Karadar in Bangladesh

Introduction / History

The Karadars are a small Muslim community living in central Bangladesh. They speak Bengali.

What Are Their Lives Like?

As Muslims, the Karadars have Islamic ceremonies for their weddings. Though families arrange most marriages, the couple sometimes decide on whom they marry. The Nikah ceremony is important. This is an Islamic ceremony where they sign the marriage contract. It involves the participation of the bride s father, the couple, and a Muslim officiant who offers a blessing.

Karadars respect their elders and maintain close family ties, even after the wedding. Their entire culture is determined by Islam.

What Are Their Beliefs?

Karadars are Sunni Muslims who believe that the supreme God, Allah, spoke through his prophet, Mohammed, and taught mankind how to live a righteous life through the Koran and the Hadith. To live a righteous life, you must utter the Shahada (a statement of faith), pray five times a day facing Mecca, fast from sunup to sundown during the month of Ramadan, give alms to the poor, and make a pilgrimage to Mecca if you have the means. Muslims are prohibited from drinking alcohol, eating pork, gambling, stealing, slandering and making idols. They gather for corporate prayer on Friday afternoons at a mosque, their place of worship.

The two main holidays for Sunni Muslims are Eid al Fitr, the breaking of the monthly fast and Eid al Adha, the celebration of Abraham s willingness to sacrifice his son to Allah.

Sunni religious practices are staid and simple. They believe that Allah has pre-determined our fates; they minimize free will.

In most of the Muslim world, people depend on the spirit world for their daily needs since they regard Allah as too distant. Allah may determine their eternal salvation, but the spirits determine how well we live in our daily lives. For that reason, they must appease the spirits. They often use charms and amulets to help them with spiritual forces.

What Are Their Needs?

The Karadars have not heard of the abundant life only Jesus Christ can offer. They have shut themselves out of the Kingdom of God by rejecting Christ s blood sacrifice. It will take a work of the Holy Spirit to convince their elders to consider their need for a sin-free savior to bring them close to God.

Prayer Points

Pray for a movement of Jesus to heal and strengthen Karadar communities.
Pray for a "Book of Acts" type of movement to Christ among the Karadars of Bangladesh.
Pray for the Karadars to understand and embrace that Jesus wants to bless their families and neighborhoods.
Pray for Holy Spirit anointed believers from the Karadars to change their society from within.
Pray for a movement in which the Holy Spirit leads and empowers disciples to make more disciples.

Text Source:   Joshua Project