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Let me say this first: I never have had any genuine interaction with Hyderabadi Muslims till a month ago. I have been friends with Hindus from the city who studied at my University but never a Muslim. So the experience of living and interacting with them in the past month or so has been an eye-opener. They are such a nice people with a unique sense of humor. Plus they are great cooks. Hyderabadis nurtured Urdu Ghazal and then taught it to Dilli-wallahs. They were also host to notable Urdu poets when the Mughal court was disbanded in Delhi. Dagh Dehlvi, the great poet and first ustaad of Allama Iqbal, died in Hyderabad after he migrated to the city on the invitation of Nizam. So many other poets and litterateurs were provided space and audience by this city. And as Neha points out, it is a city that does not shouts about its values from roof-tops. The values are just there as part and parcel of their rich culture. So the fact that Taslima Nasreen was assaulted in this very city by a bunch of Muslim politicians is a matter of grave concern for the people of Hyderabad and a threat to their accommodating culture.
First of all what kind of people would assault a woman? As if it was not shameful enough, these hooligans were actually MLAs belonging to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), a party that claims to represent Muslims of the city. Now, why were these hooligans were so riled up against Taslima Nasreen? Writing books that criticizes the purdah system of Islam as it is practised in the Bangladeshi society. And yes, she also speaks for the Hindu minority that has been systematically marginalized in the country. Nasreen has been haunted out of her country and has been living in exile in Kolkata under continuous threats to her life and well-being. A disgraceful attempt was made by some Muslim leaders recently to get her visa revoked when it came for extension recently. Some rabid mullah even offered a bounty for her head.
More worrisome is the prospect that almost every group in India based on either religious, linguistic or casteist lines is becoming increasingly violent while protesting. It is a very dangerous trend for our democracy and a threat to the values we have been espousing for centuries. As I wrote previously, freedom of expression is supreme without any ifs and buts. If you don’t agree with the content of a book, don’t buy it and encourage others not to read it. If you want to do more, write a better book. But violence and threats of violence should never be an option. We should be more confident of our beliefs and appreciate self-criticism. How come Mir and Ghalib could openly challenge pretty much anything in the 18th and 19th century and get away with it while we get scared of every little book that comes out? The MIM MLAs should be ashamed of themselves and their leadership should apologize to the writer.
Meanwhile, Times of India has this excellent piece on how the media plays out the right wing and left wing Indian Muslims against each other when neither of them represents the majority.
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Oops. My mistake Asad. I missed your earlier post.
In principle, I agree (as I said in my earlier post) that freedom of speech is not absolute, and societies do places some restrictions on it (based on history, ground realities) which are punishable by law when broken. But I don’t think Taslima Nasreen’s case falls under that.
Just as movies have a rating system for age-appropriateness, maybe books should have some kind of disclaimer too, displayed prominently on the front – “If you do not agree with freedom of expression, or are easily offended, please do not read this book” or something along those lines.
“Triple, my argument was to just show that the freedom of speech is not an absolute virtue. Just my preaching violence against hindus does not affect anyone’s rights. It affects other’s rights only when someone starts following my preaching. Per your logic, my preaching should be exempt from censorship. It is only the persons who actually carry out the violence need be restrained. Right?”
Asadbhai, thats perversion of my stand. By your logic, even OBL should not be brought to justice because only the highjackers are criminals and they are already dead as OBL did not himself kill anyone? thats not what i’m saying. if one incites criminal acts, obviously thats illegal. I’m surprised i’m having to give this explanation.
Asad, I didn’t ask you to defend all criminals – it was about perceived insult to Islam as exhibited by millions of Muslims all over the world regarding two different actions (well, exhibition in case of only one action – #2).
Yes, So OBL also misinterpretes islam and so does taslima. taslima uses the misinterpretation against islam by critisizing it and OBL uses it to fight for islam. taslima must be killed but obl is any other common criminal.
so looke like ‘misinterpretation’ is no issue, issue is whether its (supposedly) pro islam (!) or pro muslims (!!) or anti.
killing someone for being anti islam has no room in this world, as that would be misinterpretation too. but misinterpretation is not an issue… mmm its all rather confusing.
