Dr. Farida Majid on Islam basher "secular Humanists"-
Asif Hasan
Ullah tried to tell that Dr. Farida Majid would be on his and Jamal's
side at any given time. The following essay clearly shows that while
Dr. Majid is against fundamentalism and communal bigotry, she is also
vehemently opposed to the Islam bashing by some ultra secularists on
the cyber space.In fact bashing of an ideology can fan the flame of
fundamentalism.
Thanks Dr. Farida Majid for taking her time to pen down the Essay.
--
Talibanization of Cyberspace by Crypto-Islamists
Farida Majid
In the wake of the departure of George Harrison, I am full of memories
of that electrifying Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden
in 1971, which I had the great fortune to attend. Throughout the nine
months of the liberation war I had traveled in the USA and Europe
working ceaselessly for the cause of an independent Bangladesh and
creating public opinion against the atrocities of Pakistani army on
the innocent civilians of East Pakistan. The warmth, care and goodwill
expressed at the Concert for Bangladesh were echoed all over the
world.
To the utter consternation of Nixon, Kissinger and Yahya team, George
Harrison’s "Bangladesh" hit the top of the chart. It was a
thrilling moment, in the midst of all the sad news emanating from the
battlefront, because even the Western journalists covering the civil
war in East Pakistan were not yet using the word "Bangladesh." I want
to remind everyone that this country was born on the crest of not only
Banglaee’s dream of freedom, democracy and secularism, but the
good wishes and cheers of all the world’s freedom-loving people.
It is unfortunate, and all the sadder for that beginning, that
Bangladesh failed to fulfill those dreams we fought for and for which
the whole world had cheered. Through successive autocratic rulers, the
country never had the graciousness to thank for or return that good
will to the world. Let alone thanking George Harrison, no government
of Bangladesh even acknowledged the patriotic efforts of the two of
East Bangla’s most precious gems of all times – Pandit
Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan – both of whom were
initiators of and performers at the Concert for Bangladesh.
Today we have a government that is made up of those very foes who
opposed our right to claim our freedom. With the blood of innocent
children, women and men of 1971 in their hands, two of the Jamaatis
are ministers in Khaleda Zia’s cabinet. Other Islamists hold
various important portfolios. Reminders of the muktijuddha do not stir
noble emotions in anyone any more. This is due mainly to the
Awami-leaguers’ false over-association of the liberation war
with them.
People are so fed-up of Awami mis-rule and "Zatir pita Bangabondu"
that they frown, turn up their noses, roll their eyes or fling their
wrists at the very mention of 1971. Islamists have now installed
themselves in power with unprecedented confidence. Like the Cheshire
Cat’s in the Wonderland, the ear-to-ear grin of the Islamists
hangs in the air of Bangladesh as it fills with the cries of pain and
deprivation rising from the defenseless Hindu communities victimized
by the Islamist criminals.
Not that there is no secular-minded BNP leader. Most of them, Khaleda
Zia included, are not exactly devout Muslims as we well know. But they
are installed in power by the Islamists, and hence are gagged and
bound against making any comment on the atrocities committed by the
Islamist goondas on the hapless Hindus. Without the Islamist support
BNP is nothing but a dolled up woman in a chiffon sari. Too
apparently, to maintain this vital support, she has to trundle off to
Saudi Arabia every month to perform Umrah. Who knows what lurks behind
the all too apparent!
Besides their firm clutch on the heads of the present administration,
the Islamists have foot soldiers parading in two very disparate but
well-coordinated fronts. One cache of cadres is unleashed across the
nation to wreak unspeakable havoc of communal killing, raping and
looting. Islamist leaders in Dhaka keep a straight face muttering
patronizing platitudes about the duty to protect the
‘jaan-maal’ of the Hindus.
As long as we have Islamists in Bangladesh, Jehadists in Pakistan and
the Hinduists in India, the dreaded specter of communalism as a potent
political tool will continue to scourge the general populace of the
subcontinent. Aiding and abetting the Islamists is this other, newer
front presently operating in the cyberspace.
This lot of Islamist collaborators thinly covers up their poisonous
activity of spreading the message of the Islamists in the curious form
of Islam-bashing. Therefore, I call them crypto-Islamists. Mimicking
the Islamist claim, crypto-Islamists define secularism to mean
something doggedly anti-religious, virulently anti-Islamic. They call
themselves "secular humanists," even though their pompous
pronouncements contain not a smidgen of understanding of either
secularism or humanism.
A couple of years ago, foolishly taking their self-description of
"secular humanists" in good faith, I tried to point out that
secularism means pluralism, peaceful coexistence of many religions,
faiths and ethnic cultures, and according to that definition of
secularism, Muslim Bengal had always been a secular place. At no point
in Bengal’s history Islam was declared a state religion. The
group roundly blasted me for committing the crime of mentioning
‘culture’ and ‘history’.
There is no arguing with these crypto-Islamists. They are the ardent
followers, the students (taliban) of the Bush-bin Laden School of
Dogmatism – that "either you are with us or against us" variety.
Violently allergic to the concepts of culture, history of any kind or
of any place, evolution, civilization, art, music, social studies,
grammar, rhetoric or logic, the crypto-Islamists would pounce upon
anyone who broaches these topics with the wrath matching that of their
Islamist bretheren upon the Hindus.
The ground-level Islamists at least have a political agenda behind
their Islam-touting game. Scratch their Islamic surface, and you will
discover that they really do not care much for their religion. The
‘Alem-samaaj’ or the traditional religious establishment
of Bangladesh have denounced the weird and un-Islamic ideology of the
Islamists and have vigorously protested against the Jamaati antics in
the name of religion. The crypto-Islamists of cyberspace, amidst all
their Islam-bashing, oddly, never have a harsh word against the
Jamaat. Perhaps in their vision of the world through a pinhole they
cannot distinguish one from the other.
Or perhaps – and this possibility looms increasingly large
– they are the undercover agents of the Islamists employed to
spread the propaganda that Jamaat and Islam are one and the same.
There is only one Islam – period – no ifs or buts or
what-abouts.
Crypto-Islamists were conceived in 1993, and if one recalled the
sequence of events, one can understand why the Islamists needed them.
Under the able and valiant leadership of shahid-janani Jahanara Imam,
Muktijuddher Chetana Bastabayan o Ghatok-Dalal Nirmul Committee had
successfully launched a nation-wide and among the Diaspora
Bangladeshis in London, New York and elsewhere demanding the trial of
the Bangalee collaborators of Pakistani army and those who committed
crimes against humanity in1971.
Wherever Jahanara Imam went she was greeted by huge jubilant crowds.
Members of the Alem-samaaj joined our campaign and some of them toured
the countryside going from mosque to mosque urging religious leaders
to be vigilant against the pollution of religion with the dirty
politics of the Moududibadi Jamaat. The enthusiasm of the people
wanting the Dalals of 1971 to be brought to justice was truly
fantastic and, looking back I can say, it was at an all time high. The
fundamentalists brought out a procession or two protesting our
movement, but it was clear that they were really feeling the pinch.
I had worked ceaselessly for the Nirmul Committee that time, traveling
between New York, London and Dhaka. A chunk of my time was occupied
also in joining and speaking at meetings and rallies held by an
organization that we formed called Concerned South Asians. I also
joined in the activities of our Indian colleagues of
Samprodayikata-virodhi Andolon.
We marked the first anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid by
mounting a giant exhibit by Sahmat, an anti-communalism group from
India, and a two-day festival of music, dance and poetry readings at
Columbia University. After two decades of hopelessness, I was
beginning to nurse anew the hope of a closure of the wounds of 1971.
