After India saw a sudden spurge in the COVID-19 cases following the congregation of Islamic preachers at Nizamuddin in New Delhi,the organisers of the Tablighi Jamaat have come under scanner of the authorities for the alleged violation of various guidelines.

The congregation of preachers that took place in early March in Banglawali Masjid in Nizamuddin area where Markaz (headquarters) of the Jamaat is located, allegedly was marked by over 800 foreign nationals from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan.

So far 10 participants of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation including a Filipino national have succumbed to coronavirus while 285 people staying at the Markaz were admitted to hospitals for suspected coronavirus cases.

You must be wondering what us Tablighi Jamaat. Here’s everything you want to know about the group:

What is Tablighi Jamaat?

Set up nearly 100 years ago in 1926, by Deobandi Islamic scholar Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Khandhalawi as a religious reform movement, the Tablighi Jamaat aimed to inculcate “true” Islam among the “Umma” (Global Islamic community), as Muslims at the time felt that their political and religious identities were being compromised under the British Raj.

Considered as an influential spiritual movement in the world, the Jamaat is now understood to have been plagued with factionalism emanating from centres in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

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.

How large is the group?

Tablighi Jamaat is now a global religious movement, with followers in more than 80 countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia and the US. With its own headquarters in every country it operates in, its global spiritual centre remains the Markaz (centre) in Delhi.

The Markaz comprises a mosque and dormitories that can accommodate 5,000 people.

In Bangladesh, it holds an event called the BiswaIjtema which is believed to be the second-largest gathering of Muslims in the world after the Haj.

The group also has some famous personalities like Shahid Afridi, Inzamam ul-Haq, Hashim Amla, among others, as its followers.

COVID-19 and Tablighi Jamaat

According to the government, over 2,000 foreigners from 70 countries arrived in India since January 1 to participate in Jamaat activities with over 1,000 got stuck at Nizamuddin due to the lockdown. Many of them had a six-month tourist visa.

After sudden announcement of ‘Janta Curfew’ on March 22 followed by a similar action by the Delhi Government and ultimately a 21-day lockdown announced by the Prime Minister, a large number of the Jamaat members got stuck at the Markaz while about 1,500 had left.

Alarm bells started ringing with the death of an Indonesian citizen who had participated in the congregation and was travelling in Telangana. He was found COVID-19 positive on March 18.