Three day congregation of 'Dawat-i-Islami' concluded with the collective prayers on Sunday noon, which was attended by one million faithfuls, as claimed by a spokesman of the Dawat-i-Islami. Before the Zohar prayers Qari Saleem made Dua for the security, stability and prosperity of the country.
He prayed may Allah grant durable peace and eliminate terrorism and forgive the sins of Muslims and guide them to live their lives in accordance with teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet (Pbuh). Maulana Ilyas Qadri, head of Dawat-i-Islami, in his lecture appealed to the participants to mould their lives in accordance with Islamic principles and seek guidance of Allah and last of the Holy Prophets Hazrat Muahmmad (Pbuh) in their day-to-day lives.
He urged the people to maintain unity in their ranks and work to regain the glory of Islam and lead their lives as practising Muslims. Qari Muhammad Shahid, a leader of Dawat-i-Islami, also delivered a lecture in the morning asking the youth to adopt Islam as way of life, pay respect to the elders and offer five time prayers so as to become true Muslims. Faithfuls reached at Multan by special buses, vans, cars, trucks and six special trains. Official sources said that 400,000 to 500,000 people attended the congregation while more than 100,000 women attended the congregation at Qasim Bagh in Multan city.
A large number of people from Multan and other parts of south Punjab also participated in the congregation and heard the lecture delivered by Maulana Ilyas Qadri.
The three-day annual congregation of Dawat-i-Islami began at Sahra-i-Madina, Sher Shah, a suburb of Multan concluded this noon on Sunday. Amir of Dawat-i-Islami Maulana Salim Qadri.
A village call" Sehra-i-Madina" was developed on 350 acres of land to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people in Sher Shah some 18-km south-west of Multan, who came to attend three-day Dawat-i-Islami congregation, started from Friday, October 31 and ended on November 2nd, 2008. More than 150 shops of eatables and other items were also established to facilitate the participants. Proceedings of this three-day international religious congregation could be seen through Internet.
"We have made security arrangements and our volunteers would keep vigilant eye on movement of suspects, however law enforcing would not be allowed to enter this village for official duty, Saleem Qadri, the chief organiser of the congregation said. He said neither the roads were constructed for visitors nor railway authorities provided special trains according to requirements, however all trains would stop at Sher Shah railway station.
Saleem Qadri told reporters that separate camps were established for each district of the country and several people arriving here from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Sudan, Iraq, United Kingdom, USA, Afghanistan, Central Asian States and India. Police spokesman Syed Saad Saud said some 26,000 DI workers performed the security responsibility besides 4,000 personnel of the police force.