Just at this juncture Taslima Nasrin, flushed with her success as a
column writer, decided that she wanted more limelight. I had liked her
columns on women’s rights, and actively supported her attack on
Moksudul Momenin by writing a long scholarly article on the
mistranslation of the Qur’anic verses pertaining to women.
However, I did not realize then that Nasrin was totally incapable of
making the distinction between secondary religious literature and a
primary religious text like the Qur’an. She just lumped
Qur’an, Hadith, popular pulp religious literature and rolled
them into something she called dharmo, which she then claimed in a
loud voice was a very bad thing. Coming from a culturally
unenlightened family, understandably, religion was a bit of a
‘big deal’ to her. Limited exposure to the more
enlightened section of our society led her to believe that atheism was
a novelty.
So attacking Islam seemed like a jolly good idea to earn some infamy
accompanied by spotlight. She was going to be the first female
Bangalee atheist the world ever saw! A Johnny-come-lately to the
enlightened Muslim Bangalee society that she really never knew from
her pinhole view of it..
She began attacking the Qur’an (or rather, the Bangla
translation of it, which is all she could read) and got the spotlight
she craved. Islam-bashing adds fuel to the fire of fundamentalism,
re-energizes their zeal. You don’t have to be a rocket-scientist
to make that simple cause-and–effect connection. Nasrin was what
the Islamists were craving for to get them out of their doldrums. She
was their Savior incarnate sent for their deliverance by the almighty
Allah. As a reward for this deliverance the Islamists elevated her to
the status of Salman Rushdie. The triumphant Islamists have never
looked back from that point to this. Now they are at the peak of their
political success, thanks to the brilliant work of the crypto-Islamist
Nasrin!
I cannot for the life of me fathom the degree of depravity that makes
someone speak abusively of a particular religion, its scripture, its
prophet, its ‘tradition’ its world-wide followers. It is
so inherently inhuman, racist, and unspeakably stupid! I am loath to
talk about my private life, but I must emphatically note here about my
family’s unflinching dedication to liberal principles and high
idealism, whose inculcation in me would prevent me from engaging in
this scurrilous activity of insulting a religion.
As a child I was happily a tomboy, free to romp in the fields and
woods, climb trees and splash in those splendid community ponds of
Narayanganj and swim to my heart’s content. My father and my
mamas were atheists, but we children were instructed not to speak ill
of any religion. Such instructions were not actually specified, they
were automatically implied.
We are a bi-communal family since my Boromami is a Hindu who never
converted. Her family in Dumdum, and my family were always very close
because we are culturally similar. Cultural affinity, not religion, is
what makes the difference. I do not suppose the reason why I am not
close to the families of my other two mamis is because they are
Muslim. It is just that we don’t quite match each other in our
cultural outlooks or lifestyles.
My nana, Kabi Golam Mostafa, the author of Biswanabi, whom Awami
Leaguers mischievously and anachronistically labeled as a "razakar,"
(poor guy died in 1964, for God’s sake!) was in real life the
most secular of men. Ever a loving and caring grandfather, he was more
interested in the progress I was making in my classical singing
lessons or the latest poem I wrote rather than my religious
upbringing. His delightful letters to the two of us contained humor
and playful but intelligent bantering, hardly any mention of
Allah-rasul. (I can produce these letters, written in my nana’s
exquisite hand, as documents, as opposed to Nasrin;s undocumented,
fictionalized autobiography).
By the age of ten I was well read in Bangla and English, and could
look at a picture of a painting and tell whether it was by
Michaelangelo, Raphael or Rembrandt, or whether it was by Gaugin,
Matisse or van Gogh. If I did not know enough suras by heart to say a
proper namaj, it was not an important failure. My extended family was
pretty pleased with the direction their first born was heading. Being
a Muslim female was never a problem for me. Islam never posed a threat
of oppression to me, nor was it an impediment that stunted my
intellectual and artistic growth.
So, when the opportunity came in my Graduate School days at New York
University, I eagerly snatched it and took the courses in Arabic
language which would enable me to at least read and understand the
text of the Qur’an in the original. I hasten to add that this
was not done as a ‘born again Muslim’ gesture. One
compelling reason was that I got a Federal Govt. scholarship for
studying Arabic.
The other reason was my desire to take on the offensive mullahs who
spread unsubstantiated claims in the name of religion. I was bred by
my family as a modern human being, a citizen of the world, so I had no
trouble living either in the East or the West.
These few words about my personal life are necessitated by the false
impression created by the endless personal life-story-telling by the
crypto-Islamist Nasrin as if her life-story were the norm of every
Bangalee Muslim home. No, not every woman in Bangladesh has had
Nasrin’s sordid, repressive life. And there is no telling
whether she is telling the truth. She had been caught red-handed lying
by many reporters. Who knows her family and who can testify to the
repression that really occurred?
My family is less obscure than Nasrin’s and hence I felt I
don’t have to prove anything by talking about my family life.
But Nasrin has to prove something. Again and again, ad nausea, in
Bangla and now in English, we are given an account of her life, an
account of the ‘bhando peer’ Amirullah to whose magic
Nasrin’s mother became spellbound.
Why couldn’t she get her mother unspellbound from the
Peer’s magic sooner? I have chased a few ‘bhando
peers’ out of my family’s compound in my girlhood. Nasrin
urges us, almost by clobbering on our heads, to believe that this fake
religious man has everything to do with Islam. This is what Islam is
all about and that is so because Islam is a religion like no other
(notice the Islamist drift!).
It is a pity that she has remained the same ignorant snob to this day.
Not a single lesson has been learned by her, no progress, no growth,
no change whatsoever in her incommensurate pattern of thinking; in
sum, nothing has been added to knowledge in the course of her
life’s ups and downs. She keeps repeating the story of peer
Amirullah over and over again in exactly the same way she did ten,
twelve, or fifteen years ago.
It just so happens that the ‘bhando peer’ Amirullah of
Mymensingh has as much to do with Islam as the ‘bhando’
priest of Catholic Ireland has to do with Christianity, or the
‘bhando’ bishop in Protestant Germany or England has to do
with Christianity, or the ‘bhando’ monk in Greece has to
do with the Orthodox Church, or the ‘bhando’ rabbi in
Israel has to do with Judaism, or the ‘bhando’ sadhu in
Benares has to do with Hiinduism. I’ve known a few
‘bhando’ religious women too.
The world literature abounds with the stories of their treachery and
wily ways in the name of religion. Some of these stories are
hilarious, tales in Kahlil wa Dimna, Panchatantra, Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales, or Boccaccio’s Decameron, – we laugh at
them. We laugh; we celebrate the human ingenuity of these thugs, the
same human spirit and imagination that created the edifices of these
magnificent religions. Isn’t there something seriously wrong
when a group that calls itself "secular humanists" is completely blind
to the very existence of humanity that comprises each religion?
Islam, without its living, breathing human followers, like any other
religion, is simply an abstraction. In his novel, The Satanic Verses,
Salman Rushdie wanted to bring out this human face of Islam. I like
the novel for that reason, and wrote a long essay in its defense.
Rushdie, whose life was infinitely more seriously threatened by the
Islamists than Nasrin’s ever was, has the common sense to
discriminate the Islamists from Islam. Just the other day he reminded
us that the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims are not all
‘Qur’an analysts’, and that acts of terrorism are
carried out by a crazed handful of backward-looking bunch who are
against all forms of modernism.
Crypto-Islamist Kamran Mirza strongly disagrees with such a statement.
Every Muslim gets his or her Islamic teachings from Qur’an and
Hadiths. Says who? Says Kamran Taliban Mirza. He takes a lot of pride
in his self-proclaimed role of a Qur’an analyst. He is equipped
with Allama Yusouf Ali’s English translation published circa
1936 and a couple of Bangla translations of the Qur’an. This is
the base that constitutes all his bombast, all his peremptory
pronouncements against Islam. (I have about seven or eight English, at
least three Bangla translations, one of which is by Girishchandra Sen,
two in all Arabic and a shelf full of Arabic-English dictionaries,
Arabic grammar books and sundry other Arabic language related
materials.
