Buddhist monks serve iftar for Muslims in Bangladesh

Monastery's head monk says they are feeding poor Muslims who cannot afford to buy proper meals to break their fast

A Buddhist monastery in Bangladesh is serving Iftar to hundreds of Muslims during Ramazan, in a rare example of social harmony between the two religious groups in the region.



Hundreds of Muslim men, women and children line up in front of a Buddhist monastery in Dhaka to receive iftar.

PHOTO: Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera

The project by Dharmarajika Buddhist monastery began six years ago and according to the monks, Ramazan is the best opportunity to help poor Muslims in the region.

PHOTO: Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera

High Priest of the temple Shuddhanando Mohathero, who introduced the project, believes that "humanity is the ultimate goal of humans".

According to Abul Basahr, a shop keeper living in the area, monks at the Buddhist temple engaged in several social welfare activities, Al Jazeera reported.

PHOTO: Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera

"The best thing they are doing is the distribution of iftar food to the poor people," he said.

The owner of a local restaurant, Harun Miah, has been working with the monastery for the past five years to cook iftar. He says the iftar consisting of potato chops, peyaju (onion tempura), beguni (eggplant tempura), chhola-boot (lentils), khejur (dates), muri (puffed rice), and jilapi (a sweet made of sugar syrup) are served in a box.

PHOTO: Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera

According to Buddhapriya Mahathero, the second high priest of the monastery, nearly 300 poor people are fed iftar daily.

"The people start making queues from 3:00pm onwards inside the monastery," he told Al Jazeera.

For people like Sakhina, who cannot pay for an iftar, the free food at the monastery is a God send gift. "Here, we are granted respect that we were supposed to get from our co-religists," she told Al Jazeera.

PHOTO: Mahmud Hossain Opu/Al Jazeera

Despite a recent spike in violence in the South Asian nation, the monks say they are not worried about their safety and have a very good relation with the Muslim community.



Mahathero, a firm believer in inter-religious harmony said: "Why should there be a conflict? We are all Bangladeshis. This land is for all of us. By helping each other, we can make this country great."

Muslims make up around 90 per cent of Bangladesh’s 160 million population, with a tiny community of Buddhists residing mostly in the country’s southeastern districts bordering Myanmar.

This article originally appeared on Al Jazeera.