Dhaka, Buddhist monastery offers iftar to poor Muslims
The evening meal breaks the Islamic fast during the sacred month of Ramadan. The temple serves 350 to 400 food boxes per day. The initiative was born in 2013 to spread interreligious harmony.
Dhaka (AsiaNews / Agencies) - In Bangladesh, the Dhammarajika Buddhist monastery offers poor and hungry Muslims the iftar, the evening meal that breaks Islamic fast during the sacred month of Ramadan. The monastery is located in the Basabo area of Dhaka and since 2013 the initiative has contributed to the well-being of society. This is a rare example of interreligious harmony in a country where Islamic radicalism has recently come back to the fore and the conditions of religious minorities are increasingly at risk.
At sunset, a long line of people wait outside the monastery gate. Each day from 350 to 400 meals are prepared, distributed in a cardboard box. Inside, potato pancakes, onion and eggplant tempura, lentil dumplings, dates, puffed rice and a sugar syrup sweet.
According to monks, the holy month is the "best opportunity to help Muslims." The project is born from the will of the venerable Shuddhanando Mohathero, the highest authority of the temple. He believes that "humanity is the ultimate goal of human beings".
The place of worship was founded in 1951. Monk Karuna Bhikkhu states that the goal is to establish good relations with the majority Islamic community. In the country Buddhists represent less than 1% of the population, over a total of 160 million inhabitants. For people like Sakhina, who can not afford the cost of the meal, food freely distributed by monks is a real blessing. "Here we are accorded the respect we should have from our own fellow believers," declares the woman.
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