From late February to early March, most nations should have had some idea that the Chinese Covid19 virus could become a problem. On February the 15th, the figure of 69,000 cases was both making the news worldwide and pushing nations to consider what actions to take to reduce or prevent infections. By the 3rd of March with Chinese Coronavirus19 figures worldwide creeping towards 100,000, even those of us who were taking a more optimistic view of the situation, based on studying published UK government reports into pandemic Influenza management, started to see that this was a situation that needed some form of threat management.
It was about that time, early March when the world’s religious groups started to prepare to hold springtime festivals, such as Easter and Passover and also started to realise that this year they would have to be different. Mainstream Christian and Jewish organisations started to implement or at least consider implementing social distancing measures. The Jewish festival of Purim which took place on the 9th of March saw kids parties (which are a big thing at this time) cancelled across the Jewish world, with the exception of those in Haredi Jewish communities who rarely interact with the modern world and who completely ignored the threat from Chinese Coronavirus. At this point in March major Christian organisations such as the Anglicans were also putting in place plans to hold services remotely via technology or have seriously limited numbers on the premises and to suspend certain practices such as the kissing of a Crucifix.
But what of Islamic groups you may wonder? In the United Kingdom it seems that the vast majority of mosques have closed, or that is at least what Islamic groups are claiming and until I get suitable proof that this is not the case I will assume that this is the case. In other countries such as India and Pakistan, the situation has not been so good. In Pakistan there have been clashes with police and security forces by Muslims who do not believe that the state has the right to shut down a mosque and in India an extremist Islamic group Tablighi Jamaat held a massive gathering in Delhi from March 3rd. Remember that it was at around this time that other religious groups outside of Islam started locking down, preparing to celebrate festivals in different, novel ways and generally doing their best to avoid creating situations where Chinese Coronavirus could spread easily.
The leaders of Tablighi Jamaat should have at least been aware that holding a massive multi-thousand gathering of Muslims from across India and the world at their head mosque in Delhi, which can accommodate 5,000 people wasn’t the best idea they could have had. However, go ahead with it they did and the event went on until after India announced a lockdown on the 24th of March.
Even with what was known about Chinese Coronavirus at the time, the decision to go ahead with this gathering by this Muslim group was a one of monstrous stupidity. Whilst the rest of the civilised world was trying to work out how to manage life whilst socially distancing, Tablighi Jamaat crammed thousands of people into a mosque complex and created the perfect Petri dish on which the virus could spread across.
Tablighi Jamaat have indeed been superspreaders of the Chinese Coronavirus and not just to those in India but also to many other places across the world. It is claimed by the BBC that the virus came to the Tablighi Jamaat event by way of a foreign attendee and the crowded conditions of the mosque event allowed the easy spread of the virus among the attendees.
Tablighi Jamaat have been thoroughly reckless with regards to the Chinese Coronavirus and this appears to be something that has been recognised by the Indian government. According to a BBC report, the leader of Tablighi Jamaat has been charged with manslaughter for failing to comply with Indian government orders to shut down places of religious worship. He has been remanded in custody.
The BBC said:
The leader of a prominent Muslim group has been charged with manslaughter in India after a meeting it held in Delhi spawned numerous Covid-19 clusters.
Police say Muhammad Saad Khandalvi ignored two notices to end the event at a mosque in the capital in March.
The event has been linked to 1,023 cases across 17 states – believed to have been spread by infected foreign attendees.
Mr Saad and his Tablighi Jamaat group have denied any wrongdoing.
Delhi police said that Mr Saad had been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which means he will not be able to apply for bail.
The Indian government is obviously deciding to play hardball with its Islamic nutcases. To charge Khandalvi with manslaughter looks to me to be the correct thing to do in the circumstances. Tablighi Jamaat’s leadership must have been aware that India was facing a potential problem from Chinese Coronavirus and must have people who were at least basically scince-aware, yet they still held a large event in India’s capital. To do this was reckless.
Tablighi Jamaat are a group that has a lot of support among India’s Muslims and from Muslims across the world, they are no small fry group. The Indian Government would have been well aware that to go after these Islamic nutcases could have an impact on social order, in particular violent Muslims ‘going off’ (possibilly literally) in India over this decision. I don’t believe therefore that India took the decision to charge Khandalvi lightly. It is my belief from reading around this story in various places that there must be, to the Indian Government’s satisfaction at least, sufficient evidence available to show that Khandalvi committed manslaughter as defined by Indian law.
In my view, the Indian government is doing the right thing in going after its more dangerous Islamic nutcases. The current Indian government is at least recognising that certain elements among India’s minority Muslim population are not just problematic but dangerously so. Now if India, with its volatile and provably violent minority of Islamic thugs and nutcases, can have the courage to take on such people, the question I have is why cannot Western nations act with the same level of courage and deal similarly with dangerous Islamic groups in our own nations? India is doing the right thing and Western nations should follow India’s lead regarding seditious and dangerous Islamic groups.
