An appeal to fellow Muslims of India in context of Covid-19 Pandemic :
The global outbreak of Covid-19 is a huge challenge to the country and the humanity. We are struggling hard to keep it at bay.
Of late, a message is going in the society at large that Muslims, as a group, in India are not adhering to ‘social distancing’ and other measures to counter the spread of the pandemic. Distressing videos are in wide circulation showing stone pelting at health workers, and clash of men from Muslim community with police personnel who were enforcing the law. In some videos, policemen are being forced to baton-charge the people hell-bent to go to a mosque for prayer.
Today on April 4, 2020, a national daily reported that 25 per cent of the positive cases of novel corona virus reported in India are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation held in Delhi in March.
In this hour of deep crisis, we the following officers working in various civil services of India, feel compelled to appeal to the Muslim community in India that they should act responsibly and stand out as examples for fellow citizens in the fight against Corona Virus. Members of the Muslim community through their act of omission or commission should not offer anybody an opportunity to accuse them for the spread of the epidemic in India. They must adhere to the guidance of the public health experts and the orders of the Government, since what is correct must be followed irrespective of whether one finds support for that or not in religious scriptures.
Contracting the virus even to one’s own self is a sinful act as per the Islamic traditions. Suicide and courting danger and disease by one’s rash and negligent act is haraam. The virus does not remain confined to the body of the person who invited it to himself through his foolish act. It travels rapidly in the family and society, and brings indiscriminate deaths to innocents. The Quran says if one kills an innocent human being, it is as if he had killed all mankind, and whosoever saves the life of one, it is as if he had saved the life of all mankind.
There are many sayings and hadiths of the Prophet directing us to take steps to prevent the spread of epidemic, and to protect oneself. Even if there were no religious sanctions to avoid a plague or remain in quarantine during a raging epidemic, adopting measures to safeguard oneself from it would still be the sensible thing to do.
Muslims can pray collectively at the mosques after the pandemic dies out and the normal life is restored. Temporarily avoiding going to the mosque to prevent spread of the disease does not mean one has deserted the mosques permanently, as many wrongly believe. One can pray at home by observing social distancing. Our responsible behaviour would help save the individual, his family and the country at large.
We reiterate that in this hour of crisis, Muslim community in general should come forward and strengthen the hands of the Government of India and state governments in the fight against this pandemic by following their directions sincerely to fight and stay protected from the Corona virus pandemic.
Lastly, we request the Indian media to cooperate with us in this effort during this hour of crises which could help in the efforts of the government and society in the fight against this deadly disease.
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1) Asif Jalal, IPS (2002-HP)
2) Najmul Hoda, IPS, Inspector General of Police, Tamil Nadu-2001 batch
3) Sohail Malik, IRS 2010 batch, Joint Commissioner of IT, Delhi
4) Rashid Munir Khan, IPS 2008-WB
5) Muzammil Khan, IAS
6)Mohammad Shayin, IAS 2002 batch Haryana
7) Mohd Mustafa IPS 1985 Punjab
8) Noorul Hasan ,IPS,2015,MH
9)Md. Noor Rahman Sheikh, IFS, 2004, Consul General of India, Jeddah
10) Ms. Gudrun Nehar IRS 2005 batch Delhi
11) Shaikh Aminkhan, IRS 2011 batch Kolkata
12) Dr. Amir Siddiqui, IRS 2016 batch
13) Javed Akhtar, IRS 2002 batch, Delhi
14) Dr. Saleem Ali, IPS (Retd.) 1978 batch, Tripura
15) Shuja Mahmood IRPS, 2006 batch, Hubli
16) Imtiyaz Khan, IRS 2009, Mumbai
17) Maqsood Ahmed, IPS, 2016 batch Haryana
18) TA Khan, IPS( Retd.) West Bengal 1968
19) Showkat Ahmad Parray, IAS, 2013 batch Punjab
20) Tariq Mabood IRS 2009
21) Imamuddin Ahmad, IRS, Commr. CGST, Mangalore
22) Zuhair Bin Saghir, IAS. 2006 batch, Uttar Pradesh
23)Md. Imteyaz Alam, IRTS, 2011 batch, Danapur, Bihar
24)Mansoor Hasan Khan, IDAS 2002.