There is also a shelf-full of secondary scholarly books. I do not call
myself a Qur’an analyst even though I carefully consult all my
resources when I’m required to make a reference to the
Qur’an). Mirza’s so called ‘analysis’ consists
of kicking the Qur’an, spitting on the character of the Prophet,
and tearing the text apart in a stupendously comical exhibition of
ignorance, malice and egoism befitting the mannerism of a true
Islamist. He is applauded for his heroics by a handful of faithful
followers. I am reminded of the lines in "Chhayabaji" by my favorite
poet, Sukumar Roy:
Ajgubi noi, Ajgubi noi, satyi e sob kathaa
Chhayar sathe juddha kore gaatre holo byathaa
Chhaya dhorar byabsaa kori, tao jano na bujhi
Roder chhaya, chander chhaya, harek rakom punji
Shamelessly, Kamran Taliban Mirza would then post the praises he has
received from his sycophants for his comical ‘chhayabaji’
or shadowboxing.
The all-consuming obsession of the crypto-Islamists with Islam and the
ensuing blindness and megalomania would put the one-eyed Mullah Omar
and bin Laden to shame. Not a week goes by without them posting some
infantile drivel on the Qur’an and Hadith. I wonder whether they
read anything other then the Qur’an and Hadith.
Do they read an Englash language newspaper, or is it against their
religion? Is reading a non-religious book against their religion? They
don’t really have the guts to talk against the real-life living
and breathing Islamists like Motiur Rahman Nizami. It is getting
increasingly clear that these crypto-Islamists work for their Islamist
bosses whom they serve slavishly.
Of what use is Islam-bashing? It has only made the Islamists of
Bangladesh proclaim themselves as the champions of Islam.
Islam-bashers have only succeeded in endorsing this position of the
Islamists. The over-zealot crypto-Islamists are now coming apart in
the very exercise of their zealotary. They are stepping out of their
closet, although they themselves are oblivious of the fact. Kamran
Taliban Mirza’s exhortation says it all.
Exactly like the Jamaat, and all other Islamists, he is the sole
purveyor of the "real Islam" and according to him, our Bangalee
"nani-dadi, bap-dada choudda purush" had it all wrong. He is going to
set us right – teach us the real, fallacy-proof Islam. He then
passionately declares, the one-eyed "Mullah Omar is doing everything
to please Allah and nobody else" (NFB, Nov. 30, 2001).
Please, can our nerves be spared? Is it not enough that the
crypto-Islamists efforts have helped install the Islamist govt. in
power in Bangladesh? Do we now have to have the Mullah Omar agent,
this Kamran Taliban Mirza sermonizing us on the cyberspace day in and
day out?
Jaffor Ullah
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/messages)
From: S. A. Montu <sa_montu@y...>
Date: Fri Dec 21, 2001 1:47 pm
Subject: The Talibanization of Bangladeshi Sisters
The Talibanization of Bangladeshi Sisters
S.A. Montu
USA
E-mail : sa_m...@yahoo.com
Response to : http://www.bangladesh-web.com/news/dec/20/d20122001.htm#A1
Hello world!! Well, I mean Islamic world, Wake up and smell the coffee, or
is it Sylethi Chaa? Time's up Rajakar Mians! Your days are numbered, not
because the Kaffirs are overwhelming you, but your worst nightmare is coming
to fruition!! Ha Ha, poetic justice indeed! The domain so overwhelmingly
dominated by the chosen "bandas" of Allah, is now being seriously challenged
by a "pherocious" band of smooth-talking, throat-cutting, hate-mongering,
secularism-preaching, Hindu-loving, Rajakar-hating, Freedom-fighting,
"Mujib-bashing", Burqua-wearing, emancipated Bangali Ramanis.
Our Bangali sisters have found their voices since Begum Khalida ascended the
throne of Bangladesh! That is, in my opinion a sign of great progress
indeed! Imagine what a dose of undiluted Islamic "madira" does for our
oppressed sisters! Perhaps, the great Hajarat Muhammad failed in
appreciating the sublime abilities of the "weaker" sex. Given the supreme
heroism what our great Jihadi Al Quaeda sepoys are displaying at the
maidan-e-jang of Afghanistan, it is not surprising that Allah and Mr.
Mohammed are huddled together over a TV Timeout, reconsidering the display
of supreme heroism of the Jihadi "boyz"!! Now that the demand for virgin
Houris has increased exponentially over the last couple of months, Allah is
obviously hard pressed in meeting his obligations. Hence a mid-way strategy
change is in order, and per Allah's empowerment of the Burqua brigade, we
see the likes of Farida Majid, Bula Kasem, and a horde of others impatiently
waiting along the sidelines to spring into action!
These "birongana romonis" are capable all right, and I do not have any
reasons to underestimate their indomitable spirits in inflicting massive
damage to whoever incurs their wrath. Clearly, Ms Taslima Nasrin got a
sampling of the vicious attack from our pious, secular, 7-different
Quoran-reading, freedom fighting, Rajakar eliminating sisters. Tch! Tch! Our
Farida Apa had to take up this unpleasant job of putting Taslima's
"falsehoods" and in so doing she had to painfully confess her sins of being
born in a family of well a known vernacular poet. She also had to mercifully
expose her intellectual faculties through her narration of her being a
recipient of a mighty Uncle Sam offered Scholarship to allow her the
opportunity to learn Arabic, and thus be able to confer with the higher
authority in behyast!
Sure, I believe her, when she claims to be a lover of the minority Hindus of
Bangladesh. Sure, I also believe her claims of being a true lover of free
Bangladesh. Why should I not, haven't she displayed her patriotism through
such remarkably insensitive quotes like "Zatir pita Bangabondu". I am sure I
believe her when she tells us that Kamran Mirza is a Taliban! Madam, believe
me, you have convinced us all! Please speak no more! We are overwhelmed with
your honest comparison of your superior intellectual faculties vis-à-vis
Taslima's. I certainly agree that everything she spoke and wrote was meant
to poison the mind and souls of the Bangladeshi society, and all her "ill
gotten" reputation should have been bestowed upon you! You, madam are the
true example of an emancipated, birangona Bangali Nari. More powers be
vested upon you by the almighty Allah, so that you continue to educate us
and the rest of the village idiots of Bangladesh, on the efficacy of being a
"true" secularist, with a slight touch of "Aurangazebish" Justice. Joi
Banglar Romoni, Joi Bangla!!
S.A. Montu.
"Asif Hasan" <asif_h...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:df51654a.01122...@posting.google.com...
Jaffor Ullah
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/messages)
From: A. H. Jaffor Ullah <Jaffor@n...>
Date: Fri Dec 21, 2001 4:11 pm
Subject: An Open Letter to Ms. Farida Majid
Dear mukto-monas,
Here is a short response to the lengthy article of Ms. Farida Majid
published in NFB: http://www.bangladesh-web.com/news/dec/20/d20122001.htm#A1
Jaffor Ullah
Jaf...@netscape.net
------------
An open letter to Ms. Farida Majid
Dear Farida Majid,
In your NFB piece on Dec 20, 2001, you wrote: "My nana, Kabi Golam Mostafa,
the author of Biswanabi, whom Awami Leaguers mischievously and
anachronistically labeled as a "razakar," (poor guy died in 1964, for God's
sake!) was in real life the most secular of men."
