Ctg businessman offers to sponsor Umrah for Kishoreganj's Monu Mia

Engineer Muhammad Nasir Uddin, chairman of the Alhaj Shamsul Haque Foundation in Chattogram, has offered to sponsor Umrah for Monu Mia, a grave digger from Kishoreganj, after he humbly declined a gift of a red horse.

Since Wednesday (14 May), Monu Mia of Itna upazila in Kishoreganj has been undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Dhaka due to illness. During his absence, his beloved red horse was left unattended. Taking advantage of the situation, some miscreants killed the animal. On Friday morning (16 May), locals discovered the horse’s lifeless body in a waterbody near a madrasa in Hashimpur Chhatrish village of Mithamain upazila. The incident left Monu Mia heartbroken.

To comfort him in his time of grief, young engineer Muhammad Nasir Uddin wished to gift Monu Mia a new red horse. With that intention, he traveled from Chattogram to the hospital in Dhaka to meet him. However, Monu Mia respectfully declined the offer and instead expressed a desire to perform Umrah.

Nasir Uddin said, “When I met him at the hospital, Monu Mia told me he wouldn’t accept the horse. But he did express a wish to perform Umrah. When we offered to arrange it for him, he said he would get in touch with us once he recovers and makes a final decision.”

For the past five decades, 67-year-old Monu Mia has been answering calls to dig graves, riding his red horse to the homes of the deceased. In the haor region of Itna, Kishoreganj, he has dug over 3,000 graves — all without ever accepting payment.