The largest gathering of Muslims in Southern Africa officially kicks off today at the Laudium sports ground in Pretoria north of Johannesburg. Thousands of people are expected to attend the Laudium Ijtima which takes from the 14th of April until the 17th of April 2017.
The three-day event hosted by the Tabligh Jamaat was revived in 1926 by Moulana Muhammad Ilyas Khandhlawi in the rural Mewat villages surrounding New Delhi in India after he became distressed by the lack of Islamic knowledge and practice amongst people.
Expected to draw more than 30,000 people for Jumuah (Friday) alone, Radio Islam’s Moulana Obeidullah Boja says the core focus of the Ijtima is to bring Muslims together for the purpose of promoting the importance, imbibing, learning and practicing of Islam.
“The objective of the Ijtima is we can revive the Islamic spirit and conscientize the believers of their responsibility. The most important of all is to connect the creation to the creator and by doing this Insha’Allah it is hoped that this objective can be achieved by the masses of people attending.”
During the Ijtima, senior Islamic scholars from across the country as well as an international contingent address the masses towards self-reformation and adherence to an Islamic way of life as espoused by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Traffic into the venue is expected to be particularly congested throughout the weekend with people attending the Ijtima being advised to exercise patience.
For more information visit http://www.ijtima.co.za/
[Source: Faizal Patel/ Radio Islam]
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From the writing by Goolam Vahed called “Contesting ‘Orthodoxy’: The Tablighi–Sunni conflict among South African Muslims in the 1970s and 1980s”, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Volume 23 (2); October 2003:
A moulood celebration being held by Ahle Sunnah Wal Jama’ah at the Civic Centre in Azaadville, Transvaal, on 7 March 1987, was disrupted by the Tablighis, led by Mawlana Eshaq. In the weeks preceding the occasion Tablighis declared the celebration bida’ (innovation) and shirk (idolatry), and urged Muslims to boycott it. A petition containing 1500 signatures, calling on the local city council to ban the ceremony, was turned down. While the moulood was in progress, several hundred Tablighis entered the hall and disrupted the function. During the altercation 55-year-old Sheik Mohideen Saib was killed and six others badly injured, while food was thrown onto the floor. A protest meeting in Durban by the Ahle Sunnat Wa Jamaat drew 3000 supporters. Following condemnation of the violence, the Sunnat Jamaat sent a telex to Law and Order Minister Adrian Vlok, bearing 7000 signatures, asking for a judicial inquiry into the incident.