Author: Tito Scohel
Publication: www.muktadhara.net
Date: January 7, 2002
1. Sorry is the only word I am left
with, in the face of the unprecedented horror unleashed by the proponents
of Muslim Bangla (BNP/Jamat, infested with Jinnah's destructive ideology)
against the non Muslim Bengali communities, to humbly offer to my Bengali
Hindu brothers and sisters whose family and relatives back home have to
bear the grunts of a hostile government bent on axing the roots of Bengali
culture with a view to transform Bangladesh into a satellite of Arab imperialism
envisioned and dictated by Mohammed and his spiritual offspring's, which
holds, in absence of oil based affluence, the prospect of nothing more
than a Taliban inflicted arid Afghanistan. Culturally as well as ethnically
the affected Bengali non-Muslims are my relatives who shares the same blood
groups and same physical features but alienated for a few centuries by
an invading belief system and set of laws thrust upon our peace loving
ancestors by the bare sword of the Saracens. The non-Muslim Bengalis
are the sons of the soil, like all of us present here, they share the same
history, culture and heritage. We speak the same language, enjoy same cuisine,
celebrate common Bengali festivals, appreciate Tagore, Nazrul and Lalan's
songs. We fought hand in hand against the British colonists to free our
cultural abode: India. We gave blood to retain our identity on the basis
of our language, culture and heritage from the Islamic colonization we
were trapped into by our fathers' illusions. In 1971, we the Bengalis comprising
the Hindus, the Buddhists, the Christians and the Muslims, refused to be
a satellite of Arab imperialism. In 1971 we proved, on the blood stream
of 3 million Bengalis, that Jinnah and Maudoodi were imposters.
2. I hope that other learned speakers
of this session will discuss the more obvious socio-political dynamics
underlying the recent assault on the Bengali non-Muslims. I would therefore
focus on the cultural and ideological aspects underlying the century old
communal disharmony in Indian sub continent. I do not see the recent assault
on non-Muslims as something unique or unprecedented in the history of the
sub continent. Assault on the Hindus, however unpalatable it may be to
my Muslim audience, is actually a sequel to the historic Arabian invasion
and ideological enslavement of the native Indians started with Bin Kasim
in 712 AD. Invasion, aggression, plunder and rapes were the characteristics
that marked the first phase of Arabian intrusion in India, which continued
for few centuries until a significant portion of the Indians were forcibly
converted and the Muslims from the central Asia have established their
dynasties. The second phase of aggression started in Pakistan since the
partition of India in 1947 and repression of and assault on non-Muslims
was adopted as a state policy resulting in seven major Hindu exodus (47,
65, 71, 75, 86, 92 and 2001) from Bangladesh. I would argue that the recent
attack on the Hindus is not a new trend, rather, it has always been a part
of our political ethos dominated by Islamic ideologies and will forever
persist in the recesses of our (Islamic) consciousness as long as Islam
is allowed to be impregnated with the elements of spiritual Arab imperialism.
In other word unless Islam is considerably secularized or made compatible
to accommodate liberal democratic values and ethnic and cultural diversity,
the non-Muslims of Bangladesh will not be safe, let alone to think about
their future.
3. On the basis of my knowledge
in cultural and ideological studies I would argue, to the consternation
of my Muslim audience, that the roots of communal disharmony and conflict
in the sub-continent in general and Bangladesh in particular, lies mainly
in what can be termed, in critical idioms, as Muslim Psyche. Put simply
it is the Muslim mind that, if provoked or manipulated, erupts the evil
causing communal unrests in Bangladesh in particular and in the sub continent
in general. Of course other economic and socio-political factors make things
more complicated, but the real evil is embedded in Muslim psyche.
4. Now let me discuss what is Muslim
Psyche. It is a psychological construct built on the ideologies postulated
by Mohammed (impeccable prophet of Islam seen from a religious point of
view and the arch priest of Arab Imperialism, seen from a secular point
of view) codified in Islamic scriptures (Koran and Hadith) and passed down
to his followers as the only valid divine source of revealed knowledge.
Al Muslims are required to be enunciated by the Kalima, which motivate
them to think, imagine and interpret everything they come across in Islamic
terms. So Islamic psyche is the particular frame of mind that sees the
social and political reality through the filter poised by Mohammedan dictum.
