Does Tablighi Jamaat have terrorist links?
A. The association between Tablighi Jamaat and Islamic violence (or jihadism) will be explored in greater detail elsewhere on this website.Tablighi Jamaat claims to be non-political and non-violent. But certainly this is not the full story. There has been real concern about the radicalising effect TJ teaching has on some young men, preparing them for militant Islamism. The intelligence services in France – where Tablighi Jamaat are particularly strong – have referred to the sect as the “antechamber of fundamentalism” and a “fertile breeding ground for terrorism”.The New York Times reported (14 July 2003) that the FBI international terrorist section “found that al-Qaeda used them (TJ) for recruiting now and in the past.”A militant jihadi group like Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, which in October 2005 was banned by the UK government under the Terrorism Act 2000, can claim that “our people are mostly impressed by the TJ. Most of our workers come from the TJ.”Close links have been noted between Tab
