Crowds, Curry, and imported Coffee!: Bishwa Ijtema 2013

As you all know by now, we are in a primarily muslim country. We've already made reference to the "call to prayer" that happens each morning at approximately 5:30- it usually wakes us up although we're learning to sleep through it. Or perhaps we should also heed the call to pray...

We've had a few days of blissful quiet (note: it's never quiet here... this is a comparative statement about the level of noise we endured the last two weeks). We had never considered "noise pollution" to be so difficult to cope with- one more thing you can never know about a place until you experience it yourself.

From January 11-20th, over 2 million faithful muslims flocked into Dhaka. And not just Dhaka, but Uttara- our home neighbourhood. A river backs the University in which we teach and just on the other side the floods of people stood to pray. We were only able to glimpse a tiny portion of the event from our side of the water- even that was a sight to behold.

The city already holds upwards of 15 million people within its boards. Sources stated that that number is growing by 1000 per day- 300-400,000 per year. Dhaka is by far the largest center in Bangladesh with the next biggest city numbering around 200-300,000. Without efforts made to decentralize it's job market to other parts of the country, this influx will only continue to increase in speed and numbers.

So you can only imagine what a sudden influx of 2 million into the city looked like. The air was thick with dust from the foot traffic. Some days we chose to stay indoors and if we did venture out, we made sure to cover our heads- what with the ultra conservative religious men milling about. Busses which had brought the faithful in grabbed any road side/ street side spot they could find- the city streets were lined with them for miles.

And the noise. We felt like the Grinch looking down on Whoville yelling " Oh the NOISE NOISE NOISE NOISE"! Loud (and we mean loud) speakers were wired all throughout the city so that everyone (like it our not) could listen in to the prayers and sermons. Unfortunately they were all in Bangla and so we didn't benefit much. Truly, it tested our patience a great deal.

Ricki came down with a pretty nasty cold/flu bug we're pretty sure came, because of the increased population and dust in the air. We don't even want to think what nasties were propelled into the air and into our lungs. Thankfully to Rob and his gift of Oregano Oil, she's back in the game faster than we anticipated! Karen Lund, the program director who has a PhD in Microbiology said that for one class she simply left a petri dish out open to air for a few hours in order to see what might grow. It didn't take long for numerous colonies of microorganisms to flourish.

Muslims from upwards of 100 countries took part in the event including Pakistan, India, China, Srilanka, Myanmar, Oman, Malaysia, Kuwait, Nigeria, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Europe, USA etc.

The Bishwa Ijtema is an annual Tablighi Jamaat islamic movement congregation. The event focuses on prayer and supplication and doesn't allow for political discussion. The Ijtema is non-political and therefore draws people of all persuasions. Prayer is held for the spiritual adulation, exaltation and welfare of the muslim community.

Tabliqhi Jammaat basically means "The society for spreading the faith". It's inception is believed to be in response to deteriorating values and negligence of fundamental aspects of Islam. Unlike common proselytizing movements, TJ never strove to convert non-muslims to Islam, rather it exclusively focused on making Muslims "better and purer".

The Six Principles are:

The method adopted by Muhammad Ilyas was simple. It was to organize units (called jamaats, Arabic: جماعتِ ‎ meaning Assembly) of at least ten persons and send them to various villages. This unitjamaat, would visit a village, invite the local Muslims only to assemble in the mosque and present their message in the form of Six Principles.^[31] Muhammad Ilyas articulated six demands in the form of Six Principles which are quintessential to Tabligh Jamaat's teachings. These six principles are:

Kalmah: An article of faith in which a Muslim accepts that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his last messenger". Yet it is not as simple as proclaiming tawheed, rather it also has to do with having conviction that every single thing is done by the will of Allah. Moreover, the fact that not a leaf can fall from the tree yet it has been decreed by Allah. The means of bringing this conviction in one's life requires one to follow the Sunnah (way) of Muhammad.
Salah: "Five daily prayers that are essential to spiritual elevation, piety, and a life free from the ills of the material world" The notion that through one's salah, one can directly attain from the treasures of Allah. However it is not simply praying salah, but praying it in the manner of Muhammad, i.e. With concentration and devotion.
Ilm and Zikr: "The knowledge and remembrance of Allah conducted in sessions in which the congregation listens to preaching by the emir, performs prayers, recites the Quran and readsHadith as is described in the books like "Tabligi Nisaab' comprising of Fadhaa'il Aa'mal' and other books
Ikraam-e-Muslim: "The treatment of fellow Muslims with honor and deference" To Like for other what you like for yourself.
Ikhlas-e-Niyyat: "Reforming one’s life in supplication to Allah by performing every human action for the sake of Allah and toward the goal of self-transformation"
Dawt'o' Tableegh(Dawah): "The sparing of time to live a life based on faith and learning its virtues, following in the footsteps of the Prophet Muhammad, and taking His message door-to-door for the sake of faith. "