KEEPING BUSY ON THE PATH OF ALLAH: THE SELF-ORGANISATION (INTIZƒM) OF THE TABL‡GH ‡ JAMƒAT

n recent years the Islamic missionary movement of the Tabl†gh † Jam…at has attracted increasing attention, not only in South Asia, but around the globe. This is partly to do with the huge number of followers assembling at its annual congregations in India, Bangladesh or Pakistan, often counting between one and two millions. This attention is also generated by the fact that traditional Islam did not know an organised proselytising movement until the Tabl†gh † Jam…at was formed. The by now global network of its activities is another instance where Southasian Islam has contributed to the evolution of global Islamic activism. While their congregations-- ijtim… -- create much publicity and the groups of their travelling preachers are widely known and recognised among Muslims, little is known outside the movement about the way it operates on a daily basis, how it organises its activities on a mass scale. This self-organisation in daily parlance is called intiz…m (administration). But in writing it is rarely admitted to exist. The current paper is based on interviews with informants in Aligarh, Bho