Thousands of people joined the namaz-e-janaza of Hafez Maulana Jubaer Ahmed Ansari, one of the leading Islamic speakers in the country, defying government’s directives as well as ignoring the risk of coronavirus transmission at Sarail upazila of Brahmanbaria on Saturday. The namaz-e-janaza was held at the Jamia Rahmania Bertala Madrasa premises in Sarail upazila. But the crowd of people attending the funeral crossed the madrasa premises and spread on both sides of Dhaka-Sylhet highway. Many people also gathered on the roofs of various buildings in the area.
Locals said about nearly one lakh people attended the janaza around 10:00 am. The crowd was so enormous that the police members present there had to play the role of silent spectators. Officer-in-Charge of Sarail Police Station Md. Shahadat Hossain Titu confirmed about the gathering of millions of people at the funeral.
The OC said, “People also came from Dhaka to attend the funeral. We could not even imagine that there would be so many people. We had nothing else to do after people started coming in waves”. However, the OC claimed that people stood maintaining social distance after the police men instructed them. Among others, Amir Ismail Nurpuri of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, General Secretary Mahfuzul Haque, Joint Secretary Mamunul Haque, Mawlana Jalal Uddin, Ataullah Amin, Central Leader Mohsinul Hasan and other leaders of the organisation were present at the time.
Hafez Mawlana Jubaer Ahmed Ansari died at his own residence on Friday evening. He was 56. He left behind his wife, three sons, four daughters and numerous followers. He was Nayeb-E-Ameer of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish and the founding pricipal of Bertala Madrasa. Besides, he had established several more madrasas. He has a reputation as an Islamic speaker around the world.