@Triple
[quote post="327"]Yes, So OBL also misinterpretes islam and so does taslima. taslima uses the misinterpretation against islam by critisizing it and OBL uses it to fight for islam. taslima must be killed but obl is any other common criminal.[/quote]
There is definitely a misinterpretation here.
Yes, I said that OBL is a common criminal, but show me the place where I said that Taslima should be killed.
You first put those words in my mouth which I did not even say and then ask me to explain!
Oops. Asadbhai, sorry my comment was inappropriate as it gave the impression that you said something u did not. Thats not what i meant. what i mean is that all these ‘misinterpretations’, all these ‘misguided’ youth, all the terrorist organizations using prophet’s holy name etc do not generate public passion. so public is only passionate if something is perceived as anti Muslims, any perversion of islam is ok as long as it is used against infidels.
There’s difference between anti Muslim and anti Islam.
Asad Mustafa wrote:
..in response to “Everyone has everyright to say anything they want as long as it does not compromise anyone else’s freedom.”
If tomorrow I start writing books that urge muslims to kill hindus … will any government permit my books…
———-
The original comment clearly said “as long as it does not compromise anyone else’[quote post="327"]If tomorrow I start writing books that urge muslims to kill hindus … will any government permit my books…[/quote]
s freedom”. Yet you decided to give an example which clearly compromises others freedom to live without fear of physical violence thereby trying to ask the readers here that if your example is unacceptable, then Taslimas freedom of expression should also be questioned. It seems, somewhere within you, there is a tacit support for the MIM ilk.
Taslima’s Nasreens freedom of expression that is debated here is definitely not the same as the freedom of expression that you are talking about. You are clearly trying to obfuscate the issues by mangling the term “freedom of expression” even though people have qualified it with clauses such as “as long as it does not compromise others freedoms”.
What I find most disturbing amongst most muslims all over the world is that they equate even the slightest criticism of their religion as an assault on their faith and the muslim community. Is the muslim community really so insecure about their faith that they can’t tolerate the slightest introspection or humor or criticism? The insecure are always the first to resort to violence. Of course, we have our own ignoramus goons in Shiv Sainiks and the monkey brigade who attack art classes in universities. Thankfully, they haven’t spread all over the world yet.
Desidude,
We are not insecure about our faith. Its just that the criticisms are so puerile that it can be refuted by any Muslim, learned or not.
DesiDude:
Please go over again and read my full post. I wrote that I am open to listen and debate any criticism of Islam or Prophet (PBUH)’s actions as long as the criticism is grounded on historical facts. There is a ton of literature in Islam that questions and challenges tenets of deen and the decisions of Prophet (PBUH) and his sahaba-s. Nobody went after those authors to kill them. They are rather honoured as scholars of Islam.
If you have already decided that muslims tacitly support violence against Taslima, then this discussion is useless. Please see how you have quoted my words out of context to arrive at this conclusion. I have used the quoted words as a hypothetical scenario to prove another point (that freedom of expression is not absolute) but you are quick to decipher it as my support for violence.
Asad, the mere metion about writing books to kill hindus and infringing freedom is distorted. You cannot even equate something like killing to something which is merely a criticizm of people or a religion. In this case it happens to be Islam. What I dont understand is that when people can openly criticize christianity, judaism and every other religion why not Islam. No religion is above criticism and it is this attitude when you have no tolerance for others point of view then you have fundamentalism. And when she is writing about minority persecuation in Bangladesh, I dont know why do you think its a lie. Thier are factual documentaries and research papers available on it. Just out of common sense i would like to think, why would a muslim go through so much trouble, criticize her own government, her community, go through death threats, leave her land and country, live under permanent security threat like a prisoner, if thier was no truth or substance to what she is saying, if she did not feel strongly about the subject. And she is not the first one, the case of humayun azad, another bangladeshi who was murdered because he spoke out. Such people should be celebrated and by not standing up to the people who attack them, we are actually siding with these fundamentalists responsible for the blood of innocent people.
