Table Of ContentLiving Hadith in the Tablighi Jama`at
Author(s): Barbara D. Metcalf
Source: The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 52, No. 3 (Aug., 1993), pp. 584-608
Published by: Association for Asian Studies
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Living Hadith in
the Tablighl Jama' at
BARBARA D. METCALF
THE NORTH INDIAN MOVEMENT of spiritual renewal widely known as the Tablighi
Jama'at dates from the 1920s and exists today throughout the world. The movement's
fundamental goal has been tabl/gh: "conveying," specifically conveying shari'a-based
guidance. To this end, it has consistently used vernacular works based on translations
of the Qur'an and, especially, hadith in its quietistic work of inculcating correct
and devoted religious practice among Muslims. In this use of the vernacular, primarily
Urdu, the movement has been heir to over a century of translation and subsequent
publication of religious works. These publications, often in inexpensive format, have
been produced by the lithographic presses that became especially common in the
late nineteenth century. ' As in the Indonesian cases considered in this symposium,
the 1930s and early 1940s were a key period for translating and printing influential
texts based largely on translation of hadith. In this period, the reformists' printed
texts not only reached a larger number of people but were used in new settings as
Tabligh institutions evolved. Texts were never meant to stand alone and have always
been secondary to practice.
Printed texts in the Tabligh, as in all the cases considered here, not only
communicated the teachings of the movements but shaped the organization and
Barbara D. Metcalf is Professor of History at the University of California, Davis.
I am grateful to many people, above all participants in the Tablighl Jama'at, for dis-
cussions that have contributed to this article. I was able to have many conversations about
Tabligh in the course of trips to India in 1990 and to Pakistan and, on two occasions, to
Britain in 1991. I have also benefited from three recent workshops: on the Tablighi Jama'at
organized by the Joint Committee on the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies of the
Social Science Research Council/ American Council of Learned Societies (convened by James
Piscatori at the Royal Commonwealth Society, London, June 1990); "Making Space for
Islam," also under the auspices of the Joint Committee (held at the Center for Middle East
Studies, Harvard University, November 1990); and "Local Interpretations of Islamic Scrip-
ture in the Twentieth Century" (convened by John Bowen at Washington University, St.
Louis, May 31-June 1, 1991). Thanks to Dr. Khalid Mas'ud for helpful conversations and
encouragement throughout, as well as to anonymous readers forJAS.
'For a brief description of early translations, see Metcalf 1982:198-210. That Urdu
emerged as a vernacular should not be taken for granted and is not unrelated to British
government practices. For issues related to language change in a colonial context, see Fabian
1991.
The Journal of Asian Studies 52, no. 3 (August 1993):584-608.
C) 1993 by the Association for Asian Studies, Inc.
584
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LIVING HADITH IN THE TABLIGHI JAMA'AT 585
experience of the movement as well.2 To speak of "living hadith," as my title suggests,
has a double meaning. Followers attempt to live by hadith but in such a way that
they aspire to internalize the written/heard texts to the point that they ideally
become, in a sense, "living hadith."
In the texts considered in these articles, we see at least three processes at work.
All the translations, particularly the translations or summaries of hadith, construct
a framework for authoritative cultural critique and a concomitant generation of self-
conscious choice, not only about religious style in some narrow sense but about a
whole range of issues of loyalty and behavior in everyday life. Second, the texts are
produced in a context of competing modes of cultural reproduction: all seek to drive
out alternatives, not only alternative written texts but alternative oral performances,
gatherings, and so forth. Third, all the texts, in their very deployment, contribute
to constituting community: what, with whom, and when you read them all say a
great deal about who you are. This article explores these issues in relation to a
collection of pamphlets or tracts (risdla) particularly important for Tabligh, all written
by Maulana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhalawi (1898-1982) between 1928 and
1940.
