সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: পবিত্র রমজান উপলক্ষে ওয়েস্টার্ন সিডনির মসজিদ বাইতুল হুদায় অনুষ্ঠিত হয়েছে Fasting in My Religion শীর্ষক একটি ইফতার ডিনার অনুষ্ঠান। এতে বিভিন্ন ধর্মীয় নেতৃবৃন্দ ও অনুসারীগণ যোগ দেন। এ নিয়ে একটি প্রতিবেদন।
[News Music] সিডনির মার্সডেন পার্কে গত 14ই মার্চ 2026 শনিবার অনুষ্ঠিত হয়ে গেল Fasting in My Religion শীর্ষক একটি আলোচনা অনুষ্ঠান। আহমদিয়া মুসলিম অ্যাসোসিয়েশন অস্ট্রেলিয়ার কেন্দ্রীয় কার্যালয় মসজিদ বাইতুল হুদায় অনুষ্ঠিত এই ইফতার ডিনারে অংশ নেন বিভিন্ন ধর্মের নেতৃবৃন্দ এবং সাধারণ নারী-পুরুষ। ইফতারের আগে পবিত্র কোরআন তেলাওয়াতের মাধ্যমে অনুষ্ঠান শুরু হয়।
Now I will present the translation of these verses just recited. "O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you,
as it was prescribed for those before you,
so that you may become righteous."
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: বক্তৃতা পর্বে আয়োজকদের পক্ষ থেকে সবাইকে স্বাগত জানান অনুষ্ঠানের MC মির্জা রমজান শরীফ।
By saying, "As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh," which means, "May the peace and blessings of God Almighty
be upon you all." And with that I also say, "Hello, Namaste, Buddha Namo, Shalom, Sat Sri Akal, Boun Ob-Nork Kor, Marhabaan, Aadab," and all the greetings that you know of. So you're most welcome here today. When we view from up here, you all look like a garden of flowers emanating so many different fragrances. It is indeed our pleasure
to have you all here today to join us
on this very special day of blessing and gratitude. Whichever religions, religious fasting
you practice, we extend our best and warmest wishes to you all. A happy and blessed and generous Ramadan to you all. Ramadan Mubarak. Ramadan Kareem. Fasting in My Religion, an Iftar dinner, is our flagship annual program throughout Australia to bring together faith leaders, politicians, community members to encourage dialogue and deeper understanding and promote a message of love for all and harm to none, uh, which is the need of the hour in this time and age.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: আহমদীয়া মুসলিম অ্যাসোসিয়েশন অস্ট্রেলিয়ার আমীর ও মিশনারি ইনচার্জ মাওলানা ইনামুল হক কাউসার তার শুভেচ্ছা বক্তব্যে বলেন:
This is another great sign of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, that how he knew that all religions have the, the fasting in their religion. It was not only Christianity and Judaism, there was Hinduism, these Zoroastrians, Confucius and then Taoism, Mormons, Buddhists and all. That they had the concept of fasting and they maybe they have different days and different ways.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: ক্যাথলিকদের পক্ষ থেকে Respected Michael Yates এতে বক্তব্য প্রদান করেন।
So today we have Respected Michael Yates, who we met at the Colman Centre for Christian-Muslim, uh, Relations Iftar dinner, who is here with his wife Trish as well today, and who will talk to us about fasting in Catholicism. Please, most welcome.
Thank you. There's a wisdom in Zen Buddhism, I am told, that says when you are tired, sleep. When you are hungry, eat. And if we tried to do that wherever possible, our global problems would be far less.
But Jesus once asserted humans do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
This is the essence of Catholic fasting. We hunger for food and drink, but we hunger far, far more for connection that leads to justice in all its forms that God urges us to remember and to pursue. So at the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, ashes on our foreheads remind us we are dust, and back to dust we will return.
And so we are called to repent, which means to see the world as God sees it, and to set out each day to make the world a better place while we can. And because Jesus knew what some do with self-denial, as been mentioned already, the Catholic tradition makes it clear your Lenten connection with God cannot have as its goal praise from other people. Fasting is an intimate response to God, to be hidden.
