaat would not end unless Mohammad Saad Kandalawi resolved it himself.
"Because Darul Uloom Deoband said Maulana Saad misinterpreted Quranic hadith. Now he has to solve it.
After he does that, Saad Kandalvi will return as the leader of the Tablighi Jamaat if the objection is lifted from Deoband," he told BBC Bengal.
The declaration issued in 2017 from Deoband said that according to their observation, Saad Kandalovi had misinterpreted the Quranic hadith and had spoken offensively about the Prophet and Companions. He is not correct if he does not return from this position. As a result they may become 'Ferqa' - a group that deviates from Islam.
Mufti Zaheer Ibn Muslim believes that, in this situation, there is no chance of ending the division around Saad Kandalf unless new instructions come from Deoband and the collective decision of the current members of the Shura does not come.
What happened in Bangladesh in 1989 centered on Salman Rushdie
Omar Farooq, another leader of Tablighi Jamaat, says that the solution to this ongoing crisis is beyond the control and mastery of Bangladeshi clerics.
"If it was a worldly issue, it would have been resolved or tried. But the issue is about religion and faith. So it is not exactly a conflict of leadership. The religious crisis must be resolved in the light of religion," he told BBC Bangla.
Tongir World Ijtema is the largest religious gathering of Muslims after Hajj
During the Vishwa Ijtema, lakhs of people came out on the way to Tongi
From the statements of the Tabligh leaders, it is clear that the leaders of Bangladesh's Qawmi Madrasah-based Tablighi Jamaat will act according to the decision of Darul Uloom Deoband of India.
And for that reason, if Saad Kandaalvi is not accepted by Deoband, a large part of Tabligh Jamaat in Bangladesh will not accept him and work in unison with his followers.
But supporters of Saad Kandali believe that 90 percent of the Tablighi Jamaat are 'Nizamuddin Markaz' or followers of Saad Kandali.
According to them, a group has taken a different stand based on Saad Kandalivi's speech for political purposes as well.
But no matter how the two factions argue for their position, the conflict between the leaders has now spread to Tablighi Jamaat followers around the world. This division is now evident among those who are leading the Tabligh Jamaat in Britain, America or European countries.