State Minister for Religious Affairs Sheikh Md Abdullah on Tuesday said that Biswa Ijtema has been extended by a day as both faction of Tabligh Jamaat reached consensus on holding the congregation.
He said this year's Biswa Ijtema, the second largest congregation of Muslims after Holy Hajj, will begin February 15 and to continue till 18.
The decision was taken at a meeting with the leaders of two factions of Tabligh Jamaat.
bdnews24.com adds: Maulana Jobayer will manage the congregation on the first two days and Syed Wasiful Islam the last two days, he told a press conference at his office in Dhaka.
The Tabligh leaders will decide who will conduct Akheri Munajat, or the final prayers, according to the state minister.
Earlier, following a meeting with two factions of Tabligh on Jan 24, the government had said Ijtema would be held in one phase, not two like previous years, over three days from Feb 15.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had earlier said Saad Kandhalvi, a member of the Tabligh Jamaat’s Supreme Council based in New Delhi, would not be attending Ijtema this year.
Saad’s grandfather Indian Islamic scholar Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Kandhalvi established Tabligh in 1920.
A Tabligh faction in Bangladesh protested against Saad’s participation in Ijtema in the beginning of last year.
The conflict escalated when Saad’s followers announced a different date for Ijtema by the end of last year, prompting the authorities to postpone the congregation, which is organised on the banks of river Turag at Tongi on the outskirts of Dhaka every year.
Tabligh is now the largest organisation of Sunni Muslims in the Indian subcontinent with its headquarters, referred to as the Markaz, in New Delhi.