Hence Muslim interaction with reality operates on a plane the logic and
motivation of which are incompatible to the notions that govern the modern
world such as individualism, secularism, pluralism, rules of law, right
of women, religious tolerance and democracy.
5. For illustration let us discuss
some core aspects of Islam. The dictates of Islam are more aggressive than
other religions. It has more potentials for politicization than Buddhism
and Christianity. . For example consider the very enunciation of Islam,
kalima :there is no God but God and Mohammed is his messenger. It
urges the Muslims to deny every thing prior to Mohammed. All human achievements,
cultural and physical, of the past civilizations are obliterated. Psychologically
this very kalima forever inspires a Muslim to deny his heritage. And expatriate
Bangladeshis whinge about being cut off their cultural roots? Which root
they mean? Arabian? Passed to them by their unenlightened fathers as a
set of divine codes solemnly revered and practiced as values and mores?
Or the Bengali culture the origin of which dates back to the Indus civilization
and later revived and nourished by the Hindus and the Buddhists?
6. Islam inspires the least spirituality
of all major religions. Unlike other religions its appeal is not to the
humanity or general good of the people irrespective of their creeds. It
is more exclusive than Christianity and Hindu religion and the least tolerant
of all. Islam even denies the very concept of humanity. Its confines are
conserved only for the believers in Mohammedan doctrines to the exclusion
of the rest of the humanity. So when I see the Muslims offering a seminar
on humanity or talk about human rights I cannot help being skeptical about
their intentions. Mohammed deliberately closed all doors for the non-believers
i.e. the non-Muslims. For Mohammed the non-Muslims are destined only to
suffer the scything blades of the invading Mujahid's (Muslim warriors)
on earth and be roasted and grilled in the perennial furnaces of hell.
Mohammed and his code book, the Koran, holds that the moral obligation
of all Muslims is to conquer the non-Muslim lands and subjugate them to
the cultural Imperialism of the Arabians. The Koran and the Hadith are
full of Mohammedan dictates supporting my argument. For space constraints
a detail analysis of the imperialistic elements embedded in Islam is not
possible here but interested readers can read a comprehensive discussion
on this subject (Islamic Culture) on the page titled "Religion" at: www.muktadhara.net
7. While Hindu religion encourages
peaceful coexistence, pluralism, tolerance and moral action to achieve
release from the cycle of eternal births and Buddhism prohibits killing
any living creatures, Islam guarantees its holly warriors eternal bliss
of heaven and promise of sexual indulgences as reward for converting their
non-Muslim neighbors. Given the divine sanction of such monstrous morality
can we really condemn the heinous razakar Abdul Khalek who slew thousands
of Hindus and pro liberation Muslims in his butchery in 1971 for only 10
taka per head. Dictates of Mohammed codified in Koran and Hadith has the
potentials of unleashing this kind of horror when manipulated by the politically
motivated Mullahs as it happened in Bangladesh in 71, 75 and 2001. With
such demonic potentials of those so-called holy books can the non-Muslim
Bengalis indulge in the illusion of peace and communal harmony when this
veneer can be shattered by any politically motivated mullah. The potentials
for massacre and destruction are embedded in the Islamic scriptures. All
is needed is external condition and a call to wake up the sleeping monster.
This is exactly what Jinnah did in 1947, Golam Azam/ Nizami did in 1971,
Mustak/Zia and Faruq/Rashid did in 75 and Khaleda Nizami duo did in 2001.
When such potential for destruction large loom, how can someone offer the
non-Muslims prospects of a peaceful future.
8. Muslim psyche is autocratic,
authoritarian and hence un-democratic and unaccountable. As long as divine
sanction and revealed knowledge is granted superiority and accepted and
enforced as social and institutional norms democracy and pluralism is impossible.
Muslims do not have a liberal attitude. Without liberal attitude democracy
is unattainable. Tolerance, as important as liberal attitude, is also a
precondition for democracy and pluralism and hence communal harmony. This
is why arms and terrorism wields more currency in Islamic countries. Islamic
democracy is a myth, Islamic socialism a bizarre fantasy. If the parliament
can lead the Indian politics why do the Bangladeshi and Pakistani parliaments
fail? Why do the Bangladeshi judiciary collaborate with military dictatorship
and mentors Islamic fundamentalism? How many of us, living in the West
for decades, sincerely appreciate liberal Western culture? Rational attitude
or secularism, the underlying principle of knowledge, science, technology
and economic development is precondition for democracy and pluralism. Is
communal harmony possible without democracy? Can humanity and peaceful
coexistence among people with religious differences be sustained without
democracy and secularism?
