4,000 foreign devotees join on the first day of Ijtema

The first phase of the 53rd Bishwa Ijtema, the biggest congregations of Muslims after the hajj, has begun on Friday on the bank of the Turag River at Tongi on the outskirts of the city amid tight security.

The proceedings of the event began after the early morning Fazr prayers with sermons by noted scholar Jordanian cleric Moulana Sheikh Omar Khatib that will end with Akheri Munajat on Sunday.

On the first day of Ijtema, around four thousand of Muslims from seventy nine countries have flocked to the banks of the Turag to take part in the Biswa Ijtema in Dhaka.

Dr. Dewan Muhammad Humayun Kabir, Deputy Commissioner of Gazipur district told Jago News that the three thousand nine hundred nineteen muslims from seventy nine countries have reached the banks of the Turag river till Friday to take part in the 53rd three day long annual Biswa Ijtema. A total of ten mobile court are being operated in two phases to maintain discipline in the Ijtema area.

According to sources, After a four day break, the second phase of the event will begin on Jan 19 this year.

Bishwa Ijtema is held on Turag’s banks since 1966. The Muslism congregation is held in two phases since 2011 as an effort to control the huge crowds.

Saad Kandhalvi, who had been leading the sermons for ijtema for the last few years, is staying away from the event following protests by a faction of the Tabligh Jamaat.