My response: Rabindranath Thakur did not have the audacity to call himself
Kabi Rabindranath Thakur. However, Jessore's favorite son used to call
himself Kabi Golam Mostafa. He used to sign his name: Kabi Golam Mostafa. Go
see some old books written by him. You will see in bold print - Kabi Golam
Mustafa. I am just wondering whether the first name of
your secular nana was Kabi.
Mrs. Majid, even you called your nana - Kabi Golam Mostafa.
Your long piece was hate-laden no doubt. If the idea was to lambaste (roast)
some secular folks in cyberspace, then you get A+++. Your piece had no theme
whatsoever. Similar to a dabbler in writing, you moved from topic to topic.
In coherency, you will score a miserable D. There was no single theme to
talk about. This is what is called a "Bikkhipto Chinta Sombolito Rochona" at
its best. The dark side of you overpowered your rational mind as you wrote
the piece. Your insouciant mind had to resort to pococurantism to cut Ms.
Nasrin and Mr. Mirza. There was no need for all that. Was this a SHTICK?
Your long tirade against secularists created a unnecessary tinhorn racket in
cyberspace. Above all, your sleight of hand had earned already many friends
who belonged to the other camp and who are sympathetic to BNP and its
four-party alliance. Quite a few of them have nothing but a
glowing encomium for your dexterity in deceptive writing.
With a friend like you, the secular force of Bangladesh hardly needs an
enemy.
Sincerely,
A.H. Jaffor Ullah
"Asif Hasan" <asif_h...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:df51654a.01122...@posting.google.com...
> snipped to spare the readers of derisive scribbling >
Asif Hasan
have been enough identification. When Farida Majid said poet Golam
Mostafa is my grand dad,Jaffor's pig skin started burning. This Janwar
Ullah better see his family physician Khurshed Chowdhury (a reputed
animal Doctor).
Farida Majid is a dedicated social activist.
She has worked very hard to the betterment of the women folk in
particular, to make the voice of the oppressed and the repressed
heard.
Jaffor Ullah is no sincere secularist from Bangladesh. He has no tie
whatsoever to the present Bangladesh. ALL HIS RELATIVES LIVE IN NORTH
AMERICA and UK. Jaffor Ullah in his romantic moments like to fantasize
that he would be a famous writer some day. All he does is to recycle
some generalized and prejudiced talks in different forums to come
under the limelight. This SOB does not know anything about any topic.
He has no support from any corner of the cyber space except from
Christian wannabe Jamal Hasan, blind Awami Dalal Muslim Biddweshi
Khurshed Chowdhury. All other characters are under cover non Muslims
or former Muslims in Muslim names.For example Syed Kamran Mirza is a
Bangladeshi Christian Pasteur (also writes as Ali Sina).
Just by writing in couple of websites Kamran Mirza does not become a
real flesh and blood identity.
Just ask your self why does a patriot like Jamal Hasan asks Zaffor
Iqbal not to repatriate in Bangladesh? Thinking of a bloody self
interested person.
Also ask yourself why Jamal Hasan does not go to any of the FOBANA? He
went once. in 1996. After that what happened to Matribhumi?
My Open challenge to any one who can prove the Autheniticity of any
such identity like Kamran Mirza or Ali Sina. Even it will be hard to
find forerunners in mud slinging such as Habib Sarwar, Abul Kasem,
Shopon, Khokon et al having any valid identity or affiliation to any
real institute or organization.
But here I am replicating some quotes from people of known vocation
and
reputation. Alright, here are some quotable quotes for Mir Jaffor
Ullah. It also applies to Animal doctor Khurshed Chowdhury and dark
skin (short and fat) red neck wannabe Jamal Mia (the same old crow
wearing a peacock feather).
"Nationalism can be the last resort for some scoundrels, and Jaffor
Ullah is one such scoundrel."
-Dr. Rashiduzzaman, giving credit to Gandhi for his famous words.
(Dr. Zaman a professor in Rowan College and is a regular columnist in
weekly Holiday.)
"Jaffor Ullah is a cow essayist cum Mirjafforian traitor."
-Dr. Waheeduzzaman Manik. (His articles on SMR and Bhashani have made
it to the national dailies and received credit).
"Jaffor Ullah judges people on fruit-tree analogy, this is racist."
-Dr. Harunuzzaman on Jaffor Ullah's 'relative of a Muslim leaguer'
type of lame analogy.(Columbus, Ohio)
"Jaffor Ullah is the pretender of intellectualism, a scientist of one
penny,
a voodoo historian."
-Mohammad Abdullah. (A regular columnist in NFB, whom Jaffor Ullah
makes a point ever not to cross. Because Mohammad Abdullah is ready to
shove a 7 ft pole into Ullah’s bottom and shut him up from his
mouth at any given time. That is the only way to shut bigmouth Jaffor
up, you got to do it from the rear!! Because many of his talking
starts from the rear.)
"It is a pity that while participating in intellectual polemics,
Jaffor Ullah acts like a wanton boy who knows how to slam a hammer
here and there, but not skillfully use it."
-Dr.Abdul Awal.(An Ex-civil servant who earned his Ph D in U.S)
"In my life as an activist, educationist and a writer I have never
seen such a group of mean spirited individuals operating as a team."
-Dr. Farida Majid (Dr. Majid , the grand daughter of poet Golam
Mostafa, on Jaffor Ullah, Jamal Hasan, Khurshed Chowdhury
gong and their pen names such as Abul Hasanath, Nawaz Khan, Abul
Kasem)
"keeping in view his association with communal politics, who will know
better about fundamentalist Islamic parties than him?"
-Jazz singer Maqsood on Jaffor Ullah in an NFB article, that issue
never made it to the archived paper stack thanks to Tanvir Chowdhury.
"We are disturbed that one Bangladeshi scholar A.H. Jaffor Ullah aka
Abul Hasanath is proposing a confederation of Bangladesh and the seven
sister states, however the proposal was so preposterous in nature that
he got chastised by his fellow Bangladeshis."
-Assam Tribune, published from Assam, India.
Concluding remarks: In my thread I have tried to show that A.H.
Jaffor Ullah is a Mirjafforian traitor. He has also walked us through
the interesting study by valuable inputs. We thank him regardless of
the unwillingness to co-operate. He did not want to but he has
screwed it up big times. He could not hide his character.
What is the credibility of such writer? To be more precise what is the
credibility of a writer who claims that he has inherited writing from
his family? It is known that his dad Manzoor Ullah was completely an
insane person for a major part of his life. It would not be surprising
to see this Jaffor Ullah will be placed in a mental institution some
time in near future due to the law of inheritance.
Asif Hasan
Asif Hasan
have been enough identification. When Farida Majid said poet Golam
Mostafa is my grand dad,Jaffor's pig skin started burning. This Janwar
Ullah better see his family physician Khurshed Chowdhury (a reputed
animal Doctor).
Farida Majid is a dedicated social activist.
She has worked very hard to the betterment of the women folk in
particular, to make the voice of the oppressed and the repressed
heard.
Jaffor Ullah is no sincere secularist from Bangladesh. He has no tie
whatsoever to the present Bangladesh. ALL HIS RELATIVES LIVE IN NORTH
AMERICA and UK. Jaffor Ullah in his romantic moments like to fantasize
that he would be a famous writer some day. All he does is to recycle
some generalized and prejudiced talks in different forums to come
under the limelight. This SOB does not know anything about any topic.
He has no support from any corner of the cyber space except from
Christian wannabe Jamal Hasan, blind Awami Dalal Muslim Biddweshi
Khurshed Chowdhury. All other characters are under cover non Muslims
or former Muslims in Muslim names.For example Syed Kamran Mirza is a
Bangladeshi Christian Pasteur (also writes as Ali Sina).
Just by writing in couple of websites Kamran Mirza does not become a
real flesh and blood identity.
