Last week, on Friday, February 10, former Pakistani cricket player Shahid Afridi attended a large gathering of the Tablighi Jamaat called Ijtema in Karachi. The interim chief selector of the Pakistan Cricket Team could be seen enjoying tea and later dozing off at the annual congressional assembly.
Tablighi Jamaat was banned by Saudi Arabia in 2021, which called the Islamic organization the ‘gate to terror’.
According to the local reports, Ijtema, a mass annual gathering of the Tablighi Jamaat, was organized on Friday in Karachi. Thousands of Muslims participated in the event. Reportedly, photos and videos of Afridi went viral over the internet in which he could be seen attending the event.
Beshak kamyabi Allah ki raah me hy , Shahid afridi at karachi ijtema pic.twitter.com/LgUHyPunTJ
— Huzaifa khan (@HuzaifaKhan021) February 12, 2023
Governor of Sindh, Kamran Tessori, and MQM leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui were also present at the ‘religious’ gathering where Tablighi Jamaat attendees offered special prayers and gave the message of Islam.
Ijtema is a show of strength event for Muslims which is all about the “moral” reform of individuals and is often described as ‘making Muslims true Muslims’. It is termed a religious program in which several Islamic scholars are invited to offer guidance. It is an Islamic gathering organized by Islamic organizations for Muslims. It is considered to be an important aspect of the Tablighi Jamaat all over the world since it claims to have a big impact on the lives of Muslims.
Tablighi Jamaat, of which Tablighi Ijtema is an integral part, is a global Islamic missionary movement that urges Muslims to return to the way Islam was practiced during the time of Prophet Muhammad. The focus is on rituals, dress, and personal behavior, and is considered one of the most influential Islamic religious movements of the 20th century. It has become the world’s second-largest Muslim congregation after the Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj.
Participation in Ijtema, according to a European Journal, promotes religious authority, prestige, and empowerment, and adds to Muslim identity through the concept of Ummah.
Notably, one such congregation was held in Delhi in the year 2020 which had been cited by many as the “mega-spreader event” spreading coronavirus in India. The event took place in the Nizamuddin Markaz in the first half of March 2020. The Muslims who had attended the event, their family members, and those who came into contact with them were tested positive, contributing to the increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the country.
According to the Health Ministry, nearly 30% i.e 4291 cases of the total 14,378 coronavirus cases (as of April 2020) were caused due to Nizamuddin Markaz event in Delhi by Tablighi Jamaat.