25) Mohammed Rizwan, IRS, 2004
26) Dr Hanif Qureshi, IPS 1996, Haryana
27) Zaigham Ali Khan IRAS 1999 SEC Railway Chhattisgarh
28) Ms. Aisha Khan, IOFS, 2013 batch
29) K Asif Hafeez, IRPS 2010 batch, Senior Divisional Personnel officer, Begaluru
30) Md. Shamshad Alam, IRS 2004 batch
31) Dr. Mohd. Rehan Raza, DANICS 2012 , Delhi
32) Hammad Zafar, IPoS, Patna, Bihar
33) Akhtar Rashid, IRS, 2006 batch
34) Mohd Kamal Ahmad, IES 1989 Bhopal MP
35) Gaudh Alam, IPS 2017, Telangana
36) Noman Hafiz, IOFS, 2015 Batch
37) Suhail A Kazi, IRS, 2009, Pune, Mah.
38) Mohammad Saim , IRS 2014, Hyderabad.
39) Shakil Ahmad Ganie,IRS 2016,Srinagar
40) Saddik Ahmed, IRS, Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax,2013, Hyderabad,
41) Mazid khan, IRS 2013, Delhi.
42) Yunus, IAS 2010 batch Himachal Pradesh
43) S I Faisal, IRS, 2004 Batch, Patna
44) Suboor Usmani, IRS 2003, Maharashtra
45) Amna Tasneem IAS 2015 batch Haryana
46) Mohd Owais, IRTS, 1989 Batch
47) Waseem Akram, IPS
Haryana
48) Masroor Ahmad, IA&AS 2015, Odisha
49) Hamna Mariyam Khan, IFS, 2017, Jeddah.
50) Syed Ali Abbas, IPS,2018,UP
51) Hamid Akhtar IPS 2008 Haryana
52) Amanullah Tak, IP&TAFS 2013( Director ,DoT,Ministry of Communications)
54) Ms.Sufiyah Faruqui, IAS, 2009, Madhya Pradesh
55) S M Khan, Indian information Service 1982
56) Md Gayasuddin Ansari , IRS 2004 , Additional Commissioner of IT , Delhi
57) Mohammad Sana Akhtar, IPS, 2015 Batch, WB
58) Mohammad Iqbal, IRTS, 2014, DDU
59) M Irfan Aziz, IRS 2007
60) Salim Javed, IRAS 2003
61) Azhar Zain V P, IRS 2005
62) Gulzar Wani , IRS 2011, Delhi
63) Mohd Sameer Islam, IDES 2015, DEO Chandigarh Circle.
64)Tabish Shams, IDAS-2011, Kanpur.
65) Abdul Hamid, IPS 2006 batch
66) Mohamed Yasar Arafath R, IRS 2016, Assam
67) K.A. Mohammed Noushad, IFS, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Retd.), 1987 batch,Kerala
68) Nadeem Thufail T., IIS 2011, Chennai
69) Anis Rehman, ITS, 2004 batch, Delhi
70) Dr waseem ur Rehman , IRS, 2008, Hyderabad.
71) Jahangir Inamdar IA&AS 2004
72) Eqbal Saif, IRS (IT), 2016, Delhi
73) Shaikh Tanveer Asif, IAS, 2017, Karnataka
74) Asim Anwar, IFS 2016, Riyadh
75)Abdaal M Akhtar IAS 2015 batch, Odisha
76) Mohammad Arshad, IRS 2016, WB
77) Dr Basharat Q IAS 2016 Jharkhand
78) Mohd. Parwez Alam, IAAS
Sr. Dy.AG Manipur
79) Shakil Maqbool,ICAS 2013, J&K
80)Dr Shakir Hussain,IRS, CIT( Appeals) Belagavi
Puskar parag, sub editor
