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July27, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]Human rights posts 1-5 >> |
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[5] From: face build <in_face2001@yahoo.co.in> Date: Mon Jul 25, 2005 Subject: Religion and Public Life Banish religion from public life Polly Toynbee Now, as the death cult strikes again, Tony Blair must act. TWO WEEKS on, London is stricken once more. The death cult strikes again, unstoppable in its deranged religious mania. This time no deaths but a savage reminder of the unknown waves of demented killers lining up to murder in the name of God. Whatever they intended, the message was loud and clear: they can and will do this whenever they want and it does indeed spread very real terror. The police have said there are many more of them. The security services have already revealed that they know absolutely nothing. In the growing fear and anger at what more may be to come, apologists or explainers for these young men can expect short shrift. This is not about poverty or cultural dislocation of second-generation immigrants. There is plenty of that and it is passive. Iraq is the immediate trigger, but this is about religious delusion. All religions are prone to it, given the right circumstances. Intense belief, incantations, secrecy and all-male rituals breed perversions and danger, abusing women and children and infecting young men with frenzy, no matter what the name of the faith. Enlightenment values are in peril not because these mad beliefs are really growing but because too many rational people seek to appease and understand unreason. Extreme superstition breeds extreme action. Those who believe they alone know the only way, truth and life will always feel justified in doing anything in its name. Moderates of these faiths may be as gentle as the carefully homogenised BBC radio "Thought for the Day" preachers. But other equally authentic voices of religion, the likes of Northern Ireland's Ian Paisley or Omar Bakri Muhammad, represent a virulent intolerance that is airbrushed out by an official intellectual conspiracy to pretend that religion is always or mainly beneficent. History suggests otherwise. So do events on the streets of London. Meanwhile the far Left, forever thrilled by the whiff of cordite, has bizarrely decided to fellow-travel with primitive Islamic extremism as the best available anti-Americanism around. It is time now to get serious about religion ??” all religion ??” and draw a firm line between the real world and the world of dreams. Tony Blair has taken entirely the wrong path. He has appeased, prevaricated and pretended, maybe because he is a man of faith himself, with a Catholic wife who consorts with crystals. But never was it more important to separate the state from all faiths and relegate all religion to the private ??” but well-regulated ??” sphere. Instead the former British Home Secretary, David Blunkett, said he wished he could spread the ethos of religious schools everywhere and Labour has done just that. The 3 per cent of the population that is Muslim may well feel excluded in a country that makes so many allowances for Christians . A third of all state-run schools in the U.K. are religious. The National Secular Society, a lone voice in monitoring their onward march, reports that Labour has let 40 more non-religious state secondaries be taken over by the Church of England in the last four years, with another 54 about to go. The Office for the Schools Adjudicator said in a recent report that the only reason faith schools often achieve better results is because of "their practice of selection from churchgoing families." That attracts the pretend churchgoers, but selection, not religion, is the magic. Rampant hypocrisy In the face of this hypocrisy it seems a small thing to let Muslims have more schools too. Only this week Britain's Education Secretary Ruth Kelly (devout herself) announced plans to go ahead in her autumn white paper with more Muslim schools. Bombs, she said, would not stop her policy of offering more "choice" and allowing more faith groups, including Muslims, to run schools. A Hindu state school will open soon in Harrow, west London. But this is not choice. Only on Thursday, an angry email arrived from a parent on the south coast of England protesting that the only choice of primary school was a C of E (Church of England), a Catholic and an oversubscribed ordinary school. Disqualified from the first two, failing to get into the third, their child is sent miles across town; three nonreligious schools would have been genuine choice. A YouGov poll shows that more than half of voters oppose this. While Northern Ireland struggles with sectarianism festering in religious schools, this is no time to foster yet more segregation. So what do we do about the madmen? Bombs do change things, maybe not in the extremists' favour. A great shift in attitude seems to have swept through many Muslim groups who signed the full-page newspaper statement on Thursday headed "Not in Our Name." Many were equivocators on the fatwa that had Salman Rushdie locked away for years. At the time (leading U.K. Muslim) Iqbal Sacranie himself said: "Death, perhaps, is too easy for him ... his mind must be tormented for the rest of his life unless he asks forgiveness to Almighty Allah." Nowadays Sir Iqbal is a leading moderate, showing how tolerance grows, given a chance. The statement read: "We will not allow our faith to be hijacked by a few extremists. British Muslims should not be held responsible for the acts of a few individuals." Entirely right. Yet ??” like members of the same family ??” like it or not they are stuck with responsibility for