The texts, published in collected volumes since the 1950s, came to be known
as the Tablighi nisdb (The Tabligh Curriculum) or the Faza'il-i a'mal (The Merits/
Rewards of Actions).3 Maulana Zakariyya wrote these texts largely at the request
of the founder of Tabligh, Mauland Muhammad Ilyas Kandhalawi (d. 1944), his
paternal uncle. A graduate of the theological academy at Deoband and a disciple
and successor as spiritual guide to Maulana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi (d. 1905),
Maulana Zakariyya served as shaikh or head teacher of hadith at the important reformist
academy, the Mazahiru'l-'ulium in Saharanpur. The study and dissemination of hadith
have been hallmarks of the Deobandi reformers and those influenced by them (Metcalf
1982).
All but one of the books in the collection takes up the faza'il or merits of some
practice of 'ibddat, "ritual" broadly construed to mean a range of acts of worship
or service to God. The collected volume includes the tracts on the canonical prayer,
reading of the Qur'an, repetition of the name of God or other pious formulas (zikr),
the fast, pilgrimage to Mecca, and charity/pious expenditure.4 Significantly, in
2For the Indian origins of the movement, see Haq 1972, which is based on Nadwi 1948.
Troll 1985 provides references to important Urdu sources. Lokhandwala 1971 includes Ziya-
ul Hasan Faruqi, "The Tablighi Jama'at" (pp. 60-69); Maulana Said Ahmad Akbarabadi,
"Islam in India Today" (pp. 335-39); and Waheeduzzafar, "Muslim Socio-Religious
Movements" (pp. 138-42).
3More work needs to be done on the history of publication and translation of these texts.
The first collected edition was probably published in 1958. An edition in Urdu from the
early 1960s is cited here as "Malik ed." Note that the volumes do not number pages
consecutively; each risala begins with page one. Unless noted, English texts quoted are
translated from this edition with references to an English edition ("Faizi ed.") given for
convenience. The Faiz1 edition is based on a Delhi translation (published as Faza'il-i a'mdl
(New Delhi: Idara Ishaat-e-dinyat, 1983) and Teachings of Islam: Tablighi Nisdb No. 1 (Delhi:
Dini Book Depot, 1985). Recent editions appear to be replacing the original title, "The
Tablighi Curriculum" in favor of the title Fazd'il-i a'mdl, "The Merits of Practice," in order
to convey the central teaching that action is a source of blessing/reward. In addition to the
writings of Maulana Zakariyya, current editions add such writings as "Six Fundamentals,"
"A Call to Muslims" (by Maulana Ilyas, 1944), and "Muslim Degeneration and its Only
Remedy" (also by Maulana Ilyas): see, for example, the Delhi and New Delhi editions.
4The dates of writing are as follows: Fazd'il-i Qur'dn, 1929; Faza'il-i ramazan, 1930;
Faza'il-i tabligh, 1931; Hikdydt-i Sahaba, 1938; Fazd'il-i namaz, 1939; Faza'il-i zikr, 1939.
(Note that the English translation of the Fazd'il-i namdz gives the title as the Blessings of
Salat. Thus namdz, originally a Persian word and the common term for the canonical prayer
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586 BARBARA D. METCALF
addition, one of the pamphlets is devoted to the behavior par excellence of the movement,
the transmitting of Islamic guidance known as tabligh: tabligh is thus included
among the most fundamental obligations of 'ibadat. The remaining book, the most
read and cherished of the texts, is a template for individual and group behavior,
the Hikdydt-i sahdba, the Stories of the Companions. All are based on hadith. The
Fazd'il-i Qur'dn, for example, is comprised of forty hadith, a number associated
with a range of religious observances: in fact, many more hadith are adduced as
each of the forty is discussed. In the Hikaydt the hadith-based stories are grouped
topically, followed by comments, often signaled by the letter "fe" for fd'ida, the
benefit or moral of the story. The sources for the hadith are sometimes cited, sometimes
not. Arabic texts are often, but not always, reproduced along with the Urdu translation
and the comment.
