The mosque for Bangladesh’s transgender women
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 5 December 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the banks of the Brahmaputra River, a remote village in northern Bangladesh serves as a sanctuary for the hijra (transgender) community, a once-revered but now persecuted group. In March 2024, a mosque built by and for hijras offered a rare haven for worship without fear. After the August 2024 protests that toppled the secular government, a surge in religious extremism has fueled renewed violence against minorities, including the hijra community. Their mosque, once a beacon of hope and inclusivity, now faces significant threats. Reporter Sahar Zand gains rare access to this embattled community, following their leader, Tanu Hijra Guru, who fights tirelessly for the women she calls her daughters. Outside the village, Sahar witnesses the harsh realities of survival - begging, beatings, prostitution - and speaks to hijras forced to live as men under family pressure. This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.6 | In a wooden fishing boat under Brahmaputara River in rural Mamas Singh, Bangladesh, |
| 0:13.7 | I'm heading towards a place unlike any other, a Hidjira village. |
| 0:21.9 | Also known as the third gender, |
| 0:24.2 | Hidjahas form a diverse community, |
| 0:26.6 | including those born intersex, |
| 0:28.9 | meaning their physical traits don't fit neatly |
| 0:31.3 | into male or female categories and transgender individuals. |
| 0:35.4 | Once revered in South Asian history and culture as mystical figures |
| 0:39.3 | believed to bring blessings or curses, |
| 0:42.3 | Hidjuras now face systemic discrimination and social exclusion. |
| 0:47.3 | I'm Sahar Zand, and this is the documentary on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:53.3 | This week on Heart and Soul, I meet members of this once revered community |
| 0:57.9 | as they fight for acceptance in an intolerant society through faith. |
| 1:03.7 | Thank you. |
| 1:04.6 | Dundabad. |
| 1:06.5 | Hidra village? |
| 1:07.6 | This way? |
| 1:07.9 | This way? |
| 1:09.0 | This way? |
| 1:11.6 | Thank you. |
| 1:31.5 | Okay I'm studying to see a few houses. It's right here. It's here. I am squeezing through a narrow alleyway. There's a quite a long roar of small concrete rooms that goes all the way down either end and are painted in a faint yellow and right at the end the room belongs to the leader of this community. |
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