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Fatowa an Islamic Institution or a weapon of Social torture (Part -1) ? The Islamic institution named fotowa is doing more harm to the society than delivering good. Published on May 03, 2009 What is a fotowa ? I agree my knowledge in Islamic studies and religion is very meager and indirect. Even then I presume fotowa is a permitted institution in Islamic society. What it means to a layman is this: if any thing, a problem, an issue that affects a single man/woman or the society as a whole in a particular locality, the institution fotowa may be invoked to solve this particular issue. In an ideal situation, the fotowa manifests itself and operates through a group of acknowledge persons conversant in Islam and Islamic society. It may serve some good purpose in some occasions. Suppose in a village women folk at the instance of their men refuse our health service volunteers to admit �polio vaccine� to their children on religious ground. The learned moulanas of the village then issue a fotowa permitting administration of vaccine to the children for saving their lives. Let me cite an example, the prawn is termed as �mokeru� in Islamic terminology. This means it is not haram nor strictly halal. If such controversy arise in a say village. Among the ignorant villagers some eat, some do not as it is not in the list of halal. The institution fotowa may be invoked in the locality to give a judgment over the issue through village alems, mostly consisting of some illiterate moulavis and definitely an Imam of the mosque of the locality and village matabbar. The body then calls a salishi and in presence of the contesting parties gives its verdict. The hand of fotowa is infinitely long � it can enter your private life to social one. It can act as a judiciary system also, giving verdict on any matter it chooses. Whether fotowa has Islamic sanction or not, it has no legal footing in our secular system of judiciary of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. Need less to say, because of its unrestricted use and its ever increasing tentacles it has created manifold problems for innocent people at the hands of the village touts, matabbars, and so called illiterate moulavis. In actual fact what we see, the fotowabazis in our rural society show keen interest in women affairs. If a girl is found having pre-marital relation with her boy friend our rural fotowabazs instantly jumps on it. If a girl married or unmarried is raped by an anti social element, the fotowabazis immediately calls a village salishi consisting of those persons enlisted above. The unfortunate girl once again raped by the fotowa members- through their looks, through their obscene utterances about the girl and the incident. They are out to prove that girl is characterless and she provoked the man�s desire to have intercourse. In their ultimate verdict, the girl is found guilty. The fotowa prescribes punishment ordering �dorrah� i.e. whipping the girl in some cases naked. The man is given low punishment, just eyewash in the form of fine of some money.
The reach of fotowa as I said is infinite. It can take up any issue if it wants to punish some one, they don�t like. Here is an incident that took place in a remote village �Digrir Char� within Dant Bhanga Union, very near to Assam border, in the Upazila Roumari in the district of Kurigram. I personally know the locality, the Dant Banga is famous for a special type of Rasagolla rosy / brown in colour, very tasteful. Two innocent sisters daughters of a day labourer named Waziuddin and mother Rabbani Begum on 14th April on the occasion of Pahela Baisakh, sang two songs, more than six months back. This enraged a group of villagers including the imam of the local mosque. They constitute the fotowa giving body and held a salishi baithak in one Jahuruddin�s house; other members were Munshi Khademul Islam, Abdul Hamid- a village matabbar and tout, Sekul, Hajari and Yasmin They held the meeting to try, according to sariat law, the accused two sisters and the family for their anti-sariati offence as the young girls presented their songs in presence of men folk. This act of the girls is a violation of Islami law. The learned body pronounced judgment that two girls are not to be seen in public, and they would not be allowed to go to school even. The family was declared outcaste- no one should communicate with any members of the family, nor they are allowed to perform namaz in the mosque. Can you imagine a fotowa being the guardian of Islam barring poor Muslims not to perform Namaz? It may be recalled that two sisters named Ankhi and Madhabi, how beautifully chosen names are, are very popular and good singers in the locality. Their father is also a songs loving person who encourages all the time his two daughters. How could we save these two lovely young girls from the tentacles of Fotowa-Octopus? ======= Prof. Ajoy K. Roy, is a reputed scientist and human rights activist from Bangladesh
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