The importance of certain books, and the Faza'il in particular, to the worldwide
work of Tabligh is brought home by the location of a major publisher, bookseller,
and exporter directly opposite the primary markaz or center of Tabligh, the Banglewali
Masjid, which adjoins the shrine of the great Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamu'd-din Auliya
(d. 1325), located in a middle-class area of New Delhi. There, opposite the mosque
and its new guesthouse, is the bookshop of the Idara Ishaat-e-Diniyat (Institute for
the Dissemination of Works on Religion), opened in 1950; the Idara also has a
branch in Bombay (illustration 1). As a recent catalogue explains in an introduction
written by Munshi Anis Ahmad, "Being just in the vicinity of the Markaz Tablighi
Jamaat, N. Delhi, and drawing everlasting inspiration from close association with
its activities, the Idara has the honor of publishing hundreds of enlightening works
of the torch-bearers of Tabligh which inspire and guide millions of people throughout
the world." Visitors to the shop must work their way around parcels and shipping
crates destined for Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other
places around the world. The Idara oversees a substantial translation program, not
only from Arabic into Urdu (and Hindi)5 but also from Arabic and Urdu into English;
a recent catalogue lists a full 645 titles in English. Among these titles is the Tablighi
in Urdu, was translated in the English version by the Arabic term, saldt, considered a more
universally known term for English speakers.)
The basic collected volume does not include Fazd'il-i hajj and Fazd'il-i sadaqdt, which
describe the pilgrimage to Mecca and charity, presumably because of their length. They
were written in part when Maulana Zakariyya had an enforced stay in the center of Tabligh,
near the shrine of Hazrat Nizamu'd-din in Delhi, during the partition disturbances of 1946-
47. The work on sadaqdt, related to spending "in the path of Allah" was a response to
Maulana Ilyas's request for books on the fazd'il of sadaqdt, and, interestingly, also on the
faza'il-i tajdrat, trading, which, if pursued in accordance with divine injunctions, also merits
reward. This is a reminder that many supporters of Tabligh have been engaged in trade.
The work on hajj was stimulated by the increased activities of Tabligh in the Hijaz carried
out by Maulana Yusuf, Maulana Ilyas's successor, following his death in 1944. See Muhammad
Zakariyya (1969:136). Editions include Faza'il-i hajj (Karachi: Madina Publishing Company,
440 pp.), and, in English translation, Virtues of Charity and Haj, Tablighi Nisab No. 2,
trans. Muhammad Masroor Khan Saroha and Yousuf Karaan, Delhi: Dini Book Depot,
1986, 312 pp.; and Faza'il-i sadaqat, trans. Abdul Karim and Malik Haq Nawaz, revised
by Mazhar Mahmood Qurashi and Khawaja Ihsanul Haq (Karachi: Darul-ishaat, 1991, 719
pp.).
5Hindi and Urdu are linguistically identical but utilize different scripts, Sanskrit-derived
and Arabo-Persian-derived, respectively; they also draw on the different languages, Sanskrit
on the one side, and Arabic and Persian on the other, for some of their. vocabulary. Urdu
had become by the 1930s associated with Muslim interests in the subcontinent; Hindi, with
Hindu. Since Independence, Urdu has been a national language in Pakistan but has been
eclipsed in most places in India. Many Muslim children in India cannot read the Urdu
known to their parents. See Rai (1991).
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LIVING HADITH IN THE TABLIGHI JAMA'AT 587
Illustration 1. The bookshop, Idara Ishaat-e-Diniyat, located at the
movement's center in New Delhi.
6Aogteohrtw ok vialei l orlngae r h ur s n aln
n iAsibb, 't.rhan.sala.t'.e dN frdomw U' rldiuf ientooM Enuglaismh, dHiInydi, Arabic and French.6 The Idara's
books are also available in other shops.
