From 31 January I had the privilege of being present at the second largest Muslim gathering after the Hajj. Yes, I'm talking about the Tongi Ijtema. I anticipated it since the last one. I didn't stay at night, but I regularly attended the lectures of the elders. The place is huge, infact, if you haven't been there yourself, you have no idea about the magnitude of the place. The huge space is actually not enough for the magnitude of people who stay there. When I look around there, I see people from all over the country, from all fields of work. I see people who work in huge multinational companies, who earn tens of thousands, at the same frame I see people who live from hand to mouth. I see students, doctors, engineers, politicians, beggars, businessmen. But they are all living in the same state there. They are having food from the same plate, drinking water from the same glass, standing in lines to get to the toilet. They are living the same life there. The rich have left their luxurious apartments, their multi-million taka bathrooms and have come here to live the same life as a begger who's sleeping right next to him. People speaking in their various dialects, but speaking the same things, speaking about Tawheed, Risaalat, Aakhirat, encouraging each other to go out in Allah's path. It is assumed that about 20 lakh people gathered there to stay, but there's no hassle, no quarrel, no mismanagement. Everyone has a tendency to listen to others. By being there one actually gets an idea about
how the Muslim brotherhood should've been like. Muslims from rest of the world also were there. Everyone was there sacrificing there time, their luxury, their money only to be there and listen to the advices of the elders and prepare themselves to dedicate their lives for the Deen. I look around, amazed, and feel that yes, this is where I belong, this is where Muslims belong.
Last month I also had the opportunity to work for the Ijtema. There is no particular leader in this massive task. Everybody is a leader, everybody is a worker. All working together, ordinary people, make this huge task possible without any hassle. It shows the power of unity that we lack in our everyday life, which makes our life harder. Listening to the bayaans of the elders of Tabligh is really an opportunity that I cannot afford to miss when it comes by. Their words inspire us to obey the Deen that Prophet Muhammad (S) has shown to us, the Deen which the Sahaabis (R) practiced perfectly. It's not like they tell us to leave everything worldly and only to pray and weep. They preach the actual Islam, which says that anything we do in our life, if we do it according to Quran and Sunnah, it will be counted as worship of Allah. It's about trying as hard as you can and depending only on Allah and not on your efforts. It's possible to write volumes on this issue so I'm not writing any more. These bayaans inspire us to stay on Allah's path 24x7. May Allah give Tawfiq to us all to stay on Allah's path till death.
Ameen.
