Sculpture, ignorance and chaos

M A Hossain

In the past few months, Bangladesh has been going through an imbroglio regarding the installation of statues. Numerous articles were published on this issue but most of these were apparently partisans to their own ideologies. A number of Islamic scholars lambasted on erecting statues in the country, which eventually became conducive to the extent of damaging and defacing of some statues that put the ruling party in an uncomfortable position. Some left-leaning leaders and progressive activists were vibrant against these Islamic groups in both electronic and print media. These agitations of both sides made me embark on writing this article to preach the true lessons of Islam. I will try to dissect the deeds of the belligerents on this Statue issue, with a bid to demonstrate the situation, which I hope my readers will find comprehensive.

Bangladesh is a secular country. At present, Bangladesh can be exemplified as a role model about the atmosphere of communal harmony to the world. Though some sporadic incidents may have had come to the limelight in the recent past, those were either exaggerated or concocted, or galvanised by the foreign actors. As per the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, secularism is one of the Fundamental Principles of the Constitution. Therefore, the installation of any statue/sculpture is not unconstitutional. The way our Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina dealt with the issue demonstrated the political acumen of her decision-making. Needless to say, Bangladesh Awami League and the Government have defused this sculpture spark very smartly. Then the question remains as to what was wrong and why did it hurt our Muslim community?

First, the exaggeration and excessive rants against Islam by non- befitting individuals made Bangladeshi Muslims felt disappointed and betrayed. It is not expected that a renowned communist leader (Now an ally with a Democratic Party!) should teach Islam to the Nation. Another progressive intellectual came up with his crass analysis of the Quran and this gentleman legalized lifelike sculpture in Islam high highhandedly, and he substantiated his logic with the word 'Tamasil' from the Quran. I may take the liberty to correct him that 'Tamasil' means resemble of lifeless things and possibly he amalgamated with the Arabic word 'Sanam (pl-Asnam)’ which means resemble of the lifelike creature.

Second, speeches and languages of a few Islamic scholars do not commensurate with the teachings of Islam. In Qur'an, it is said that you invite (mankind) to the way of your Lord with wisdom, kind advice and argue with them in the most kindly manner. According to Bukhari Hadith, one is best to Allah whose character is best. Two Islamist parties have threatened and demanded the Government not to install any sculpture or idol. Apparently, it may appear to be an Islamic step but in fact, such pretentious action triggered an ominous flaw to the belief of Muslims and gravely hurt the Muslim practitioners and scholars. 

In retrospect, Islam in Bangladesh was more prone to Persian “Sufism” than the original Islam emerged in Arab. Again, it was also biased and infiltrated by the pre-practised local cultures. All these malpractices occurred due to the lack of communications. That's why we see the shrine culture, non-Islamic superstitions, dogmatisms etc. At times our excessive respect reaches to a worshipping level. In South Asia, it has remained a practising culture. We can see, a portrait of Donald Trump was worshipped by some Indian Hindus before the presidential election. So as a Muslim, we must acquire the true knowledge of Islam that could save us from all confrontations and confusion. Right now, vandalisation of statues in Bangladesh was not a wise Islamic performance. It is a clear breach of prevailing laws. Our Islamic scholars must remember that the dialogues used in the battlefield are not the same as in Waz-Mehfils (public gatherings). 

Islam shows a straight-forward and unvarnished way to surrender to the Almighty. It doesn't allow any alternative or skewed way from His Messenger, Mohammad(SM). In my opinion, Bangladeshi Islamist groups didn't follow the way (Sunnah) of our Prophet(SM). Islamic laws or Sharia laws only can accentuate to destroy the lifelike idols/sculptures. We must remember, our Prophet(SM) destroyed the idols after he conquered and established Islam in Mecca. Before that, he didn't show any fanatical activities but preached against non-Islamic idol worshipping.

In several articles by a doyen Bangladeshi leftist leader and a few mediocre Awami League leaders tried to politicize this issue. They chanted that our Ulems/Ulamas are performing an agenda to make Bangladesh integrate to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. A Minister of Bangladesh Government tried to cover the fact as fig leaf that vandalization of two sculptures in Kustia was committed by the same actor. People of Bangladesh should remain alert against the chaotic situation backed by foreign actors. Bangladeshi Islamic scholars must not entrap themselves to be a pawn of conspiracy. Our ignorance has the remedy but incompetence to understand the machination has no remission. Our politicians must stop unnecessary tattling. 

