KOZHIKODE: "I set off from my home four months back to undertake four-month-long Jamaat (preaching) along with two others. Our first 80 days were in Ernakulam and Idukki districts and the rest in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana," says the 21-year old youth of Kozhikode who was present at the Banglewali Masjid of Tablighi Jamaat (TJ) in West Nizamuddin on March 18-19.
It is learnt that the religious congregation on March 18 at the mosque converted the place into a Covid-19 hot spot, claiming 10 lives and caused hundreds of positive cases so far.
"We did not take part in the congregation on March 18 as it was meant for Tamil people. But we stayed at the masjid. The practice in the mosque was such that two people had to share food from a plate. But most of the time, we ate from outside. There are no rooms in the multi-storey mosque. Hundreds will sleep together in halls," the Perambra native told TNIE.
He along with two others from Kuttiyadi, both above 50, set off for Jamaat together. "On return, we boarded the train on March 20 from Nizamuddin and alighted at Kozhikode station around 6.30pm on March 22 and reached home by a car," he said.
The youth said that there were five members on return journey, all from Kozhikode, plus a 12-year-old North Indian boy. "The boy was sent with us by his relatives in New Delhi as his father is working in Kerala. The train compartment was half empty," said the youth.
According to him, all five are in home quarantine now and none of them has any Covid-19 symptoms. The youth, who did not complete plus-two, was in Bahrain for a year and then came back to pursue freelance photography.
He, along with nine others, went for preaching in UP and Haryana. Two of them are from Kottayam. "People will join the team and drop out as the time slot of Jamaat for each will be different. Mine is not a TJ Muslim family. Only I was attracted to this way," he said.
According to local health officials, they are closely monitoring the youth on a daily basis and he has not shown any symptoms in the 11 days of quarantine.
Three time schedules of Jamaat
According to another senior TJ follower, who is an assistant professor here, Jamaat of TJ meant preaching the Muslims to adhere to the basic tenets of the religion.
"It could be termed as a call for returning to the basics of the religion. The Jamaat would be held at a mosque. One can choose Jamaat of three types -- 3 days, 40 days and four months," he said. The assistant professor along with two others were at Banglewali Masjid on March 7-10 and returned on March 11.