Tabligh Movement
1. MAULANA ILYAS
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stammer due to the impediment in his speech. It
was this extraordinary figure, known as Maulana
Ilyas, who founded the Tablighi Jama’at, which was
to inspire in thousands of people a religious zeal
which had been unknown for centuries. Although
frail to the point of physical weakness, he possessed
great inner strength which provided solutions to
every problem he was confronted with. His
indomitable will and staunchness of purpose in
guiding people along the right path lead him to
exert himself in a manner which many a physically
stronger person would have found arduous.
EARLY CIRCUMSTANCES
If one climbed a high building in Delhi at the turn
of the 19th century, one could see a few buildings
scattered here and there in the vicinity of sprawling
jungles. This was the place famous for the shrine of
Nizamuddin Aulia, which has given its name to the
place. Maulana Mohd. Ismail, a religious scholar,
who died in 1898, lived there. In his eagerness to
help the people, he had taken to seeking out
labourers in that forsaken place, offering them his
help, and fetching water for them to drink. Then he
