Devotees crowd roads, alleys, footpaths for Ijtema Jummah prayers

Even devotees who are not taking part in the Ijtema came from Dhaka, Gazipur, and other nearby districts showed up to take part in the Friday prayer congregation

One of the largest Jummah prayer congregations in the country has been held on the banks of the Turag River in Gazipur’s Tongi amid the first segment of the first phase of the Biswa Ijtema.

Hundreds of thousands of people lined up in rows on the Ijtema grounds and the surrounding roads, highways, footpaths and alleys to take part in the Friday prayer service.

The Friday sermon began at 1:43pm. The congregation began at 1:51pm and ended at 1:56pm.

Habibullah Raihan, media coordinator of Tablighi Jamaat's Shura-e-Nezam, said that Maulana Zubair of Bangladesh led the congregation.

Maulana Ziaul Haque of Pakistan delivered the sermon after the Fajr prayers on Friday morning. Maulana Nurur Rahman immediately translated it into Bengali.

Maulana Ziaul Haque of Pakistan delivered the general address after Fajr prayers on Friday morning with Maulana Nurur Rahman providing instant translations into Bangla.

He also said that the Talim session began at 9:15am on Friday. Before the Talim, Maulana Jamal Sahib of India conducted a discussion. Some other special programmes were also held.

Maulana Farahim Sahib of India began delivering a sermon from the teachers' pulpit at 10am. Prof Abdul Mannan Sahib is delivering a sermon on the prayer pulpit with students, while Maulana Akbar Sharif Sahib of India is delivering a sermon in a tin shed mosque among important personages.

Muslim devotees have been flocking to the Ijtema grounds since the morning to take part in the Friday prayers. Although many of them are unable to take part in the Ijtema, people from several districts around Dhaka and Gazipur came to be part of the Jummah congregation.

Alam Hasan came to the grounds from Tangail’s Mirzapur soon early in the morning.

He said, "The country's largest Friday prayer congregation was being held very close by. If we don’t take the chance to offer Friday prayers with millions of people when such an event is so close, we will regret it. My friend and I came on motorcycle to participate in the Jummah prayers so that we have no such regrets."

Due to ongoing tensions between Maulana Zubair and Maulana Md Saad Kandhalvi, the annual gathering of Tablighi Jamaat will once again be held in two phases, as it has been in recent years.

The first phase of the Biswa Ijtema will begin on Friday, with the participation of Zubair's followers. This phase, like previous years, will also be conducted in two separate segments.

The first segment of the first phase will begin on Friday, Jan 31 and end on Feb 2, while the second segment will begin on Feb 3 and end on Feb 5.

The second phase of the Ijtema is scheduled to take place from Feb 14 to Feb 16, with the final prayer marking the conclusion of the gathering.