Allow Maulana Saad to attend Itema

The Tablighi Jamaat faction loyal to Maulana Saad Kandalvi yesterday demanded that the Indian scholar be allowed to attend the upcoming Biswa Ijtema and chair the first phase of the annual meeting.

The demand came in response to a nine-point demand raised by Ulama Mashayeh of Bangladesh in Suhrawardy capital Udyan on Tuesday calling for a ban on Maulana Saad and his followers in Bishwa Ijtema.

Ulama Mashayeh of Bangladesh is reportedly related to Zubair-ul-Hasan, another Indian Islamic scholar and the fourth emir of the Tablighi Jamaat in India.

At the press conference, a group of Saad’s supporters also proposed an open debate involving Islamic scholars to clear up the “confusion” and “misinformation” allegedly spread by Zubair’s rival faction.

Azim Uddin, khatib of Kakrail Mosque and a supporter of Maulana Saad, said their group operated under the banner of “Ulemas and general members of Dawat and Tablighi”, which is apolitical and follows peaceful principles.

Azim Uddin accused Zubair’s faction of “influencing scholars and using madrasa students to create discord”, which he claimed undermined religious harmony.

He also criticized the Zubair faction’s meeting in Suhrawardy Udyan yesterday, saying “false and misleading statements” were made, leading to public confusion. According to Azim, a group of Saad’s supporters called for unity on November 3, but “provocations by the Zubair faction” widened the rift within the Tablighi Jamaat.

The proposed debate by the pro-Saad faction will feature eminent scholars such as Maulana Arshad Madani of Darul Ulooma Deoband and Mufti Taqi Usmani of Pakistan as moderators. The event is proposed to be held at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque and the event is expected to be attended by government advisers, law enforcement officials and the media, a press conference said.

The pro-Saad faction said that if the airdrop took place, it would be broadcast live.

In addition, a group of Saad supporters, which calls itself the “mainstream” Tabligh Jamaat, demanded that control of the Kakrail mosque and the Biswa Ijtema territory be handed over to them.

They also called for immediate legal action in cases filed against members of the Zubair faction following the death of two Tabliha members in Tongi Ijtema in 2018, as well as incidents that resulted in injuries and casualties in Kishoreganj, Brahmanbaria and Dhaka.

The faction has also demanded a ban on controversial speeches at mosques across Bangladesh, seeking to prevent incitement among followers.