rooting out wild men hiding in their midst and questioning what elements of their religious practice have proven so lethal. But no one can police minds and no new draconian laws to silence thinkers and preachers will ever stop dangerous ideas. All the state can do is hold on to secular values. It can encourage the moderate but it must not appease religion. The constitutional absurdity of an established church once seemed an irrelevance, but now it obliges similar privileges to all other faiths. There is still time ??” it may take a non-religious leader ??” to stop this madness and separate the state and its schools from all religion. It won't stop the bombing now but at least it would not encourage continued school segregation for generations to come. And it might clear the air of the clouds of hypocrisy, twisted thinking and circumlocution whenever a politician mentions religion. ??” ?© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004 ------------------------------------------------------- [6] From: yogi sikand <ysikand@yahoo.com> Date: Mon Jul 25, 2005 Subject: Bangladeshi Jamaat-i Islami Hate Monger Now Touring UK Sayeedi: Hate Preacher now touring UK [from shobak_news@yahoogroups.com] =====Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, an MP of Jamaat Islami, Bangladesh, has long been reviled in his native Bangladesh as a purveyor of inflammatory hate speech. Sayeedi has spoken against Hindus, Ahmadiyas, Free Speech and against the West. His inflammatory statements are alleged to have indirectly led to bomb attack against the British High Commissioner in Bangladesh, stabbing attack against author Humayun Azad (who later died in Germany), attacks against Ahmadiya mosques and attacks against journalist Mithu. He has made statements calling for "war" against America and Britain. Amazingly, this man is now touring the UK, preaching to mosque gatherings. A group of Secular Bengali Activists have collected a sample of his hate speech and submitted to the UK government, demanding his immediate expulsion from England. Islam's internal civil war, between progressives and the radical fringe has started. Time for Islam's SILENT MAJORITY to speak up. ===== Fact File on Hate Speech by Delwar H Sayeedi Compiled by Secular Bengali Activists 1.Bomb Attack on British High Commissioner Sylhet Bombing: Was it Sayeedi's provocation? "Razzak alleged there were two bomb attacks at Hazrat Shahjalal's mazar in Sylhet following provocative speeches by Jamaat member Moulana Delwar Hossain Sayeedi and observed that the bomb attack on the British High Commissioner had tainted Bangladesh's image." http://209.41.191.254/index_story.cfm?id=0339&category==Frontend&Country=??NGLADESH http://stopviolence.drishtipat.org 2. On the West "So what if Taliban is destroyed. The war against America will continue." -Delwar Hossain Sayeedi [Source: Jonokontho newspaper, February 13, 2002] "England and America deserve all that is coming to them for turning a poor Muslim country [Afghanistan] upside down" -Delwar Hossain Sayeedi [Source: SPONDON series DVD, bought in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York.] Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Delwar Sayeedi on 'no-fly' list of US: Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Delwar Hossain Sayeedi has been reportedly included by the United States in a list of persons who are suspected as 'risky'. Quoting unnamed sources in the Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the New Ageindicated that the US has listed Sayeedi in its 'no-fly' list and has sent a letter to that extent to the national airlines. [Source: New Age newspaper, March 16, 2004.] 3. On Hindu community "Dhaka the city of mosques has become the city of Hindu temples." -Delwar Hossain Sayeedi [Source: Prothom Alonewspaper, November 17, 2000] "Why should we feel sad when the Hindu brothers choose to leave our country? Do we mourn when we have indigestion and materials leave our bodies?" -Delwar Hossain Sayeedi Chittagong Parade Ground, Koran Tafsil [Source: DVD, bought in Jackson Heights, Queens, new York] Bangladesh Court Nullifies Election of Islamist Deputy Associated Press, Arab News DHAKA, 15 September 2003 ??” Bangladesh??™s High Court yesterday nullified the election of a national lawmaker from the ruling coalition after ruling that he broke campaign rules. High Court Judge Iman Ali declared void the election of Delwar Hossain Saidee of Jamat-e-Islami, an Islamic party that is part of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia??™s four-party coalition. The ruling came two years after a petition was filed by Sudangsu Sekhar Haldar, a former lawmaker from the opposition Awami League party and the runner-up for Saidee??™s seat in the 2001 parliamentary elections. Yesterday??™s ruling said Saidee??™s election was invalid because he had spent more money in the campaign than the allowed maximum of 500,000 taka ($ 8,600), and used banned campaign materials such as color posters and leaflets and denigrating propaganda against his [Hindu] opponent. 