My Open challenge to any one who can prove the Autheniticity of any
such identity like Kamran Mirza or Ali Sina. Even it will be hard to
find forerunners in mud slinging such as Habib Sarwar, Abul Kasem,
Shopon, Khokon et al having any valid identity or affiliation to any
real institute or organization.
Just ask your self why does a patriot like Jamal Hasan asks Zaffor
Iqbal not to repatriate to Bangladesh?Is n't it self interested
thinking of a bloody self interested person?
Also ask yourself why Jamal Hasan does not attend any of the FOBANA?
He went once in 1996. After that what happened to Matribhumi?
Shakil Sarwar
ullah thinks she is probably on his side] having read few of her
write-ups in different forums. Vehement anti-islamic hatred pours out
of her writings every now and then. However, one thing that I
appreciate about her is that she, at times, does not forget to mention
that religious fundamentalism has also taken root in india i.e. after
imbibing the nectar of secularism for 50+ years, indian hindu populace
grew more fanatic, and voted a fascist political party to power.
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 02:50:58 -0800 (PST)
From: Farida Majid <farida...@hotmail.com>
Subject: [Alaap] The Craft of Fiction: Selina Hossain’s "Honour" vs
Taslima Nasrin’s Lajja
Ms Selina Hossain's short story "Honor" is viewable at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Aalaap/message/1497
The Craft of Fiction: Reading Selina Hossain’s "Honour" and Taslima
Nasrin’s Lajja
Farida Majid
An ordinary piece of fiction (or even straight reporting) dealing with
the theme of honor-killing [sorry, I am resorting to the American
spelling of the word] would have narrated the events leading up to the
gruesome murder of young Maleka by her old, decrepit husband. That
would constitute the climax, followed by a dénouement of inaction and
disinterest. We, the readers, would be incensed with the social
injustice, our hearts filled with pity and sympathy for poor Maleka.
But, Selina Hossain has avoided that well-trodden path adroitly in her
extraordinary technique in telling the story of this all too familiar
phenomenon of honor killing in our society.
Her short story "Honour" opens with the simple, stark, spine chilling
sentences: "Maleka was murdered by her husband Latif, who slit her
throat open. Then he beheaded her corpse and threw it into the
Jaliabeel beside Bakioljora village." Descriptions of her headless
body, decomposing and then being dismembered by her brothers denying
her a proper funeral and burial, are all delivered with an amazing
lack of sentimentality. This matter-of-fact tone serves two brilliant
purposes: one, to remind us that such events are frequent occurrences,
and though the murder has disturbed the inhabitants of this village,
the police or the law is not involved; the other more important
purpose is that the author is not really looking for the reader’s
sentimental pity for her heroine. Sentimental retelling or reaction
does not solve social problems of this magnitude.
Problem-solving lies elsewhere. The powerfully delivered message of
this story is this: You can slit the throat of Maleka, throw her
decapitated body in the beel, deny her a proper funeral and burial,
but you cannot stop her indomitable spirit from roaming restlessly and
haunt the ones responsible for the heinous crime. It is noteworthy in
Hossain’s story that crime remains a crime and is not religionized.
Maleka may have flirted a little with Manikka, but not because she was
an immoral girl. It was only human of Maleka to yearn for a little
love, sympathy and support. We notice that Alimun, a supporting
friend, does not see Maleka’s ghost while others are scared out their
minds.
Maleka’s spirit seeks retribution. She will return to her beloved
village to claim her rights and she, not anyone else on her behalf,
will kick the behind of the notion of "honor."
Reading Selina Hossain’s story reminded me of Taslima Nasrin’s
novelette, Lajja. What a contrast! The plot structure of Lajja is
devoid of any of the twists and turns that this marvelous short story
has in its limited space. Nothing much actually happens in Lajja
except unabated communal fury. Twice or thrice the narrative stops
dead on its track to give us the laundry list of Hindu property
destruction. These deplorable criminal acts, just because BNP and
their Jamaat allies are committing them, are not deplored by the
author as "criminal" but as merely political and communal. The
abundance of sentimentality of the narration makes every crime lose
its criminality and become religionized. That is to say, crimes
committed in the name of religion cum politics are not the
perpetrator’s fault. It is the fault of religion.
The villain of the piece is "dharmo", religion. Yet, the author wants
this villain to have another name, presumably to rehabilitate it, to
unvilify it. If that were true in the real world, every villain would
change his name to escape punishment or retribution. In the epigram we
get this weird message: dharmer apor nam aaj theke monushatwa hok (Let
religion’s other name be humanity from today).
I fail to see by what stretch of logic can the concept of religion be
interchangeable with the concept of humanity. Religion is an abstract
idea, and it is only realized when its precepts are practiced by a set
of human beings. The concept of humanity belongs to reality, the
quality of being a human in the real world. Unlike religion, it does
not live in "other worlds," even though it is the human imagination
that fashions these other worlds. Religion and humanity are
complementary concepts in many aspects. To be sure, there cannot be
any religion without humanity because religion is a creation of the
human mind. Animals do not seem to have any, and a deist like Charles
Darwin (who was trained as a minister) would argue that animals do not
need religion because they follow God’s order of things naturally.
Humanity, on the other hand, is concerned with many cultural,
economic, social and political needs other than religion. Are not all
these needs and concerns to be subsumed under the rubric of "religion"
if we accept the proposal: "Let the other name of religion be
humanity?"
Let us pause for a moment and try to think. Who else, besides Nasrin,
is trying to equate religion with humanity? Ah! The propagandists of
the radical political Islam, otherwise known as the Islamists!
Remember Al-Muhajiroun whose leaflet I received in my College that
declared in bold letters: "Islam as a Political system is the only
alternative for mankind" or "There is No Life or Dignity without ISLAM
?" This is not very different than our Bangladeshi Jamaati’s claim of
them being the sole purveyor of Allah’s ‘ain that they want to
establish in Bangladesh. "Allahr Ain Chai" shouts the huge, colorful
lettering of the wall-writings one catches the sight of in the streets
of Dhaka, Chittagong, and all other cities and towns of Bangladesh.
Charles Darwin would have said to the Jamaatis, "If you are that keen
to follow Allah’s ‘ain, why don’t you turn yourselves into animals?"
No, the facetious but grandiose sounding statement "dharmer apor nam
aaj theke monushatwa hok" has no logical or realistic basis and in the
very nature of its illogicality it points to suggestions that are not
only downright anti-humanist but dangerously identical to the ideology
of the Islamic extremists. Nasrin fails again and again to step
outside the realm of Islamist propaganda and its mindset due to her
inability to think analytically. She is not a bad writer per se, and
like many of her admirers, I have enjoyed her deployment of
plain-speak and insightful observations of social malaise that no one
pointed out quite like she did. She is definitely a naturally gifted
writer. But therein lies a chunk of the problem. Too reliant on her
natural gifts, and too eager to hold religion responsible for the
destruction wielded by the evil of communalism, in Lajja, Nasrin has
forgotten to be mindful to the duties of a craftsman that a fiction
writer must follow.
Take another look at Selina Hossain’s story. Although Maleka was
murdered for a supposed upholding of family honor, the flimsiness of
the notion of ‘honor’ is exposed and made risible even as the
villagers discuss the murder amongst themselves. It is the story
itself, and not its author’s preaching, that raises such question as:
"How has the criminal act of murdering a human being enhanced the
honor of Maleka’s husband and her brothers, the merciless, brainless
brutes?" Consequently, Maleka’s revengeful ghost knows exactly who its
targets are.
Nasrin’s hero in Lajja is not allowed such astuteness. Communalism is
not very deeply analyzed as a political tool of the fundamentalists.
