Islamizing Bangladesh – Linking the thoughts

Islamizing Bangladesh – Linking the thoughts.

Javed Ahmad

The topic is purposely chosen to draw attention of the reader as I am certain that it would create a stir in the mind of the reader with a sense of ‘terror’ due to the fact that majority of Bangladeshi secular Muslims are foreign to real Islam and afraid of full implementation of this religion as a way of life.

Our government is suddenly making a big fuss about the constitution that was ignored and remained hidden since the inception of the nation. Majority of the citizens of Bangladesh including the civil servants in the government are unaware of this constitution and do not know what it contains; whereas, it is the main guideline for the government and a tool for the citizens to have a check and balance on the government activities. I have covered much of this matter in my master’s thesis “Good Governance in Bangladesh: A Quest for a Non-political Party Approach” at the Civil Service College, Dhaka and a compressed version of it now available online at the link given below under references.

In my thesis, I advocated for a Care Taker Government (CTG) style governance to achieve good governance on a permanent basis. But our present political party based government has successfully gotten rid of the CTG concept completely without much meaningful resistance from the citizens or other political groups. Probably because the political parties realized that it is risky to have this provision that might back fire on them as it did the last time.

The fact of the matter is, the common people of Bangladesh felt peace (except for the corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and business people) for a couple of years when pretty much all the ‘systems’ were in order and functioned beyond expectation under the strict rules during the CTG. Seeing and witnessing the advantages of a politics free governance for a couple of years I became convinced that this is the way to go for Bangladesh to become a truly prosperous country. But now that the idea has been killed, I guess this idea will be lost for good.

Our existing constitution of 1972 is basically an excellent document (with some minor mistakes here and there) to govern a nation and for its people. It has touched upon all important matters and nation needs to be concerned of. But despite its excellence, the nation never bothered to take a serious look into it and follow the guidelines as a goal and objective until now.

There is a remarkable resemblance between our constitution and the constitution of Islam, i.e., The Holy Qur’an. I have dealt with this matter in a separate article “Politics, Secularism and Islam”. At the bottom of that article I have addressed the issues related to ‘secularism’ by pointing out that the word ‘secular’ is deceptive and contradict itself. Therefore, those who advocates for ‘secularism’ are basically making a fool out of themselves. The link to that article is given below under references.

Our present lifestyle is close to Islam. With some modification in our mindset, expectations and attitudes we could move further toward Islam in fulfilling our lives as a prosperous nation. But lack of knowledge of true Islam is our current obstacle to handle those changes. Despite being a Muslim majority nation, Bangladesh is lacking proper understanding of this religion. I have dealt with this matter in my article “State of Islam in Bangladesh” and the link to that article is also given below.

An Islamic state does not have any provision for political party based governance as we have at present. Many politicians and their supporters may feel alarmed with this statement; therefore, I have dealt with this matter quite elaborately in my article “The risk of belonging to a political party”, which is linked below.

As Muslims, we should not behave and think like the disbelievers. Unlike the disbelievers, we have been given a constitution and a ‘way of life’ as demonstrated by the Prophet (s) and his four rightly guided caliphs. We have a tradition that goes back since the creation of mankind beginning from Prophet Adam (as). There are some obvious differences between a believer and a disbeliever. I have addressed the matter in my article “Difference between a believer and a disbeliever” linked below.

When we watch the TV soap operas on Indian cable networks in Hindi what we are basically watching is a foreign culture and a society of our neighboring infidel secular nation India. We may look alike in many ways, but we are not the same. They are Hindus and we are Muslims. Our thoughts, ideas and philosophy differ considerably from them. Therefore, we should not follow them blindly; because if we do, then we would have to face consequences for ignoring Islamic fundamentals and cease to be Muslims. I have dealt with this matter in my article “Warnings and punishments for crimes and sins in Islam” linked below.

Our women folks by seeing the cosmetically decorated Indian actresses on the mini screens may feel tempted to be like them, but they must not forget that we are Muslims and we are not supposed to show off our beauties to unknown males. See my article “Hijab, Nikab and Modesty of Women in Islam” linked below for more explanation.

