The Aalami Tabhligi Ijtima—the annual global congregation of the Muslim devotees held in Bhopal—has been deferred for the first time since its inception 73 years ago, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 73rd Ijtima was scheduled to be held from November 27 to 30 at Eintkhedi just on the outskirts of the capital city of Madhya Pradesh. Since the past few years, 12-14 lakh Muslims from across the world attend the spiritual congregation every year.
Atiq ul Islam, a spokesperson of the Ijtima Committee, confirmed to THE WEEK that the annual event has been deferred and the next dates will be decided only when the situation on the COVID-19 front is normal.
“It does not seem probable that the congregation might be held this year,” he said.
Islam said that the decision to defer the global congregation—one of the signature events of Bhopal—was taken after detailed discussion among the organising committee members. “It was felt that it will be difficult to follow the COVID-19 related protocols mainly due to the sheer number of attendees that we have from across the world. Also we did not want to attract any controversy related to the event,” he said.
The Tabhlighi Ijtima began in Bhopal in 1948 just after independence and was first held at the Masjid Shakur Khan within the city. Later, the venue was shifted to the historic Tajul Masajid, where it continued to be held till the year 2002 when it had to be shifted out of the city limits to open grounds in Eintkhedi mainly due to the swelling number of participants that crossed the 10-million mark a few years ago.
Devotees from around 30 countries and nearly two dozen Indian states normally assemble at the Ijtima with an objective to inculcate spiritual values so as to balance it with materialism to lead an upright life, according to the organisers.
Groups of people from 30 countries including Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, South Africa, Somalia, Tanzania, Kenya, Thailand, Philippines, France, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the USA, Brazil, Russia and others are regular participants.
