BECOMING SAHABA, SACRIFICE, AND EVERYDAY MIRACLES: WOMEN’S NARRATIVES IN THE TABLIGHI JAMA’AT

Back to Page Authors: Meryem F. Zaman

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Keywords: Islam, South Asia, Revivalism, Anthropology

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Abstract: Islamic movements like the Tablighi Jama’at (conveying group) create segregated movement-spaces to introduce women to movement ideology. The narratives of Tablighi women reveal the ways in which education in these settings impacts their lives, coloring their descriptions of the past, conceptualizations of the present, and imaginings of the future. While each woman’s life story is distinct, women’s narratives as a whole reflect movement-wide schemas of interpretation which disregard the details of specific life stories. Tablighi women’s narratives demonstrate the existence of homogenizing interpretive frameworks which create cohesive accounts out of fragmented lives and build community along the lines envisioned by Ochs and Capp (1996). An examination of these narratives reveals areas where women’s understandings of their selves and agency overlap with those of other female members, and conflict with those of the movement itself. At the heart of these frameworks is the question of Islam: What is the nature of Islam, and what is its relationship to the contemporary world? How ought a believer to live in a world that has moved away from a “true” Islam? What are the markers of a successful Tablighi life? The answers women develop to these questions within the Tablighi Jama’at, and in Islamic movements generally, have implications for women’s experiences outside these movements, influencing women’s interactions with friends, family, and neighbors. Women’s accounts reveal their positioning of themselves within the “Islamic” society their movement strives to bring about, and point to larger collaborative understandings of what it means to live a Muslim life.

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