The second phase of Biswa Ijtema, the second largest congregation of Muslims after hajj, concludes today with thousands of devotees expected to participate in the final supplication, Akheri Munajat, on the banks of Turag river in Tongi.
The second phase passed its second day yesterday with tens of thousands of devotees from home and abroad thronging the 160-acre Biswa Ijtema grounds and its adjoining areas on the outskirts of the capital.
The Ijtema is being held in two phases for the last three years. The first phase this year was held on January 11-13 and the second one began on January 18.
The mammoth congregation includes delivery of sermons by Islamic scholars from different Muslim countries on fundamental matters of Tablig, prayers for the spiritual adulation, exaltation and welfare of the Muslim Ummah and recitation from the Holy Quran and Hadith.
A number of dowry-free marriages were conducted on the Ijtema grounds yesterday to encourage and raise awareness among people to shun the social menace.
Five more devotees died on the Ijtema grounds yesterday. Meanwhile, a mobile court sentenced 36 people to imprisonment on different terms, up to two years, on charge of cheating devotees in different ways.
Executive Magistrate HM Anwar Pasha, who led the mobile court, said 18 of the convicted were jailed for two years, five for one and a half years, three for one year and 10 for three months.
More than 25,000 devotees from over 100 countries, including China, USA, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UK, are taking part in the Ijtema, being held for the 48th time.
Tablig Jamaat has been organising the annual congregation, also called the World Muslims’ Congregation.
The first Ijtema was held in 1946 at Kakrail mosque near Ramna Park in the capital and the second one in Chittagong in 1948.
After being held in Pagar of Tongi in 1966, the venue was shifted to the eastern bank of the Turag as the grounds at Pagar was not large enough to accommodate the increasing number of devotees.
-With The Daily Star input
