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Updated: Apr 02, 2020 15:44 IST

Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad Khandhlawi has stated that he will fully support the government in its fight against coronavirus disease Covid-19. This comes soon after an FIR was registered against him in connection with the religious gathering organised at a Markaz (centre) in the Nizamuddin area of the national capital.

“We should avoid gathering at places and follow what the government and law want us to do. It is also our duty to provide support and help to them in these times,” Khandhlawi appealed to members of Jamaat through an audio message posted on the Markaz’s YouTube channel.

“Quarantine yourself, no matter where you are, it is not against Islam or Shariyat,” he added.

He is believed to be hiding at an undisclosed location. An audio clip has surfaced in which Khandhlawi purportedly saying he is in self-quarantine. “I am in self-quarantine in Delhi as advised by the doctors and appeal to all Jamaat wherever they are in the country to follow the directives of the law,” Khandhlawi is purportedly saying in the clip.

The Delhi Police’s crime branch has been conducting raids at several places in the national capital and in Uttar Pradesh since Wednesday to find Khandhlawi. So far, raids have been held in three of his residences in Delhi’s Zakir Nagar and Nizamuddin, reported news agency IANS.

Khandhlawi claims to have over 100 crore followers in nearly 200 countries. The Nizamuddin markaz serves as the global headquarters the Jamaat.

His family comes from Kandhla, a place near Shamli district of western Uttar Pradesh, around 80 kilometres away from Delhi.

Deemed as one of the most influential movement in Muslim world, Tablighi Jamaat was established by Maulana Muhammed Ilyas Khandlawi, the great grandfather of Maulana Saad. Tablighi Jamaat was an offshoot of Deoband movement and aims at revival of the true Islam as perceived by the Prophet Mohammed.