Hadith as Cultural Critique
The Hikdydt-i sahdba, the Stories of the Companions, .invariably the first work
in the collected volumes, sets the pattern of creating two paths of behavior, one
describing the past, conveyed in tradition, and one describing the present, which
has deviated so greatly from the standard offered by the first. The title page for
the Hikdydt in the Urdu edition chooses a Qur'iinic verse to signal the critique:
"Doubtless, for those of understanding, their stories are a great warning." A subtitle
for the books underlines their authority: "True Stories" (sachchb kahdniyadn). The title
page further describes the audience that should pay attention; these are stories of
men, women, and children Companions, an indication that the stories are meant
for everyone. What is taught is not only external behavior; the chapter titles resonate
with the virtues cultivated above all by the Sufis: steadfastness, fear of Allaih, abstinence
and self-denial, piety and scrupulousness, fidelity to the canonical prayer, salit,
sympathy and self-sacrifice, heroism, zeal for knowledge, and devotion to the Prophet.
Separate chapters focus on stories of women and children, respectively. The final
chapter returns to the subject of love of the Prophet.
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588 BARBARA D. METCALF
The theme of contrast evident in the presentation of hadith finds echoes as well
in the Indonesian and, to a lesser extent, the Afghan texts discussed here. That
theme takes the standard of authority set by the hadith and shows it to be an
authority that is not of human devising and that is not subject to change. The
model serves for all times, and it comments on present failure in order to invite
change. Virtually every story leads to a contrast of then and now, so that the issue
of authority is closely related to a vision of time and the relation of the present to
the past, the contrast embodied in the very juxtaposition of the distinctive Arabic
and vernacular scripts. Every story points to today's failures:
Huzu-r Aqdas (the most sacred Presence), on whom be the blessing and peace of
Allah, and the noble Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, underwent
such troubles and difficulties in spreading religion that-forget about undergoing
them ourselves-even to think about doing them is hard for us.
(Malik ed., p. 9; Faizi ed., p. 15)
This is the character (akhldq) of that noble being whose name we take, but we
break into such a passion over some small annoyance or from someone uttering an
everyday insult that we seek revenge our whole life long, and keep engaging in
excess (zulm) upon excess. And yet we make a claim of being Muhammad1 and
following the Prophet. The noble Prophet, on whom be the peace and blessings
of Allah, despite suffering such trouble and difficulty, uttered no curse and sought
no revenge.
(Malik ed., p. 11; Faizi ed., p. 18)
These people underwent such difficulties and troubles. Today we claim their name
and say we follow them and think that we see such dreams of progress (taraqq[ycin)
as those of the noble Companions in the chapter on progress. But if for a moment
we pay a little attention, we are forced to think that those eminent people made
such sacrifice while we, what have we done for the sake of religion (dtn), for the
sake of Islam, for the sake of canons (mazhab)? Success is always in proportion to
effort and exertion. We people want luxury and comfort, and we want to go neck
and neck with the kdfirs in the pursuit of worldly things. Islamic progress depends
on us; so how can this be? [As the Persian verse says] "I fear, 0 traveler, you will
not reach the Ka'ba; the road you are travelling heads off to Turkestan."
(Malik ed., pp. 23-24; Faizi ed., p. 36)
Certainly we should place before ourselves the wish for obedience and desire so
that there be less seeking after comfort and a lowering of sights, and, as fits this
age, there be a moderation in the idea that we people at every moment should
advance in the pleasures of the world. Everyone is always looking at those who
excel in wealth and property and complaining out of envy that so and so has more
resources than me.
(Malik ed., p. 45; Faizi ed., p. 69)
Today among us folks if someone has two cents-forget about the work for other
people of the house-she doesn't even take care of herself. The servant has to go
put the ljtd in the toilet. ..
(Malik ed, 112; Faizi ed., p. 175)
Those in times past lived frugally and humbly, worked with their hands, made any
sacrifice to fulfill divine commands and spread the faith. They were passionate in
their quest for knowledge-knowledge defined, one might note, as remembering
hadith. They did not compete for worldly gains. They did not define tarraqqi as it
is defined today, as accumulation of worldly goods.
