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History of Islam and Muslims in Trinidad
- By Mohammed Rafeeq
- Published 12/30/2009
- Trinidad Muslim League
- Unrated
THE ANJUMAN SUNNAT-UL-JAMAAT
The Anjuman Sunnat-ul-Jamaat Association was founded mainly on account of the differences caused by the preaching and reforms of the Tackveeyatul Islamic Association. After a controversy on the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Bill around the year 1933, a few members "seceded" from the T.I.A. and formed the Sunnat-ul-Jamaat Association.
This association represented the Hanafi School of Thought who formed the bulk of the Muslim community and administered to the needs of their particular section. It was incorporated in 1935.
This association carried on a relentless propaganda against Moulvi Ameer Ali and opposed him in even those things which were of common interest to both associations. This attitude of opposition began to eat at the core of the Muslim Community and hampered both associations from making any appreciable progress. Slowly a gulf began to open which in a quarter of a century became so wide that there were two distinct communities in the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Sunnat-ul-Jamaat sent a representative to India to select a Moulvi who could successfully bolster up the waning spirit of the Anjuman which was now growing lethargic. Moulvi Nazeer Ahmad Seemab came in the latter part of 1935. The failure of his mission and the weakness of his leadership was discerned from the very first week of his arrival, when he failed to persuade his organisation to accept an invitation of welcome for him from the Tackveeyatul Islamic Association. Instead of bridging the gulf he left it just the same or made it a little wider. He had to suppress many of his ideas which blended with those of the T.I.A. in order to appease his benefactors, but whatever of his ideas he divulged in secret bred a new section within his own community. He left for his homeland around 1937.
This association represented the Hanafi School of Thought who formed the bulk of the Muslim community and administered to the needs of their particular section. It was incorporated in 1935.
This association carried on a relentless propaganda against Moulvi Ameer Ali and opposed him in even those things which were of common interest to both associations. This attitude of opposition began to eat at the core of the Muslim Community and hampered both associations from making any appreciable progress. Slowly a gulf began to open which in a quarter of a century became so wide that there were two distinct communities in the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Sunnat-ul-Jamaat sent a representative to India to select a Moulvi who could successfully bolster up the waning spirit of the Anjuman which was now growing lethargic. Moulvi Nazeer Ahmad Seemab came in the latter part of 1935. The failure of his mission and the weakness of his leadership was discerned from the very first week of his arrival, when he failed to persuade his organisation to accept an invitation of welcome for him from the Tackveeyatul Islamic Association. Instead of bridging the gulf he left it just the same or made it a little wider. He had to suppress many of his ideas which blended with those of the T.I.A. in order to appease his benefactors, but whatever of his ideas he divulged in secret bred a new section within his own community. He left for his homeland around 1937.