Does Islam Need Reforming?
The world of Islam is in a state of turmoil. Radicalised Muslims and their misdemeanours are rarely out of media spotlight these days and rightly so. From the earth shattering event of 9/11 in New York in 2001 and the London Underground bombing in 2005 to al-Qaeda activities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and in many other places; the atrocities of the so-called Islamic State (IS) in beheading countless innocent people in Syria and Iraq; Boko Haram's kidnapping and killing of school children in Nigeria, killing of Charlie Hebdo employees in France; killing of 23 tourists in the Bardo museum in Tunis by the IS affiliate groups and many, many more atrocities; all point to the grim reality that there is something fundamentally wrong with these radicalised Muslims and their monstrous mentality. These people are just not in harmony with the modern times and they fail to uphold human values.
I am Avijit; Not Charlie, Not Farkhunda
While I have to acknowledge that I am not the first to use the phrase, "I am Avijit", when I say it, it is not a mere slogan for me. As I use this phrase, I mean real solidarity with what Dr. Avijit Roy stood for; and in one word, it is "Humanity."
AVIJIT'S MURDER & APOLOGIST MODERATE ISLAM
The murder of Avijit Roy: championing illiberal liberals
Why I Do Not Criticize the Quran
While I generally do not criticize any religious book, the generalized title "Why I Do Not Criticize Religious Books", would be inappropriate for this article. How is that? The answer would be that I have two major reasons for not criticizing the Quran, but only one major reason for not criticizing the Bible, the Gita, etc. These reasons are the topics of this article.
OUR AVIJIT, THEIR AVIJIT AND BANGLADESH
If you ask 'us' who was Avijit Roy, we say that he was a true 'Mukto Mona'. If you ask 'them' the same question the reply will be that he was anti-Islam. So, from 'their' perspective Islamic (?) Republic of Bangladesh does not have any moral authority to punish the assassins of Avijit. To them, Avijit's murder was necessary to save Islam and hence the murder was unlike other criminal activity. To us, the actions (or inactions) of Bangladesh government following the murder of Avijit tell loud and clear that Islamists have dominant power in the country.
AFTER THE MURDER OF AVIJIT
In response to my very brief post (written in utmost grief) "Chhi Chhi" of 27th February 2015 in this blog following the gruesome murder of Avijit Roy, one Huseyin Rahmi Guner commented " … If anyone slew a person unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land it would be as if he slew the whole humanity: and if anyone saved a life it would be as if he saved the life of the whole humanity." (Al-Qur'an 5:32).
Why I Am Not a Muslim
The title of this article could have been "Why I Am Not a Hindu, or "Why I Am Not a Christian", etc.; replacing the word Muslim with the name of any other religious group. If I did not want to make the title sound negative, I could have made it something like "Why I Am an Atheist." But since among the religions of the world, my least preference would be Islam, the religion of the Muslims, I thought the word "Muslim" would fit the title the best.
Brutality of religious fanatics
Another most barbaric, most heinous crime had been committed by religious fanatics in the name of religion in full public view on the street of Dhaka. Dr. Avijit Kumar Roy, a Bioengineer presently working in software engineering in the USA, had been brutally murdered as he and his wife were going home at about 9:00 pm on Thursday, 26 February after attending the Ekushey Book Fair and launching his newly published books. They were attacked by two or three assailants with machetes. The Coroner of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, only a short distance away from the crime scene, testified that the attack was an act of a professional killer. Two deep rooted stabs at the back of the skull were so severe that the victim died within a short time from severe bleeding. His wife had also been attacked and she is now in critical condition.
A Note of Salute to Avijit Roy
Yesterday, when my wife was reading news from Bangladesh on the internet, she told me that she was reading about the murder of Avijit Roy in Dhaka. I exclaimed to her, "our Avijit?", got on to internet immediately, and started reading the news myself. I felt like I was having a nightmare, did not want to believe the news to be true.
CHHI CHHI
Some brain-dead Islamist bigots have murdered Avijit in Dhaka yesterday. I have no word to condemn this heinous crime perpetuated by these Islamist cowards. When such Islamist cowards failed in intellectual discourse with avijit and when they found that their dogma has been proved hollow by Avijit, they settled the score by murdering him. I wish that these Islamist bigots should be put to some sort of genetic engineering process so that at least their progeny become 'HUMAN BEINGS' and not Islamist bigots. Chhi chhi.... But the two murderers of Avijit only show the tip of ice berg. What humanity should do with millions of such brain-dead Islamists in Bangladesh? Chhi chhi......