On Thursday 31st July 2025, Mufti Taqi Usmani gave a Bayan during the Shabe Juma at the Saad Markaz in Mozambique. Many have commentated that some parts of the speech was an indirect attack on Saad’s controversial speeches (without mentioning Saad).
Introduction by Host
My brothers, friends, and elders, we have a very great personality with us. Through his coming, whatever problems exist in our country due to our actions and deeds, Allah will remove them and replace them with mercies, mutual love, and divine decisions. When such great personalities come and are seen by people, when they pass through the city, faith is generated in people’s hearts, and piety is created.
Hazrat Sheikh (referring to Mufti Taqi Usmani) is such a personality in the field of da’wah and blessings. He has rendered such scholarly services and made such sacrifices. He belongs to the family of Hazrat Usman (may Allah be pleased with him). You can see that great scholars have come – some have come from South Africa, praise be to Allah, students from Dar-ul-Uloom have come from England, some are arriving from Sri Lanka tomorrow. Why? Just for one or two days to have the honor of meeting Hazrat. Everyone agrees with his fatwas (religious rulings). In Islamic finance and economics, there is no one like him in this world, as I have heard from my teachers and where I have studied.
Allah has blessed us – let us listen to him with attention. He is such a great person, yet his speech is very simple, so listen carefully and attentively. May Allah accept this gathering, and let us sit with the intention that we will act upon what he says. Look, when a doctor prescribes medicine, you must take the medicine – only then will you be cured. So we should sit with the intention of acting, not just with the intention of listening. We will all do this, God willing.
Mufti Taqi Usmani Speech: Initial Remarks
Greeting and Initial Remarks
Assalamualaykum, My respected elders and friends.
This is a matter of great fortune and blessing for me that Allah Almighty has granted me the opportunity to meet and speak with you today. No matter how much I thank Allah Almighty for this, it is still insufficient. Praise be to Allah. In the few moments I spent here with my friends, I realized that, praise be to Allah, through Allah’s grace and mercy, there are mature scholars present in this country as well. Through them, Allah Almighty is taking the work of education and preaching – work which is like a healing prescription for this country, indeed for the entire world, but especially for this country. May Allah Almighty accept your services and your work, and make it a means of goodness, blessing, and reform for all the inhabitants.
About Friday Night Gatherings
Today’s gathering is a Friday night assembly at the Tabligh Markaz. By Allah’s grace and mercy, wherever in the world the work of Tabligh Jamaat exists, Friday nights are observed there. In these gatherings, the teachings of Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) are discussed. Every person develops a desire and yearning for their own reformation, and the great mission of religious invitation and preaching receives tremendous strength from these assemblies.
I want to thank Allah, the Exalted, and I want to express gratitude to those who enabled me to reach here and see all of you.
Praise for Tabligh Jamaat’s Work
The tremendous work that Tabligh Jamaat has undertaken worldwide to spread religion is unparalleled in this era. The truth is that Allah Almighty – may Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ilyas (may Allah sanctify his secret and elevate his ranks, may Allah fill his grave with light) – Allah Almighty had created in his chest a desire for Muslims to follow the religion, like a fire in his heart. That fire in his chest is still burning today, praise be to Allah.
This is my experience – my personal experience – and every Muslim is a witness to this: that Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, has brought about revolutions in lives through this Jamaat. People who were completely unaware of religion, who had no concern for religion whatsoever, who were occupied with worldly affairs and play – Allah, glory be to Him, through the work of this Jamaat, made them such committed Muslims that now they themselves have become callers to truth, and through them the light of religion is reaching others.
Allah, the Blessed and Exalted – what a level of sincerity Hazrat Maulana Ilyas (may Allah sanctify his secret) possessed! That sincerity spread the light of Islam throughout the world and continues to spread it. May Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, grant further progress in this work.
Mufti Taqi Usmani Speech: Personal Experiences and Transition to Critical Concerns
Personal Experiences with Maulana Yusuf
I did not have the honor of meeting Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ilyas (may Allah sanctify his secret), but I was blessed by Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, with the opportunity to hear the speeches and addresses of Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Yusuf Sahib (may Allah have mercy on him), his son, and to remain in his company. I consider this a very great favor of Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, upon me.
When he used to deliver speeches – not just one or two, but I had the opportunity to hear dozens of his speeches, praise be to Allah – he used to come to our Dar-ul-Uloom whenever he visited Karachi. Hazrat would arrange his speeches inside Dar-ul-Uloom, and Hazrat Maulana Inamul Hasan (may Allah have mercy on him) would organize them.
