The media in Bangladesh reported that thousands of people, without masks and in clear violations of social distancing, participated in the funeral prayers of & # 39; Nayeb-e Amir & # 39; of Khelafat Majlish Maulana Zubayer Ahmad Ansari, detained at a madrasa in the village of Bertola under Sorail Upazila in the Brahmanbaria district. The cleric had died at his home the night before.
The meeting was so large that authorities did not bother to stop it, according to media reports.
Well-known Bangladeshi author living in exile in Sweden, Taslima Nasreen tweeted that 50,000 people had attended the funeral prayers, challenging the ban on mass gatherings during the shutdown. "The stupid government didn't even try to stop these stupid people," he tweeted.
50,000 people have gathered in Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh to attend the religious leader Moulana's funeral prayer … https://t.co/38RYodB5pm
– taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) 1587204724000
Nasreen was expelled by religious fundamentalists for her critical comment on Islam and Muslims in her 1993 book & # 39; Shame & # 39 ;.
Like many other Muslim-majority countries where religious congregations are becoming a major multiplier in the coronavirus pandemic, Saturday's funeral meeting could become the entry point for the Bangladesh outbreak. So far, more than 2,100 people have tested positive and 84 have died of coronavirus in Bangladesh.
The intransigent religious have launched a great challenge in the Muslim majority countries. For example, in Iran, hardline Shiite Muslims broke into the shrines even when they were closed after hundreds of people tested positive for Covid-19. A group of more than 53 senior clerics in Pakistan recently warned the Imran Khan government against banning religious congregations during the shutdown.
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