Show joy on your face instead of gloom. Life is not a funeral, as Pope Francis used to often remind Catholics.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: হিন্দু ধর্মের পক্ষ থেকে বক্তব্য প্রদান করেন পন্ডিত শিব শ্রীনিবাসন।
By introducing our next speaker, Pandit Shiva Srinivasan, who will be speaking about fasting in Hinduism. Panditji is a respected Hindu priest serving the community in Sydney. He currently serves as the Secretary of Australian Council of Hindu Clergy and is actively involved as a temple priest in providing spiritual guidance and conducting religious ceremonies for the Hindu community. Thank you very much.
I'm just going to give a brief talk on fasting in Hinduism. In Hinduism, we call fasting as Upavasa. Upavasa means staying,
be hunger and being close to the divine.
When sometimes when you are hunger, your mind starts to think about food and various things. So we practice our religion to concentrate your mind towards the God.
It is not merely about abstaining from the food. The word Upavasa means stay close to the divine. Fasting is primarily a spiritual discipline aimed at purification of the mind, body and the soul.
In our Hinduism, the Vedic traditions, fasting has been practiced as a way to control, to have, to cultivate self-control, humility and devotion to God.
By reducing the physical consumption of the food, we increase our inner awareness towards the God
and spiritually focus ourselves to the God.
So during fasting, we are encouraged,
we are encouraged to engage in prayers, meditation, reading the sacred text, scriptures and do a lot of charity work, that's acts of kindness. Because serving the humanity is serving the God.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints এর পক্ষ থেকে বক্তব্য প্রদান করেন respected David Brinsdon.
Our short speaker is Mr. David Brinsdon, who is here with his wife Carrie
to attend this event. David is the Church Communication Director of the Habersham Stake and will be representing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Please.
I'm grateful for this opportunity to be with you all this afternoon to share a few thoughts about fasting from the perspective of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what it is, why we do it and how it connects us with God. Since the time of Adam, God's people have fasted to help them draw near to him and to worship him. Jesus showed the importance of fasting by his own example. Through Latter-day revelation, we learn that the Lord still expects his people to fast and to pray often. Fasting means to go without food and drink. Occasional fasting is good for our bodies and helps our minds become more active. The Saviour Jesus Christ taught us that purposeful fasting is more than just going without food and drink. We must also concentrate on spiritual matters. Prayer is a necessary part of fasting. Throughout the scriptures, prayer and fasting are mentioned together. Our fasting should be accompanied by sincere prayer and we should begin and end our fasting with prayer. Fasting can have many purposes. We can overcome weaknesses or problems by fasting and praying. Sometimes we may wish to fast and pray to help or guidance for others, such as a family member who is ill or someone who needs a blessing.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at এর পক্ষ থেকে মাওলানা কামরুজ্জামান বলেন
During these days, Muslims try to make special efforts to establish a deep connection with God Almighty and offer some extra voluntary prayers and supplications other than
the daily five obligatory prayers.
One objective of fasting is to bear the hardship in the path of God Almighty.
To feel the hardship of those who are less fortunate, who are poor, who are needy. On the other hand, resemble ourselves to God Almighty who is
beyond these physical needs.
To adopt, to observe this fast, on one hand,
we practice the suffering of those who are less fortunate.
