Tens of thousands of Muslims attend annual Biswa Ijtema event in Bangladesh

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(31 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tongi, Bangladesh - 31 January 2025
1. Various of attendees gathered at Biswa Ijtema even, law enforcement personnel watching from makeshift tower
2. Various of attendees cooking
3. Various of Muslims performing Wudu (ablution)
4. Various of attendees gathered near tents
5. Wide of attendees gathered around river
6. Various of Muslims gathered inside their tent
7. SOUNDBITE (Bengali) Mohammed Mohiuddin, shopkeeper:
"May Allah grant wellbeing to Muslims all over the world, and may He accept this gathering. May Allah, through this gathering, help the oppressed believers and Muslims across the world as their guardian. I pray to Allah for the success of this gathering."
8. Various of Muslims performing Friday prayer
9. SOUNDBITE (Bengali) Amir Hossain Dulal, businessman:
"I pray that Allah grants paradise in the hereafter and keeps us well in this world. Everyone’s desire is to be saved from hell and to become a dweller of paradise. I also pray that the country runs smoothly, and that people can live with faith."
10. Mid of attendees
STORYLINE:
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.

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.

Security checkpoints and camaras 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.

AP Video by Al Emrun Garjon

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