“We appeal, in particular, to our youth to completely refrain from going out of their homes during this night… stay at home, offer prayers and make du’as… to safeguard all our compatriots from this epidemic,” it says. “We appeal, in particular, to our youth to completely refrain from going out of their homes during this night… stay at home, offer prayers and make du’as… to safeguard all our compatriots from this epidemic,” it says.

With the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in the Capital last month emerging as a COVID-19 hotspot, many Muslim leaders, across sects, have issued a joint appeal asking members of the community to refrain from any kind of fraternising or physical congregation on Shab-e-Bara’at which falls on April 8- 9.

“An effective way to protect ourselves from this virus is to observe social distancing and people should not assemble in any place. It is part of wisdom and expediency that the same is observed during Shab-e Bara’at,” says the three-paragraph message in several languages.

Asking “all Muslims to spend Shab-e Bara’at at home offering prayers, reciting the Holy Quran and doing zikr and du’a”, it says they “should not visit graveyards but pray for their departed relatives while staying at home”.

“We appeal, in particular, to our youth to completely refrain from going out of their homes during this night… stay at home, offer prayers and make du’as… to safeguard all our compatriots from this epidemic,” it says.

The signatories include Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, president, Muslim Ittehad Parishad, Barielly; Maulana Syed Mahmood Madni, general secretary, Jamiat Ulama-e Hind; Syed Saadatullah Husaini, Amir, Jamaat Islami Hind; Maulana Mufti Muhammad Mukarram, Shahi Imam, Masjid Fatehpuri Delhi; Maulana Asghar Ali Imam Salfi, Amir, Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e Hadees; Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani, general secretary, Islami Fiqh Academy; Hazrat Muhammad Tanveer Hashmi, Sajjada Nasheen Khanqah Hashimiya, Bijapur, Karnataka; Maulana Sagheer Ahmad Khan, Amir-e Shariat, Karnataka; Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan Azhari, Chairman, Delhi Minorities Commission; Hazrat Muhammad Mueen Miyan, Peer-e Tareeqat, Mumbai; Maulana Hafiz Syed Athar Ali, Nazim, Jamia Muhammadiya, Mumbai; Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Nadwi, Nazim, Jamiatus Salehat, Bengaluru; Maulana Amin Usmani, Secretary, Islami Fiqh Academy; Kamal Faruqi, ex-Chairman, Delhi Minorities Commission and Mujtaba Farooq, Secretary General, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat.

Meanwhile, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against what it called the “demonisation of the entire Muslim community” in the wake of reports on the Tablighi Jamaat congregation.

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