Fundamentalist Islams Bengali adventure Zeeshan Khan Op-Ed

The demands Hefazat-e-Islam made are not new !an" of their demands have ante#edents in some form or another$ strewn out over the last de#ade or more

Some Hefazat supporters are seen with Bangladesh national flags during their April 6 mass rally in Dhaka Photo- Mahmud Hossain Opu Dhaka !ri"une Hefazat-e-#slam$s unin%ited arri%al onto the politi&al s&ene in Bangladesh' while &ertainly alarming' isn$t mu&h of a surprise( !hey$re old news a&tually( Many of their demands ha%e ante#edents in some form or another' strewn out o%er the last de&ade or more( %e#ent histor"

#n )**+ a new edu&ation poli&y was met "y stiff resistan&e from religious groups who &laimed the poli&y interfered with an #slam-oriented edu&ation in its attempt to reform the ,awmi madrasa system( #n Mar&h )***' a &ultural troupe was atta&ked in -essore killing ). people' and in O&to"er of the same year an Ahmadia Mos/ue was atta&ked in 0hulna' whi&h left eight people dead( #n 1..)' "om"s went off during Bengali 2ew 3ear &ele"rations at 4amna Park killing ). people' and a &hur&h was atta&ked in 5opalgan6' also killing ).( #n 1..1' &inema halls in Shatkhira and Mymensingh were targeted' killing 17 people( #n 1..8 atta&ks on Sufi shrines "egan' with se%en people killed at a shrine in !angail that year( Shah6alal$s shrine in Sylhet was atta&ked twi&e in 1..7' killing eight people and in6uring many others( #n 1..9' nearly 79* time "om"s went off simultaneously in 68 distri&ts' whi&h killed 1 people and hurt more than 1..( #n 1..+' a proposed :omen$s ;mpowerment Bill led to days of &lashes "etween hardline religious groups and the poli&e( #n 1.)1' the Buddhist &ommunity in 4amu was %i&iously atta&ked' although a &onne&tion to the #slamist agenda hasn$t yet "een esta"lished( !here ha%e "een other atta&ks as well' on the 6udi&iary' on minorities' and on politi&al figures' all of whi&h' like the ones listed' ha%e some relation to the )8 points "eing &hampioned "y Hefazat-e-#slam( #n other words' some %ersion of this radi&al ideology has "een making itself known in Bangladesh for /uite some time now(

&ho are the"'

!o understand who' or rather' what Hefazat-e-#slam is' and what sort of people "elong to it' you ha%e to "egin at thinkers like #"n !ayymiah' and the Han"ali Madha" of #slami& 6urispruden&e( As Madha"$s go' the Han"ali s&hool is the youngest and among the more dogmati&( Madha"s are #slami& legal' so&ial and ethi&al systems or s&hools of thought( !he two se&ond-generation ones' Malik Anas$s Maliki s&hool and the Hanafi s&hool are "roader in their approa&h to di%ersity( !he Hanafi s&hool also pla&es a high %alue on personal 6udgement( Shaafi and Han"ali are a generation younger' of whi&h Han"ali is the s&hool that most es#hews reason and philosophy( #t$s worth mentioning that the Han"ali s&hool &ame into "eing after #"n Han"al' a soldier turned dogmati& s&holar' was perse&uted in the Minha - <aliph al Mamun$s rationalist totalitarian purge( !he Muta$zilas' or philosophers' otherwise reasona"le people who represented the intelle&tual and se&ular strand in #slam' "egan for"idding "eliefs that they &onsidered falla&ious = su&h as the notion that reason &an$t &omplement re%elation in the seeking of knowledge(Al Mamun had a Muta$zila world-%iew and #"n Han"al was an orthodo> 6urist( His Madha" was the intelle&tual inspiration for s&holars like #"n !ayymiah' who sometime around )1**' after the Mongol in%asion had ended the #slami& Age' "egan a re%i%alist &reed "ased on the Han"ali tradition( Philosophi&al po%erty followed the Mongol destru&tion of li"raries and uni%ersities' and so !ayymiah$s &reed was ne&essarily simplisti& and one-dimensional( He didn$t parti&ularly like Sufism' and was intolerant of other religions( A purist' &onser%ati%e streak ran through his philosophy' pro"a"ly a symptom of the times he li%ed in( ?.. years into the e>perien&e' #slami& &i%ilisation had matured and di%ersified' enri&hed "y "its and pie&es of other &ultures and &i%ilisations it en&ountered along the way( Men like #"n !ayymiah resented these de%elopments' "laming them for the &ommunity$s ina"ility to resist in%asionand felt #slam was losing its authenti&ity( #t led him to de%elop an Amish-like attitude to &hange and foreign influen&e( <oupled with this' the 0hans in &entral Asia who had "e&ome Muslims'ruled' often harshly' o%er lo&al Muslim populations in the &ountries they &olonised - essentially most of the ;astern Muslim ;mpire' and its heart' Baghdad( (asti)s !ayymiah &onsidered Mongol Muslims @nastiksA "e&ause they followed their &ultural 3assa Baw and not the Sharia' something that !ayymiah saw as sa&rilege( He pronoun&ed a 6ihad against them' and made it mandatory for his followers to resist their authority(

