The Inculturation of a Transnational Islamic Missionary Movement: Tablighi Jamaat Al-Dawa and Muslim Society in Southern Thailand‪.‬

Introduction The Tablighi Jamaat (TJ) is a transnational Islamic pietist movement that emerged in India in 1927 and expanded to all countries where Muslims live, making it one of the most successful missionary movements in the world. Members of the TJ leave their home for three days to as long as a year, functioning in small groups (jamaat) to proselytize among fellow Muslims. The TJ thrives in secular countries such as Thailand, where Muslims find themselves in a minority situation, but despite a few ethnographic studies on the subject, little is known about the interaction of TJ missionaries with ordinary villagers in Southern Thailand or Southeast Asia. The focus of this essay is on the relationship between the monotheistic religion of Islam and Thai culture, and by extension, on the absorption of TJ ideas and values into a rural Southeast Asian society. Special attention is paid to the negotiation of Islamic ritual in what is already a traditional Muslim society. By concentrating its activities on standardized ritual rather than educational text, the TJ redirects the priorities of ordinary Muslims towards Islamic piety and the religious sphere, and away from Malay spiritual and ancestor worship. A comparison is made between the massive influence of the TJ in peaceful Thai-speaking Nakhon Sri Thammarat on the east coast of Southern Thailand between the Gulf of Thailand and the Tenasserim mountain range, and in the Malay-speaking Mayo district in the restless Patani province. In both cases, Muslim villages exist as neighbours to Thai Buddhist villages. While Thai Muslims in Nakhon Sri Thammarat are a small minority, Malay Muslims form the overwhelming majority in Mayo. Mayo is characterized by high incidents of violence as well as a massive presence of the Thai military since the escalation of conflict in 2004. Because of the TJ's non-political stance and heavy focus on religious piety, the Thai government tends to turn a blind eye on its activities.