Pakistan is neither an Islamic country nor a role model country. Even Pakistan wants to be like Bangladesh nowadays. In Kustia, one of the vandalisation was done by the ruling party men. Samuel Huntington in his article, "The clash of civilization” predicted a successful theory that the 21st century would experience a confrontation between the Islamist and the West. So the conspiracy against a Muslim majority country like Bangladesh should not be washed off with the spat of fingertips. The way Islam resurrects in Bangladesh, it's obvious a global Islamist force already has established their footholds here. 

In the bottom line, there is no scope of installing lifelike idols/sculptures under the Islamic Emirates or Sharia Law. Because during Judgment Day, the sculptor would be asked to give life to those sculptures which he created in his life. Very often, our secular leaders or intellectuals are referring to some Muslim majority countries to legalize life-like sculptures but that is not right. Islam does not belong to any specific country or political party; rather the greatness of Islam lies in the performance in compliance with the Quran and Sunnah, globally and collectively. That is the beauty of Islam. 

This article published at:

1. Kashmir watch, 28 Dec 20

2. Review Nepal : 29Dec 20

Enough educated but very less 'well-educated'

M A Hossain

On 28 November '20, a 17 days old infant's dead body was found in the pond at Bagerhat in Bangladesh. Latter on police arrested the parent in connection to such bone-chilling incident and primarily parent confessed about their involvement to the police. Media became vibrant to criminalize this poor parent. But that's not the dead-end of this story. The parent is very poor and the infant was suffering from severe cardiac and kidney problems. It was going almost beyond to do anything further for their beloved child(radio today, 89.6fm). Now, I will share two of my personal experiences with my readers.

Due to my professional reason, I was posted at outskirts of Dhaka. On my daughter's 2nd birthday party, I was well-clad and ready to receive my guests. Suddenly, I got a phone call from my superior officer to attend a complainant who was an ex-senior bureaucrat. With my all throes, I went to my office and found an elderly couple waiting for me. I was battling inside me to remain calm and tried to forget the disturbance of my personal program after all I paid from their taxes. The woman first opened up and unabashedly told me,” baba! Amar chele ke crossfire dete hobe (Oh dear! Kill my son in the crossfire.)”. Her husband was beside her and stayed mum. Being a father, I was missing my daughter's birthday party that was rampaging inside me and after hearing these sorts of appeal or complaint could only stoke more. Possibly the gargantuan anger made me pile and I forgot everything for a moment. I just smiled and said, “what you've said is not what it is. Tell me what happened and how can I help you?” The husband started talking now and said that they had a son and a daughter. In a nutshell, the son became addicted, and they spent all the money to cure him but miserably failed and last they had only 6stored building in town. The unfortunate son physically assaulted them and forced them out from their own house. Their only daughter was a college student. They could not share this apocalypse with anyone due to social opprobrium.

Second, a small plastic particle was stuck inside the nose of my one-year aged daughter while playing. We rushed to a private clinic. I avoided my credentials not to puzzle the local staffs but I introduced my wife(as she is a physician) and got the emergency visit to an ENT specialist. The doctor instructed us to hold the baby tightly. A blood-curdling shock enshrouded in the face of my little angel for our strange approach and grabbed her all the loose limbs of her body. The doctor used a nasal forceps and brought out the foreign particle. While doing so, my daughter trembled with her head though it was grabbed by her physician mother and it made a disturbance to the operating doc. After the small operation, the doctor vented his anger and resentment on me for the failure of silly responsibility though I was not responsible for. I imbibed all his bullshits as my little angel was out of danger again I was cautious about my covert staffs who all were deployed for my security that whether did something else for the sake of their commander's honour. The doc was totally ignorant about my acquaintance and after finishing the formalities we were ready to embark on our journey home. But I saw that my wife was a bit frustrated. To make the situation light, I said, “forget it, when I did a commando course, instructors used to swoop on us wielding sticks, that poor doctor did nothing just to vent his anger on me.” When our vehicle started moving my wife broke her silence and replied,” I did dissect so many corpses, so many surgical operations, even my hands never shivered but when I saw my daughter, my hands refused and shivered. Sorry for everything”. The vehicle kept on moving, meant alright, but not my wife internally — though I replied with a smile.