Alongside' he en&ouraged an idealised Muslim personality' whi&h' in his mind e/uated to rigorous' regimented dogma( !he 0hans imprisoned him a num"er of times for his hostile %iews' whi&h only strengthened his resol%e( At the time of his death he had more than 9.'... followers' and though #"n!ayymiah said some sensi"le things' like denoun&ing a "lind relian&e on &leri&s' and also de%eloped an e&onomi& theory that emphasised so&ial welfare and &harity' his enduring lega&y is an orthodo>' regulation-"ased s&hool of thought( #t is politi&al' anti-Mysti&ism - with a parti&ular dislike for the writings of the #"nAra"i' the Spanish Sufi whose uni%ersal approa&h to di%inity is e&hoed in the writings of Omar 0hayyam' Hafez and -alaluddin 4umi' and mu&h later in the musi& of Balon Shah' the Bangali mysti&( #t is anti-syn&retism and anti-ziyarat Cthe pra&ti&e of %isiting the shrines of great men' in&luding the ProphetD' "ut also anti-superstition' and anti-oppression( #"n !ayymiah &oined the term @Salaf'A meaning @an&estors'A as a referen&e to the %ery first three generations of Muslims' whom he "elie%ed represented the "est /ualities of #slam( His tea&hings are the ideologi&al framework for the Salafists' popularly known as :aha""is' who arri%ed on the s&ene in the )+th &entury and' with support from the House of Saud' "e&ame the dominant form of #slami& e>pression on the Ara"ian Peninsula' su&&essfully supplanting the indigenous &ulture with their own statist ideology( !his is where the plot thi&kens( Shortly after A"dul :ahha" and the House of Saud had esta"lished the first Saudi stateand &ommen&ed infusing it with a dressed-down' austere interpretation of #slam destroying shrines and reli&s and for"idding numerous &ultural and spiritual pra&ti&es - an )+ year-old pilgrim &alled Shariatullah' went from Earidpur in Bangladesh to Me&&a' to do his Ha66( !he year was )?**( Ha6i Shariatullah stayed on in Ara"ia for )* years' learning Ara"i& and Persian' along with Salafi tea&hings( He was hea%ily influen&ed "y this "rash' re%olutionary do&trine' whi&h' like any sort of re%olution anywhere' was taking o%er a territory and remaking it in its own image( !he Saudi state' in an arrangement of mutual patronage with :ahha" and the Salafiyyah Calso &alled the Ahle SunnatD in%ented an #slami& kingdom' one of the first in the modern era( Eor a young' impressiona"le man' this re%olutionary spirit was infe&tious' and Ha6i Shariatullahtook to it with a passion' drawing parallels with Bengal and Ara"ia in terms of what he saw as a fall from #slami& gra&e( A"dul :ahha"$s "ook' the 0ita"-at-!awhid' "e&ame a foundation te>t for the Salafist mo%ement' and the name @!awhidi'A was sometimes used to des&ri"e people who adhere to its tenets( By the time the first Saudi state &ollapsed in )+)+' Ha6i Sharitullah' was thoroughly !awhidi in his "eliefs(