They should also be aware of the trap called the “woman empowerment” that many are calling for now-a-days. Islam guarantees full support for the Muslim women as long as they live; there is no need for them to go out of their homes to make a living. Did it ever occur to you why did our beloved Prophet (s) say in one of his hadiths that women would outnumber men in hell? As far as I am concerned, it will be because of gross violation of Islamic laws given to them that they do not follow. See my article “Not “Women” but a “Men Policy” is needed for Bangladesh” linked below to understand how well protected a Muslim women is supposed to be.

One may wonder about the basic difference between a secular and an Islamic state. I have handled the matter in my article “The basic differences between Islamic and non-Islamic state” linked below with references for a clear understanding. I have tried to touch upon the subject hypothetically, referencing to historical records and available hadiths on what it was like during the times of out Prophet (s) when the first Islamic state was established or was in the process of establishing in my article “Imagining our life in an Islamic State” linked below.

Fortunately, we have now evolved and have more experience as a modern day nation in a global village. Therefore, our position and situation is lot better than the Muslims in the past that had to struggle hard for a breakthrough we are enjoying today as a free nation. It is mainly due to their constant effort Islam has reached us in this continent. See “Islam – The final religion for mankind” linked below.

Today’s fad of ‘War on Terrorism’ is nothing but an attempt to demonize Islam and Muslims around the world to create false pretexts to invade their lands to curtail their religious freedom and to loot their resources. All the disbelieving nations have joined hands together along with despotic puppet governments of the so called ‘Muslim countries’ to form atheist world governance which they openly refer to as the “New World Order” or simply NWO. See articles “911 - The plotters and their plots” and “Satan and his attempts to extinguish Islam” linked below.

In Bangladesh, many atheists and secularist are the secret supporters of NWO hiding their true identities and intentions behind a veil using a Muslim identity. These pseudo Muslims are secretly pushing for the NWO agendas to achieve their targets. Unfortunately, there are many confused Muslims who are also part of this hidden game with little of poor understanding of Islam. To address this matter I have written the article “A quick Islamic lesson for the hypocritical secularist bigots” linked below.

The secular bigots need to go back to the history books to find out how and why Bangladesh was created. Bangladesh was a part of Pakistan that was created for the Muslims majority with the intention to rule the nations by Islamic jurisprudence separating them from the British ruled Hindu dominant secular system. Later, Bangladesh was created on the ground of economical autonomy and not on secular ground; resulting in formation of another Muslim majority country with the same intention – a nation to be ruled by Islamic shariah (meaning divine Islamic laws), which is yet to happen. Secularists have now come up with a false claim that Bangladesh was always a secular nation since its inception. It was not, and still it is not, and should not be.

Secularization of Bangladesh would defeat all the historical purposes, causes and sacrifices that our nation has taken so far. Interestingly enough, majority of the people who are calling for secularism are Hindus! A Hindu (Bangladeshi or Indian) would never appreciate Islam nor want Islam as a state religion. It is just their propaganda with support from some ignorant Muslims who do not follow Islam.

Islam literally means ‘peace’, and the other meaning is ‘complete submission to the will of Allah’. Implementing Islamic Law in Bangladesh mainly lies on our intent. It is not to say that we really have any opinion on this matter; because the decision of return of Islam as an “Islamic World Order” is with Allah Himself. It is just a matter of time. Therefore, it is better that we willingly submit before we are forced into it through uncontrollable situations and circumstances.

We need not reinvent the wheel of an Islamic state as the concept survived long enough to prove itself worthy of re-establishment. We need to understand that the Islamic state did not fail; it was made to fail by Allah Himself to allow other concepts to be tried during its absence so that mankind learns to understand and appreciate Islam better. Disbelievers have tried it all eventually failing with all their governance and economical systems. However, they need to suffer a bit more to come to a full understanding that Islam is the solution to all the problems around us and revert to this religion wholeheartedly. This world is not worth dying for.

Disbelievers have started their reign of terror by terrorizing the Muslim world with false flag operations and false accusations. It is now Allah’s turn to terrorize them back as retribution in fulfilling His promise to return caliphate unifying mankind as a single nation under the Kingdom of God.