4. On Writers & Journalists Delwar Hossain Sayeedi recently called for banningProfessor Humayun Azad's books under the Blasphemy Law. [Author & Professor Humayun Azad was later stabbed multiple timesby unknown assailants in an attack alleged to be inspired by Sayeedi's hate speech. Azad later died in Germany.] [Source: http://www.muslimwakeup.com/main/archives/2004/03/bangladeshi_sch.php] Journalist Mithu attacked: Was Sayeedi responsible? "At the same time, Maulana Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, Jamat-e Islami Member of Parliament, threatened Shafiul Haque Mithu, correspondent of Dainik Janakantha, and asked him to leave Pirojpur (south of the country). The journalists wrote articles about the participation of the fundamentalist leader in massacres during 1971 Independence war." http://www.rsf.org/rsf/uk/html/asie/cplp01/cp01/171001.html http://www.drishtipat.org/appeal/journalist_mithu.htm Sayeedi "called for blood testsfor journalists to 'see if they are Muslims or not.'" [Source: Reporters Without Frontiers, 2003 Annual Report] The hatred generated by Sayeedi and others fundamentalists has contributed to the milieu of fundamentalist arrogance and hatred for free speech in Bangladesh. Professor Azad had received death threatsfor his writings. A "call" for punishing him came during one of the recent anti-Ahmadiyya mob meetings in Dhaka. "Writers and journalists write lies. They are the enemies of Islam." - Delwar Hossain Sayeedi [Source: Bhorer Kagojnewspaper, April 22, 2005] "Leftists are not Muslims. They don't believe in prayers." - Delwar Hossain Sayeedi [Source: Bhorer Kagojnewspaper, April 22, 2005] 4. On Ahmadiya Muslims On January 25, Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, an MP belonging to Jamaat Islami called for the introduction of the Blasphemy Act to block the publicationof "such [Ahmadiya] books". [Source: http://www.drishtipat.org/modules.php?name==News&file==print&sid==111&PHPSESSID=A446ef3bc1f7b48d243114bc76046dc ] "Ahmadiyas don't have any right to introduce themselves as Muslims. They are a minority community here, just like the Hindus and Christians." -Delwar Hossain Sayeedi [Source: Bhorer Kagojnewspaper, January 13, 2005] On Khatme Nabuwwot, organization carrying out attacks on Ahmadiya mosques: "Khatme Nabuwwot is carrying the flag of the Muslim millat. No one should say anything against them." -Delwar Hossain Sayeedi [Source: Bhorer Kagojnewspaper, January 13, 2005] Other sources: http://www.islam-bd.org http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/print/akram03012004/ -------------------------------------------- [7] From: yogi sikand <ysikand@yahoo.com> Date: Mon Jul 25, 2005 Subject: London Bombings: Lessons for the Islamic World =====DAILY STAR, BangladeshVol. 5 Num 411 Sun. July 24, 2005 Lessons for the Islamic world Air Cdre (Retd) Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury, ndc, psc Since the terrorist bombing in London on July 7, there have been a number of articles published dealing with the causes and effects of the bomb attack. Most of the writers argued that the attacks were the result of frustration and hopelessness of the Muslim community the world over. They cited two principal reasons: first, the West's foreign policy in the Middle East that favours Israel at the expense of the Palestinians and second, the US-led invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. They primarily blamed the US President George Bush and the British PM Tony Blair for alienating the Muslim community and giving boost to the extremist elements within it. One of them suggested that since the West would not be able to defeat Al-Qaeda, they should negotiate peace with them as the British did with the IRA in Ireland. However, I would argue that even if the Palestinian state is established and the Western troops depart from Afghanistan or the Middle East, Islamic religious extremism and violence is not going to go away. Reaction of the Muslim community after London bombing was predictable. There was at first the denial and the usual conspiracy theory. Later, as all four bombers were found to be Muslims, the apologists came up with the plea that these people do not represent Islam and the Muslim Ummah. The British Muslim community leaders were at pains to explain that the extremists do not represent the vast majority of Muslims in UK. It is true that the vast majority in any society is hard-working, law-abiding citizen, but even if 0.001 percent of the 1.6 million British Muslims have extremist leanings, the Brits have about 1,600 potential suicide bombers to worry about. The Muslim community leaders' repeated assertion in the media that they were unaware of the Islamic extremism in the UK proves that either they were unfit to be community leaders or they were concealing the truth. Muslim ghettos in the West are fertile ground for religious extremism. A Muslim youth in UK can't go to the pub, would not be seen in Leicester Square in the evening, nor afford a Wimbledon ticket. Cut off from the political, economic, and cultural mainstream of the nation, he or she has only one place to socialise -- the mosque. There, thanks to the mostly illiterate Mullahs hired from back home, the kids were constantly bombarded with obscurantist religious dogmas. Added to this was the large injection of Middle Eastern money that financed ornate mosques with towering minarets while the local school was in disrepair for lack of funds. Think of the fanaticism of the parents who sent their children from UK to study in madrassas in Pakistan! Now the parents are pleading innocence; indeed they are a party to the crime. The religious extremism in Islam is not a new phenomenon. Islam has seen civil wars and unrest from its infancy that resulted in a weak and fragmented society unable to cope with change. Religious leaders, often in collusion with the not-so-religious despotic rulers, created dogmas that throttled the growth of free thinking and scientific research in the society. Many of the Muslim litterateurs, scientists, philosophers, doctors, whom we revere today, were in their times declared heretics, thrown in prison and died at the hands of assassins. (The word "assassin" is derived from Arabic word "hassasin" -- hashish addicted followers of 11th century cult leader Hassan Sabah responsible for the murder of many Muslim leaders and intellectuals