December 16, 2002	Monday	Shawwal 11, 1423

TONGI, Dec 15: Millions of Muslims from Bangladesh and 71 other countries raised their hands towards Makkah, seeking Allah’s blessings as an annual three-day congregation ended here on Sunday.

Organizers and media estimated that between two and four million people from the United States, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Libya attended the three-day Biswa Ijtema, or World Muslim Congregation.

Considered the second-largest Islamic gathering after the Haj, it climaxed with mass prayers called “Akheri Munajat”.

People in suburban Dhaka perched on the rooftops of homes and shopping malls to offer mass prayers. Motorists climbed onto their cars in a queue that stretched several kilometres from the Zia International Airport to the pilgrimage site on the bank of the Turag river, turning their palms towards the holy city.

Crammed buses and trains transported the worshippers away from the congregation even as chants of “Oh! Allah we seek your divine blessings and forgive us for any wrongs,” were heard over loudspeakers.

A small ferry crammed with 100 pilgrims capsized soon after the prayer ended, but all onboard were rescued.

Bangladeshi leaders including President Iajuddin Ahmed, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and main opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed were among those who joined the mass prayers, organisers said.

Sermons in Arabic were translated simultaneously into English, Bengali, Hindi and Urdu and broadcast through a web of loudspeakers that sent prayers reverberating across the thousands of jute-made tents erected to shelter the pilgrims from the biting winter cold.

On the sidelines of the congregation, 25 poor couples were married without the brides’ families having to offer a traditional dowry, the private UNB news agency said.—AFP