Abu Huraira reported that the Messenger of Allah (s) said: I have been given superiority over the other prophets in six respects: I have been given words which are concise but comprehensive in meaning; I have been helped by terror (in the hearts of enemies): spoils have been made lawful to me: the earth has been made for me clean and a place of worship; I have been sent to all mankind and the line of prophets is closed with me. (Muslim, Book #004, Hadith #1062).

Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority: their abode will be the Fire: And evil is the home of the wrong-doers! (Yusuf Ali translation, Aal-e-Imran, Chapter #3, Verse #151).

There is no point opposing a divine plan decreed by Allah. Revert to Islam wholeheartedly before it is too late. The entire world wide revolution of New World Order would gradually turn into an Islamic World Order freeing all oppressed people around the world and establish justice across the globe under a single governance of Islam.

When comes the Help of Allah, and Victory, and thou dost see the people enter Allah’s Religion in crowds, celebrate the praises of thy Lord, and pray for His forgiveness: For He is oft-Returning (in grace and mercy). (Yusuf Ali translation, An-Nasr, Chapter #10, Verse 1-3).

History repeats itself due to our unlearned prejudices. Islam too would repeat for the same reason. Finally, I would like to conclude this article with a nice paper copied from a website linked below:

‘Perhaps those who disbelieve will wish they had been Muslims’

The Messenger of Allaah (sal Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) described the conversation that will take place between the disobedient Muslims and the disbelievers, when they will both gather in the Fire.

The disbelievers will say to the Muslims, ‘were you not Muslims?’

They will reply, ‘of course we were Muslims.’

The disbelievers will then say, ‘was your Islaam not sufficient for you? You have ended up with us in the Fire!’

The Muslims will reply, ‘we had sins and are being punished due to them.’

Allaah (the Exalted) will hear what they say and He will become angry at the statement of the disbelievers.[1] The Angels, Prophets and the rest of the Believers will then intercede – by the permission of Allaah - on behalf of those Muslims in the Fire.[2]

Allaah (the Merciful) will accept this intercession and order for the Muslims to be removed from the Fire. When the disbelievers see this, they will say: ‘If only we were Muslims, we could also have been removed from the Fire like they have been removed the Fire.’[3]

Upon narrating this hadeeth, the Messenger of Allaah (sal Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) recited:

{Alif, Laam, Raa. These are the verses of the Book and a clear Qur’an. Perhaps those who disbelieve will wish they had been Muslims.} [15:1-2]

The Muslims who exit from the Fire will be known in Paradise as the ‘Jahannamiyoon,’[4] and their skins will be blackened due to being burnt by the Fire.[5] They will detest both the blackness of their skin, as well as the name they have been given. They will therefore supplicate to Allaah: ‘O Lord, remove this name from us’[6] and Allaah will answer their supplication.

Thereafter, they will be dipped into a river in Paradise called ‘Hayaa’ and they will come out cleansed from their blackness. They will appear like the whiteness of the full moon that appears after a lunar eclipse.[7]

{...Our Lord, indeed we have believed, so forgive us our sins and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.} [03:16]

Footnotes:

[1] Narrated by Ibn Abbaas; Collected by Ibn Jareer;
[2] Narrated by Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri; Collected by Ibn Hibbaan;
[3] Narrated by Abu Moosa; Collected by Haakim;
[4] They will be called this due to the having been in the Fire;
[5] Narrated by Anas; Collected by At-Tabaraani;
[6] Narrated by Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri; Collected by Ibn Hibbaan;
[7] Please refer to Tafseer Ibn Katheer for further benefit. Tafseer Ayah [15:1-2].

Authored by : Naveed Ayaaz, Abul Abbaas

Date Published: Friday, 24 June 2011

Source: http://www.madeenah.com/notes.cfm?id=1023

We are basically only a few steps away for living an Islamic way of life as true Muslims. People of Bangladesh should recognize who they really are and give Islam a serious try at all levels and not just at the personal levels as it is now.

