The first time that I arrived in India was on March 2000 for the IPB journey. After a few days at Nizamuddin Markaz, we were gathered in a jamaat for tasykil. This time six other persons also joined us - Abdul Latif from Johor and Hafiz from Sarawak, both are haafiz of the Qur'an; Azwa, an Indonesian who lived in Malaysia; Engku Zainuddin and Pak Awang from Terengganu and another person whom I could not recall.
Whilst in Bangladesh our jamaat of six Malaysians were combined with eight local brothers and the amir was amongst us Malaysians. In India, two Malaysian jamaat of six persons each were combined together making a jamaat of twelve Malaysians and two local brothers. The amir was from the local brother. Our amir was Abdul Aziz Mehdi from Tamil Nadu. He could speak urdu as well as his native language, Tamil and he also could speak a little English. His understanding of English language was better than spoken. Our jamaat had been tasykil to Bilaspur and Bhilai in Madhya Pradesh (MP).
We took a train to Bilaspur, MP from Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station. The journey itself was about nineteen hours of exotic experience. I had rarely travelled by train in Malaysia, I recalled only a couple of time in my lifetime. However, I had travelled by train across fourteen countries in Europe within a month during my student days: England-Belgium-Netherlands-Denmark-Sweden-Norway-Germany-Austria-Italy-Switzerland-Cote d'Azur-Spain-Morocco-Spain-France-England. Even then the excitement and experience of travelling by train in India is beyond imagination.
Every few minutes there were voices of chaiwalas that cried "Chai! Chai! Garam chai!" At first I was amused with the chaiwalas who walked back and forth passing us. Occasionally, we stop the chaiwalas for a few cups of chai. One cup was not enough since we were used to chai that was served in a big glass in Malaysia. One thing for sure, the best chai is from India and Pakistan. Eventually, the voices of chaiwalas became irritating while you were sleeping or trying to get a nap. Many other sellers also walked back and forth on the train selling all sort of things that you would never imagine were saleable in Malaysia.
Back then in the year 2000, Madhya Pradesh (MP) were governed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu nationalist political party. Unlike other states that were governed by the majority Congress Party, the MP state prohibited the slaughtering of cows that were considered sacred by the Hindus. Buffaloes could be slaughtered but not cows. In fact most cows were adorned with colourful fabric, bells and turmeric powder and wondering around on streets and even in train stations. When we entered the state of Madhya Pradesh, we could see piles of bones from dead cows on the fields along the train line. What a waste of food that could benefit poor peoples. But of course the Hindus think differently from us Muslims.
On the other hand, there was a couple of circumstances that really amazed me in relation to the Hindus in India that I encountered on the journey. In the first circumstances, when two or three of us were praying with jamaah in the train at a time on the walkway. It is possible to perform solat with jamaah on the Indian trains as the carriage space is large, well at least they are larger than Malaysian trains. Whilst we were praying, all the people on both side of the walkway stopped and quietly waited until we finished our prayer. We could hear them whispering to the people behind, "Musalman namaz" (Muslims are praying). I was blown away and overwhelmed as to how considerate they were to us. Even the chaiwala patiently waited for us to finish our prayer. Allah Ta'ala had certainly honoured us. On another occasion in Bhillai or Bilaspur, a few Hindu mothers huddling their babies waited at the steps outside the masjid asking us to bless their children. "Baba! Baba!" they called us and nudged their babies towards us. We were really astonished by the sight, so much so that we did not know how to react. A local brother told us to recite Fatiha and pray for hidayat for them. So we recited surah Fatiha and blew softly on the babies' foreheads. May Allah give hidayat to the mothers and the children.
Haji Sheikh Aslam, an old-karkun in his 50s from Bilaspur joined us for the duration of our chillah in Madhya Pradesh. He acted as an assistant to our amir, rehber (guide) and translator to our jamaat.
Throughout our tasykil in Bhillai and Bilaspur, we were urged not to wonder out from masjid alone without any local brother accompanying us. Perhaps they were worried of any harm that might befall us especially our safety as foreign mehman (guest). Back then, I also noticed that some of the local Muslims were not so friendly with us. I came across a few persons who looked like namazi people but would not return our smile and salam. They looked angry all the time. Once, on our way moving from a masjid to another masjid, an auto-rickshaw driver mistakenly dropped some of our jamaat at a different masjid rather than on the stated rukh (route). Before we could perform solat tahiyyat-ul masjid, two or three persons came rushing towards us yelling, "Tablighi jamaat! Khanna, pinna, sonna, pakhana karna. Jao! Jao!" I leave it to you to find out the meaning yourself...haha. Though we ended up leaving the masjid to join the rest of our jamaat at the intended masjid, we had a good laugh about what happened.
I heard certain people said that at the time, the Muslims of Madhya Pradesh were predominantly Barelwis and the Barelwis did not like tablighi jamaat because they were seen as Deobandis, or some Barelwis even associating the jamaat with Wahabbis, particularly the jamaat from Arab countries. However, to me it was just plain ignorance or lack of knowledge on certain people. Hadzrat Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Ludhianwi rahmatullaahi alayhi said, "The phrase "Deobandi-Barelwi difference" is surprising and odd. There is no sound basis for any difference between the Deobandis and Barelwis. The reason being that both these groups are passionate followers of the Hanafi madzhab. In so far as Aqaa'id both these groups accept and follow the teachings of Imaam Abul Hassan Ash'ari and Imaam Abu Mansoor Maturidi rahmatullaahi alayhim. Both these groups accept and take ba'yt to all four silsilahs of tasawwuf, viz. Qaadiri, Chisti, Saharwardi and Naqsyabandi. Both theses groups are in all respect followers of the Ahle Sunnah Wal Jamaah.They also acknowledge to and accept the reverence of the Sahabah, Tabi'een and Aimmah-e-Mujtahiddeen. They are muqallids of Hadzrat Imam Abu Hanfah rahmatullaahi alayhi and accept the authority right up to Mujaddid Alfe Thaani and Shah Abdul Aziz Muhaddith Dehlawi rahmatullaahi alayhima. However, there are some differences between these two groups in a few masaa'il.... With regard to these masaa'il, that group is on haq whose beliefs are in conformity with the Qur'an, Sunnah of Nabi Sallaalaahu Alayhi Wasallam, practices of the Sahabah radiyalaahu anhum and the fiqh of Imam Abu Hanifah rahmatullaahi alayhi (as a widely accepted madzhad in the Indo-pak continent). The other group is in error."
I mention this karguzari here not to mean any negativity or harm towards anyone or any group of people. Truly it was a precious knowledge and wonderful experience to me. I treasure every single moment of my time during the IPB journey to correct my Imaan and Aamal and for the correction of Imaan and Aamal of all mankind one must struggle to revive the effort of dakwah in the way of Rasulullaah SAW throughout the world.