9. This program is crucial for the
members of the affected communities who are here to see if the slightest
glimpse of hope can be gleaned from this seminar. The Muslim participants
of this gathering may not be as alarmed as the non-Muslim participants
because they constitute the majority in Bangladesh and their prospects
are secured in democratic Australian society. But I think considerable
concerns do exist for them as well. Because this assault on Bengali Hindus
and Buddhists is actually an attack on our common Bengali roots. Bengali
culture emanated from Indian culture, which shares the legacy of world's
oldest civilization: the Indus valley civilization. This old heritage is
so congenial to the growth of humanity that it has been sustaining Indian
culture for thousand of year without any major setback. The sustaining
power of this harappa-vedic culture is so much that it absorbed and enriched
all major religions and ideologies. The strengths of Bengali culture emanates
from its roots in the Indian culture. It was the strength of our
Bengali heritage that helped us retain our Bengali identity in the face
of Islamic colonization imposed on us by the Pakis. The strength of our
Bengali heritage is marked by our invincible spirit to shake off the fetters
of spiritual Arab Imperialism imposed on us via religion (Islam).
10. The champions of Bengali culture
have always been the Hindu and the Buddhist poets, writers and thinkers.
All branch of creative arts whether literature, music or theatre have evolved
from the rituals practiced in the Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries.
Secular literature and music evolved from the Indian myths and legends.
Except for Nazrul there is hardly any Muslim poet or writer who introduced
a new style in Bengali literature. Minus the contribution of Tagore, Michael,
Bishnu Dey and Jiban Ananda Das in literature and music Bengali would be
a provincial language preserved only in the archives of world museums.
11. Not only in arts and literature
the Hindus also have a great contribution in education, politics and overall
cultural ethos. The 60s generation of the Bengali Muslims were educated
by the Hindu teachers. Without the financial sacrifice of the Hindu teachers
(who taught Muslims kids for free in village schools) the Bengali Muslim
middle class would not have formed. Neither could they afford to migrate
to dhanmandi from the dhankhyets where they originally came from. The Hindu
teachers helped the children of Bengali cultivators to achieve social mobility.
Moreover, without the ideological guidance from the Hindu intellectuals
and political activists it would have been very hard for the Indians to
drive the British out and the Bengali nationalists (Mujib's secular nationalism
was due mostly to CR Das/Subhas Basu's influence) to kick the Pakis out.
12. So how come the Bengali Muslims
can be so ungrateful to the Hindus who have more contributions to shape
up the Bengali nation state, Bangladesh? Can I request my learned Muslim
friends to ponder upon this question for a little while. VS Naipaul answered
this question in his novel Among the Believers. Naipaul said wherever Islam
spread it made the converted natives oblivious of their heritage and culture.
Few centuries ago the majority of Bengalis, Indonesian or Afghans were
non-Muslims. Now they are completely cut off their heritage and those countries
became cultural satellites of Arab imperialism. This is the reason why
the Bangladeshi Muslims can be so ungrateful to the Hindu educationists
who helped the offspring's of converted namasudras (people outside/beneath
the caste system) to migrate from the rural areas where they were born
to settle down in Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Baridhara, Sydney, London and Washington.
Islam has such intoxicating power that it makes its people oblivious of
their past and, if invoked by the self proclaimed mullahs or maulanas,
a former war criminal, Saidi or Nizami becomes a venerable idol whereas
a dedicated educationist like principal Muhuri becomes a demon to be shot
down for the sake of religion. As long as Islam is not absolved of the
seeds of such poison trees there would not be any communal harmony in Bangladesh
or in the subcontinent.