On the other hand, we connect ourselves, resembling ourselves
to that great being, God Almighty, who is beyond these limitations. We resemble ourselves for a short period of time to that great being, God Almighty. In one narration, it is mentioned that the founder of Islam, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, was extremely generous, especially during these days.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: অ্যাটর্নি জেনারেল Michelle Rowland MP বলেন
Assalamualaikum, good evening friends. Thank you so much for inviting me and my colleagues here this evening and I thank in particular Imam Kausar for bringing us all together. I always learn something from participating in these events. For me it's an opportunity to listen and to absorb the views of other people but also to appreciate how similar they are to my own and to my own experiences.Amal Kalsa, as Attorney General, one of my roles is legislating and also attempting to remedy the lack of social cohesion that we have unfortunately in this country. And I can tell you that from studies that have shown time and time again the best way to foster social cohesion in a country that is multiracial and multifaith is interrace and interfaith dialogue. Not only you Amal Kalsa has been a champion of this, but so many people here in their individual organizations and in their own pursuits have been champions just the same.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: New South Wales Liberal Party Shadow Minister Mark Coure MP বলেন,
Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's wonderful to be here today. My name is Mark Koro, the Shadow Minister for Multiculturalism. Peace be upon you. Assalamualaikum. It is a great honor to be here tonight with members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, community leaders, friends from across many different faiths and backgrounds. Firstly, I want to thank the organizers for the invitation and the warm welcome tonight. Tonight we gather during the holy month of Ramadan, a time that is deeply significant for many around the world. Ramadan is a time for reflection, prayer, compassion and generosity. Australia is one of the most successful multicultural societies in the world. People from every culture, faith and background have come together to build our great nation, our country, the values that values freedom, respect and opportunity. And events like tonight, tonight's interfaith gathering show exactly how that works in practice. When people of different faiths sit together, share conversations, learn about each other's traditions and build friendships, we strengthen the fabric of our society. We replace misunderstanding with understanding. We replace fear with friendship and we replace division with unity. Interfaith dialogue plays a powerful role in creating a more peaceful, respective world. I wish each and every one of you here tonight a blessed Ramadan. Ramadan Mubarak. Thank you very much.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: Blacktown এর MP Stephen Bali বলেন,
I feel that looking across here, we've basically got every continent covered and it's really important what the Ahmadines are doing here is bringing people together of all continents, of all faiths so we can share in goodwill. The wonderful works that the Ahmadines have done that we've talked about over the years and we've seen and witnessed whether they're in floods, whether it's giving blood, whether it's helping the community, feeding the poor. There's so many different things and in this holy time of Ramadan, thank you to the Ahmadin community that in our darkest hour, in our world's history, that in times and hopefully in the future when we look back, seeing all the division and wars out there, your actions here of bringing together representatives of people that have come from all over the world, all over the continents, coming here, you are now showing us the light of how to live in peace and harmony. And we thank you for doing this, for bringing us all together at this very important time and Ramadan Barima for everybody.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: Blacktown City Council এর মেয়রের প্রতিনিধি Councillor Moninder Singh বলেন,
Today is the Sikh New Year. So I think that's as per the Nanakshahi calendar. So I wish you all very best wishes. Glenwood Gurdwara Sahib, they have got a big program going on today. So I will be heading there. So I think from the council, we have taken a few initiatives. Last year we started a mayor iftar dinner. This year as well, I think the invitation was sent to all the mosques and there was a good attendance. So thank everybody who has come. Another initiative by a few community members is that there will be a community iftar on Thursday at Blacktown Main Street. So they are closing the part of the main street. They are expecting about 500 people and they want to resonate Likamba Market that time. So hopefully I think this experience will go really well. So I think that's the experience and I invite you all, anybody who can join on that day. It's an initiative by a few friends who want to take the lead and want to do it that way. So at last, I think this is the time. There's a lot said about Ramadan and fasting and looking after the people who are less fortunate. As a community, we need to lead that in the entire community. So
you guys are doing a lot already, but I think still there's a lot to go. There's a lot of suffering in the society, a lot of suffering. We have to see what's happening around us. So if we can do something to alleviate the suffering of some people, that would be good. Thank you very much.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: এই অনুষ্ঠান সম্পর্কে বাংলাদেশি অস্ট্রেলিয়ান এএসএম রহমান সোহেল বলেন,
অনুষ্ঠান তো খুবই সুন্দর হইছে, সুন্দর, খুব organized. আর আমি মনে করি এরকম অনুষ্ঠানের দরকার আছে কারণ এখন তো বিভিন্ন কারণে যেহেতু মুসলমানদের সম্পর্কে সবার ভীতি, এটা যদি continue করা হয় এই ধরনের program, আমার মনে হয় যেসব ভুল ধারণা আছে ওগুলো হয়তো দূর হবে আস্তে আস্তে। যেটা আমাদের communityর জন্য অনেক ভালো।
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: Blacktown এ একটি community radio চালান ড. নার্গিস বানু। তিনি বলেন,
আজকে এই প্রোগ্রামটি তো আপনারা জানেন যে এটি ছিল interfaith program।
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: Fasting in my religion
Yes. So মানে topics টা ছিল fasting এর উপরে in different religion. So তারা যেটা করেছে multicultural perspective এ যদি আমি বলি, তারা invite করেছে ধর্মীয় নেতাদেরকে from different religion. এটা হল fantastic মানে সু-সুন্দর এবং এই জিনিসগুলো আপনি যদি এইরকম mal-- interfaith program এ না আসেন, এগুলা এইরকম বিভিন্ন perspective এ এই কথাগুলো কিন্তু শোনা যায় না। কিন্তু interfaith এ আসলে অন্যদের কথাগুলো শুনে
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: শিখ community থেকে এসেছিলেন আলবেল সিং কাং। তিনি বলেন This is the only platform where we meet the people from other faiths and we should have
more of this sort of thing. You know, even my faith hasn't done much in uniting all and spreading the message of peace. And this is a need of the time to spread the message of peace, which this community is doing very very well and for the last
many many decades. Yeah, I remember my father used to come here about quarter of a century ago and used to speak from this platform. So they are doing, they are uniting the community, spreading the message of peace for a long long time, yeah. শিখ communityর ডক্টর বীরেন্দ্রজিৎ বলেন
My name is Dr. Virenderjit, originally from Punjab, India.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: And which religion?