of the time. ) The Islamic world missed the Renaissance and the subsequent scientific-industrial revolution that occurred in Europe in during the 14-17th centuries. When the colonial invasion came, the Islamic world was a few centuries behind Europe in learning and was easily conquered. By the 18th century, the Islamic world had sunk into a state of hopelessness that gave birth to an exclusive reformist movement in Arabia popularly known as the "Wahabi" movement. Islamic extremism that we see today is fuelled mainly by the "Wahabi" doctrine that rejects modernity and accepts literal interpretation of the religious scriptures. They believe that it is an essential duty of the Muslims to do jihad to establish supremacy of Islam. According to them, all non-Muslims are enemies. Muslims who do not subscribe Wahabi doctrine are dubbed apostates or deviants. There is an on-going struggle within the Muslim societies between the extreme traditionalists and the moderates, which goes beyond Palestine, Iraq, or Afghanistan. The moderate-extremist divide among the Muslims in South Asia in the 19th century resulted in the establishment of two educational institutions -- Aligarh Muslim University and Daar ul Ulum Madrassa in Deobandh, both in northern India. While Aligarh represented a synthesis of western and Islamic ideology, Deobandh was inspired by the Wahabi movement. Most of the madrassas in South Asia are run on Deobandi curriculum which used to be peaceful and apolitical. During the anti-Soviet War in Afghanistan many Pakistani madrassas went into the hands of the jihadis, at the behest of their American and Pakistani sponsors at the time. Much of the Taliban leadership was trained in Pakistani madrassas and so were the recent British bombers. With abundant finance pouring in from the ME, the numbers of madrassas and their students continue to soar throughout the world. The jihadis are not only fighting the non-Muslims, they are fighting among themselves too. Brutal Shia-Sunni ethnic clashes in Pakistan have been taking toll for many years. Now in Iraq most of the suicide bombers are Sunnis aiming to inflict maximum casualties on the Shias. It is often difficult for ordinary people to comprehend what could motivate so many young people to die. The bombers are generally from disadvantaged segments of society. Poor parents with large numbers of children are often pressured to sacrifice one of their wards in the way of Allah. Did you ever hear any of the Mufti's or Ayatullah's sons dying in a suicide bombing? Suicide bombers are brainwashed to such religious frenzy that they can bomb a mosque full of worshippers or a school full of children. To them this is an escape from extreme hopelessness and boredom and a sure way to enter the eternal bliss of heaven. In an exclusive interview published in Time magazine only a few weeks back, an Iraqi suicide volunteer, waiting for his turn, stated that his target would be the American soldiers, but if innocent civilians get caught he wouldn't be sorry because they too would instantly go to heaven. Such is the logic! One positive fallout of the London bombing has been the public admission of the British Muslims that the extremist cells exist and that the community must join together to combat the extremist ideology. The mere repetition that the extremists do not represent true Islam will not do; the extremists will have to be confronted militarily, socially, and politically. What lessons do we have to learn from the London bombing? I believe quite a few. First of all, we need to depoliticise Islam and reinforce the secular values in our public life. The mosques should be a place for prayer, meditation, and contemplation, and not a sanctuary of religious extremists. Democratic institutions that are gradually taking roots in the Islamic world should be carefully nurtured. Despotic rulers using religion as a vehicle to further their grip on power should be removed and here the world community could play a very positive role. Educational reform in much of the Muslim world is long overdue. There is a need to spread modern secular education in the community. As fallout of the terrorist activities, Muslim immigration to Europe or America might be curtailed. Muslim students might find admission to top schools of the West and in high-tech subjects increasingly difficult. As a part of the national security measures, Muslims might be denied access to high-end technology by the West. The technology divide between the Islamic states and the rest of the world might continue to widen. Can we allow that to happen? What future are we preparing for our next generation? At home, we need to have a hard look at the religious education curricula. Aim of education is to produce citizen with high moral and ethical standard. We need to contemplate, "Why, despite the overdose of religious education, corruption is endemic in much of the Islamic world?" Why our ethical standard is so poor? We are too much obsessed with our religious identity forgetting that we belong to a much wider world where there are other religions, cultures, and nationalities, each with its own varieties and richness. Let us enjoy the rich diversity of human civilisation that God in his infinite wisdom has bestowed on us. Let us hope that beyond the dark clouds of anxiety and doubt there is new hope and vision. The author is Registrar, The University of Asia Pacific, Dhaka. |
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| << July25, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]Nainamkonam,Women,Mukul's reply & viji's post |
July27, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]Human rights posts 1-5 >> |
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