13. I am sure at this point some
of my learned Muslim friends would be tempted to argue that the present
attack on the Hindus are nothing but a divine retribution against centuries
of repression of the namasudras by the Hindu Brahmins forcing them to embrace
Islam for its egalitarianism. There is some degree of plausibility in this
hypothesis. The Bangladeshi Muslims have a collective hatred or class jealousy
against the Hindu Brahmins as they pushed them to the bottom of the caste
ridden Hindu society. But I should remind them that they have been exploited
more by the Muslim Brahmins (Mohajirs) than by the Hindu Brahmins. In 1947
the Hindu Brahmins left East Bengal and the Muslims settlers (Mohajir)
from India replaced them. In Bangladesh the mohajirs assumed Brahmanism
and asserted their social domination as Ashrafs (patricians) while the
descendants of converted namasudras despite embracing casteless Islamic
faith were reduced to Atrafs (plebeians). In 1971 the Urdu speaking Paki
Ashrafs massacred 3 million Bengalis in the name of Islam. In 1975 the
Bangladeshi mohajirs, due to their inferiority complex stemming from the
fact that Bangladesh was liberated under the leadership of a bangal (Mujib)
and hence the bangals might dominate, conspired with their cousins in the
army and killed all the key figures associated with liberation movement.
Muslim Brahmins thus killed more Muslims than the Hindu Brahmins did for
centuries. But the irony of the fate is that while the crimes of the Hindu
Brahmins were vindicated, war crimes of the Muslims Brahmins were never
meted out. This is not only true about Bangladeshi Muslims it is true about
the Muslim community in general. This very anomaly testifies to the fact
that Islamic ideology is warped. It is past reformation, even redemption.
It is about time Bangladeshi Muslims should question themselves whether
or not they are benefited from the expulsion of the Hindu Brahmins. Hindu
Brahmins as well as Hindu elites were nationalists. Unlike Mohajirs who
are commission agents and lives in Bangladesh only to make money but keep
the money in foreign banks and their family members reside abroad, the
Hindus were nationalist entrepreneurs who mentored cultural and educational
institutes and ran many charitable organizations and projects. The Hindus
established 90% of Bangladeshi educational and cultural institutions. So
it is about time the Bengali Muslims should realize that Indian partition
caused East Bangla lose its best people and receive the scum's (Mohajirs)
from India. Since 1975, those scum's are ruling the country and manipulating
their henchmen to drive out the remaining non-Muslims from Bangladesh.
14. Despite the state inflicted
discrimination Bangladeshi non-Muslims are still comparatively more creative
and productive than the Muslims. 51 years of Muslim hegemony could not
produce any Muslim author or poet who can match Tagore, Michael, Sanjib
or Shirshendu. Those who are distinctive in literary field are not good
Muslims. Muslims see them as either skeptics or heretics. Majority of them
were killed in 71 and the remaining ones live under constant threat from
the Islamic fundamentalists. Muslims have been ruling East Bengal for centuries
but how come there are so few Muslim poets, writers or scholars? One may
ask why Islam is so uncongenial to creativity? The reason is that the core
of Islam is neither an inner spiritual experience nor cognitive assent
to a body of doctrine. The core is its unconditional acceptance of the
law. Mohammedan insistence on strict observance of law withers out creative
impulses. Reading insipid and obscene Islamic scriptures in childhood guarantees
the demise of imaginative and creative faculties of our kids.
15. Same principle applies to productivity.
Despite enormous poverty the number of non-Muslim beggars are incredibly
few. Majority of the Bengali Hindus have some kind of vocation. It may
be very little income generating but still they work and participate in
the economy. The Muslims of the same class (potters, hair dressers, chira-muri
makers) are either beggars, buglers or rogues.
The Hindus of the poorest income
group have at least a home, some jewelry and a sustainable income. That
is what motivates the cadres of the BNP/Jamat to attack them so as to forcibly
acquire their properties/businesses. Why the productivity of the Hindus
and the Muslims, despite same ethnic background, vary significantly? Religion
or culture plays the pivotal role in psychological make up. The concept
of karma or vocation is central to Hindu religion. It urges Hindus to commit
to benevolent vocation to achieve release from eternal cycles of rebirth.
Islam on the other hand encourages aggression, invasion and plunder of
the non-Muslims. The most terrible legal expression of the innate inhumanity
of Islamic ideology is the Enemy Property Act introduced by Jinnah's followers
which denies the Bengali Hindus who have been inhabiting Bangladesh for
millenniums the right of nationality and citizenship and allows any settler
Muslims in Bangladesh whether war criminal Golam Azam or Nizami or Paki
businessmen Adamzi or Ispahani to forcibly acquire any Hindu property.
