Clerics Condemn Jamaat for Holding Party Meeting Inside Mosque

❐ District Correspondent

An unprecedented incident of holding political meetings and announcing election candidates by setting up chairs and tables inside a mosque has occurred in Mithapukur, Rangpur.

The actions of Jamaat-e-Islami inside the Chakpara Jame Mosque in Imadpur Union of the upazila have created extreme anger among local ordinary religious devotees. When the picture of the incident spread on social media, it sparked intense criticism across the country.

It is learned that on Tuesday, June 23, after Maghrib prayers, local leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami organized a party meeting by setting up chairs and tables inside the Chakpara Jama Mosque.

From that meeting, Mithapukur Upazila Jamaat Ameer Asaduzzaman Shimul announced a person named Manohar Badsha as the chairman candidate for the upcoming Imadpur Union Parishad election.

The Upazila Amir himself confirmed the matter on Thursday afternoon, June 25th.

Jamaat’s Upazila Secretary Shafiqul Islam, Nayeb Amir Abdul Bashet Harun, Assistant Secretary Golam Azam and other top leaders of the Upazila and Union were present at this political meeting.

As soon as photos of leaders sitting on chairs and tables inside a mosque and having political discussions appeared on Facebook, ordinary people expressed their anger.

A cleric named Maulana Azizur Rahman said that hypocrites are turning mosques into party offices.

Another Haqqani cleric named Mufti Habibullah Jalali said, “The mosque is the house of Allah, what is the hypocrisy here? They have started hypocrisy in the name of Islam.”

Alhaj Yasir Arafat, the Muhtamim of a madrasa in the Chakpara area, expressed his anger and said, “Jamaat-e-Islami has seriously violated the etiquette of the mosque by arranging party programs by placing chairs and tables inside the mosque. This is a highly condemnable act. We, the locals, strongly condemn it.”

Regarding this, Mufti Masudur Rahman Qasemi, director of Hulashuganj Jamia Qurania Darul Uloom Madrasa, gave a religious explanation and said, “The programs of political parties in our country usually criticize or backbite other parties; which is completely prohibited inside the mosque. Besides, if the beauty of the mosque is damaged by holding party programs with chairs and tables like this, then it is definitely a gross violation of the etiquette of the mosque.”

The situation is still tense across Mithapukur, with heated debates for and against the use of a holy place of worship for political purposes.