By IANS
Vallam (Tamil Nadu): Over 100,000 Muslims Saturday gathered in this small village in Tamil Nadu for an awareness and empowerment campaign organised by Tawheed Jamaat, an Islamic organisation.
“Our people have congregated here to learn modern systems of accessing facts like the Right to Information Act, unlearn superstitions through magic shows whose tricks are explained, understand the tenets of Islam in Muslim personal laws governing divorces besides eschewing the evil practice of dowry,” the body’s president Zainul Abdeen told reporters in Vallam, 300 km south of state capital Chennai.
He refrained from reacting to queries that referred to statements made by Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam president M.H. Jawahirullah terming the event “purely entertainment oriented”.
“Islam is a progressive religion and is asserting its resurgence through various manifestations of (a mass prayer) protest like the one that took place yesterday (in Vellore) and popular modes of communication that is taking place here today and tomorrow under our auspices,” Abdeen said.
According to Vellore district collector D.P. Yadav, over 1,500 Muslims had courted arrest while attempting to pray in inside a fort Friday defying its prohibition by authorities and the Archaeological Survey of India.