Many Muslims are ready to adopt Islamic teachings, so long their lifestyles remain untouched and unaltered - are you one of them? Has "lifestyle" become an unnoticed god for you? Think about it carefully! Think of what Allah means by saying: "Seest thou such a one as taketh for his god his own passion (or impulse)?..." (25:43). Have we not taken our own passion, desires and impulses as our god ignoring Islam and the true meaning of this life completely?

Those who break Allah’s Covenant after it is ratified, and who sunder what Allah Has ordered to be joined, and do mischief on earth: These cause loss (only) to themselves. (Yusuf Ali translation, Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #27)

Those to whom We have sent the Book study it as it should be studied: They are the ones that believe therein: Those who reject faith therein,- the loss is their own. (Yusuf Ali translation, Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #121)

O ye who believe! If ye obey the Unbelievers, they will drive you back on your heels, and ye will turn back (from Faith) to your own loss. (Yusuf Ali translation, Aal-e-Imran, Chapter #3, Verse #149)

Some He hath guided: Others have (by their choice) deserved the loss of their way; in that they took the evil ones, in preference to Allah, for their friends and protectors, and think that they receive guidance. (Yusuf Ali translation, Al-Araf, Chapter #7, Verse #30)

Say: "O ye men! Now Truth hath reached you from your Lord! Those who receive guidance, do so for the good of their own souls; those who stray, do so to their own loss: and I am not (set) over you to arrange your affairs." (Yusuf Ali translation, Yunus, Chapter #10, Verse #108)

Who receiveth guidance, receiveth it for his own benefit: who goeth astray doth so to his own loss: No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another: nor would We visit with Our Wrath until We had sent an apostle (to give warning). (Yusuf Ali translation, Al-Isra, Chapter #17, Verse #15)

We send down (stage by stage) in the Qur'an that which is a healing and a mercy to those who believe: to the unjust it causes nothing but loss after loss. (Yusuf Ali translation, Al-Isra, Chapter #17, Verse #82)

Say: "If I am astray, I only stray to the loss of my own soul: but if I receive guidance, it is because of the inspiration of my Lord to me: it is He Who hears all things, and is (ever) near." (Yusuf Ali translation, Saba, Chapter #34, Verse #50)

"Serve ye what ye will besides him." Say: "Truly, those in loss are those who lose their own souls and their People on the Day of Judgment: Ah! that is indeed the (real and) evident loss! (Yusuf Ali translation, Az-Zumar, Chapter #39, Verse #15)

To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth: and those who reject the Signs of Allah,- it is they who will be in loss. (Yusuf Ali translation, Az-Zumar, Chapter #39, Verse #63)

And thou wilt see them brought forward to the (Penalty), in a humble frame of mind because of (their) disgrace, (and) looking with a stealthy glance. And the Believers will say: "Those are indeed in loss, who have given to perdition their own selves and those belonging to them on the Day of Judgment. Behold! Truly the Wrong-doers are in a lasting Penalty!" (Yusuf Ali translation, Ash-Shura, Chapter #42, Verse #45)

Be not weary and faint-hearted, crying for peace, when ye should be uppermost: for Allah is with you, and will never put you in loss for your (good) deeds. (Yusuf Ali translation, Muhammad, Chapter #47, Verse #35)

O ye who believe! Let not your riches or your children divert you from the remembrance of Allah. If any act thus, the loss is their own. (Yusuf Ali translation, Al-Munafiqoon, Chapter #63, Verse #9)

The Day that He assembles you (all) for a Day of Assembly,- that will be a Day of mutual loss and gain (among you), and those who believe in Allah and work righteousness,- He will remove from them their ills, and He will admit them to Gardens beneath which Rivers flow, to dwell therein for ever: that will be the Supreme Achievement. (Yusuf Ali translation, At-Taghabun, Chapter #64, Verse #9)

Verily Man is in loss, (Yusuf Ali translation, Al-Asr, Chapter #103, Verse #2)

We are known by the company we keep. So, what is it going to be? Would you give in to Islam completely in facilitating implementation of the religion at all phases of our lives or stand against it and face the ultimate losses?

I say, let’s give Islam a fair chance for our own safety and peace in this world and in the world hereafter. As Muslims we owe this to our Lord God Almighty Allah as well to ourselves.