Frequently we are facing one
common accusation from the Islamists, semi-Islamists
and even from the moderate (ignorant) Muslims�which
is "why only critiquing Islam" and
why not critiquing also other religions? This
is of course a very prudent question. And this
question needs to be answered by the group of
critics. Critics may think that enough have
been discussed about the fallacies of Islam
everywhere in the whole world. By now every
simple mind should understand very well as to
why we only critique Islam! But I am not
surprised by the question, because we must
know that�childhood brainwashing of those
moderate Muslims and utter hypocrisies of
those erudite Islamists they mostly fail to
realize the truth simply due to their sheer
blind-faith in Islam.... .(Read
more)
One of my friends (he was
involved in Bangladesh Chathra Union) told me
one time (in 1980) that he didn't know how
long the BUET campus would remain free from
arms given the progress of "arms-distribution"
among students throughout Bangladesh to
promote Bangladeshi Jathiothabadi politics by
the then military junta under military
dictator Ziaur Rahman. After twenty-two years,
now the party of that military dictator along
with killer Jamatis has brought arms into the
BUET campus where academic environment was not
polluted by the partisan arms-based student
politics even during the worst times under the
second military dictator General Ershad... .(Read
more)
I have been a resident student and a teacher for
several years at Dhaka University. Having lived in
campus as a resident student for more than four
years and later working for the University as a
teacher for several years, I think I have seen
enough of student politics to comment on this topic.
I think student politics should be banned from all
school, college and university campuses. That means,
there should no political activities in any campus.
It cannot be denied that students took very positive
roles in the socio-political events in the past.
Students of Dhaka University were the pioneers of
the Great Language Movement. However, since
liberation we have seen tremendous erosion in the
moral values in university campuses. Student
politics has simply become a lucrative trade for
some people. University campuses have become the
epicentre of violence, extortion and other evil
deeds. Physical force, violence, intimidation and
illegal arms have destroyed the peaceful learning
environment. Long gone are the days when Dhaka
University was called "Oxford of the East". When
other nations in Asia have moved forward in
technology, science and education, we have fallen
behind. So, it is time that we take a serious look
at our campuses. For that matter, involvement of
teachers in politics should also be banned.
Banning is no solution
:
by Rahfat Hussain
When the Far Eastern Economic Review printed a not so
flattering report on Bangladesh a few months ago, the
government banned the article. In the United States,
when there is a threat of terrorism, the call to ban all
immigrants is loud and clear. When a student gets killed
by a stray bullet on a prestigious campus in Dhaka,
there are calls to ban student politics. Folks, "ban" is
a dirty word. It is an easy "solution" to all the
world's problems. Simply plugging a leak will not stop
the problem. The ship will eventually sink.
Banning student politics will not solve anything
except maybe give a number of people one good night's
sleep. Why don't we examine the reason students are
involved in politics? And please, let's not compare the
students of today to the students of the 50's and 60's.
What is the reason, there is so much political activity
on campus? Is it about power, territorial motivation,
money, or is it really about genuine politics. What do I
mean about genuine politics? To me genuine politics, is
social activism, civic duty, and monetary justice. Is
this kind of politics active on campus? (Read
more)
Please cast your vote on this
issue :
");}
//
Zayed Yasin and American
Jihad:
Jihad and the youth :
by Chaumtoli Huq
I do not know Mr. Yasin
personally, the recent commencement speaker
for Harvard, but I would like to publicly
commend him for his courage and his
intellectual insight. Courage to speak his
opinion in times when dissent or anything
controversial leads to severe retaliation.
Intellectual insight because he recognizes the
need for those committed to social change to
define the terms of their struggle and to not
to permit others to define it for him.... .(Read
more)
September Eleventh�s horrific
episode has come as the big thunder out of the
blue to strike the core meaning of Islam.
Since then, Islamists were busy defending
Islam, which according to them was hijacked by
militant Islamists. For quite a while, they
spent time in their futile efforts to make
Islam a peaceful religion. Now they are busy
again to give a wishful new meaning of Jihad.
