by Shoeb Ahmed Siddiqui
Faiz Syed says, “it is sinful on the part of a person who has COVID-19 and then it is spread due to his irresponsibility”.
Some of the Indian media outlets who are infamous for the smearing campaigns against Indian Muslims have now resorted to a new low, from citing fake news to ascribing false reports, they can stoop to any level.
For the couple of weeks, malicious and deliberate attempts were made by the Indian media channels to falsely attribute the spread of coronavirus to Tablighi Jamat and abase the Indian Muslims.
A day after Zee News issued an apology over a fake news report about Tablighi Jamat. INDIA TV has now attempted to attribute an old video of Islamic preacher Advocate Faiz Syed that he instigated Tablighi Jamat to spread coronavirus by spitting method.
INDIA TV in its so-called “Investigative Bulletin” on April 11, 2020 has claimed that Faiz Syed is the Maulana (scholar) who taught Tablighi Jamat to deliberately spit on people in order to spread coronavirus.
Faiz Syed who is an Islamic speaker and also an Advocate, runs the Islamic Research Centre (IRC) based in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. He delivers regular lectures and is known among Muslim youth through his abundant videos available on Youtube and other social networking sites.
The Tablighi Jamat in its religious rulings follows the Deobandi sect but Faiz Syed is well-known among the followers of Tablighi Jamat to be an adherent of Salafi sect.
The video of Faiz Syed which INDIA TV purportedly used for its campaign against Talighi Jamat is dated as old as 25th October 2017 (around three years ago).
The video which is also available on Faiz Syed’s official youtube channel, refers to the Whispering of Shaytaan in creating doubts about Allah, Disturbances caused by Shaytaan – during the offering of Namaz and waking up after seeing a bad dream.
In the video Faiz Syed provides the solution for the above questions through spiritual angle that is by spitting on the left side during Namaz and other times by reciting some incantations.
Another video which is available on his Youtube channel dated April 10, 2020, a day before the INDIA TV bulletin report. Faiz Syed says, “it is sinful on the part of a person who has COVID-19 and then it is spread due to his irresponsibility”.
He also highlighted that they have maintained social distancing even during the recording of the video. There are several videos available on his youtube channel in which he has requested for the closure of Mosques and also presented Islamic guidelines on coronavirus. All these videos are directly opposite to what INDIA TV has claimed in its so-called “Investigative Report”.
Zaid Patel (Founder of iPlus TV, an Islamic TV channel) has come in Faiz Syed’s support and cleared the air by giving references to old videos of Faiz Syed and presented Islamic perspective and cautions related to contagious diseases like coronavirus.
In conclusion, INDIA TV has amplified an unsubstantiated allegation against Faiz Syed at a time when misinformation against Tablighi Jamaat and Muslims in India is widespread. Multiple Fact-checking websites like AltNews and The Quint have debunked the false claims imputing Muslims as spreaders of coronavirus.
Shoeb Ahmed is a contributor at The Milli Chronicle and hold Masters in Construction Technology. He tweets under @ShoebASiddiqi1.
