The slippery slope of intolerance

Tue, 24 Apr 2018 10:52:21 +0000

An editorial in the Dhaka Tribune on the recent agitation in Bangladesh demanding a ban on Ahmediyas

Groups such as Khatme Nobuat stand ever ready to fan the flames of intolerance

Bangladesh is not and cannot be allowed to be a land of persecution.

To that end, the recent anti-Ahmadiyya rally organized by Islamist group Khatme Nobuat is a dangerously regressive development, that should be cause for serious concern.

This is not the first time, unfortunately, that Bangladesh has seen this sort of attitude leveled towards Ahmadiyyas, though, thankfully, not for several years.

Systematic oppression of the Ahmadiyyas has existed for over half a century — with over a dozen of their members getting killed and over a hundred attacks being carried out against their community over the years — with its most prominent manifestation being during the last period of BNP-Jamaat rule.

In fact, during the Four Party Alliance government’s tenure, there was implicit (and oftentimes explicit) support from the government towards anti-Ahmadiyya activities, such as the banning of the Ahmadiyya Publications in 2004, and the community had to live in fear, suffering several attacks.

Fortunately, the AL government has made tolerance and religious freedom two of its hallmarks, and we have come a long way in the last decade.

But as recent events make clear, the ugliness still remains, and groups such as Khatme Nobuat stand ever ready to fan the flames of intolerance.

The continued persecution of a minority cannot be something we can accept as a nation anymore, especially as a nation that thrives on diversity and spirit of community, one that was built on the values and principles of secularism and equality.

We trust that the current government will, therefore, continue to live up to its principles, and ensure that such hatred is not allowed to spread within Bangladesh.

There are laws against incitement to violence, as there are laws against stirring up religious hatred and enmity. Let us see them used.

Courtesy: Dhaka Tribune

The post The slippery slope of intolerance appeared first on SabrangIndia.

How Ahmadiyya faith found space in Bangladesh

Tue, 13 Jun 2017 09:23:39 +0000

In 1912, a lawyer in Brahmanbaria sent for medicine from a pharmacy in Lahore, which arrived in a package containing a brochure of the Ahmadiyya ideology

An Ahmadiyya woman discusses her fears and concern over the communal repression Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

The Ahmadiyya ideology, a variation of the Muslim faith developed by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadian, came to Bangladesh with a parcel of medicines in 1912, according to the Pakkhik Ahmadi – a fortnightly magazine of the Ahmadiyya community in Bangladesh.

Doulat Ahmed Khan, a lawyer who lived in Brahmanbaria, ordered medicines from a reputed pharmacy in Lahore. The package of medicine contained a brochure of the Ahmadiyya ideology. When Doulan discovered the brochure, he took it to a local imam by the name of Maulana Syed Muhammad Abdul Wahed.

Abdul Wahed was swayed by the message in the brochure. He pledged allegiance to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and began to formally preach the Ahmadiyya faith across the nation.

But Abdul Wahed was not the first person to accept the Ahmadiyya faith. It was Ahmad Kabir Noor Muhammad, a resident of Anwara, Chittagong, who was the very first Ahmadi in the region.

Kabir was attached to a post office in Burma in 1905, where he contracted several tropical diseases. He travelled to north-east India for medical treatment, and there he found adherents of the Ahmadiyya faith. Moved by the ideology, Kabir pledged allegiance to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

The second man to embrace Ahmadiyya faith was Rais Uddin Khan from Kishorganj. Rais joined the community in 1906. He was followed by his wife Syeda Azizatunnisa, the first woman from Bengal to become an Ahmadi, in 1907.

In 1909, Mubarak Ali, an Islamic scholar from Bogra, went to Qadian in Punjab and pledged his allegiance to Mirza Ghulam.

Ahmadi scholar Mohammad Habibullah wrote in the Pakkhik Ahmadi in 2013: “The first four Bangalis to become Ahmadis did not preach the faith. It was Maulana Abdul Wahed who began preaching.”

But Ahmad Tabshir Choudhury, nayeb-e-ameer of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Bangladesh, claims Ahmadi faith first came to Bengal region in 1902.

The Ahmadiyya movement gained momentum by 1912 by the efforts of Abdul Wahed. The Ahmadiyya Muslim community became officially established in Bengal in 1913 under the moniker of “Anjuman-e-Ahmadiyya”.

Currently, the Ahmadiyya community congregates at Bakshibazar in Dhaka. There are 109 chapters of the Ahmadiyya faith comprising 425 jamaats operating throughout the country.

There are approximately 10,000 Ahmadis living in Brahmanbaria. Another 3,500 in Kishoreganj and 3,000 more in Mymensingh.

The Ahmadi preachers are called Moballegs. Currently, there are 65 of them in Bangladesh.

Majlis Ansarullah is an auxiliary organisation of the Ahmadiyya community for men above 40 years of age while Majlis Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya is the association of male who are between the ages of 15 and 40. Majlish Atfalul is the sorority of Ahmadi boys who are between the ages of 7-15.

Similarly, Lajna Emaillah is the women’s auxiliary organisation of Ahmadiyya women above the age of 15 and Majlis Naseratul is the branch of Ahmadi girls between 7-15 years of age.

The Pakkhik Ahmadi has been published since 1920. A studio of the Muslim Television Ahmadiyya channel is also located in Bakshibazar.

A total of 13 Ahmadi people have been killed in different attacks in the country since 1963.

This article was first published on Dhaka Tribune

The post How Ahmadiyya faith found space in Bangladesh appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Ahmediyas in bangladesh | SabrangIndia

The slippery slope of intolerance

An editorial in the Dhaka Tribune on the recent agitation in Bangladesh demanding a ban on Ahmediyas

Groups such as Khatme Nobuat stand ever ready to fan the flames of intolerance

How Ahmadiyya faith found space in Bangladesh

In 1912, a lawyer in Brahmanbaria sent for medicine from a pharmacy in Lahore, which arrived in a package containing a brochure of the Ahmadiyya ideology