Killing, raping Muslims in India and Hindus in Bangladesh and
destruction of places of worship of the minority community are
presented as given 'absolute given. As communal violence rages
throughout Bangladesh in angry response to the destruction of the
Babri masjid in Ayodhya, India, we are never given a chance to
consider that this was avoidable, that this was not spontaneous, and
that this was a dirty political tool in the hands of the few in power.
Brief mentions are made to BNP and Jamaati goondas responsible for the
atrocities. But they remain faceless. Having created this suffocating
atmosphere of the "absolute given" nature of communalism, Nasrin
leaves her Hindu hero, Suranjan, with no option for any positive
course of action.
The novelette climaxes with Suranjan performing the most cowardly,
hideous and ineffectual act that any hero has ever performed in Bangla
fiction. He is itching to do this one act:
Ei kajti na korle ekti shwaasrudhhakar jibon theke se mukti pabe na,
ei kaj hayeto kono samosyar samadhan noy tobu ei kaj take swasti debe'
(59)
(If he does not do this act he would not be liberated from a
suffocating life; this act may not solve any problem, but still, it
would give him some relief ..)
Suranjan picks up a whore called Pinky, a.k.a. Shamima. He makes sure
that she is a Muslim girl, has rough sex with her, kicking, biting,
scratching and beating up the poor girl. Suranjan feels "boro aaraam"
after paying her ten takas and kicking the frightened girl out of the
room. His "aaraam" bodh is generated by his ability to prove to the
girl that "Hindurao dharshon korte jane, tadero hat pa matha achhe,
tadero dante dhaar achhe, tader nakho anchor kaTte jane. Shamima
nitantoi nireeho ekti meye, tobu to musalman. Musalmaner gaale ektu
chaR kashaate parleo Sranjaner anando hoy" (62). (Hindus also know how
to rape, they too have hands, feet and heads, their teeth too have
sharpness, their nails too know how to scratch. Shamima may be only an
innocent girl, but she is a Muslim. Even to slap the cheek of a Muslim
would delight Suranjan).
This unspeakably ugly, distasteful scene reduces all the complex,
criminal machinations of communalism down to the contemptuous
simplicity of a battle between who knows how best to rape: a Muslim
raping a Hindu girl or a Hindu raping a Muslim girl. Nasrin’s putrid
imagination can go no further. Diverting our attention from the dirty
politics of majoritarianism in India and Bangladesh which uses
communal violence as a cruel but convenient tool, Nasrin fixes our
gaze at the despicable idea of tit-for-tat, one injustice for another
as a justifiable course of action for the victim of communalism. Viva
Communalism! The fundamentalists would love nothing better than to
have us believe that communalism is all about religion, and inhuman
atrocities committed upon the minority religious community is all
about tit-for-tat action/reaction that naturally follows from the
irreconcilable hatred between Hindus and Muslims. Nasrin’s message in
Lajja is that communalism is here to stay, forever, and ever. "Amen,"
would the cry of the fundamentalists go, cheering her.
Outside their own card-carrying members and affiliated organizations,
the Islamists of Bangladesh have no bigger buyer of their lies than
Taslima Nasrin. I refuse vehemently to even acknowledge anything
remotely associated with their lies. She falls for these lies, gulps
them like a hungry fish swallowing bait. She seems to have no
definition of religion other than what the fundamentalists provide.
They are the champions of Religion, ‘dharmo’ to her, and they love her
for such lofty endowment on them. Her understanding of secularism is
in total harmony with that of the fundamentalists, i.e. being a
secularist means being virulently anti-Islamic. Period.
Neither she nor her cohorts have the intelligence to see how
caricatural and dangerous this is in terms of any hope of establishing
secularism in Bangladesh. It is impossible now to remind the populace
that secularism is not against any religion, rather it is a world view
that accomodates all religions, and hence, in multi-religious
countries like India, Bangladesh, Malaysia or Indonesia it is not
right to have a "state" religion. The Islamists in Bangladesh have, by
now, successfully demonized the idea of secularism as an infernal plot
against Islam. With the help of the crypto-Islamists, demonization of
secularism will continue with more communal violence in the offing.
On 20 Dec 2001 11:09:16 -0800, asif_h...@hotmail.com (Asif Hasan)
wrote:
>The brain dead intellectual Jaffor Ullah S/O brain craked Manzoor
>Ullah tried to tell that Dr. Farida Majid would be on his and Jamal's
>side at any given time. The following essay clearly shows that while
>Dr. Majid is against fundamentalism and communal bigotry, she is also
>vehemently opposed to the Islam bashing by some ultra secularists on
>the cyber space.In fact bashing of an ideology can fan the flame of
>fundamentalism.
>
>Thanks Dr. Farida Majid for taking her time to pen down the Essay.
>--
>
>Talibanization of Cyberspace by Crypto-Islamists
>Farida Majid
>
>In the wake of the departure of George Harrison, I am full of memories
>of that electrifying Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden
>in 1971, which I had the great fortune to attend. Throughout the nine
>months of the liberation war I had traveled in the USA and Europe
>working ceaselessly for the cause of an independent Bangladesh and
>creating public opinion against the atrocities of Pakistani army on
>the innocent civilians of East Pakistan. The warmth, care and goodwill
>expressed at the Concert for Bangladesh were echoed all over the
>world.
>
>To the utter consternation of Nixon, Kissinger and Yahya team, George
>Harrison's "Bangladesh" hit the top of the chart. It was a
>thrilling moment, in the midst of all the sad news emanating from the
>battlefront, because even the Western journalists covering the civil
>war in East Pakistan were not yet using the word "Bangladesh." I want
>to remind everyone that this country was born on the crest of not only
>Banglaee's dream of freedom, democracy and secularism, but the
>good wishes and cheers of all the world';s freedom-loving people.
>
>It is unfortunate, and all the sadder for that beginning, that
>Bangladesh failed to fulfill those dreams we fought for and for which
>the whole world had cheered. Through successive autocratic rulers, the
>country never had the graciousness to thank for or return that good
>will to the world. Let alone thanking George Harrison, no government
>of Bangladesh even acknowledged the patriotic efforts of the two of
>East Bangla's most precious gems of all times; Pandit
>Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan'; both of whom were
>initiators of and performers at the Concert for Bangladesh.
>
>Today we have a government that is made up of those very foes who
>opposed our right to claim our freedom. With the blood of innocent
>children, women and men of 1971 in their hands, two of the Jamaatis
>are ministers in Khaleda Zia's cabinet. Other Islamists hold
>various important portfolios. Reminders of the muktijuddha do not stir
>noble emotions in anyone any more. This is due mainly to the
>Awami-leaguers'; false over-association of the liberation war
>with them.
>
>People are so fed-up of Awami mis-rule and "Zatir pita Bangabondu"
>that they frown, turn up their noses, roll their eyes or fling their
>wrists at the very mention of 1971. Islamists have now installed
>themselves in power with unprecedented confidence. Like the Cheshire
>Cat's in the Wonderland, the ear-to-ear grin of the Islamists
>hangs in the air of Bangladesh as it fills with the cries of pain and
>deprivation rising from the defenseless Hindu communities victimized
>by the Islamist criminals.
>
>Not that there is no secular-minded BNP leader. Most of them, Khaleda
>Zia included, are not exactly devout Muslims as we well know. But they
>are installed in power by the Islamists, and hence are gagged and
>bound against making any comment on the atrocities committed by the
>Islamist goondas on the hapless Hindus. Without the Islamist support
>BNP is nothing but a dolled up woman in a chiffon sari. Too
>apparently, to maintain this vital support, she has to trundle off to
>Saudi Arabia every month to perform Umrah. Who knows what lurks behind
>the all too apparent!
