Thousands of devotees have said their Juma prayer together on Friday on the first day of first phase of Bishwa Ijtema on the bank of Turag river in Tongi. Several lakh of devotees from regular Tablig Jamat including from the adjacent areas of Dhaka and Gazipur took part in the prayers.
The delivering of ‘Khutba’ started at 1:30 pm in the largest Juma prayer of the country held at the Ijtema premises. The prayer began at 1:40 pm. Imam of capital’s Kakrail mosque Hafez Maulana Mohammad Jubayer led the prayer.
The Ijtema premises was filled by devotees at 12:30 pm. The devotees took part in the Juma prayer on the roads and streets of the adjacent areas as they could not make their way to the Ijtema ground.
Earlier the first phase of 53rd Bishwa Ijtema, the second largest congregation of Muslims formally started after Fazr prayer with Amboyan (sermon).
Groups of devotees from 16 districts came to the Ijtema ground through road, rail and water ways. The flow of devotees began from Wednesday and continued till the beginning of Juma prayer.
Foreign devotees also have reached in the Ijtema. So far four thousand five hundred foreign devotees are taking part in the Ijtema from 79 countries around the world.
The crowd under the main tent is lesser than the other times as 29 particular places were fixed for the devotees of 16 districts. On Friday after Fazr prayer top ranked senior of Tablig Jamat Maulana Mohammad Syed Omar Faruq from Jordan began to deliver the sermon. Tongi has now turned into a holy place with the religious chanting by the devotees. It was estimated that about five lakh devotees took part in the Juma prayer.
The main sermon is delivered in Urdu in the Ijtema but it is translated instantly in Bangla, English, Arabic, Tamil, Turkish, Farsi and other languages. The devotees were arranged to sit according to languages and from their group a senior person translate the sermon to them.
VIP participation in Juma prayer: Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque, MP of Gazipur-2 constituency Md. Zahid Ahsan Russel, Deputy Commissioner of Gazipur Mohammad Humayun Kabir, Police Super Mohammad Harun-ur-Rashid, Gazipur City Corporation Mayor Professor MA Mannan and others took part in the Juma prayer in the Ijtema ground.
Mobile Court: 10 operations were conducted by the mobile court through executive magistrates and over half a lakh taka were fined in the Ijtema premises. To evict illegal installation in and around of the Ijtema ground and for ensuring quality of food in the hotels and restaurants these operation were conducted.
Two devotees died: two devotees died in the first phase of the Ijtema. Kazi Azizul Haque (65) died of cardiac arrest and Mamun Muna (33) died of road accident on Thursday night. Their bodies were sent to their respective homes after holding Janaza after Juma prayer.
Law and order situation: Gazipur district police have taken all out measures for providing security to the devotees. Gazipur Police Super Harun-ur-Rashid said to Rtv online that plain cloth police are active in every tent. The whole area of Ijtema premises is surrounded by police. Five tier security measures have been taken to prevent any untoward situation.
Foreign devotees: according to the police control room, 3 thousand 9 hundred 19 devotees have taken part in the first day congregation from 79 countries including USA, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Afghanistan, Africa and England.
Health service in Ijtema: to provide free health service to the devotees different free medical camps are being run by district civil surgeon office, Tongi Shaheed Ahsan Ullah Master Government Hospital and other different organizations. 50 free medical teams are working on to provide free medical support to the devotees.
Hawkers detained: one hundred hawkers were detained from the Ijtema premises over their involvement in selling foods and other items in unhygienic condition.
AH
