শনিবার, ১৮ই মে, ২০২৪ খ্রিস্টাব্দ ৪ঠা জ্যৈষ্ঠ, ১৪৩১ বঙ্গাব্দ

Millions of Muslims offer Jumma prayers at Ijtema

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Jumma prayers started at 2:15 pm on Friday at Biswa Ijtema Maidan on the bank of Turag river in Tongir, Gazipur.

Imam of the capital’s Kakrail Jame Masjid Hafez Maulana Zubair led the prayers.

Apart from the pilgrims of Ijtema Maidan, a large number of pilgrims from nearby areas including Dhaka-Gazipur appeared at the Ijtema ground to participate in Friday prayers.

Since dawn, people from the capital and its surrounding areas have flocked to Ijtema Math. Around 12 noon, the Ijtema grounds overflowed and all the open spaces around became a sea of people.

The Bishwa Ijtema, the second-largest Muslim congregation, has begun its first phase in Tongi.

The first day of the 72-hour gathering began on Friday after Fazr prayers with Maulana Ziaul Haque’s “Aam Bayan” (universal discourses), and it will end on Sunday with the “Akheri Munajat” (final prayers).

Aam Bayan will open the second stage of Ijtema on January 20 and “Akheri Munajat” will close it on January 22.

Worshippers gathered at their khita around three days before the official opening, according to Zaheer Ibn Muslim, the first phase of Ijtema’s media coordinator. As the Maidan was filled in the morning, the mentors started delivering hedayeti boyan (guiding speech) after Zuhr prayer.

To keep an eye on Ijtema’s overall operations, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Gazipur City Corporation, district administration, metropolitan and district police, RAB and Ansar, and VDP have each set up their own control centers.

Anisur Rahman, the deputy commissioner of Gazipur, stated that various teams headed by executive magistrates will function. To guarantee the availability of sanitary food and clean water in Ijtema Ground and the neighboring regions, patrol teams and mobile courts will be deployed.

The Bishwa Ijtema was first conducted in 1946 at the Kakrail mosque in Dhaka, but Tabligh Jamaat has been hosting it here since 1967.