The movement that Ilyas founded was in response to what was described as “deterioration of Islamic values” among Muslims. Kandhlawi is a pointer to the family’s roots - Saad’s great-grandfather was born in Kandhla, a small town near Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh. That was the year Saad, then a 30-year-old, took charge of the Tablighi Jamaat, an apolitical, socio-religious movement founded in 1925 by his great-grandfather Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi in Mewat in present-day Haryana. So, who is Saad? How did he become the head of an organisation with footprints across the world?Ĭut to 1995, a quarter century before its tryst with infamy. Efforts are on to trace him,” says a senior police officer. The Maulana has not come forward yet and the lawyers say he is in Delhi. “We have not been able to trace the Maulana, his lawyers keep saying he is under self-quarantine. Police are not buying this, nor the explanation on Saad’s whereabouts. Read| Talking to Tablighis: ‘Nizamuddin incident distressing and unfortunate, but don’t make it a witch-hunt’ This is not the Maulana’s audio clip, we have no idea who this is or who uploaded it.” In fact, the Markaz has no social media account on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Police are approaching YouTube to check on a 28-minute clip - uploaded on March 20 on a channel called Delhi Markaz - in which a person, said to be Saad, is heard saying “if someone says lock mosques or that by staying here, the disease will spread… remove that thought from your heart… veham baith gaya hai bimaari ka, baith gaya nahin, baithaya gaya hai (a misconception has been spread about the disease).”Īdvocate Shahid Ali, who represents the Markaz and members of Tablighi Jamaat, says, “The Delhi Markaz does not have a YouTube channel. But now that it has been emptied, Maulana Saab is at a relative’s house in Delhi, under self-quarantine.” He says Saad is a “simple man who barely uses a phone or any technology… and has never had to deal with media, FIRs and lawyers”. This flies in the face of police claims that they have been looking for Saad since the day the FIR was registered.Īleem told The Indian Express, “His (Saad’s) great-grandfather purchased land inside the Markaz premises many decades ago and the family has been living there since. Saad’s personal assistant M Aleem claims the Tablighi Jamaat chief is “at a relative’s house in Delhi, under self-quarantine”.

Molana bijlighar saab