Can Bangladesh remain secular?
For generations Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and other religious followers as well as, dare I say, agnostics and atheists had been living together in India in relative harmony and without major conflicts, until the creation of Pakistan in 1947 (and thence Bangladesh in 1971). The very essence of Pakistan, within the realm of Two Nation Theory (TNT), sowed the seed of communal disharmony which was nurtured and encouraged, since then, by vested interests. These antagonistic feelings later grew into full-blown animosity between Hindus and Muslims. Once communalism took roots, various other sectarian and partisan feelings and dissensions manifested themselves in various forms – Punjabis were pitted against Bengalis and vice versa, Bengalis against non-Bengalis, Sunnis opposed Shias, mullahs against rationalists etc. Fragmentation of the newly created State, which came into being on the back of communalism, became almost an inevitability.
Malala in Lalaland
First posted: Tuesday, April 18, 2017 05:31 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, April 18, 2017 05:36 PM EDT
Islamic Organisations in America
Whereas no religion other than Islam is allowed in most of the Middle Eastern countries, the Islamists are utilising freedom of religion in the Western World to the full and establishing mosques, Islamic centres, prayer rooms etc as well as demanding the introduction of Sharia Laws. Look at the extent of Islamic activities in America:
Is Islamic theology relevant in the modern world?
A. Paxman's perception of religious orthodoxy:
An amicable discussion between an atheist and a moderate Muslim
This video clip exposes deep fundamental problems of Islamism and their likely solution.
Farcical democracy in the EU referendum
On 3rd of November 2016, three senior most judges of the British high court gave a landmark ruling that the British Parliament alone, not the government, has the ultimate authority to trigger Article 50, the formal process to exit the European Union. The government had so far insisted that it does not require any parliamentary authority as royal prerogative powers were sufficient to proceed. When government's contention was legally challenged by a handful of well intentioned public, the lord chief justice of the high court declared, "The government does not have power under the crown's prerogative to give notice pursuant to article 50 for the UK to withdraw from the EU."
Is Angela Merkel an angel or an agent for damage and destruction?
By the middle of 2015, after nearly four years of vicious Syrian conflict and at the height of ISIL's (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) march towards Baghdad to make the Islamic Caliphate a reality, refugees started pouring out of Syria and Iraq in large numbers. Nearly two years earlier, the self-proclaimed Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the ISIL Caliphate, boastfully announced that ISIL would flood Europe with Muslim refugees and Islamists from Asia and Africa and Islamise the European continent.
History of Hajj
It is almost universally accepted by the Muslims, but not necessarily by all 100 per cent of Muslims, that every bit of Islamic teaching in the form of verses, as depicted in the Holy Quran, is the direct message from the all powerful, omnipresent, omniscient Allah through His messenger Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). As these teachings are direct revelations from Allah, they are the absolute and ultimate truth and nothing can or should be done ever to change or reform these revelations. That is why Islam remains frozen for the last 1400 years or so.
Has Bangladesh lost to Islamism?
Bangladesh may not be a big country, either geographically, economically or politically, but it is strategically a significant country as far as religiosity is concerned. It is significant because it sits more or less in the moderate section of the Islamic religiosity, maintaining its own culture, language and tradition, away from the Arab Bedouin culture and tradition. If it verges into the ultra-religious section of Islamism, then the hope of salvaging the country having a vast, mostly illiterate population from the depth of Wahhabism would be very difficult indeed. As things stand at the moment, Bangladesh is showing all the signs of gradually and irretrievably sliding into Islamic fundamentalism.
Bangladesh's existential threat
It is a matter of supreme irony that almost to the day 45 years ago when Pakistan unleashed the most barbaric and vicious attack on unarmed civilians of the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh would have to endure a body blow to its existence from its own judiciary system. Islamisation of Bangladesh has become so deep rooted that even the present progressive government of Bangladesh and the judicial system are scared to antagonise the rampant mullahs of the country. That the government had caved in to appease the mullahs even at the expense of country's constitution indicates a serious existential threat to the country.