Hatred sentiment: Root & victims  

Wakilur Rahman writes from Manchester

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Mr. Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor of Weekly Blitz for his courageous stand for his peace mission, as a Journalist he tries to send a real message of Bangladeshi ethnic civil values in which Bengali cultural tradition was built. The tradition of Bengali is a cultural mosaic historically. Karl Marx wrote in 1853 about India, especially it is for Bengal that ‘, the inhabitants of the country have lived from time immemorial. The boundaries of the villages have been but seldom altered; and though the villages themselves have been sometimes injured, and even desolated by war, famine or disease, the same name, the same limits, the same interests, and even the same families have continued for ages. The inhabitants gave themselves no trouble about the breaking up and divisions of kingdoms; while the village remains entire, they care not to what power it is transferred, or to what sovereign it devolves; its internal economy remains unchanged’ (Karl Marx: The British Rule in India)) and the Bengal was the passageway for whole India.

Bengal used to represent India in international communities as it exchanged and shared culture, values, goods and crops around the world. The present Bangladesh was formed through its same root, social Bengal still today remain same and integrated. Islam as a social culture spread in Bengal through Sophism, it had not done by political Imperialisms. Islam as a political culture was never accepted in Bengal; therefore, the history of East Bengal observed many movements. Bengalis have never give up their identities, they struggled to preserve their culture, social values and language and at the end they established Bangladesh as an extended history of South Asia. 

Mr. Shoaib is one of those Bengalis who uphold their roots and cultural values and struggled to share these values with international communities but we regret that he received a series of ill treatment from the authorities of Bangladesh and religious fanatics in return. It is true and also shameful that the people of Bangladesh, especially representatives of civil society observed his suffering but they were mute as he was charged with sedition, treason, blasphemy and espionage for having tried to attend a conference in Israel that is seemed as a violation of the Passport Act of Bangladesh, as it forbids Bangladesh citizens from visiting countries with which Bangladesh does not maintain diplomatic relations [Bangladesh does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but citizens are allowed to visit that country], but he was charged for state conspiracy. The government did not explore how he did this conspiracy. Actually he is victimized by anti Semitic and anti-Israel sentiment in Bangladesh. It is a big debate what is anti Semitic sentiment and who brought such ‘values’ in our country? Bangladesh is a homogenous nation; we have a long tradition to live together with all people of all religious beliefs and values. It is a land where followers of all major religions of the world practice their rituality sharing them with others. It is also true that Jews are very rarely inhabitant in this region. The history of this region says that we did not have any situation in which we feel feud against Jews or anti Semitism.

Jews of the Hejaz claimed that they had come to settle in Arabia during the last stage of the life of the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him). But, Maududi [philosophical; father of Jamaat-e-Islami] rejected their claims saying no authentic history of the Arabian Jews exists in the world. He also noted that Adam and Eve invited their children to follow the Islamic way of life but since the Jews of today don’t recognize Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a prophet, traditional Islamic theology considers them as the descendants of those heretics and renegades. They have no right to the holy land, or to respect. They are the descendants of those whom Allah called apes and swine (Suras- 2:62-66, 5:59-60, and 7:166). The versions of those Suras (verses) are metaphoric concept of historical events and Islam denies multiple human races. So the interpretation of those versions of Suras by Moududi does not authenticate the real values of Islam. On his own interpretation, Moududi proved himself as a corrupt theologian and Allah does not like those people who suppress the truth.    

Anti-Semitism is bigotry and racism. Like all racism, it is wrong and it has no place in Islam or in Islamic scripture. The Qur’an does not allow hate against any race, nationality or color. The Judaism, Christianity and Islam believe in one God. Islam has close relations with both Judaism and Christianity, and Judaism is much closer to Islam in respect of philosophy. Muslims and Jews in Western world today share their foods; Halal and Kosher are prepared according to the rules of the Islam and Jewish dietary laws respectively. The slaughtering systems of animals in both of these religions are nearly same. Muslim can take his or her spouse from Christian or Jew without converting their religions. Muslim Sultanates appointed many Jews in medieval period as a finance minister or cultural minister. On the other hand, the international Jews (Diaspora) communities supported us in our liberation war. A number of Bangladeshis are now working in Israel for their living and they contribute in our economy by sending their remittances. Many financial companies and business organizations in Bangladesh are associated with Jewish international companies.  

Of course, the picture of Middle East, especially political and military attitude of Israel cause wars that outrage Islamic world but we should not forget the reality of social and religious life of Muslim, Jewish and Christian in Middle East when they shared their values equally in Jerusalem as a centre of Holly place since ancient time. Still today 50% of population in Israel is Muslims. If we are able to live together with Hindu, Buddhist and others in this land (Bangladesh) historically as we claim it is our tradition, then why we could not make good relation with Jews and their state?    

