“Atheists have to be driven away from this country,” stated Maulana Ahmed Shafi, the chief of a new Islamist movement in Bangladesh named the Hifazat-e-Islam (HI). The Islamist outfit has called for enforcement of Shariah and strict blasphemy laws in the country to execute controversial, atheist bloggers in Bangladesh along with issuing other demands related to its interpretation of Islam. This article in the sociology of religion seeks to analyse the HI movement and its 13-point charter of demands made to the government.
Two important and interrelated themes are at the heart of the HI movement. The first theme relates to the outrage against some bloggers who had reportedly posted anti-Islam comments on their blogs that were considered blasphemous. The second theme is related to calls by many social activists, including some of these bloggers, to ban the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) — the country’s largest Islamic political party — from Bangladesh after some of its senior leaders were convicted by a war crimes tribunal for committing war crimes during the events of 1971, known as the ‘War of Liberation’ in Bangladesh. The liberals in the country have demanded the highest penalty for these JI members and many think the HI is backed by the JI. The resulting counter-movement to the Islamists, shaped by internet bloggers and consisting of thousands of civil society members, journalists and students, has come to be known as the Shahbagh movement.
Bangladesh has in recent times witnessed a wave of contentious issues related to internet bloggers, some of them aggressively atheist. In the current controversy, four blog writers were jailed by the government following protests by the HI. Over a year ago, one prominent atheist blogger, Sharif Ahmed, was attacked by Islamists and had to flee the country. In January this year, a self-styled ‘militant atheist’ blogger, Asif Mohiuddin, was stabbed in the back after he posted anti-Islam comments on the internet. In February, Ahmed Rajib Haider was murdered outside his home. The HI activists have called for the currently imprisoned bloggers to be hanged. Meanwhile, an international coalition of atheist and human rights organisations, including noted Islam-critics like Taslima Nasreen and Maryam Namazie, have expressed their support for the imprisoned bloggers and called their arrests as being against the principles of freedom of speech and expression.
The scenario in Bangladesh provides a clear view of the intricacy at the heart of contemporary, changing Muslim societies where strands of secularist, humanist, feminist and now also atheist thought processes, in many cases converging with each other, can come into a clash with an Islamist mindset, in which the inherent freedom of expression on social media and internet, at times misused, also plays a key role, along with other elements of modernity like the principle of separation of religion and politics.
The 13-point charter of demands of the Hifazat-e-Islam represents a characteristic manifesto of an Islamist movement in the contemporary Muslim world. “The country will be run on the words of the religious scholars, not on the words of the ‘murtads’ [i.e. apostates, and therefore, qualifying for being put to death according to traditional interpretation of Islamic law]”, stated the HI chief, who is also the rector of a large religious seminary in Chittagong adhering to a strict, conservative interpretation of Islam.
The first demand of the HI is to reinstate the phrase, ‘Absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah’ in the constitution after it was repealed from the document when in recent times the Bangladesh Supreme Court gave two high profile verdicts, restoring the constitution to its original, former secular status. While the government has brought a constitutional amendment to retain ‘Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim’ (in the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful) in the constitution’s preamble and to declare Islam as the state religion, for conservative quarters like the HI, ‘de-Islamisation’ of Bangladesh is underway. Further demands include abolition of all laws that are in conflict with the values of the Qur’an and Sunnah and calling for the promulgation of a law against blasphemy, a demand that has been rejected by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The theme of western cultural influx in Bangladesh has particularly been addressed in the charter. This shows, in many ways, elements of cultural anxiety and insecurity. ‘Ban all foreign culture including free mixing of men and women and candlelight vigils,’ states a clause seeking to ‘purify’ the country of western influences and calling for free intermingling of opposite sexes to be forbidden in the name of modesty. These are two characteristic features of contemporary Islamist movements. However, HI officials have complained that some people are spreading lies on the stand of the organisation on women’s issues. “Some people are spreading lies that we demanded a ban on women in jobs. It’s not our demand to bar women from jobs; rather we demand that men-women can’t freely mix with each other.” “The boys and girls [Shahbagh Movement] are living in the same tent at Shahbagh in violation of Islamic rules,” an HI official stated.
Calling for a ban on candlelight vigils is indeed interesting, which deeply reveals the perceptions of the HI about changing Bangladeshi society. Having a modern connotation, the vigil has become a global hallmark of civil society; a symbol of secular struggles, human rights and social change. Hence, conservative quarters feel the need to resist such ‘western’ symbols. ‘Stop anti-Islam activities by NGOs,’ states the charter. The organisation has also called for steps against placing sculptures in public places, which it perceives as ‘shirk’ or attributing partners to Allah. Another clause asks the government to ‘stop creating hatred against Muslims among the young generation by misrepresentation of Islamic culture in the media’ and ‘make Islamic education mandatory from primary to higher secondary levels after scrapping the women’s policy and education policy.’ These demands clearly show the religious-cultural concerns at the heart of the movement.
The HI charter also includes a clause revealing the common theme of purgation, calling for the Ahmedi community to be declared non-Muslims and demanding the government to curb their activities along with stopping the proselytising activities of Christian missionaries in Bangladesh.
The HI is “an anti-liberation” force, state Shahbagh activists. “We’re [a movement] only to protect Islam,” reply the Islamists. And while HI is emphasising peaceful protests, Shahbagh has also stated that the movement is not against any religion but rather against war criminals and religious politics. Amidst the controversies related to atheist bloggers, war crimes, secular worldviews and Islamist mindsets, Bangladesh searches for her soul. Having already conducted a massive long march to Dhaka in April, the HI has insisted the government meet the demands in the thirteen-point charter by May 5 or else get ready to face the ‘siege of Dhaka’. “Fulfil [our] demands. Otherwise we’re ready to die,” stated the HI chief. The Shahbagh Movement, however, is determined to deter the Islamists. It will be deeply interesting to see which group, of the two, defines the future of Bangladesh.
The writer teaches Sociology at the University College Lahore (UCL). He can be reached at [email protected]