My today�s essay will be dedicated to explore
the practical meaning and purpose of Islamic
Jihad..... .(Read
more)
Dear Mr. Kasem, You wrote,
"Writing and reciting poetry is a great sin in
Islam. If you love poetry and poets then your
belly will be filled with pus." Would you
please kindly elaborate on what you mean by
the above comment? It may not be difficult for
one to find out the vast world of poetry
composed by the Muslim poets during different
times of the history.. .(Read
more)
This debate reminds me of a
similar debate in another forum where a
religious apologist (A PhD) tried to make the
point that Islam encouraged and PRODUCED
renowned scientists in past I argued that it
is not Islam which produced scientists, but
the critical thinking and the inherent genius
of those Muslim scientists. Then another
apologist (A PhD professor) wrote an eight
part.. .(Read
more)
Status of poets
and poetry in Islam : by
Habib Siddiqui
Today my attention has been
drawn to some comments made by Mr. Abul Kasem
(Ref: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/5988
) that was posted in the Mukto-mona in
relation to the status of poets and poetry in
Islam. I shall try to be very brief in my
response to his comments and observations... .(Read
more)
Islam and Poetry
- A fresh look : by
Abul Kasem
Islam is peaceful, Islam is
merciful, Islam allows freethinking, Islam
allows freedom of speech, Islam allows freedom
of expression ��..and what not. These are
the words we are constantly being bombarded
with for 24/7/365. To add more to this, we are
continuously reminded that there were many
Muslim poets who wrote great poems.... .(Read
more)
FEER article on
Bangladesh:
Bangladesh Government has already decided to take action
through Information and Foreign ministries against the
"propaganda against Bangladesh from abroad by a vested
quarter" to taint the country's image by portraying
Bangladesh a "fundamentalist" country. The decision
taken by the Bangladesh Government against "hateful
propaganda" came in front following a recent report
published against Bangladesh in the Hong Kong-based
newspaper the Far Eastern Economic Review [BANGLADESH:
A Cocoon of Terror By Bertil Lintner/DHAKA]
FEER/Danish
Aid issues - we could handle it better !: by
Dr. Alamgir Hussain
When the horrendous handling
of the FEER article issue still attracting a
lot of flaks, our Govt again went about the
Danish Aid withdrawal issue in its most
callous way, just what was expected from our
political guardians? I just wonder if we are
ever going learn the educated way of handling
of things. .(Read
more)
Israel-Palestine
Conflict:
Arafat�s War !: by
Dr. Dr. A. H. Jaffor Ullah
I have been following the
commentary of Prof. Fouad Ajami's for a long
long time. He talks from his heart and he
calls spade a spade. For his no nonsense
commentaries he is not liked by most Arabs.But
intellectuals from Arab world like his honest
views. Please read his recent The Wall Street
Journal commentary very carefully and decide
for yourself whether you agree with him or not
on politics that Mr. Arafat plays..(Read
more)
Re:
Arafat�s War !:
by Subarno Shyamroy
I would first like to ask Mr.
Jaffor Ullah if the facts of truth brought
forth by Noam Chomski (link:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/5283
) are "dishonest". I'm bound to ask this
question, because prof. Chomski's "truths" are
in sharp contrast with prof. Fouad Ajami's
"truths"...(Read
more)
I have been talking to many
Muslim and Arab friends about how they view
the suicide bombers and almost in all cases
there is justification for their act, and that
Israel left no option for Palestinians. Many
people say that were it not for the recent
highly efficient suicide bombings, that
reduced Palestinian to Israeli death ratio
(before recent Israeli offecsive in West Bank)
from 13:1 to 3:1, ...(Read
more)
Avijit Roy tells us that the
Israeli occupation is the root cause of
attacks on Jews. These are caused by anger and
helplessness in his words. I suggest there are
other factors that an open mind would
consider.. .(Read
more)
The
Racist Israelis, the Jihadi Palestinians, and the
Ungrateful Bengalis
by Shafiq Ahmad.
I wish to add some basic
information about the Israeli legal and
parliamentary systems to the well written
response of the Freethinker to the questions
of Dr. Omar Farooq in NFB and other forums.
The Basic Laws of Israel, which is tantamount
to its Constitution, forbids racial
discrimination in any form. Indeed, one of the
main reasons Israel does not have a written
constitution is the desire to avoid
discrimination on any basis, including
religion.. .(Read
more)
Supporting
Palestinians for all the wrong reasons!
by Khurshed Alam Chowdhury.
Israeli-Palestinian problem
has recently reached a serious point. This is,
of course, very complex problem of the past 75
years or so. I am not going to analyze the
problem in details, because it is far too
complicated. My purpose of penning this essay
is to ask and understand why do we, the
Muslims, blindly support the Palestinians. .(Read
more)