Uh, Sikh. Today's program is excellent. It's actually very nice. It's great to see it's so many faiths coming together. It's all inclusive. You see people from Christian faith, from Hindu religion, from there is a big gathering of the Sikh community. So it's really refreshing to see that how
different faiths are coming together and they are sharing the values of peace and harmony.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: শিখ communityর মিস্টার হক বলেন
My name is Hark, H-A-R-K. Yeah, from India, Punjab. Religion Sikh. It was a great program and very privileged to be invited here. And the message they're spreading of uniting and cohesion, especially in today's times of a lot of volatile and turmoil, is a great message.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: সুদানি মুসলিম মিস্টার আহমদ আত তাহির বলেন
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Ahmad Attahir from Sudan.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: Is this your first time here?
Actually, that's a good question. Actually, for me, even I'm local living here in Blacktown, but this is the first time to be in Ahmadiyya Baitul Huda Masjid.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: So you are not Ahmadi?
Um, actually we are Sunni. There is no difference. I mean, the atmosphere that I found it today, there's no difference at all. We are all one family, one society. And that's the greatest and that's the beauties.
So is there anything else about this multicultural event?
Really, it was really touched my heart. I mean, to see all kind of people around sharing the meals, having great speech, that's a great thing. That's what we would like to see as a Muslim and as one nation. And Eid Mubarak, inshallah.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: আর ক্যাথলিক ধর্মাবলম্বী ট্রিশ ইয়ার্ডস বলেন
I'm from the Catholic community of Christ the King Parish at North Rocks.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: Is this your first time here?
It's the first time I'm here, yes.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: How was that?
Um, I think it's really interesting and, um, just thought that, um, there are more similarities in all our faiths than differences. Yes. And, uh, I suppose how we can all work together for, for peace and to help and to aid, um, people who are less fortunate than ourselves.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: এই অনুষ্ঠানের আয়োজনে আহমদিয়া communityর প্রতি সহায়তার হাত বাড়িয়ে দিয়েছিল অস্ট্রেলিয়ান পাঞ্জাবি community association. ইফতার dinner এর জন্য তারা রান্না করে খাবার নিয়ে এসেছিল। এ সম্পর্কে শিখ communityর মিস্টার সুখবন্ত বলেন
It was really good. We've been here how many years now? I think it's three years now. So today was special for us because
we offer them that we will cook the food and bring it here to serve them. So today this team, all of us, just helped to cook the food and feeling proud to be part of this community.
Which food you actually bring here?
So we cook the food at Glenwood Gurdwara Sahib, all the vegetarian food. Yeah, so
Chapatis, we make sabji, we make dal, rice and special moong dal halwa.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: আহমদীয়া মুসলিম জামাত অস্ট্রেলিয়ার আমির মাওলানা ইনামুল হক কাওসার বলেন
I would like to share with you this iftar dinner is very special in another aspect that the Sikh community is sharing with us as food servers as well. I think it is first time ever I have seen Avril Singh Ji and his team has prepared the food. It is actually half and half. They also deserve our special prayers and appreciation.
সিকদার তাহের আহমদ: আর অনুষ্ঠানের MC মির্জা রমজান শরীফ বলেন
And they have part of the iftar today has been arranged by
these visitors here. All right. Albel Singh Kang Ji and
Satnam Bajwa Singh Ji from this
Australian Sikh, sorry, Australian Punjabi Community Association. Right. So thank you very much for that.
