With due respect, we are giving too much attention to "Bismillah" in front of the constitution. For most Bengalis this holy words does not prevent us to harm to our constitution and people by "Our" lawmakers. It seems like you are in a crusade in eradicating this word from our constitution. As I mentioned in earlier posts, it is an academic practice and no fundamental change will come by keeping it or taking it out of the book. However this "Token" may divide our people more. I am afraid of that. The nation is polarized today and to take out country to the next phase of development, we need to stay united more than ever before.
All of our past leaders (Some great and some not so great) made monumental errors in the past. Fighting over it will not bring anything back!
Just look at two largest "Secular" democracies of today. Both India and the US have major flaws when it comes to protect minority communities. Despite professing their love for secular system minorities in both countries are treated differently and have been treated differently.
Establishing justice for all requires far more attention to details and quiet sacrifices by capable leaders. We do not even have skilled leaders like India or the USA. We have no shotages of challenges ahead of us either. Some of them will require defending our "Free" status in future. We have to protect our culture as well which is under huge assault from many fronts.
Therefore, debating over where to place bismillah or if we ought to remove it may be technically important to purists but NOT a priority. Supplying rice, lentils, oil etc to poor people in our country IS a priority. Tackling crime, extortion, land theft, infrastructure development are major and critical priorities and they require serious focus from our people and leadership.
Lets face some ugly fact about us. As a nation we are not so serious about religion that a word or words will change our bad habits. This word remains a token only to represent faith of overwhelming majority population of this country.
If you do not understand what I am talking about, try removing the words "In God we trust" from US dollar bills. It may require few hundred years for you to even attempt it through political channels.
If you are concern about giving minorities proper rights, we can work unitedly on that issue.
You do write well. But I do not agree with your "Fatwa (Opinion) of "Kufri". Which has a different meaning altogether. We are all for democratic Bangladesh not military dictatorship. But distorting facts about the past will not get anything done today. Even current government did the right thing by keeping "Bismillah" where it was places few decades ago.
Let us learn from past mistakes and work for a better future.
Shalom!
From: Farida Majid <farida_majid@hotmail.com>
Sent: Tue, Jun 7, 2011 12:33 pm
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Use of 'bismillah' in the Constitution is Blasphemous!
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Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Re: [ALOCHONA] Use of 'bismillah' in the Constitution is Blasphemous!
Der alochok,
-----Original Message-----
Use of 'bismillah' in the Constitution is Blasphemous!
Farida Majid
Sentimental objection against removal of "bismillah"s placement in the Constitution of Bangladesh has begun just as I apprehended. This is a familiar trick reminiscent of Hitler's campaign rhetoric stoking popular racial and ethnic sentiments in 1930s Germany. Later the Catholic Church of Austria used religious sentiments to persecute the Jews and oust them from Vienna. The lesson to be learned is that the word of God, when politically manipulated, can bring massive human destruction. The Genocide of 1971 is scorched in our memory.
When I raised the issue of illegally placed "bismillah" above the Preamble of the Constitution of Bangladesh in the internet forums, I got angry responses. Accused of being anti-Islam and a paid servant of Zionist masters, I was asked: "Why "Bismillah" is a problem for you?"
'Bismillah' is not a problem for me. It is a constant and trusted companion. Besides using it in prayers, I love saying it at the commencement of any good work, and I love writing it. Give me a minute or two, and any old pen, and even without practice, I will write 'bismillah' in Arabic in passable Nashtaliq calligraphic style.
I do have a problem though with a thing called Martial Law. There is no such thing called 'Martial Law' in the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. 'Bismillah' should not be put above the Preamble of the nation's Constitution by an unlawful usurper of civilian power who called himself Chief Martial Law Administrator. The use of 'bismillah' for such crass political purpose behind the clout of illegal Martial Law by a Proclamation Order in 1977, thereby betraying the trust of 150 million people should surely count as the most shocking and egregious blasphemy! It is pure kufri!
See the Holy Qur'an for a strong interdiction against invoking Allah's name in an unlawful act like this in Sura Hud (11: 18):
Waman athlamu mimmani iftara AAala Allahi kathiban ola-ika yuAAradhoona AAala rabbihim wayaqoolu al-ashhadu haola-i allatheena kathaboo AAala rabbihim ala laAAnatu Allahi AAala alththalimeena
And who (is) more unjust/oppressive than who fabricated/cut and split on God lies/denials/falsifications? Those, they are being displayed/exhibited/shown on (to) their Lord, and the witnesses/testifiers (the angels) say: "Those (are) those who lied/denied/falsified upon their Lord." Is not God's curse/torture on the unjust/oppressors? …11:18
Anything that bears the sign of preference for one particular religion, be it the religion of a large number of natives, is debris from the illegal acts of constitutional vandalism. Surely it is blasphemous to use the hallowed name of Allah as a mark to legitimize such an act of unjust vandalism. By upholding the welcome repeal of the Fifth Amendment, Act 1979, the Supreme Court has fulfilled the duty of the judiciary in the service of preserving and defending the Constitution of Bangladesh. Now it seems that a Parliamentary process should be put in place to remove this heinous blasphemy and restore the sanctity of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh.
Independence from the British rule, and then from Pakistan's oppression, must mean freedom from the dreadful colonial practice of categorization of people and computation of demography by the professed faith of a person or a group. Counting people by their religions means everyone is forced into a pre-selected classification that ignores other principles of grouping. We must stop the practice of depicting majority/minority on the basis of religion alone.
The Parliament should do its part to fulfill the obligation of preserving and protecting the Constitution that represents our valiant fight for independence from a false statehood (Pakistan) whose existential basis was this weird notion of computation of people by their religion. Pakistan was a disasterous experiment in a bad idea! The birth of Bangladesh in 1971 proved conclusively that Muslim Bengalis do not need a separate state as Muslims only and no one else. They can live with people of other religions and ethnicity as they have happily and prosperously done so for centuries.
©2011, Farida Majid
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