This act is an extreme version of Jijia levy imposed by Mohammed on non-Muslims
living in Islamic countries. So motivated by similar Koranic dictates Muslims
are naturally impelled to become a mujahedin (holy warrior or plunderer)
than an artist or a tradesman. Islamic culture encourages military aristocracy.
That is why almost all the Muslim countries have military dictators. So
readers can see the scriptural inspiration in action in the recent assault
on the non-Muslims. Islamic emphasis on militarism and indifference to
other vocations and reluctance to justification of vocations on moral grounds
encourages the tendency of opportunism and expedience among the Muslims.
That is why we see that while the Hindus contributed more for the freedom
of India from British colonialism, the Muslim elites took the advantages
of the independence. Both in Pakistan and Bangladesh. While Nehru and other
Indian leadership used political power to achieve economic independence,
Jinnah and other Paki elites let Pakistan continue as a market of the British
capital. After liberation when Bangladesh had the potential to achieve
economic independence, mimicking their Paki master Ayub Zia/ Faruq/Rashid
gang razed out all potential for national reconstruction. The Muslim leadership,
both in Pakistan and Bangladesh, only excel in pursuing their personal
goals at the expense of the people. Jinnah to Khaleda all testify to this
unpalatable reality of Islamic Brahmanism.
6. The notion of discrimination
rests on two premises: difference and territory. Difference may be difference
of color, creed or race and territory may not necessarily be geographical,
it can be psychological or even ideological. The present government is
using religious difference to obtain its political goals. So its first
victims are the easily identifiable non-Muslims. When non-Muslims are gone
who is to bear their grunts? First of all the freedom fighters as it already
started with Shariar Kabir. Then comes the liberals and after that the
educated class until we lose all but the uncouth mullahs, maulanas and
marauders. The consequence of BNP/Jamat political domination is only an
arid Afghanistan.
17. So what is the future of the
religious minorities in Bangladesh? I would say, bleak. If it sounds too
rude or too pessimistic I would politely say it is not so bright at all.
I can by no means be optimistic about the future of the Bangladeshi non-Muslims.
So what are the remedies?
18. The most effective one (leaving
aside the others for elaboration by the learned speakers of this seminar)
can be learnt from the history of Islamic invasion of Europe. Islam is
a faith that expanded, like European colonialism, by means of violence
(of the sword). Once conquered its innate scriptural siren voices put the
conquered people in slumber: they are cut off their heritage forever. Its
later expansion was not due to mass conversion but mass reproduction as
common among the illiterate and uncultured people. Islam enslaved the Asians
and the Africans but why did it fail to colonize the Europeans? The reason
is that compared to the militant Europeans, the Indians were pacifist by
nature. Not only that the Europeans are better fighters (Achilles to James
Bond) and their military strategists more competent (so US bashing the
Taliban terrorists) than the Muslim tribal leaders. The Battle of Tours
(also known as the Battle of Poitiers) was a determining factor in the
cultural history of the world. In this battle the Europeans forever stopped
the advance of the Muslim army (and hence the expansion of spiritual Arab
Imperialism) and saved the world from a definitive regression to barbarism.
For a comprehensive discussion on this war please read Islam & Civilization
at: www.muktadhara.net. Without the victory in this war we would have forever
lost the humanist trends emanated from the Greek civilization and the French
court. So in order to secure and maintain communal harmony in Bangladesh
it is of cardinal importance that the venomous effect of spiritual colonization
of Islam has to be stopped as the Europeans did centuries ago. In other
words Islam has to be absolved of the imperialistic elements embedded in
it, i.e. Islam has to be isolated from the state and politics. The sphere
of religion has to be confined to the private realms of the Muslims, it
has to be removed from the public or political realms. If it is allowed
in cultural and political realms, heinous war criminals like Saidi and
Nizami can never be stopped.
19. So the future of Bangladeshi
non-Muslims is contingent on secularization of the cultural, political
and social institutions of Bangladesh. Undoubtedly an enormous task far
beyond the capacities of remaining 8% non-Muslims. But our great liberation
war testifies to the fact that secularization of Bangladesh is possible.
All is needed is to resume the process sabotaged in 1975 or, if that is
not enough, to rekindle the fire that was ablaze in 1971.
