Distortion
This is a rather uninformative piece about yet another Islamic group, this one called Tablighi Jamaat, which is ‘believed by western intelligence agencies to be used as a fertile recruiting ground by extremists.’ It looks as if the reporter, not surprisingly, wasn’t able to find out much. But one thing he did find out he doesn’t really seem to have noticed; at least, he doesn’t comment on it. It jumps right out at me.
Thousands of young Muslim men are attending meetings in east London every week run by a fundamentalist Islamic movement…On Thursday evening, the Guardian witnessed around 3,000 men from as far afield as Great Yarmouth and the Isle of Wight stream through the backstreets of Stratford to the meeting. There, at the gates of a seemingly derelict industrial site, men in fluorescent jackets waved those who are known to the Tablighi Jamaat hierarchy under a security barrier…Seconds later, the main man stood next to his red van in Islamic dress and a smart blue waistcoat as hundreds of men, many carrying suitcases and sleeping bags, filed past him…The English-speaking room heaved as a sea of faces, white, black and Asian, spilled into the hallway. Most were teenagers and men in their 20s and 30s dressed in Islamic dress, caps and beards. Some came in suits and ties, others in jeans and hoodies. There were old men too, who weaved slowly through to the front of the room, and a few young boys.
Well there’s part of your problem right there. Frankly it’s very difficult not to think that a lot of this just boils down to stupid guy stuff. To men segregating themselves and then egging each other on to do stupider and stupider guy stuff. It’s so difficult that I won’t even bother to try.
The Times also tells us a little about Tablighi Jamaat.
Some suspects, including Mr Sarwar, 25, joined Tablighi Jamaat, an international missionary sect encouraging followers to live like the Prophet, growing beards and praying five times a day. Volunteers are sent around Britain from mosque to mosque, bringing only a sleeping bag and provisions. By day they tour Muslim communities, knocking on doors to discuss faith with the men of the house and inviting them to evening gatherings.
To discuss ‘faith’ with the men of the house. See? Women aren’t even on the map, aren’t on the radar, aren’t anything to do with anything. They’re just furniture, cattle, household appliances. Well, that’s part of your problem right there.
Did you actually expect anything better from any religious believers?
Never mind those whose sacred text includes: … “Women are inferior to men and subject to their orders”
Well everyone knows the first rule of Tablighi Jamaat is you don’t talk about Tablighi Jamaat — no wonder the reporter didn’t dig up anything.
No, GT, I didn’t expect anything better; could we take that as read, now? Could you stop asking me that? It amounts to telling me to stop saying anything at all because it’s all so obvious. Well maybe so, but I don’t think so, so can we just agree to differ on that and move on?
I didn’t know that was the first rule of Tablighi Jamaat! But it’s pretty obvious that the reporter just reported what was visible to any observer. Lotta guys here. Okay, got that…
Yes, you have a point Ophelia but the apparent invisibility of the women does not mean that they are not fully paid up members! They probably organise much of the background work than any of us realise. And they likely are as extremist as their brothers; the beauty of this particular ideology is that such female extremism manifests itself not in showing up for combat duty but in an ostentatious self-seclusion. Their women will niqab themselves and their baby girls and carry out cyber jihad. Some may even harangue their men to martyr themselves. Like with the canadian terror suspects’ young wives.
mirax
That’s a bone-chilling scenario –especially because you must be right.
OB: your remark to GT is well-taken. As Isaac Asimov used to say: “Consider the obvious carefully; it is bound to be overlooked.”
mirax: For a long time I have believed that one of the commonest means we adopt to reduce our cognitive dissonance to a tolerable level is that of radical identification of self with oppressor.
Might something like that be at work in the lives of the Tablighi Jamaat Women’s Auxiliary?
It really is just Stupid Guy Stuff. Excuse me for perhaps debasing the enquiry here, but a lot of this does remind me of that sick hardcore of English football hooliganism, and how its ‘rows’ (mass, bloody back-street battles)are secretly, sophisticatedly orchestrated by relatively powerful absolutist devotees who in reality despite their pledges of faith to the object of their worship, (whether it be Chelski or Millwall etc), their real goal is the violence itself. And they love whipping up the mindless footsoldiers’ aggression using any spurious hate-talk that they can before a match. If anyone’s remotely interested in this idea, do try and watch the Football Factory. It’s chilling how at home the mindset would be in the Lebanon right now… or perhps in the ‘other’ East end of London mentioned in this article… or have I gone a step too far ?
Thanks for that Nick S. Football hooliganism is one of the type examples of the us-them category crime, and the wonderfully addicting brain chemicals to be had for engaging in those ‘rows’.
Its the same as activism, just more explicitly violent.
Hmm – “same as activism” – ha!
I started wondering about all this when I read Bill Buford’s excellent “Among the Thugs”, an account from his experiences in the 80s having infiltrated a football ‘firm’.
What grabbed me was his departure from the hitherto conventional wisdom in the UK (from a social sciences perspective) that the violence was a spontaneous expression of anger and frustration and specifically resulted from the hooligans’ economic and social deprivation. Phooey he said, they just love doing it, have detailed planning process, distinct hierarchies, and while they can afford the international travel, they have to revert to criminal tactics to avoid being detected by Intrpol – which gives them yet another source for an adrenaline rush, adding also as tit does to the ‘crusader abroad’ mentality. (Why else are away shirts so much more important to this day for some footie lads?)
I hope there’s a parallel that doesn’t need further elucidation here… ? Perhaps just a book then !