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LIVING HADITH IN THE TABLIGHI JAMA'AT 589
All the Tabligh texts emphasize the performance of enjoined practices, indeed,
an impassioned pursuit of those practices. They avoid criticism of bad customary
practices in favor of a kind of reverse Gresham's law of reform that good practices
will of themselves drive out bad. In contrast to most Muslim movements in modern
times, here we have no debate over interpretation, no stance on the sources of the
law, no litmus test of style of prayer or participation in customary practices. Tablighis
say they emphasize faza'il instead of (the rhyming) masa'il, the differing juridical
opinions that can prove so contentious. Occasionally, a condemnation of specific
practices creeps in, practices like those in the parallel stanzas of the Indonesian Gayo
songs related to elaborate, status-driven ceremonies and celebrations. In emphasizing
deviation from spending money rightfully and piously, for example, Maulana Zakariyya
reminds people of where they go wrong:
Are we ready to just up and give our most beloved property as charity upon hearing
half a sermon or reading or hearing a verse of the Qur'an? If we have the thought
of creating a pious endowment, it is after despairing of life, or with the intention
of disinheriting relatives we are angry with. And we spend year upon year thinking
about some scheme whereby during our own life we can make use of the property,
let come what after, come. Yes, if it is a point of name and reputation, like the
festivities of the wedding celebration, then there is no reluctance even to take a
loan on interest.
(Malik ed., p. 70; Faizi ed., p. 110)
The emphasis is not, however, on error as much as on the comparison of what
good works today's Muslim fails to do compared to the good works done by the
great models of the past. The concern is less with bid'a (reprehensible innovation)
than with laxity. This even allows for explicit criticism of the rulers of the day, as
Maulana Zakariyya recalls the selfless service of the Caliph 'Umar:
Is there today any monarch, any ruler, any ordinary notable who treats his subject
this kindly?
(Malik ed., p. 29; Faizi ed., p. 45)
The answer, of course, is no.
Despite these contrasts, the important message of the text is that while the
standard set in hadith is different from the behavior of society today, the past, while
different, need not be distant. The ideals of hadith can, in fact, be relived. Thus,
in writing about the contempt for wealth characteristic of the pious, Maulana Zakariyya
recalls his own shaikh:
I have heard from reliable sources that it was the habit of the most holy eminence,
Maulana Shah 'Abdu'r-rahlm [Raipturl) (may Allah's light be on his grave), that
when he received some sum of gifts (nazrdna), he would distribute all of them after
careful inquiries. . . . And I often saw my father (may Allah's mercy be on him)
take whatever money he had after the sunset prayer and give it to some creditor
. . . and say "I would not like to keep this source of trouble with me for the
night. "
(Malik ed., p. 46; Faizi ed., p. 71)7
Returning to his father in regard to his passionate childhood learning of the Qur'an
Maulana Zakariyya is explicit:
7Maulana Raipturl's birthdate is apparently unknown; he served as rector of the Mazahir-
i'Uluim at the turn of the century and was, thus, a generation older than Maulana Zakariyya
(Azizu'r-rahman 1 95 8:291-301) .
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590 BARBARA D. METCALF
Now this story is not of ancient times (purtind zamnan); it is an event of this century.
It therefore cannot be said: Whence today courage and strength like that of the
Companions?
(Malik ed., p. 165; Faizi ed., p. 243)
The text, in fact, plays a trick. It purports to tell us about a wonderful past and
a decadent present, but those hearing know, in a sense, a secret: that they have the
potential of surmounting the dichotomy and aligning themselves with the standard
set in hadith. The Arabic text signals distance, but it need not be, in the end,
very far from people today.
The Tablighi hear that people among us have, in fact, embodied the teachings
that set the standard. Today's readers/listeners can do the same. As discussed below
in terms of the practice of the Tablighi Jama'at, its very program is understood to
make the past live. The first line of the first story in the Hikayat, which reports
the rejection of the Prophet in Ta'if, shouts that claim:
nabuwwat mil jane ke ba'd nau baras tak nabi akram salla'llahiu 'alaihi wa sallam
makka mukarrima men tabligh farmate rahe aur qaum ki hidayat aur islah ki koshish
farmate rahe-lekin th6Ri si jama'at ke siwa j6 musalman ho ga'i thi....