!he first Salafiyyah &ountry was destroyed "y the Ottomans who in%aded it from ;gypt after the Salafis &alled the Ottoman <aliph illegitimate and !urkish #slam hereti&al( !heir &apital was destroyed' their king "eheaded' and the Salafists s&attered to the winds( !heir re%olution was temporarily o%er' "ut in the ?7 years that they ruled the Ara"ian peninsula' they stamped out pra&ti&es that had "een integral to an Ara"ian understanding of the Di%ine for &enturies( !hese ha%e ne%er "een re%i%ed sin&e( *alafists in Bengal Ha6i Shariatallah returned to Bangladesh in )+)+' after his "elo%ed Salafi state had "een utterly destroyed( He may not ha%e returned alone' sin&e the Salafists were now homeless and looking for pla&es to regroup( Ha6i Shariatallah &ame "a&k to a Bengal firmly in British hands( His resentment for oppressi%e &olonial pra&ti&es led him to &on&lude that the a"sen&e of a proper #slami& system of go%ernan&e was ultimately to "lame for it' and like his &ontemporary and fellow Bengali' !itu Mir' whose famous "am"oo fortress or @"asher kellaA "e&ame the site of a formida"le last stand' Shariatallah "egan to organise a resistan&e mo%ement whi&h would stri%e to a&hie%e two thingsF )D A purging to foreign and @un-#slami&A influen&es from Bengali Muslim &ulture' along the lines of the Salafi purge in Ara"ia' and 1D !he esta"lishment of a Muslim answer to the /uestions of statehood( !he Earaizi Mo%ement' named for the word @farzA or o"ligatory' was "egun "y Ha6i Shariatullah as a parallel administrati%e stru&ture and gained momentum in Dhaka' Earidpur' Bakergan6' Mymensingh' !ripura' <hittagong' 2oakhali and Assam( #t spread mostly "e&ause of its promise of eman&ipation and "e&ause it stressed on 6usti&e' so&ial e/uality' and the uni%ersal "rotherhood of Muslims - things whi&h a su"6ugated and isolated population &an$t help "ut find e>&eedingly appealing( !he mo%ement en6oyed a limited amount of su&&ess under Shariatallah$s son Dudu Miah' when it turned to militan&y and "egan atta&king British as well as Hindu zamindari esta"lishments( #t managed to &on%in&e large num"ers of people in rural Bengal to "oy&ott British &ourts and authorities in fa%our of #slami& e/ui%alents(But the Earaizi @state within a stateA petered out e%entually and after Dudu Miah$s death "e&ame a nonentity in the politi&al lands&ape of pre-partition #ndia( Howe%er it$s influen&e on the #slami& &ulture of Bengal has "een far-rea&hing and permanent(-ust as #"n!ayymiah saw the 0hans as @nastikA or only half-Muslim at "estand the Salafists thought of the !urks as hereti&s' so too the Earazis thought of Bengali #slam as a su"-standard %ersion of the faith "e&ause of its pro>imity to "oth Sanskriti& and Sufi &ulture(

*"n#reti# values ma)e *alafists un#omforta+le Bengali #slami& &ulture is hea%ily relianton Sufi thought( #t is also syn&reti& in its nature' ha%ing a"sor"ed "oth Buddhist and Hindu mysti& traditions( Sin&e the arri%al of #slam on the delta and during the Bengali Sultanate ;ra in the )7th and )9th &enturies' #slam in Bengal underwent a pro&ess of indigenisation where it "e&ame em"edded into the larger lo&al &onte>t( By the end of it' it de%eloped a sort of seamlessness with its surroundings that en&ouraged inter-&ommunal &ohesion( Eor hundreds of years' Muslims in Bengal' and in #ndia generally' li%ed with people of other faiths as fellow inha"itants of a &ommon Sanskriti& spa&e( Both Sufi and syn&reti& traditions were anathema to the Earaizis who sought to put an end to what they say as the erosion of #slami& purity( @BorrowedA rites and &eremonies pertaining to "irth' death and marriages' su&h as @&hillasA and @gaye-holudsA were e>pli&itly for"idden' along with Sufi pra&ti&es like the @urs'A@miladsA and the %isiting of shrines( Sufi musi& was &ompletely out' as was the @BengaliA pen&hant for &olourful &ele"rations( Put simply' the mo%ement ran &ompletely &ontrary to Bengali Muslim &ulture$s natural leanings( !he Earaizis had %ery few takers among ur"an' affluent Muslims' who a&ti%ely resisted them and sided with "oth the Hindus and the British to dri%e them out of the &ities' "ut they managed to gather a following among a disenfran&hised and largely disad%antaged rural population' sowing seeds that would later "e watered "y newer Salafist mo%ements( #t would "e fair to mention that the dynami&s of &olonisation and resistan&e in #ndia strengthened the notion of an @#slami& eman&ipation'A and )*th &entury #ndian so&iety was pregnant with %arious %ersions of this idea( One of them was the Deo"andi mo%ement' of whi&h the ,awmi madrassa system' Hefazat-e-#slam$s a&ademi& "ase' is a dire&t offshoot( Maududi$s -amaat-e-#slami' though mu&h younger' and ideologi&ally at odds with the Deo"ands' is also of this strain( ;%en the modern reformist mo%ements like Sir Syed Ahmed 0han$s Aligarh Muslim Gni%ersity-&entri& one' whi&h tried to "ring #ndian Muslims out of their entren&hed anti-:estern position' su"s&ri"ed to this idea' leading' ultimately' to the !wo-2ation !heory' whi&h &lea%ed #ndia in half along religious lines( ;ast Bengal$s de&ision to support this theory instead of the theory of a Single #ndian 2ation' whi&h the 4epu"li& of #ndia is "ased on' is telling in terms of where its ideologi&al leanings had mo%ed on to "y )*7?(;ast Bengal$s leadership at the time was nearly unanimous in its de&ision to 6oin Pakistan' and while this may not ha%e refle&ted the wishes of the entire population of the pro%in&e' the fa&t there were no signifi&ant stirrings against the &hoi&e' means that' ta&itly at least' it was a popular one( And e%en though the founding of Pakistan was not a Salafist e>periment' its was predi&ated on