[quote post="327"]And when she is writing about minority persecuation in Bangladesh, I dont know why do you think its a lie. Thier are factual documentaries and research papers available on it. Just out of common sense i would like to think, why would a muslim go through so much trouble, criticize her own government, her community, go through death threats, leave her land and country, live under permanent security threat like a prisoner, if thier was no truth or substance to what she is saying, if she did not feel strongly about the subject.[/quote]
Achal: Sometimes, it is good to read what others are saying before jumping to conclusions. Otherwise it is not a dialogue but a monologue. Anyway, I repeat here what I said in the beginning of this thread:
[quote post="327"]I have read Lajja and I do not think that the author has anywhere insulted Islam in it. The book is about actions of Muslims of a particular country, not about Islam. I do not think that it is a novel of great literary value, but I do not see any reason to consider it anti-islamic either. [/quote]
Like in Lajja to Tasleema, there are so many such incedents around the world. Take todays news of a 35 year old Hindu Radhakrishna of Thituvanandapuram, Kerala had raped his 13 year old daughter 8 months back and the innocent hardly grown child gave birth to a baby. We cant blame the whole Hindu/Muslim/.. religion for the mindless act by few frustrated gardians around the world commit on their own innocent wards.
Human physcology is very complicated and the religion is human created for the betterment of a perticular community who sacredly and emotionally believes in that philosophical teaching. Each religion has few restrictions which is not majority friendly but during those period for the bettermrnt of that community and to protect the woman from the danger around her.
Oversmart individuals have no right to insult any religion which will hurt the feeling of those who emotionally believes in that religion.
Any religion is like a book or movie is the founder or directors creation. The successful religion or movie is accepted by the majority community during those period. But that religion or movie may have so many area for improvement but still it turned out to be a hit and the the majority community at that perticular period liked it and it is accepted by the majority. Finally it is the belief in the complicated mind of the majority that counts.
Rashdie, Tasleema, MF Hussain … avoid hurting others religion. After all we all are the same human race with similar biological features and habits. The blind belief in religion by the majority is to calm down their restless mind and it has nothing to do with god. After all it is man created like the philosopher founder or the directer/writer.
Blind acceptance of everything that is stated by our forefathers is to challenge the natural process of evolution. That’s why every society needs creative minds to shake us out of complacency. Maybe show us a different picture, a viewpoint that we have ignored or forgotten. Creative minds suffer from the danger of being targeted by evil, closed and insecure minds. Tragedy is that in India while we have a party that fosters Hindu communalism, we have others like Congress who in the name of secularism supports fanatics in the muslim community to capture their votes. No one cares about bringing justice to the victims or improving their lot. Irony is that parties like VHP which professes anti-west theories go on to seek its max-sustenance from the NRI community. Give them a ward robe change and they would look like the MIM.
I have only read “Lajja” till now and while I cannot associate great literary merit to it, it did effect me more than “Namesake” in terms of content and message. But I guess that’s because inspite of currently working in the US, I could identify more with riots in the Indian subcontinent than NRIs in the US.
“Lajja” might as well have been the depiction of a muslim family in Gujrat during 2002. Shows very well what can happen when civil society forgets what being human is. No wonder it is banned in Bangladesh that refuses to accept its moment of insanity. But what did we do about our own citizens? I shudder to think what would happen when each riot victim – Hindu or Muslim decides to become a suicide bomber against a community that just does not care. We forgot the Bombay Blast victims as easily as the riots victims. How come a society that cannot tolerate one word out of place about religion – whether its about the Prophet (PBUH) or a Hindu God tolerate such bestiality in the name of religion? Or is it that all of us want easy targets that cannot fight back to take out our frustrations and animal instincts?
i hav only one thing to say that a person who is also a muslim says that Quran is (nauz-b-Allah)uncompleted and changes required in Quran,is not a muslim…and if one man stands and says that some changes required in Geeta then what u would do…n certainly i remember that taslima had written also some thing agaist Geeta.in 93/94 a serial film is telecasted abt Geeta’s story of Ram.she said that the hindu men r not watching this movie for pooja but they r watching for that they wanted to see roopa gungoly bathing nakedly.
han’h………
now wat u say
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