Apparently, it seems the parent of slain Sohana committed a crime but there is something left behind. Already it became a subjudice matter. Those farmers who all were set them on fire in India or the French student set himself on fire are also a crime because as per law no one can take his or her life at his or her own. But, there was a message behind all these crimes(!)which strongly demanded to be addressed. If the baby would alive, what could be happened? Does the baby come under health insurance coverage? Do we really care about others in our society at present? How far can the mammoth expenditure go on with donations? How long would they bare of tremendous hardship and struggle of their daughter? Perhaps, a mixed answer is there but don't antagonize me as an abettor of such crime!. It's our collective failure, and they didn't show love and respect to the daughter. To me, the best came to their mind they did because the poor parent was not able to carry on such expensive treatment nor the government would take the responsibility as in Austria, a family ran 27 years-long lawsuits against the state to remove the oxygen ventilator and made their moribund daughter rest eternally.

In my opinion, it would be better if we consider them with sympathy and let not magnify their shortcomings with criminologic lens. The root cause of this type of crime was the lack of confidence in social security and values. On a religious point of view, it's a crime, and they would be asked specifically about this deed. So we must draw a line here and revive our social and religious values that we must not lose our confidence collectively as a nation. We have enough educated people but very less 'well-educated'. A human being never comes to the earth as a criminal but social imbalance, power or cupidity makes s/he a criminal. If good governance and social security are the sole responsibility of government then we also have responsibility for social values and social discontent. Otherwise, our millions of A+ or wealthy men will be useless in need of 'humanely human being'. Let the hands of parents shiver to commit such heinous act again. At present, the government is coming forward to eradicate social stigma and creating social awareness. Let us all realize the Khalil Gibran's tribute” they come through you but not from you, And though they with you — yet they belong not to you.” 

This article published at:

1. The New Nation, Bangladesh:11 Dec '20

Is democracy losing steam globally?

M A Hossain

There is no room for adopting any self-styled democracy by replacing the theory of Abraham Lincoln's democracy. In today's world, we hear from some rulers that development is more important than democracy. As if the so-called development is unimpeded and not subject to any retardation; and as if nothing can hold back any country's growth and development despite corruption and violation of human rights. Those who are trying to replace democracy with the so-called development or self-styled democracy actually are pushing the nation under a brutal autocracy.

During the sudden emergence of the Arab Spring, lots of political pundits expressed uncontrolled delight stating, this was the last episode of dictatorial regimes and autocratic monarchism in the Arab world. But the last result of this 'spring has visibly turned into a disgusting thunderstorm. Look into Libya. Following the demise of Gaddafi, this country under the madness of Democratization has finally turned into one of the epicentres of religious extremism and terrorism. Should there be Saddam Hussein in Iraq, most possibly the emergence of Islamic State was a mission impossible!

The architect of the Arab spring most definitely failed in assessing the socio-political atmosphere in the Arab world. They messed up the Arab world with western realities. They didn't understand, while democracy could be a feasible formula for the US and the West and even some Afro-Asian nations, it simply is unworkable in China, DPR of Korea(North Korea), Cuba, Russia and some other countries.

If we look into Myanmar, for example, Aung San Suu Kyi may pretend as an 'icon' of democracy, but in reality, what she actually has established is simply hypocrisy, mixed with uncontrolled rogue governance. Under the fake democracy of Suu Kyi, Myanmar's natural and mineral resources are already offered to foreign vested groups, ignoring the national interest. She has transformed Myanmar into a political brothel, 

For decades China is advancing both economically and technologically under 'peoples autocracy'. This formula has already been proved to be extremely viable for most of the developing nations. Possibly this has inspired Mr Narendra Modi and his party leaders in introducing a new format of peoples autocracy under the grab of ultra-nationalism mixed with radical Hinduism. And of course, this formula is going to be beneficial to the people of India.

In Turkey, the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also copied the same formula under the cover of patriotism and strict rule.

Finally, the emerging of President Xi Jinping as the truest descendant of Comrade Mao Zedong or President Vladimir Putin as the same as Joseph Stalin is nothing but the failure of collectively global democratic leadership. People may disagree with me, but finally, they too will realize- China and Russia made the right decision at the right time.

The theory of democracy most possibly is already under life support in ICU. Peoples autocracy will emerge in many other nations in the days to come.

This article published at:

1. The Himalayan Times, Nepal: 08 December 20

2. Review Nepal, Nepal : 8 Dec '20

3. The World News, Nepal : 8 Dec '20

4. Kashmir watch, 12 Dec'20

5. South China Morning Post, HK,27Dec20

6. Chinaplus.com,27Dec21