A good eye opening article. The author has provided references. The author has not blamed the Koran or the prophet. It is the theologians who interpret the Koran and the sayings and life style of the prophet. And obviously their their theologies reflect what classes or groups they belong to. My initial exposure to Islam was through some writings by Mir Mosharraf Hossain, Principal Ibrahim Khan, Gholam Mostafa, Akram Khan, Barkatullah, and probably few more. And that was Pakistan time. Now I hear about a lot theologies that are not divisive, they tend to put you back to medieval ages. Now there are people who look for a Hadis before he travels by a plane to know how to say prayers while in plane.
Our attitude must not be negative towards this kind of articles, rather we must try to minimize the hatred we have in our hearts.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
According to the Sunni school of jurisprudence:1. An Arab is superior to a non-Arab(Ajami) Muslim,
2. Amongst Arabs: a) The descendents of Hazrat Ali come first, b) The Quraysh are above all other Arabs, save Hazrat Ali's descendents,
3. The descendents of the Caliphs,
4. A learned non-Arab (Ajami) is equal to an ignorant
Arab,
5. A Qazi (Muslim judge) or a Faqih (Muslim jurist theologian) ranks higher than a merchant, and a merchant than a tradesman.
>>>>>>>>> care the share source of this information? because there are clear verses of the Qurán and Saying of the last prophet (PBUH) showing us the opposite. As per Islam, Qurán and Sunnah are sources of all Fiqh/Sharia type opinion.
There is NO evidence to support this absurd notion that, somehow Arabs are "Supirior" to a non-Arab!!
Bengali Muslims were stratified into four major castes – Syed, Mughal, Sheikh, and Pathan
>>>>>>>>> Please share a member of this fictional "Mughal" caste for the members of this forum. Maybe this is a myth. CANNOT be part of Islamic teaching.
It seems to me that, International humanist and ethical union are engaged in very UNETHICAL practice of distortion. Personally I appreciate anyone who work with Dalit community but we should be careful from people who prefer myth over facts.
Shalom!
-----Original Message-----
From: SyedAslam <Syed.Aslam3@gmail.com>
To: mukto-mona <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tue, Oct 22, 2013 5:01 pm
Subject: [mukto-mona] The Untouchables of Bangladesh
International Humanist and Ethical UnionThe world union of Humanist organizationsThe Untouchables of Bangladesh
Submitted by admin on 21 August, 2009 - 11:48Bangladesh embodies a combination of Bengali society and culture, a Hindu and Buddhist heritage and later Muslim traditions. The caste system and prejudice against "untouchables" are part of Hindu culture. Although Hindu in origin, work-based discrimination and social exclusion have been a reality in both theHindu minority and the Muslim majority communities in Bangladesh. Many traditional occupations tend to be descent- based, forming communities who work in unappealing environments and live either in public housing or in slums. The living areas of the workers are segregated and they suffer abuse related to their jobs and status. Rigid religious and psychological barriers impede any change in habitat or occupation.These workers may be termed "Dalits" – "broken people". In Bangladesh with its Muslim majority, Hindus are a minority and Dalits are the most marginalised and deprived section of that minority community. They are considered "unclean", living in their own neighbourhoods apart from "clean" groups. Most Dalits, particularly among the Hindus, are descendants of Indians from other parts of what was British India, largely imported by the colonial regime to provide menial services. They are denied entry to the temples, social centres and burial grounds of non-Dalits.Hindu caste and the social stratification of Islam in Bangladesh
Caste practice in Bengal before partition of the Subcontinent had both hierarchical and territorial characteristics. In the census of 1941, 118 castes were counted in Bengal, including 62 scheduled castes.There were 7.1 million members of scheduled castes in Bengal at the time of the partition of India.Islam preached egalitarian principles and a true Muslim should not speak evil of others, irrespective of their religion. But Islam introduced a new type of social stratification, in which the highest were those closest to the Prophet in blood, faith and geography. Muslims of the subcontinent use the sayings of the Prophet to maintain their caste and class distinctions. According to the Sunni school of jurisprudence:1. An Arab is superior to a non-Arab(Ajami) Muslim,
2. Amongst Arabs: a) The descendents of Hazrat Ali come first, b) The Quraysh are above all other Arabs, save Hazrat Ali's descendents,
3. The descendents of the Caliphs,
4. A learned non-Arab (Ajami) is equal to an ignorant
Arab,
5. A Qazi (Muslim judge) or a Faqih (Muslim jurist theologian) ranks higher than a merchant, and a merchant than a tradesman.
So the Islamic hierarchy is not the same as the Hindu caste system.Bengali Muslims were stratified into four major castes – Syed, Mughal, Sheikh, and Pathan, a parallel to theHindu Varna system. All are noble, but the former two, representing the tribe of the Prophet and the direct progeny of Ali, his son-in-law, are pre-eminent. The community has unfortunately inherited the divisions of both their Hindu and Muslim forbears, and caste prejudices have left their mark upon many. There are about 35 separate Muslim castes in Bengal.Bengali Muslims, unlike Hindus, or Muslims in many other regions, did not welcome modern education or the improved quality of life brought to the mass of the people by modernisation. As a consequence, Bengali Muslims, the majority of whom were rural poor and illiterate, never formed a viable middle class.At the beginning of the 20th century Muslims constituted a large part of the agricultural population of Bengal, but most were tenants rather than landowners. Land was mainly owned by absentee Hindulandlords. Many Muslim tenants suffered at the hands of the unsympathetic agents of these landlords.Like the higher-caste Hindus, foreign Muslims (Arabs, Persians, Afghans) and their descendents classified themselves as Ashraf (noble-born) and looked with contempt upon groups such as weavers, cotton-carders, oil-pressers, barbers and tailors. The lowest castes were forbidden to enter the mosque or use the public burial grounds.The Ashraf refused to be identified with locality, Bengali cultural heritage and language, speaking Urdu at home. Many indigenous Bengali Muslim converts spoke a language mixed with Persian and Arabic words known as Mussalmani-Bengali. When educating their children, they chose Urdu, because it was likely to raise their social status.The Hindus of Bangladesh are traditionally divided into Brahmin, Kashtriya and Vaishya and the lower castes known as Shudra – the traditional serfs, craftsmen, agricultural labourers, and outcastes (Atishudras). Traditionally, each caste followed a particular hereditary occupation. In Bangladesh, scheduled or low castes have different status from untouchables and as a result experience different kinds and degrees of discrimination.The International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) estimated in 2006 a population of 5.5 million Dalits in 45 different communities in Bangladesh, segregated by occupation and caste.Human rights, discrimination and the Constitution of Bangladesh
Secular Bengali nationalism acted to unite all the people regardless of religion in a bond of fraternity. Four fundamental principles – nationalism, socialism, democracy, and secularis