When he would speak, even insignificant people like us could feel that a furnace was burning in his chest, and he would transfer that fire from his chest to his listeners in such a way that it would affect every heart.
Major Success of Tabligh Jamaat
Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, has taken as much work from this Jamaat as perhaps none of the countless organizations and groups established in the world have been able to produce such results and such great outcomes as Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, has blessed this Jamaat with.
In the beginning, it was said that Tabligh Jamaat does not give importance to religious schools (madrasas) or does not value scholars. But it is evident to the eyes that as a result of Tabligh Jamaat’s efforts, so many religious schools have been established around the world that there is no end to them. Therefore, sometimes futile objections are raised against Tabligh Jamaat, which are actually the result of ignorance and lack of experience – there is no truth in them.
Transition to Critical Concerns
Whenever I have the opportunity to attend madrasas and speak with scholars, students, and teachers, I spend less time describing the virtues of religious schools, but I focus more on drawing attention to what kind of shortcomings are developing among us that might reduce, limit, or eliminate the benefits of these madrasas.
Therefore, the main purpose of today’s gathering is that we should not be satisfied merely by describing virtues – that is, by describing the virtues of the Jamaat and the benefits of the Jamaat’s work. Rather, if there are any weaknesses within us, or if there is anything that is gradually taking us in some other direction, we should understand this and try to remedy it.
For this purpose, I want to present a few submissions briefly before you, and I present them with the hope that this should not be interpreted as opposition, but rather should be understood as an attempt by a friend, a well-wisher, to point out certain matters. These should be pondered over with a cool heart so that when any work appears to be growing and progressing – when any religious work appears to be advancing – Satan never rests, and he tries to create cracks in it. Sometimes we ourselves become the cause of this.
Therefore, we should always keep ourselves ready for self-accountability. Every one of us, no matter how much he may be practicing religion, whether he is regular in prayer, performs tahajjud (night prayers), does dhikr (remembrance of Allah), or recites tasbih (glorification) – he too should constantly examine himself to see where he is making mistakes. And when someone points out such a mistake, he should not consider that person an opponent but should consider him a well-wisher and should listen to and understand what he says.
Introduction to the Four Major Issues
I want to draw your attention with great sincerity, sympathy, and well-wishing to several fundamental matters. The first and most basic point that I want to bring to your attention with utmost concern, compassion, and goodwill is regarding the behavior, manner of speech, speeches, and statements of those who are active in the work of Tabligh Jamaat…
Mufti Taqi Usmani Speech: First and Second Major Issues
First Major Issue – Exclusivity and Sectarian Mentality
The first and most fundamental point that I want to draw to your attention with great sincerity, sympathy, and well-wishing is this: due to the behavior, manner of speech, speeches, and statements of those who are active in the work of Tabligh Jamaat, an impression has spread extensively among common people that if there is any religious work, it is only the work of Tabligh Jamaat.
Religion is confined only to this particular method of preaching – where someone does a three-day commitment, someone does a forty-day commitment, someone does a four-month commitment, someone does a year-long commitment. Anyone who does not do this work is unaware of religion, is not someone who practices religion, and all other religious works being done are basically useless.
Sometimes the impression develops that they are useless, or that they do not have the correct understanding of religion, or that they are not practicing religion in the correct way. Therefore, they are “others,” they are distant. “Ours” are those who are in Tabligh Jamaat, who go out in Tabligh Jamaat, who do three-day commitments, who participate in this particular group in this particular way. The “other” person is such that he deserves to be greeted and met with, and under the respect due to a Muslim, some honor can be shown to him, but he cannot be a true bearer of religion, he cannot be someone who truly practices religion unless he joins this particular method, this Jamaat’s method, and does three-day and forty-day commitments and goes out with them on rounds.
This impression has spread to such an extent that it has no limits. I have seen countless manifestations of this with my own eyes. As a result, I fear that if this impression continues to grow, it might take the form of a sect. I want to speak openly with you so that what is in my heart reaches you without any ambiguity.
One consequence of this has reached the point where it is being said that preaching and invitation can only be done through speech, not through writing. If someone calls others to religion through writing, through books, through magazines, through letters, that is not da’wah, that is not tabligh. If someone considers it tabligh, then he is wrong. This is how far the matter has been taken, which means that in the entire fourteen hundred years of history, all those who worked for religion, who wrote books for the preaching and propagation of religion, who interpreted the Quran, who taught hadith, who conveyed the rulings of jurisprudence (fiqh) to people – all of that is useless. It is not included in da’wah at all, it is not included in tabligh at all. All of it is outside da’wah and tabligh. Such statements are now being made.
