Unfortunately these peaceful meetings every year do not make headlines. The less than one percent fanatics or what some of them might have said on air makes headlines in media.
Most of the time the Hindu/Muslim question comes for dietary reasons (beef) and it comes frequently when people discuss POLITICS!!
Yes, politics has been polarizing and during election years, it is very much part of discussions.
Personally I wished it was not but it is not the reality.
During 70s some people used to discuss that, rich Hindus did not invest in Bangladesh but in India. I rarely hear those discussions in our times. Albeit the fundamentals did not change much.
One positive side is our education portion of our communities are learning from the Qurán first hand (So the verses of tolerance, restriction against violence etc are well known) and they are more ready to confront hate mongers than previous generation. We still have much more to learn but I do not think talking against religion is the solution. I feel embracing the tolerance, equality and justice of Islam can protect ALL people of our country.
I always see that, it is much more powerful when I can quote from the noble Qurán and share it with young people about tolerance and acceptance of people of different faith.
For our culture, promotion of "Beauty of Islam" can be more effective than fanatic secularism.
Some of the odd questions in TV talk shows reflect uneasiness of common people against open assault on religion in mainstream media.
Specifically when I see our ill educated "Pundits" take orientalists as their references to attack Islam. They should not forget orientalists made similar attacks against Indians and Hindus. This was the main reason why Swami Vivekananda made his long trip to Chicago, USA. He answered critics and ignorant people about Sanatana Dharma. He was quite liberal to Muslims. Raja Ram Mohan Roy dedicated a whole book to Muslims (In Farsi).
I feel once we learn about basic teachings of our major faiths, we can be more tolerant and respectful of each other.
Shalom!
From: mahfuzur <mahfuzur@aol.com>
To: mukto-mona <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sun, Jan 26, 2014 12:01 pm
Subject: [mukto-mona] Hindu, are you, or Muslim? Who asks?
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Thursday, January 30, 2014
Re: [mukto-mona] Hindu, are you, or Muslim? Who asks?
Our history tells us mainstream population reject fanatics of all types. The people who become fanatic about religion and they people who are fanatically anti-religious are not popular. Last week millions of devout Muslims came to Dhaka for one of the largest gatherings of Muslim world and peacefully prayed for everyone in Bangladesh.
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Please try the article at the following link. Your thoughts?
Mahfuzur Rahman
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