The second phase of Bishwa Ijtema concluded Sunday with several million devotees coming from across the country and abroad offering Akheri Munajat or the final prayer.
All roads led to Tongi since early Saturday, with people streaming in on all sorts of transport. Thousands of them had to make it on foot as vehicular movement on the Dhaka-Mymenshing Highway had remained suspended since Saturday midnight.
The seven-square-kilometre Ijtema venue on the Turag turned into a human sea spilling over to the adjoining areas and roads during the 18-minute Munajat from 12:45pm led by World Tablig Jamaat advisory committee member and former ameer Maulana Jobaerul Hasan.
Many people even joined the prayer from roofs of vehicles and boats, seeking God’s mercy and blessings for the Muslim Ummah amid a pin-drop silence.
Jatiyo Party chairman Hussain Muhammad Ershad, lawmaker Jahid Ahsan Russel, and Tongi mayor Ajmot Ullah Khan also took part in the wrap-up.
Islamic thinkers and Tablig Jamaat leaders gave sermons in a number of languages including English, Bengali, Malaya, Tamil, French, Hindi, and Urdu in the three-day event.
Twelve devotees died in the second phase and another 12 in the first.
Tablig Jamaat has been organising the event since 1946 – first in the Kakrail Mosque. An increasing number of participants saw the venue shifted to the present Haji Camp at Ashkona in 1948 and then to Shidhirganj in 1958. The present venue was chosen in 1966.
-With New Age input