When something is created that was neither presented by the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him), nor existed in the time of the noble Companions – there were no forty-day commitments there, no rounds there, no three-day commitments there – but if this is made mandatory, then it becomes innovation (bid’ah). I am saying this to you with a very heavy heart.
I have seen with my own eyes that a great scholar was taken to an Ijtema- it was not Friday morning, it was some Tabligh Ijtema. There he was introduced, saying that he is a great scholar, he has rendered great service, written many books, served religion. From the gathering, a question was raised by someone who said: “Tell us, how many forty-day commitments has he done? He is a scholar, so how many forty-day commitments has he done?” This question was being asked in the gathering. If this mentality continues to develop, and if this mentality is not eliminated, then this will become a sect and this will become innovation.
There is a very sincere person who writes me a very long letter almost every month. In this letter, he says that if you want to be saved from hell, the only way is that you do some forty-day commitment. Otherwise, you have no way to be saved from hell. In short, this is a mentality that is gradually developing – it is developing from speeches. It may be that in speeches, things are said with limits and conditions, but the mentality being formed is that this particular method is a religious obligation (fard-e-‘ain).
This particular method was adopted for convenience, adopted for benefit, and much benefit was derived from it. But to say that whoever is not working through this particular method is not doing da’wah, is not doing tabligh – this is something that will make it an innovation. May Allah Almighty protect this great work that Hazrat had started. May Allah keep it on its correct path and grant the ability to avoid the wrong path.
Second Major Issue – Rights of People (Huquq al-Ibad)
The second matter, which is also very important, is this: here generally in speeches, sermons, and statements, a mentality is created whereby the rights of people (huquq al-‘ibad) are pushed to the background. All the virtues are for those who make sacrifices, and making parents cry, neglecting the rights of wife and children, neglecting the rights of relatives – this too is considered part of religion. And it is said that if parents do not give permission, then you go out without their permission. If your wife is alone, then leave her alone and go.
This teaching is generally not given by senior figures, but junior speakers in their speeches and statements make such remarks.
I am an eyewitness to such a case where someone developed enthusiasm for forty-day commitments. Now his wife is pregnant and he doesn’t have money for food. He says: “You earn yourself, I am going out in Allah’s path, I am going out in Jamaat (Khuruj fi sabil Allah).” Brother, your exodus will be accepted by Allah, Allah Almighty will Himself be pleased and will set your affairs right. Such problems are arising.
Why? Because although the six principles include ikram-e-Muslim (honoring Muslims) as an important principle, and ikram-e-Muslim includes the fulfillment of all people’s rights, instead of emphasizing this, they say: “Look, Hazrat Hanzala (may Allah be pleased with him) left his wife on the first night itself and went to war. You should also do the same and act likewise. This is going out in Jamaat (Khuruj fi sabil Allah), so for this, leave your wives, leave your mothers and go.”
Brother, at that time there was a general call (nafir-e-‘am). Allah Almighty had made it obligatory upon every person. He went in that situation. Now if you say that every Muslim should, after getting married, first do this – that even before proper marital relations are established, he should go and do a forty-day commitment – then you are creating this mentality among people.
Leaving mother behind, father is sick and needs your service, leaving him and going – what kind of religion is this? Two Companions came to the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him) and said: “O Messenger of Allah, we have come with enthusiasm for jihad, we have come for jihad, but we have left our parents crying.” The Noble Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Go back and just as you left them crying, go and make them laugh. You are not acceptable in jihad because you have left your parents in this way.”
So now this mentality that the work we are doing – if someone is not doing it or if he does it, let him do it however he wants, let him neglect the rights of parents, let him neglect the rights of wife, or let him neglect his other obligations, but let him go out in forty-day commitments – for God’s sake, abandon this mentality, abandon it for Allah’s sake. And understand that Allah Almighty’s religion says: “O you who believe! Enter Islam completely.” “Completely” means fulfill everyone’s right.
Hazrat Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) used to stay awake all night and fast all day. His wife complained. The Prophet said to Hazrat Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As – he properly scolded him and said: “Therefore, sometimes fast and sometimes break the fast, sometimes stand in prayer at night and sometimes sleep.” He taught him this. The Noble Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Fulfill everyone’s right.”