>
>Besides their firm clutch on the heads of the present administration,
>the Islamists have foot soldiers parading in two very disparate but
>well-coordinated fronts. One cache of cadres is unleashed across the
>nation to wreak unspeakable havoc of communal killing, raping and
>looting. Islamist leaders in Dhaka keep a straight face muttering
>patronizing platitudes about the duty to protect the
>'jaan-maal' of the Hindus.
>
>As long as we have Islamists in Bangladesh, Jehadists in Pakistan and
>the Hinduists in India, the dreaded specter of communalism as a potent
>political tool will continue to scourge the general populace of the
>subcontinent. Aiding and abetting the Islamists is this other, newer
>front presently operating in the cyberspace.
>
>This lot of Islamist collaborators thinly covers up their poisonous
>activity of spreading the message of the Islamists in the curious form
>of Islam-bashing. Therefore, I call them crypto-Islamists. Mimicking
>the Islamist claim, crypto-Islamists define secularism to mean
>something doggedly anti-religious, virulently anti-Islamic. They call
>themselves "secular humanists," even though their pompous
>pronouncements contain not a smidgen of understanding of either
>secularism or humanism.
>
>A couple of years ago, foolishly taking their self-description of
>"secular humanists" in good faith, I tried to point out that
>secularism means pluralism, peaceful coexistence of many religions,
>faiths and ethnic cultures, and according to that definition of
>secularism, Muslim Bengal had always been a secular place. At no point
>in Bengal's history Islam was declared a state religion. The
>group roundly blasted me for committing the crime of mentioning
>'culture' and 'history'.
>
>There is no arguing with these crypto-Islamists. They are the ardent
>followers, the students (taliban) of the Bush-bin Laden School of
>Dogmatism – that "either you are with us or against us" variety.
>Violently allergic to the concepts of culture, history of any kind or
>of any place, evolution, civilization, art, music, social studies,
>grammar, rhetoric or logic, the crypto-Islamists would pounce upon
>anyone who broaches these topics with the wrath matching that of their
>Islamist bretheren upon the Hindus.
>
>The ground-level Islamists at least have a political agenda behind
>their Islam-touting game. Scratch their Islamic surface, and you will
>discover that they really do not care much for their religion. The
>Alem-samaaj or the traditional religious establishment
>of Bangladesh have denounced the weird and un-Islamic ideology of the
>Islamists and have vigorously protested against the Jamaati antics in
>the name of religion. The crypto-Islamists of cyberspace, amidst all
>their Islam-bashing, oddly, never have a harsh word against the
>Jamaat. Perhaps in their vision of the world through a pinhole they
>cannot distinguish one from the other.
>
>Or perhaps and this possibility looms increasingly large
>'they are the undercover agents of the Islamists employed to
>spread the propaganda that Jamaat and Islam are one and the same.
>There is only one Islam' period, no ifs or buts or
>columns on women's rights, and actively supported her attack on
>Moksudul Momenin by writing a long scholarly article on the
>mistranslation of the Qur';anic verses pertaining to women.
>
>However, I did not realize then that Nasrin was totally incapable of
>making the distinction between secondary religious literature and a
>primary religious text like the Qur'an. She just lumped
>Qur';an, Hadith, popular pulp religious literature and rolled
>them into something she called dharmo, which she then claimed in a
>loud voice was a very bad thing. Coming from a culturally
>unenlightened family, understandably, religion was a bit of a
>'big deal'; to her. Limited exposure to the more
>enlightened section of our society led her to believe that atheism was
>a novelty.
>
>So attacking Islam seemed like a jolly good idea to earn some infamy
>accompanied by spotlight. She was going to be the first female
>Bangalee atheist the world ever saw! A Johnny-come-lately to the
>enlightened Muslim Bangalee society that she really never knew from
>her pinhole view of it..
>
>She began attacking the Qur'an (or rather, the Bangla
>translation of it, which is all she could read) and got the spotlight
>she craved. Islam-bashing adds fuel to the fire of fundamentalism,
>re-energizes their zeal. You don't have to be a rocket-scientist
>to make that simple cause-and' effect connection. Nasrin was what
>the Islamists were craving for to get them out of their doldrums. She
>was their Savior incarnate sent for their deliverance by the almighty
>Allah. As a reward for this deliverance the Islamists elevated her to
>the status of Salman Rushdie. The triumphant Islamists have never
>looked back from that point to this. Now they are at the peak of their
>political success, thanks to the brilliant work of the crypto-Islamist
>Nasrin!
>
>I cannot for the life of me fathom the degree of depravity that makes
>someone speak abusively of a particular religion, its scripture, its
>prophet, its 'tradition'; its world-wide followers. It is
>so inherently inhuman, racist, and unspeakably stupid! I am loath to
>talk about my private life, but I must emphatically note here about my
>family's unflinching dedication to liberal principles and high
>idealism, whose inculcation in me would prevent me from engaging in
>this scurrilous activity of insulting a religion.
>
>As a child I was happily a tomboy, free to romp in the fields and
>woods, climb trees and splash in those splendid community ponds of
>Narayanganj and swim to my heart's content. My father and my
>mamas were atheists, but we children were instructed not to speak ill
>of any religion. Such instructions were not actually specified, they
>were automatically implied.
>
>We are a bi-communal family since my Boromami is a Hindu who never
>converted. Her family in Dumdum, and my family were always very close
>because we are culturally similar. Cultural affinity, not religion, is
>what makes the difference. I do not suppose the reason why I am not
>close to the families of my other two mamis is because they are
>Muslim. It is just that we don't quite match each other in our
>cultural outlooks or lifestyles.
>
>My nana, Kabi Golam Mostafa, the author of Biswanabi, whom Awami
>Leaguers mischievously and anachronistically labeled as a "razakar,"
>(poor guy died in 1964, for God's sake!) was in real life the
>most secular of men. Ever a loving and caring grandfather, he was more
>interested in the progress I was making in my classical singing
>lessons or the latest poem I wrote rather than my religious
>upbringing. His delightful letters to the two of us contained humor
>and playful but intelligent bantering, hardly any mention of
>Allah-rasul. (I can produce these letters, written in my nana's
>exquisite hand, as documents, as opposed to Nasrin;s undocumented,
>fictionalized autobiography).
>
>By the age of ten I was well read in Bangla and English, and could
>look at a picture of a painting and tell whether it was by
>Michaelangelo, Raphael or Rembrandt, or whether it was by Gaugin,
>Matisse or van Gogh. If I did not know enough suras by heart to say a
>proper namaj, it was not an important failure. My extended family was
>pretty pleased with the direction their first born was heading. Being
>a Muslim female was never a problem for me. Islam never posed a threat
>of oppression to me, nor was it an impediment that stunted my
>intellectual and artistic growth.
>
>So, when the opportunity came in my Graduate School days at New York
>University, I eagerly snatched it and took the courses in Arabic
>language which would enable me to at least read and understand the
>text of the Qur'an in the original. I hasten to add that this
>was not done as a 'born again Muslim' gesture. One
>compelling reason was that I got a Federal Govt. scholarship for
>studying Arabic.
>
>The other reason was my desire to take on the offensive mullahs who
>spread unsubstantiated claims in the name of religion. I was bred by
>my family as a modern human being, a citizen of the world, so I had no
>trouble living either in the East or the West.
>
>These few words about my personal life are necessitated by the false
>impression created by the endless personal life-story-telling by the
>crypto-Islamist Nasrin as if her life-story were the norm of every
>Bangalee Muslim home. No, not every woman in Bangladesh has had
>Nasrin's sordid, repressive life. And there is no telling
>whether she is telling the truth. She had been caught red-handed lying
>by many reporters. Who knows her family and who can testify to the
>repression that really occurred?
