Malaysian group hails Indian Muslims for virus response

JAKARTA, Indonesia

A Malaysian Muslim group on Friday praised Muslims who opened mosques in India to be used as healthcare wards as India’s COVID-19 crisis deepens.

Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid, president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organization, said: “The appreciation was not a display to show off Muslims’ good deeds but an honest duty of Muslims to render help to anyone who are in distress.”

“The Muslim organizations and individuals, who have come forward to help alleviate the growing burden on the country’s healthcare system by offering critical patients oxygen supplies and bed space, is truly commendable,” he said in a statement.

Azmi also called on all Muslims in India “to show their humanitarian quality as guided by Islam despite the prejudice being directed towards them as the biggest Muslim minority in India.”

India is undergoing a spiraling COVID-19 crisis, which is the current epicenter of the pandemic with over 300,000 daily cases since mid-April.

“Muslims should be seen as equal citizens of India in a critical situation as this. India must display a show of solidarity with all religions to go through the challenging [and] unprecedented pandemic,” said Azmi.

Previously, the Darool Uloom Mosque had opened its doors and offered 142 beds equipped with oxygen cylinders as well as 20 nurses and three doctors on site.

India set another world record for daily coronavirus cases on Friday as it registered 386,452 infections in the past 24 hours.

The country’s caseload has reached 18.7 million, while overall fatalities have risen to 208,330, including 3,498 new deaths, the Health Ministry said.

India has been witnessing an exponential rise in infections recently. Since April 22, the country has been registering over 300,000 daily cases, which has brought the country’s health system to near collapse, resulting in an acute shortage of beds, oxygen and treatment drugs.