The group blamed for new Covid-19 outbreak in India
- 2020-04-02 04:59
- By bbc.com
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption Almost 400 cases of Covid-19 have been traced to a Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi The Tablighi Jamaat have come into the spotlight after an event they held in the Indian capital Delhi has spawned a number of Covid-19 clusters across the country. The organisation was founded in 1926 in the northern Indian region of Mewat by prominent Islamic scholar Maulana Mohammed Ilyas Kandhlawi. Its members claim that it is a non-political organisation which aims to build an Islamic society based on the teachings of the Koran. The Jamaat sends out delegates to different countries for 40 days a year and sometimes for shorter durations. The preachers believe in person-to-person contact, so they knock on the doors of ordinary Muslims to give them the message of Islam. The Delhi conference, an annual event, was inaugurated on 3 March though there are differing accounts of when it may have ended. Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption Everyone inside the organisation's building in Delhi were evacuated One of its members, Waseem Ahmed, told BBC Hindi that hundreds of delegates left before the lockdown came into effect on 24 March, but that more than 1,000 followers, including many foreigners, got stranded, as all modes of transport and international flights were cancelled. Tablighi Jamaat is now a global religious movement, with followers in more than 80 countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia and the US. Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption The Biswa Ijtema in Bangladesh is one of the largest gatherings of Muslims in the world The Jamaat also organises big events in other countries. In Bangladesh, it holds an event called the Biswa Ijtema which is believed to be the second-largest gathering of Muslims in the world after the Haj.