PROPHET-HOOD IN ISLAM & ALLAH
When Muslims think or talk about the prophet of Islam, they accept apriori that his prophet-hood was true and absolute. The system of 'prophet-hood' had been in the culture of Middle-East Asia in earlier days. If we look at the history of the area, it becomes clear that barring aside the accepted list of prophets starting from Adam (mythical to me), there had been a long list of claimants of prophet-hood who were not accepted as prophets by the large main stream population of the time and place. Even during the time of prophet of Islam, there were at least five other prophet-hood claimants. Judaism and Christianity also had their share of such claimants. Among all such claimants, only a few (including Mohammad) succeeded while the rest of vast majority failed. This success or failure had nothing to do with truth or falsity of prophet. It was something like modern day election campaign. Ultimately one would win in one time and place. The false and, at times, impossible promises made by today's politicians to be-fool people and win election were similarly used by the prospective prophets of old time to get public recognition and acceptance of his prophet-hood. Islamic 'paradise' is one such false promise. It was ultimately the survival of the fittest (not the best) prophet claimant. There was nothing divine about it.
A FEW QUESTIONS TO JAMAAT-SHIBIR
Jamaat-Shibir has been fighting to impose Sharia in Bangladesh as a first step to recreate old 'golden period' of Ummah in near future under a Caliph. This calls for a relook into a few aspects of Islamic history to find out if the endeavor of Jamaat-Shibir is justified or not.
BANGLADESH - Dar al-Islam Vs Dar al-Insaan
A big proportion of educated Muslims in Bangladesh read Qur'an without knowing the meaning and background of the verses. As true Muslims, they just believe that Qur'an contains the words of Allah (which is the highest knowledge of the world) and also includes science and miracle. They just believe whatever the Alim tells them about Qur'an. And why an Alim should dilute the absolute importance of Qur'an from where all his authority comes? So Qur'an is sacrosanct to vast majority of Bangladeshi Muslims (many educated and all uneducated) without being understood at all.
Abul Hasnat Jaffor Ullah, a Remarkable Free-Thinker
I felt deeply sad learning this morning that Dr. A. H. Jaffor Ullah died last night while in a coma. I got the news from Dr. Avijit Roy via his postings in the mukto-mona Bangla blog, in the mukto-mona forum, and on his Facebook page. After learning that he was a personal friend of mine, Dr. Roy, the founder and moderator of mukto-mona, asked me if I could write a piece on Dr. Ullah in the mukto-mona English blog.
BANGLADESH AND TWO NATION THEORY
All the famous statements and arguments of Allama Iqbal and M A Jinnah justifying the 'Two Nation Theory' have been proved to be wrong. Had they been alive now, they would have found that their prophecies and convictions about the future of Pakistan (and inadvertently Bangladesh) have been utter disasters.
Quota System Is Wrong for Jobs of Intellect
The premier educational institution of Bangladesh, Dhaka University, is in turmoil lately. Here are two newspaper headlines: 1) Violence, Vandalism at DU over Quota Protest, 2) Thursday's Violence over Quota in BCS Exams: 1,700 BCS Job Seekers Sued.
IDENTITY CRISIS - THE MAIN CAUSE OF "UNHEALTHY BANGLADESH
There is a book originally written in Urdu by Maulana Abdus Sattar and later translated in Bangla by Mustafa Haroon. The Bangla version was published by Islamic Foundation Bangladesh during 1980. This Bangla book is entitled "Aliya Madrasar Itihash". Abdus Sattar, in all probability, was an Urdu speaking East Pakistani. The original Urdu book was possibly written during Pakistan era of Bangladesh. In the narration of Bangla "Aliya Madrasar Itihash", it becomes clear that the concept of "Muslims are separate nation" was very much apparent even in mid-nineteenth century India. It is fact that in the minority Muslim ruled India, this was not an issue. But after 1857, the non-Bengalee Muslim aristocrats suddenly found themselves as a faceless and stateless population. The sentiment percolated to poor Muslims of Bengal without any socio-economic reason which was relevant to their aristocrat non-Bengalee brothers only. The poor Muslims of Bengal simply fell in line on religious ground only.
Unhealthy Bangladesh
Bangladesh is severely ill today; it needs proper treatment, which makes concerned people worried. I am surely concerned about the future of the country. The future of a country depends on the success and failure of her citizens. The people of Bangladesh abroad work very hard, and many of them are successful. A part of their hard earned money abroad flows back to Bangladesh, which keeps the country afloat. Today, Garments Industries are flourishing. But, political turmoil and corruption have been always a threat to this industry.
PORIBORTON IN WEST BENGAL
There was a time when many Bengalees sincerely believed that Mamata Banerjee was the only hope against the perpetual tyranny of Commi parties in West Bengal state of India. She represented courage, sincerity, strength and determination to be with the people in their fight against the injustice of Commi parties. These Commi parties took the people for granted. They implemented Panchayati Raj as it could be used as a tool for social control in vote-based politics of India. The objective of their 'land reform' activities was also the same. They taught serving employees (both in public & private sector) how not to work and constantly agitate against senior officials or management. They brought politics in every sphere of social and administrative matter. They maintained a huge body of goons from village to state capital to bull dodge any discontent or opposition. Use of muscle power, harassing people and even killing political opponents was common place in 34 years of Commi rule in the state.
ISLAM DISMANTLED & DISMANTLING SUJIT DAS
A book entitled "Islam Dismantled", written by Sujit Das, was published in 2012. In the book Sujit has portrayed Muhammad as a narcissist. He did so by examining and interpreting the information about the life and conducts of Muhammad available in Qur'an, Hadith and other sources vis-à-vis information about narcissism/narcissists available in different sources. The book in question was thought provoking. However, it is natural that no Muslim will like such adverse ('blasphemous' in Islam) remark about the prophet.