(Malik ed., p. 9)
After receiving the prophethood, for nine years the most bountiful Prophet (on
whom God's blessings and peace) had been offering tabligh in noble Makka and
trying to bring guidance (hiddyat) and reform to his people (qaum). Excepting a
tiny jama'dt of those who had become Muslim . . .
The words italicized above are the key terms of what might be called the lexique
technique of the Tablighis, the words used over and over to tell them who they
are and what they do. The Prophet, a reader or hearer would register, was offering
tabhlgh and hiddyat just as we do; he was concerned with his qaum; he, too, lived
amongst a small Jama'dt of the faithful. The key term, tabligh, one might note,
does not appear in the Qur'in at all but comes to be understood as equivalent to
Qur'inic expressions like amr hi'l ma'rkf wa nahf an a! munkar (summoning to the
good and forbidding evil) and d4awa (invitation)8 but it resonates throughout Maulani
Zakariyyi's description of what the Companions did. Translation recreates a text;
it does not merely reproduce it.
Emulation then recreates the text in fact. In this case, virtually every Tablighl
has "his" Ta'if story, the setting of the story noted here, when the Prophet was
oppressed in Ta'if but refused to seek revenge. In south Delhi, for example, a jama'at
of university teachers and students were attacked in a mosque and several seriously
wounded; despite the urgings of police officials, they were adamant in not pressing
charges. "We came to give hidayat," one of them told me, "how could we press
charges?" The hadith gives meaning to the believer's life and, in turn, his experience
gives life to the text. The past is different from most of what happens in the present
but it is understood, most emphatically, not to be different from what happens in
the Tablighl Jama'it at its best.
Competing Texts, Competing Contexts
The Fazd'il texts, like all the texts discussed in this symposium, were produced
in a context of rivalry for control of what might be called cultural reproduction.
8This point has been mzade by Khalid Mas'ud.
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LIVING HADITH IN THE TABLIGHI JAMA'AT 591
The rivals in that competition included not only written texts, but a range of individual
and collective performances that offered alternate cultural ideals: in the Gayo songs,
for example, we hear about sebuku wailing, longhouse didong, didong drumming.
As in that case, the rivals of explicit concern to Tablighis were other Muslims, not
Europeans or Hindus, and this concern has persisted to the present. The field in
which Tabligh operates has changed markedly over its seventy-year history and the
movement is no longer limited to north India but has spread virtually worldwide.
Nonetheless, the context of competition in the early years is particularly significant
and has had lasting influence on the movement.
At that time, rivals to Tabligh stories included folk tales, the majdlis (mourning
assemblies) and ta'zia (the processions) of the Shi'a, and the new narratives of emerging
political leaders. The printed book, one must note, was never meant to stand alone,
to compete with what were in the other cases charged human settings. The books
were always expected to be communicated in public settings and, indeed, to be
acted out. Not surprisingly, when cassettes and videos appeared, Tablighis eschewed
them out of their deep commitment to avoiding anything that would distract from
their emphasis on the human embodiment of their cherished texts-as well, no
doubt, from a sense that such media not only communicated material that was
potentially distracting fronm Islamic teachings, but that they also created forms of
consciousness less amenable to those teachings.9
The Hikdydt itself offers evidence of the three competing groups and ideals of
the 1930s noted above. First, in the opening lines of the text, Maulana Zakariyya
identified a prime audience for his text, women in their important role of nurturing
children:
In 1353 [1938-391 there was a request from one of Allah's elect servants and my
guardian and benefactor, that some stories, in Urdu, be written out concerning
the noble Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), especially stressing the
piety of youth and women. Thus those devoted to the stories, if they see these
instead of meaningless little tales, will find a source of religious progress. And the
women of the household, if at night instead of little stories for children, recount
these, then there will be, along with respect and love for the Companions in the
hearts of the children, an inclination for religious matters.