prin&iples = pan-#slamism' religion as the sole identity' and the need for an #slami&polity = that are &entral to the Salafist &reed( The unfinished revolution Salafism is the fastest growing %ersion of #slam today( !he house of Saud' whi&h still maintains its allegian&e to the :aha""i s&hool of thought' is its "iggest proponent and has spent untold "illions propagating Salafism a"road o%er the last two de&ades( Most of this funding goes to mos/ues' madrasas' and other religious institutions that prea&h their parti&ularly austere %ersion of #slam( !hey also support imam trainings and pu"lishing outlets' as well as the distri"ution of te>t"ooks( Salafi khut"as are read out during -umma prayers at many mos/ues around the Muslim world( Al-,aeda' the !ali"an' -amaat-e-#slam' Hefazat-e-#slam' the Muslim Brotherhood' Hiz"ut-!ahrir' Hamas' Ahle Sunnat' Ahle Hadith and %arious other radi&al organisations regardless of the differen&es "etween them-su"s&ri"e to a Salafist world-%iew( !heir raison d$etre in&ludes the repla&ing of indigenous #slami& &ultures with a stri&t' literalist interpretation of #slam' whi&h is hostile to Sufis' Shias' Ahmadias' #smailis and %irtually e%ery other e>pression of #slami& thought( Salafism is statist and "elie%es in politi&al &ontrol' seeking to &hallenge se&ular go%ernments "y positioning itself as the defender of so&ially and politi&ally weaker groups against powerful ones( #n fa&t' this has always "een the &ase( Salafism was forged in the furna&e of resistan&e and has always held that an @undilutedA totalitarian #slam is the only route to li"eration( !hey ha%e su&&essfully made Salafism synonymous with #slam to the point that most mainstream Muslims measure their piety and their faith "y the stringent standards set "y the Salafists( Our national presumption that the likes of Hefazat-e-#slam and their allies are something new and @alienA to our otherwise li"eral' se&ular en%ironment is /uite nai%e a&tually( !hey are in fa&t %ery lo&al' al"eit with foreign support' and ha%e "een part of the Bengali Muslim story sin&e at least as long as Salafism has "een around( !hey are a mu&h larger part of the mainstream than we are &omforta"le a&knowledging' and it wouldn$t "e a &omplete stret&h to say that' in the modern era at least' se&ular li"eralism is the a&tual new&omer( !he %alues of the 0olkata-&entri& Bengali 4enaissan&e that produ&ed Bangla nationalism as we know it today' and the Sultanate era Sufi #slam' whi&h infused our &ulture with a "roadness of spirit and an appre&iation for di%ersity' are &ertainly in%iola"le elements of our so&ial orientation( But it would "e "linkered to ignore the fa&t that Salafism has "een with us for a long time as well' and is unlikely to disappear 6ust "e&ause we find it intolera"le( #n fa&t our intoleran&e of it' espe&ially if e>pressed %iolently' will pro"a"ly make it stronger(

Bast updated on May 1)' 1.)8 at )1F78

In fear of ,llah Zara !ah+u+ Op-Ed

The national media is pla"ing a role in misrepresenting Islam

!he media would ha%e us "elie%e that this is a representation of pious people in our so&iety Photo- Mahmud Hossain Opu Dhaka !ri"une

@Madhur Harinaam Shumiran 0aro 3ey -i%ana <haaradina 0i <haandini Dhalate Dhalate -aayeHA

