Parrots of Paradise - Symbols of the Super-Muslim: Sunnah, Sunnaization and Self-Fashioning in the Islamic Missionary Movements Tablighi Jama'at, Da'wat-e Islami and Sunni Da'wat-e Islami

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Abstract

In 1981 Muhammad Ilyas Qadri Attar founded the Barelwi version of the Tablighi Jamaat, the Dawat-e Islami, in Karachi. Dawat-e Islami copies structure and activities of Tablighi Jamaat, but differs from them in appearance mainly because of the green turban. The green colour of the turban has led to their popular label "jannat ke tute", parrots of paradise. Employing peer pressure and rewarding conformity, they impose a strict dress code on their adherents and are organised in small units of lay preachers, who invite for weekly and annual congregations. They stress the strict and literal imitation of the life of the Prophet in all aspects of the daily routine. As missionary, the lay preacher has to act like an ideal Muslim, a Super-Muslim, so to speak. The "Islamic Project" of these three movements is the "Sunnaization", that is the Re-shaping and Re-construction of the daily routine and the individual markers of identity based on the examples of the Prophet and the Salaf as portrayed in the Hadith-Literature.