(Malik ed., p.7; Faizi ed., p. 12)
In the course of recording model stories about children, Maulana Zakariyya
again underlines the importance of the use of storytelling to shape children's lives:
We people immerse children in meaningless, foolish matters and put confusion in
their minds through false stories. If we seek out and recount the stories of the
pious (Allogh wdle) and, instead of frightening them with stories of jinn and ghosts,
instill awe and the importance of Allah's displeasure in their hearts, that will be
useful to them both in this world and the hereafter. ...
(Malik ed., p. 164)
Clearly, however, women were not currently fulfilling this important role:
The truth is that if there be created among women a passion for religion and
enthusiasm for good deeds, then there is a certain impact on children. In contrast
9Following thinkers like Jean-Louis Baudry and Jean-Louis Comolli in discussing cinema
and television as fostering certain kinds of regression, Robert Stam, for example, speaks of
television as encouraging "a kind of narcissistic voyeurism." See his "Mobilizing Fictions:
The Gulf War, the Media and the Recruitment of the Spectator," Public Culture 4:2 (Spring
1992) 101-26, p. 101.
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592 BARBARA D. METCALF
to this, in our times, children from the beginning are placed in such an atmosphere
that an influence contrary to religion is felt, or, at best, an inattention to religion.
When the beginning of life is spent in such an atmosphere, it is evident what
kind of results occur.
(Malik ed., p. 111)
The goal of assimilating women into what were seen as normative Islamic standards
had been evident in writings of the reformers for several decades, notably in their
influential work, the BihishtT zewar, and was clearly a goal of Tabligh as well (Metcalf
ed. 199 1).
In part, the inclusion of women could be seen as the continuation of the efforts
of the reformers in reaching out to the "census category" of Muslims, a category
that was reinforced at every turn by the organization and the rhetoric of the colonial
state (Hardy 1972). More than that, however, the charged concern with including
women in reformist teachings, true of groups other than Muslims in the colonial
context, marked women and the home as a site of cultural self-assertion and resistance
imagined as autonomous from the intrusions of the state and the outside world
overall (Chatterjee 1989; Devji 1991). Explicit concern with the colonial culture
was not, however, at stake in Tabligh writings: it was, rather, in the first place,
the unreformed, the "pagan," that Maulana Zakariyya wished to exclude: the
grandmothers' stories of jinn and bhzit that were to give way to the fathers' sachchF
kahdniydn, the true and authentic tales.
The Hikayat were also clearly meant-even if not explicitly- to counter those
attracted to Shi'a rituals. These teachings were communicated above all in the emotion-
charged storytelling of the majalis, when the heart-rending stories and poems of
the sufferings of Karbala were recounted, as well as in the physical enactments of
the story in the ta'ziya processions held across north India. These stories engaged
the hearers intensely in the lives of the Prophet's family and above all in devotion
to Imam Husain. The thirties were a period of Sunni-Shi'a competition and conflict
in which a key element was the Shi'a tabarra denunciations of the caliphs who were
among the very Companions celebrated in the Hikdyat: the Shi'a regarded these
caliphs as enemies of Imam 'All and his family. Lest the point be lost that it is
with the other Companions that one ought to engage and whom one ought to
venerate, an epilogue to the Hikdydt explicitly sets out the grounds for speaking
respectfully of the Companions and for criticizing those who fail so to do:
Finally a warning on an extremely important matter is necessary, namely, that in
this age of freedom (dzddi), in which there is a deficiency in religion and many
other matters among us Muslims, there is a particularly marked deficiency in the
respect and deference and recognition of what is due to the noble Companions,
may Allah be pleased with them. Indeed, more than that, people who flaunt religion
come to the point of insulting their dignity, although the noble Companions are
the foundation of religion; they are the first propagators of religion.
(Malik ed., p. 181; Faizi ed., p. 268)
The argument for revering the Companions was made not only in such explicit
statements but was communicated in the text by its very style.
Just as John Bowen's article in this series stresses the importance of the evocation
of grief in engaging the listeners to the Gayo songs, the stories of the Companions
presented here-like the Shi'a stories of Karbala-are above all stories of hardship
and grief. A central theme in the Hikayat is that life is enormously hard but that,
for those who endure, there is reward. The stories are of stoning, mutilation, chains
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