Iidushi Sumitra 5uha

She sang a few lines of 4aag Maru Behag &omposed "y Iidushi Sumitra 5uha and went on to e>plain its meaningF @:e should remem"er the name of Allah #shwar "e&ause this life is fleetingA( !hen she was interruptedF @Please repeat the song and e>plain it on&e again "ut this time lea%e the word JAllah$ out' JAllah$ is a sensiti%e word these days(A Astounded' # stared at the inter%iewer( He was from a respe&ta"le !I <hannel and e%er sin&e the Shah"agh 5ono6agoron Mon&ho &ame into "eing' #$d "een following this &hannel$s news &o%erage religiously( My trust and respe&t for them &ame &rashing down at on&e( 2eutral' un"iased news &ame into /uestion immediately( !hen # "egan to wonder why the inter%iewer had said that' why was Allah su&h a sensiti%e word and why was He "eing feared so mu&hK Flashback: Michigan USA, 9-11, 2001: # sat dum"founded in my li%ing room and stared at the !I as the 1nd airplane &rashed into the South !ower of the :orld !rade <enter( Shortly afterwards' al-,aeda and Muslim terrorists "e&ame synonymous( Muslims turned into the %erna&ular that des&ri"ed all &riminals( #t felt like an assault' Muslim = a swear wordK Muslim = a feared wordK #slam was a"out to enter the dark ages in the :est( All Muslims li%ing in the GS "egan &ampaigning hea%ily a"out #slam and pea&e( ,urans were ordered online and it "e&ame the fastest selling "ook on Amazon(&om( Some of our Ameri&an non-Muslim neigh"ours e>pressed their support and en&ouragement while others remained skepti&al a"out Muslims and our La&ti%ities(L But something else also happened( #n our plight to e>plain to all Ameri&ans that Muslims are pea&e lo%ing' lawa"iding &itizens' we Muslims "egan reading our own "ooks( :e read through the ,uran' we read through the Sunnah and dis&o%ered how apoliti&al and respe&tful our religion is( :e learnt that &ommunal harmony' respe&t for others and &o-e>isten&e are &entral tea&hings of our Prophet Muhammad CSMD( #slam is not a religion of swords and 6ihad "ut of &ompassion' toleran&e and pea&e( !he Ameri&an right wing media su&h as Eo> 2ews attempted and failed to analyse #slam' espe&ially the &on&ept of -ihaad' and ended up depi&ting #slam as a fearful religion( On the other hand' neutral news &hannels &ontinuously promoted #slam and alienated #slam$s role in the terrorist atta&ks( Allah and His Prophet were not to "e "lamed for the a&ti%ities of a "un&h of terrorists( Fast Forward to Present Da !angladesh, Ma 201": 2ews <hannels are &ensoring @Allah(L @Al-khallah and tupeeA Cro"e and &apD are "eing termed as @Hefazati'L 6eans and t-shirts represent pi&keters and a @teepA on the forehead is "eing attri"uted to @Hindu se&ular(L Bangladeshis are losing their identity( And we ha%e turned into a "un&h of la"elers( :e are a&ti%ely &lassifying groups and putting people in "u&kets( # see our pre%ious generation$s disgust at the present generation$s insensiti%e mindset( My 2ana who was an a&ti%e freedom fighter during )*?) is now a "earded @al-0hallah and tupeeA wearing o&togenarian who lo%es Banga"andhu dearly( :hat would we la"el him asK :e Bangladeshis on&e "oasted a"out the fa&t that we were a truly se&ular &ountry with utmost toleran&e and respe&t for all religions and &ultures( !oday we hold hypo&riti&al standards in representing se&ularism( One fa&tion easily shuns the religious' while the

other "ans freedom of spee&h( !hen' there is media manipulation that is misleading the masses through its fa"ri&ated pseudo-neutral perspe&ti%es( #t fails to re&ognize that neutrality &omes from reporting the a&tual truth' not what a parti&ular se&tion wants to hear seeM and &ertainly not "y manipulating su"6e&ts into saying what you want them to say( #n a &ountry where +?N of the population is Muslim' Allah &annot "e a sensiti%e word( Ara"i& and Muslims do not ha%e the ownership of the word Allah( Allah is a uni%ersal word( :e hear Hindu #ndian musi&ians mention Allah and say #nshaAllah MashAllah on !I all the time( #f Hindu #ndians don$t &ensor the word Allah' who are we to &ensor His nameK :ho is the media to &ontrol my spee&hK :ho is the media to &reate &onfusion at a time when &larity is what we are looking forK And most importantly' who is the media to "ring dis&ord amongst Allah' #shshor' Bhogo"an and BidhaataK Bast updated on May 1.' 1.)8 at ).F8.