Bangladesh: Tablighi Jamaat event Biswa Ijtema draws tens of thousands of devotees

Tens of thousands of people gathered on a riverbank near Bangladesh’s capital on Friday to listen to sermons by Islamic scholars at the Biswa Ijtema, or global congregation of Muslim devotees.

The three-day annual event will end Sunday when hundreds of thousands of Muslims are expected to join final prayers like every year. This is the first phase of Biswa Ijtema, while the second phase will be held Feb. 3-5. The third phase will be held Feb. 14-16.

Biswa Ijtema is one of the largest gatherings of Muslim devotees, held on the sandy banks of the Turag River in Tongi, just north of Dhaka, the capital. The event dates back to the 1950s when the Tablighi Jamaat movement started hosting the event.

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On Friday, Muslims joined the weekly afternoon prayers as many more continued to stream toward the venue from across Bangladesh.

About 2,150 foreign Muslims from 72 countries were among the tens of thousands of Bangladeshis who joined the first phase of the congregation, said Habibullah Raihan, a spokesman of the organizing committee.

He said that scholars and clerics from India, Pakistan and other countries delivered their sermons on the tenants of Islam as the devotees slept in tents erected on the riverbank.

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Security checkpoints and cameras have been installed, while plainclothes security officials joined uniformed officers in the area.

A.K.M. Shahidur Rahman, director-general of the elite Rapid Action Battalion force, said Friday that there was no particular security threat, but that adequate measures were in place to ensure safety.

Mohammed Nadim, a grocer from the northern district of Rangpur, traveled overnight with many others from his area to join the weekly prayers on Friday.

“I come here every year to seek blessings. It gives me peace,” he told The Associated Press at the scene.

“Many people came here like me. We raise our hands together. We want peace in my life, we want peace in the world. May Allah accept us, may Allah forgive us,” he said.