Reply to Mr. Parvez and Mr. Abid
Abdullah Al Amin
Assalamu alaikum
Basically it is not easy for me to go through all the write-ups of all writers. I am sorry I picked up on Mr. Bashar after only reading a few of his articles. May be he has more knowledge than me, and more practice of course. In the long run, Allah is going to judge by actions more than by the amount of knowledge only. I wish that every one here writes constructive and stimulating things, and make the name of the forum "Shodalap" meaningful.
To Mr. Parvez, may be it is a weakness of my style that you misunderstood some expressions. I did not say that somebody is playing game with Islam, the words "fair game" here means something that you attack freely and nobody opposes that. Of course if somebody attacks Islam/Hinduism or whatever, people who hold it dear to them will resist (sometimes verbally, sometimes otherwise). On the other hand, gentle persuasion with logic and personal examples are likely to stimulate dialog and foster understanding and respect. It is strange that Bangladeshi people are generally ignorant about gentle dialog, if you see any two person debating, you may well expect a fight very soon. Look at our politicians!
Also, I did not mean Mr. Fatemolla is doing some business with Quran and Sunnah. All I meant is that, from his writings Mr. Fatemolla seems to have good amount of time to research on Islam, but to me it is still not clear whether he is for Islam or against. Lots of his articles are in atheist-like sites, and I pity these atheist for why they spend so much time to find faults with something that they believe to be false. May be they are not quite sure that it is false, and that is why they need to raise voice to prove it is so.
To Abid bhai and others who are against Jamate-Islami and fundamentalism: well we cannot just wish into oblivion some people that we do not like. There will always be the debate whether Islam is for individual only or for the state also: simply because we are to follow the Prophet (sallallahu alaihe wasallam) and he was both a preacher of religion and an administrator. So somehow in a Muslim-majority state, the ruler has to indulge in politics of religion. Ideally, a fair Muslim ruler would enforce the rights of all his subjects, but would rule by the Quran and Sunnah. Jamate Islami happens to bring a concrete formula for that, that is why they are active in politics. But what is happening with others who do not support the formula of Mr. Moududi? They could not even become one party (look at Oikyajot).
So as long as an ordinary Muslim keeps busy in dawah and worship, he do not have to worry for the world. But whenever he/she chooses to vote, he is actually making a choice, should he see the religious commitment of the candidate, or should he see his other abilities. The religious man may be worthless as administrator, and the one who is good administrator may take decisions bad for Islam. So instead of just giving jamat all the blame, it may be useful to consider ways to make reconciliation of all the people. I think Bangladeshis are far behind Japanese and Americans that they cannot unify on national interest: it is our national character, so attacking Islam will have no effect on eliminating our political problems.
Another thing, elimination of slavery in Islam may be more related to technological advancement and strict definition of slave ("imprisoned in jihad against non-Muslims"). In order to modernize, Muslims should give more weight on technology and social reforms (education, health, moral and cultural cohesion), rather than trying to find new meaning of Quranic ayah: the door of ijtehad may not be closed, but even if some mustahid gives brand new and perfect interpretations, it will still be a long struggle to unify all the Muslims on that. Today we are not ready to do that struggle, and we think everything that Mullah say and teach are back-dated and the reason for our poor situation.
I personally think that some people are trying to fool the people in the name of Islam, but they get away with it just because the rest of us are so ignorant and do not try to learn from those who are sincerely dedicated for Islam. It is promise of Allah, there will always be some true people, but they will be few and they will not be well-recognized by the public. We consider ourselves to be Muslims , but we are still at a fix, whether we should take Islam or leave it to move forward to modernity. We are standing on the door, not entering, not stepping aside to let others in.
Anyway, thanks for reminding me the etiquettes.
Allah Hafez.
Regards,
Abdullah Al Amin
Tokyo, Japan
4 June 2005