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First phase of Ijtema begins

Devotees swarm banks of Turag

Helemul Alam
Defying bitter cold, lakhs of devotees from home and abroad yesterday joined the first day of Ijtema on the banks of the river Turag in Tongi to seek divine blessings of Allah.
The first phase of Ijtema, which will conclude with Akheri Munajat (final prayers) tomorrow, began with religious sermons by Maulana Jamil after Fajr prayers.
The second phase of the largest congregation of Muslims after Hajj will be held from January 18 to 20.
Maulana Qwari Zobayer, imam of Kakrail Mosque, led the Juma prayers at the Ijtema ground yesterday with rows of worshippers spilling out of the 160-acre ground, around 20km off the capital.
Vehicular movement on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway came to a halt for
a few hours during the prayers, creating a long queue ofvehicles.
Many people offered their Juma prayers on the roof ofvehicles while anum-ber of devotees were seen offering prayers from rooftops of nearby buildings.
Tablig Jamaat has been organising the Biswa Ijtema, also called the World Muslims' Congregation, every year since 1946.
People from 32 districts of the country and 8,000 devotees from 85 countries including Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Brunei, USA, Bahrain are participating in the first phase, Tablig Jamaat sources said.
Devotees from the rest of the districts will participate in the second phase of Ijtema.
The three-day congregation includes delivery of sermons on fundamental matters of Tablig, prayer for spiritual adulation, exaltation and welfare of the Muslim Ummah and recitation from the Quran andHadith.
At the Ijtema ground, Ulema and Islamic scholars from around the world have been delivering lectures which are instantly
being interpreted in Bangla, English, Arabic and a few other languages.
Like the earlier years, the dowry free marriage ceremony will be held on the second day of Ijtema today.
Three devotees were reported to have died due to old age complications.
Fazlur Rahman, 65, of Koyradanga village in Alamdanga of Chuadanga, died of cardiac arrest on Thursday night while Abdul Motaleb, 60, of Hathazari in Chittagong and Abdul Hamid, 75, of Nikli in Kishoreganj, died on Wednesday.
A multi-layer security system by 12,000 uniformed and plainclothes members of police, Rab and intelligence agencies was in place at the Ijtema ground to ward off any trouble.
Thousands of volunteers are also serving the devotees round the clock.
Though there are restrictions on women's participation in the religious congregation, several hundred women from different districts rented houses adjacent to the Ijtema ground to listen to the sermons.
Rahela Begam of Chhatak in Sunamganj
rented a space forTk 100 at a room of a shrine near the Ijtema ground.
Like Rahela, seven to eight more women rented areas in the room while many others were seen sharing the shrine premises under open sky.
Free medical camps were set up at the northern part of the Ijtema field to provide immediate medical assistance to the ailing devotees.
Street vendors were seen selling polythene sheet and newspapers to devotees who had to offer prayers on the road.
TWo school students — Maizul Islam and Rasel Sikdar — have set up a makeshift cell phone charger booth to earn cash.
"We take Tk 10 for charging a mobile phone" Ashraf said, adding that they earned Tk 2,500 from this business last year.
A mobile court led by Executive Magistrate Md Saiful Islam filed nine cases against the owners of different restaurants set up at the Ijtema ground for selling adulterated foods.
Tongi police arrested 17 persons on Thursday and yesterday on different charges including pickpocketing and theft.