The Quran says these are the limits set by Allah. A person who works recognizing these limits will be a Muslim and will truly be following religion. And one who crosses these limits will not be someone who acts upon religion.
Mufti Taqi Usmani Speech: Third Issue and Historical Warning
Third Major Issue – Unqualified Leadership
One major reason for this entire situation is something that the responsible authorities should seriously consider: for giving speeches and delivering sermons to the general public, or for selecting people for the leadership (amarat) of the Jamaat, such people are chosen who do not possess complete and correct knowledge. Through Allah’s grace, they have been blessed with companionship (sohbat), they have been given the opportunity to go out in Jamaat, they have been given the opportunity for prayers and fasting, but the knowledge that is necessary for turning the general public toward religion – that knowledge is missing.
Story of Maulana Ilyas’s Concern
In this context, I want to tell you an incident – a true incident. I am saying it’s true because perhaps some people might think it’s a fabricated story. I heard this directly from my respected father, Hazrat Maulana Mufti Muhammad Shafi Sahib (may Allah have mercy on him), the Grand Mufti of Pakistan. Hazrat Maulana Mufti Muhammad Shafi Sahib (may Allah have mercy on him) is my father, and he was a supporter and extremely helpful to Tabligh Jamaat. Praise be to Allah, I too, following his noble example, consider Tabligh Jamaat as my own Jamaat.
He says that when Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Sahib (may Allah have mercy on him) fell ill during his final illness, my respected father (may Allah sanctify his secret) went to Delhi to visit him during his illness. My elder brother, Hazrat Maulana Mufti Muhammad Rafi Usmani Sahib (may Allah have mercy on him) – he has now passed away from this world – he was also a witness to this, he was also with him.
When they reached Hazrat’s place, people informed them that Hazrat’s health was not good and the doctors or family members had prohibited meetings. So Hazrat Maulana Shafi Sahib (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Fine, we should not trouble Hazrat at all.” The purpose was to visit him, and that has been achieved – we have learned about the situation, we will pray, God willing. Saying this, Maulana Sahib started to leave from there.
But somehow Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Sahib (may Allah have mercy on him) came to know that Mufti Muhammad Shafi Sahib had come and people had told him that he couldn’t meet, so he had gone back. So Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Sahib (may Allah have mercy on him) sent someone to bring him back. Accordingly, Maulana Sahib had left, but that person reached him and conveyed Hazrat’s message that Hazrat Maulana is calling you.
Walid Sahib said: “Brother, let there be no trouble for Hazrat.” He said: “No, he himself has called.” So Hazrat Maulana Sahib reached his service. When he arrived, Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Sahib began to cry profusely, he began to cry loudly. Hazrat Maulana Shafi Sahib (may Allah have mercy on him) thought that perhaps he was crying due to the pain of illness. So Hazrat Maulana Shafi Sahib said: “We are all praying, everyone is praying, God willing, you will recover.”
Hazrat said: “No, no, I am crying about something else. This is worth listening to, especially I am addressing myself and particularly I am addressing the people of knowledge. I am crying because the work of Tabligh Jamaat has spread very much and people are joining it in droves. So I am getting worried that this might be Istidraj (divine respite leading to punishment).”
Istidraj – the people of knowledge know its meaning. The meaning of Istidraj is that sometimes Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, continues to elevate someone in the world – God forbid, His purpose is to give them rope. For example, there is a person who is a sinner, defiant of Allah, and Allah Almighty is favoring him – wealth is coming, success is coming from all directions toward him. God forbid, the Quran says about this: “We shall gradually seize them from where they do not perceive, We will give them respite in such a way that they won’t even know, then We will suddenly seize them”.
Now that person whose entire life was spent in spreading Allah’s religion, at the time of his death, before dying, he had this fear that this might not be respite given to me, this might not be Allah Almighty’s Istidraj, this spreading of the Jamaat might be Istidraj.
Hazrat Maulana Shafi Sahib says: “I was astonished hearing his words. I said with emphasis: ‘Hazrat, this movement is not Istidraj, this movement is not Istidraj.'” He asked: “What proof that it’s not Istidraj? What proof?” So Hazrat Maulana Shafi Sahib said: “The person with whom Istidraj occurs, the thought never even enters his mind that it might be Istidraj. The very fact that you are having this thought that it might be Istidraj is itself proof that it is not Istidraj – it is Allah’s mercy upon you.”