Mr. Shoaib is the first person in Bangladesh, who is victimized with this anti Jewish sentiment. Earlier feminist writer Taslima Nasrin was forced to leave Bangladesh in fear of public prosecution. Some fundamentalists have stigmatized Taslima comparing her literature with Mr. Salman Rushdie. A lot of Christian writers criticized Jesus but it does not outrage Christian community. Fundamentalists at

Hyderabad in India recently attacked Miss Nasrin as she was attending in a press conference. If we explore the surface and the content of such fundamentalism, we would not find any historical background of these sentiments in India but only Radicalism is the main root of these sentiments that brought from western societies, the experiences of Holocausts of German and Black American civil right movements as Christians and Jews had long crossed war. Hitler as a sadist leader of German killed six million Jews as they were in the upper class of the society. Jews were the victims of class based political power struggle in Germany. Pakistani Army and its collaborators, Razakar committed genocide killing 3 million Bengalis for the interest of their political domination over Bengalis. So, the Holocaust in Germany and Bengali genocide by Pakistan are not linked with religious lines.   

However, the birthplace of Razakarism in Hyderabad was a beginning episode of cultural hate in Indian sub-continent and it was believed that that hate had ended at Bangladesh in 1970s. Hyderabad is also the birthplace of Maulana Maududi, the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami. Maududism is based on Razkarism which is similar to ancient Hammurabi's Code of Laws- eye for eye, Hammurabi, the king of Babylon who claimed Shamash, the great judge of heaven and earth. Moududi’s fundamentalism, jihadist sentiment is very similar to some of the Hammurabi’s laws. The term, Jihad derived from Islam but Islam is a tolerant and passionate religion. Islam insists Muslims to be tolerant by Jihad. However, the Jihadist sentiment, today become as a hatred concepts, which are not related to Quran, but it is most disturbing element in our present cultural world, and it is spreading rapidly most of the Muslim dominant regions in

South Asia.  Maulana Moududi is a philosophically corrupted person and he himself is one of the products of British colonialism because the British rule in India was fulfilling a double mission--a mission destructive as well as regenerating. The British rule was able to demolish the cultural mosaic of Indian that enabled corrupt scholars to get position in the society in which British got opportunity divide and rule. Moaududi was condemned for his political position as he opposed the existence of Pakistan but he got opportunity to establishing his doctrine to Muslim political activists. His hatred philosophy destroyed Hyderabad as an independent State. Similarly, his political party, Jamaat-e-Islami was condemned at the time of liberation war of Bangladesh but this party got opportunity to join coalition government with BNP after 30 year of our independent and we observed how Moududism again regenerated as a killing force, JMB. So, Bangladesh government should ban religious party who practice Moududism.  

Razakars were a private Islamic militia organized by Qasim Razvi, follower of Maulana Moududi to support the rule of Nizam and resist the integration of Hyderabad in India. The Razakars unleashed a wave of terror in many parts of India in the name of Islam. Eventually, the Indian army routed the Razakars and the group was disbanded after India annexed the state. Both Maulana Moududi and Qasim Razvi fled to Pakistan where they were accorded asylum. The ghastly stories of atrocities of the Razakars are still in the minds of elder people of erstwhile Hyderabad state. Thousands of innocent people were butchered. Old people and freedom fighters still re-collect how villages in many parts of the state were burnt. Many people died, and many others disappeared. To this date, there is a great deal of mistrust between the Telangana Hindu community and the Hyderabadi Muslim community that results in repeated communal riots in the flashpoint of the old city in

Hyderabad.

The War of Liberation of Bangladesh began on 26 March 1971 and ended on 16 December 1971. The armed struggle was the culmination of a series of events, situations and issues contributing to the progressively deteriorating relations between East and

West Pakistan. The Pakistan Army was ordered to launch operation on Bengali people at midnight of 25 March.  Razakar, a paramilitary force formed at Pakistan government initiative to assist Pakistani military for genocide and to resist the freedom fighters during the war of liberation. The Razakar killed Bengali professional and intellectual people. This force was formed with model of Razakar in Hyderabad. Mr. Maududi was alive and he lived in West Pakistan. As he was against separation of East Pakistan, many of his Bengali loyalists and activates of Jamaat joined Razakar militia and killed millions of innocent Bengalis. The Razakar force disintegrated with the surrender of the Pakistan army on 16 December 1971 but today they are regenerating as a force of Moududism. 

The Jamaat-e-Islami was founded in pre-partition India. Interestingly, Jamaat had opposed the creation of a Pakistan as a separate state for the Muslims of India. For example, Moududi wrote in one of his books, ‘if we have ever uttered a single word in the favor of creation of Pakistan, it must be proved with references’. Jamaat also strongly opposed for the independent Bangladesh through means of war, which it saw as against Islam. Their historical political position prevailed that they engaged in hypocrisy and conspiracy with the name of religion from the beginning.

The Razakarism is a hatred element that disturbs our social and civil life, it contaminated not only in our politics, it also contaminated in our administration that influences in government polices. The print - all countries of the world except Israel in Bangladesh passport is a visual signpost that represents hatred sentiment internationally. So, the government should be more realistic to concern this matter when all political parties are willingly agreed to reform their political activities and ideologies, it is a good time to act against all kind of hatred sentiments and it is also a time to reform our foreign ministry and foreign affair policies. Therefore, it is high time the government encouraged those people who uphold our cultural root, independent, sovereign, social, and cultural values in order to deter all forms of hatred sentiments and ensure no more hatred victim in Bangladesh.