>
>My family is less obscure than Nasrin';s and hence I felt I
>don't have to prove anything by talking about my family life.
>But Nasrin has to prove something. Again and again, ad nausea, in
>Bangla and now in English, we are given an account of her life, an
>account of the 'bhando peer' Amirullah to whose magic
>Nasrin's mother became spellbound.
>
>Why couldn't she get her mother unspellbound from the
>Peer's magic sooner? I have chased a few 'bhando
>peers' out of my family's compound in my girlhood. Nasrin
>urges us, almost by clobbering on our heads, to believe that this fake
>religious man has everything to do with Islam. This is what Islam is
>all about and that is so because Islam is a religion like no other
>(notice the Islamist drift!).
>
>It is a pity that she has remained the same ignorant snob to this day.
>Not a single lesson has been learned by her, no progress, no growth,
>no change whatsoever in her incommensurate pattern of thinking; in
>sum, nothing has been added to knowledge in the course of her
>life's ups and downs. She keeps repeating the story of peer
>Amirullah over and over again in exactly the same way she did ten,
>twelve, or fifteen years ago.
>
>It just so happens that the 'bhando peer' Amirullah of
>Mymensingh has as much to do with Islam as the 'bhando'
>priest of Catholic Ireland has to do with Christianity, or the
>'bhando' bishop in Protestant Germany or England has to do
>with Christianity, or the'bhando' monk in Greece has to
>do with the Orthodox Church, or the 'bhando' rabbi in
>Israel has to do with Judaism, or the 'bhando' sadhu in
>Benares has to do with Hiinduism. I';ve known a few
>'bhando' religious women too.
>
>The world literature abounds with the stories of their treachery and
>wily ways in the name of religion. Some of these stories are
>hilarious, tales in Kahlil wa Dimna, Panchatantra, Chaucer's
>Canterbury Tales, or Boccaccio's Decameron, 'we laugh at
>them. We laugh; we celebrate the human ingenuity of these thugs, the
>same human spirit and imagination that created the edifices of these
>magnificent religions. Isn't there something seriously wrong
>when a group that calls itself "secular humanists" is completely blind
>to the very existence of humanity that comprises each religion?
>
>Islam, without its living, breathing human followers, like any other
>religion, is simply an abstraction. In his novel, The Satanic Verses,
>Salman Rushdie wanted to bring out this human face of Islam. I like
>the novel for that reason, and wrote a long essay in its defense.
>Rushdie, whose life was infinitely more seriously threatened by the
>Islamists than Nasrin';s ever was, has the common sense to
>discriminate the Islamists from Islam. Just the other day he reminded
>us that the world's 1.2 billion Muslims are not all
>Qur'an analysts', and that acts of terrorism are
>carried out by a crazed handful of backward-looking bunch who are
>against all forms of modernism.
>
>Crypto-Islamist Kamran Mirza strongly disagrees with such a statement.
>Every Muslim gets his or her Islamic teachings from Qur'an and
>Hadiths. Says who? Says Kamran Taliban Mirza. He takes a lot of pride
>in his self-proclaimed role of a Qur'an analyst. He is equipped
>with Allama Yusouf Ali's English translation published circa
>1936 and a couple of Bangla translations of the Qur'an. This is
>the base that constitutes all his bombast, all his peremptory
>pronouncements against Islam. (I have about seven or eight English, at
>least three Bangla translations, one of which is by Girishchandra Sen,
>two in all Arabic and a shelf full of Arabic-English dictionaries,
>Arabic grammar books and sundry other Arabic language related
>materials.
>
>There is also a shelf-full of secondary scholarly books. I do not call
>myself a Qur'an analyst even though I carefully consult all my
>resources when I'm required to make a reference to the
>Qur'an). Mirza';s so called 'analysis' consists
>of kicking the Qur';an, spitting on the character of the Prophet,
>and tearing the text apart in a stupendously comical exhibition of
>ignorance, malice and egoism befitting the mannerism of a true
>Islamist. He is applauded for his heroics by a handful of faithful
>followers. I am reminded of the lines in "Chhayabaji" by my favorite
>poet, Sukumar Roy:
>
>Ajgubi noi, Ajgubi noi, satyi e sob kathaa
>
>Chhayar sathe juddha kore gaatre holo byathaa
>
>Chhaya dhorar byabsaa kori, tao jano na bujhi
>
>Roder chhaya, chander chhaya, harek rakom punji
>
>Shamelessly, Kamran Taliban Mirza would then post the praises he has
>received from his sycophants for his comical chhayabaji
>or shadowboxing.
>
>The all-consuming obsession of the crypto-Islamists with Islam and the
>ensuing blindness and megalomania would put the one-eyed Mullah Omar
>and bin Laden to shame. Not a week goes by without them posting some
>infantile drivel on the Qur'an and Hadith. I wonder whether they
>read anything other then the Qur'an and Hadith.
>
>Do they read an Englash language newspaper, or is it against their
>religion? Is reading a non-religious book against their religion? They
>don't really have the guts to talk against the real-life living
>and breathing Islamists like Motiur Rahman Nizami. It is getting
>increasingly clear that these crypto-Islamists work for their Islamist
>bosses whom they serve slavishly.
>
>Of what use is Islam-bashing? It has only made the Islamists of
>Bangladesh proclaim themselves as the champions of Islam.
>Islam-bashers have only succeeded in endorsing this position of the
>Islamists. The over-zealot crypto-Islamists are now coming apart in
>the very exercise of their zealotary. They are stepping out of their
>closet, although they themselves are oblivious of the fact. Kamran
>Taliban Mirza's exhortation says it all.
>
>Exactly like the Jamaat, and all other Islamists, he is the sole
>purveyor of the "real Islam" and according to him, our Bangalee
>"nani-dadi, bap-dada choudda purush" had it all wrong. He is going to
>set us right teach us the real, fallacy-proof Islam. He then
Shakil Sarwar
good books. Here is a recent proof of that. Note how an innocent
message was fiercely attacked by this 'khanki magi'.
__________________________________________________
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 19:55:40 -0500
From: "Farida Majid" <farida...@gte.net>
Subject: Re: 2002 Session of Bangla School
Dear Dr. Aminul Islam,
Is "wearing Hijab" a Bangali tradition? Other than village
"Boroloks" who put their womenfolks in burkhas (mainly as a status
symbol), I do not recall women in Bangladesh in their workaday life
wear Hijab. It is true that this totally foreign gear is showing up
more in Dhaka these days as a sort of new-fangled fashion. But the
question is: Is wearing Hijab a normal practice by the majority of
Bangali Muslim women?
If the answer is in the negative, then you have been teaching your
students to become an 'aBangali'. It is a very regrettable trend among
expatriates to have to go through this experience of tearing apart
their Bangaliness and re-garbing them as nothing but Muslims. It is
shocking to learn that for 18 years you have been turning the Bangali
children to obliterate their Bangali Muslim heritage.
I wonder whether the proposed "Bangla School" in Virginia is also
poised to strip the Bangali children of their Bangaliness and turn
them into American Muslims.
Kind regards.
Prof. F. Majid
CUNY
----- Original Message -----
From: <amin....@pharma.novartis.com>
To: <bd...@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 9:47 AM
Subject: Re: [bdesh] 2002 Session of Bangla School
> Dear Rahman,
>
> Assalamu-alaikum. Glad to know that you are starting a religious school in
> VA. I think this is the best thing you can do in this country for educating
> the children. I appreciate this very much. I have been doing this for the
> last 18 years in NJ. It really pays off. I can see my students gone to
> college, got married wearing Hijab and praying in the mosque. May Allah
> SWT help and guide you in the right direction.
>
> With Regards.
>
> Dr. M. Aminul Islam
> Novartis, NJ