This was one thing he said. The second thing he said was: “I am also crying because I started this work of the Jamaat, but there are more common people in it and fewer people of knowledge (ahl-e-ilm). Therefore, I fear that this might not fall into wrong hands of common people and go on the wrong path. So you should try to ensure that more and more scholars enter this so that they can save it from going on the wrong path.”
The Significance of This Warning
This was the concern of Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ilyas (may Allah have mercy on him) in his final days – that scholars should be more involved so that the work doesn’t deviate from its correct path. But what we see today is quite the opposite of what he had wished for.
Mufti Taqi Usmani Speech: Fourth Issue and Final Call for Reform
Fourth Major Issue – Breaking Basic Principles
Another matter: Tabligh Jamaat had some basic principles. One principle was that Tabligh Jamaat would not issue any fatwa (religious ruling). If someone asks for a fatwa, they should go to the muftis. Tabligh Jamaat would not issue any fatwa. Now fatwas are being issued – Tabligh Jamaat declares this thing halal (permissible), that thing haram (forbidden). And whoever says anything against these fatwas is being called ignorant. They are being told: “They are ignorant, ignorant people have given fatwas.” This never happened before – it is against the principles of Tabligh Jamaat that they should give fatwas.
It is against the principles of Tabligh Jamaat to refute anyone. The principles that continued from the time Hazrat Maulana Ilyas (may Allah have mercy on him) left this world – there was no aspect of refutation in them. It was positive invitation, invitation to positive aspects of religion. No refutation of any sect, no refutation of any group, no refutation of anyone. Now refutation has also become a necessary part.
Refutation of jihad – statements against jihad, saying that religion did not come for fighting. Statements against jihad, and those people who are engaged in jihad are being declared as ignorant, foolish, and lacking understanding of religion, and they are being refuted. There is no refutation of Shias, no refutation of Barelvis, no refutation of Deobandis, no refutation of any sect, but there is refutation of mujahideen (those engaged in jihad). Even though the verses of jihad are being applied to going out for forty-day commitments (khuruj fi sabil Allah), and then refutation of jihad is also happening – that those people who are engaged in jihad don’t understand, the real work was this, this should have been done.
These fatwas and the expression of these thoughts, this refutation which was against the basic principles – that has been abandoned and is being done.
The Tragic Division and Call for Reform
Brothers, I am not saying this with any ill intention. By Allah, I love Tabligh Jamaat, I respect its work, I consider it a path of salvation for this ummah. But if this corruption continues, it will become a sect and will be cut off from the majority of the Muslim ummah. It will divide into two parts – rather, regular fighting has started between the two.
Those people who used to say that jihad should not be done, that jihad should not be undertaken – they have now become involved in killing each other, taking each other’s lives. The matter has reached this point.
And the result of this is that now this is also Tabligh Jamaat and that is also Tabligh Jamaat, this is also a Markaz and that is also a Markaz, forty-day commitments are going from here and forty-day commitments are also going from there. But both are engaged in a tug-of-war with each other. And what happened in Bangladesh – the killing and violence – it is such a big stain on humanity, on Islam, on the name of Tabligh Jamaat that it has no end.
For God’s sake, come to your senses and hold firmly to the real work of da’wah effectively, and also hold onto it for your own reformation. I don’t know how many times I heard this from Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Yusuf (may Allah have mercy on him) with my own ears: “Our name is tabligh (preaching), but we take these people out so that they go for the reformation of their souls (islah-e-nafs), for their own reformation.”
“We don’t want to become such that we are preachers and others are bad, and we are going to correct them. We are going so that we ourselves can reform ourselves. And when we remain in an environment, in a good environment, our own reformation takes place, our soul becomes right.”
This was the original concept which brought about a revolution throughout the world, praise be to Allah. For God’s sake, bring this back and run the organization on this fundamental basis. If it has split into two, then it has split, but we had tried that somehow it should not split. It has split – “Indeed we belong to Allah and indeed to Him we will return” (Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un).
But now look – end the enmity, end the aspect of enmity, and consider whoever is doing Allah’s work of da’wah as your own, whether he is associated with my organization or associated with someone else’s organization. If you do this, then our work will be for Allah, will be with sincerity, will be for Allah’s pleasure, will be beneficial, will be profitable.
And if – God forbid – we do not correct our mistakes, then I see a bad scene ahead. May Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, save us from corruption through His mercy and grant us the ability to do every work for the sake of His special pleasure.
