Online Desk  :   A total of 1,023 foreign pilgrims from 49 countries have joined in the second phase of the 58th Bishwa Ijtema. Their names were listed till 10PM on Friday. Maulana Ilyas bin Saad from Delhi delivered a sermon after Fajr prayer on Saturday, with Maulana Osama Islam translating it into Bengali. Today is the second day of the second phase. After Zuhr, Arab guests were set to deliver sermons, translated by Maulana Mustafa Khalil. Hafez Manzur was scheduled to speak after the Asr prayer, with Maulana Ruhul Amin translating.

A dowry-free wedding will be held at the Bayan Manch after Asr prayer, where the bride and groom would neither see nor know each other beforehand. The marriage would take place without dowry or conditions. According to Mohammad Sayem, media coordinator of the Bangladesh chapter of Tabligh Jamaat (followers of Nizamuddin), millions of devotees from home and abroad are attending this year’s Ijtema. The second phase will continue till February 16. Meanwhile, a devotee named Abdul Aziz Sheikh, 60, from Naria upazila in Shariatpur, died on the Ijtema ground on Friday night. With him, three devotees, so far, died in the second phahse.