Allah Plays with His Souls, Part 2

Allah Plays with His Souls, Part 2

 

Allah’s Soul impregnates Mary

In part 1, we read that according ibn Kathir (verse 2:87) Allah’s Soul is Gabriel, the archangel. Because of this lofty position, Allah also calls Gabriel Ruh al‑Quddus, the Holy Soul or the Holy Spirit. This is akin to the Christians’ concept of the Holy Ghost.  In this part, we shall read how Allah’s Soul also impregnated Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Christians believe that a Holy Ghost had made Mary pregnant.

Ibn Ishaq (pp.270‑272) writes that a sixty‑member delegate of Christians from Najaran came to Muhammad to debate about religious matter. Muhammad commanded them to submit to Islam. They were adamant they already believed in Allah and Jesus. But Muhammad was not satisfied. He insisted that because of their belief in Trinity and because of their consumption of pork, they have been excluded from the assembly of believers. The leaders of the delegation explained to Muhammad that because there was no known father of Jesus, they called Jesus the son of God. Then they asked Muhammad who he thought was the father of Jesus. Muhammad remained silent; he had no answer. So Allah sent down a few verses of Sura al‑Imran (Sura 3) and Sura Maryam (Sura 19).

In verse 3:49 Allah claimed that Jesus could make the figure of a bird in clay, and with the blessing of Allah, breathed life into it; healed the blind and the lepers.

Jalalyn, one of the most respected exegetes of the Qur’an writes that Gabriel breathed into the opening of Maryam’s garment and she became pregnant.

In verse 19:17, Allah told Muhammad that an angel (only one angel; contradiction: 3:43, 45 say several angels visited Mary), as a man, appeared to Mary.

According to ibn Kathir, the angel was Gabriel, Allah’s soul. He appeared to her complete and perfect in the shape of a man. Gabriel is Allah’s Ruh or Soul.

In 19:18, we read that Mary sought protection of Allah from the angel who came to her in the shape of a man. As per ibn Kathir, Mary thought the man (angel) was about to rape her. This means Allah’s soul, Gabriel, was menacing. Mary was petrified that this Allah’s soul might molest her.

Allah’s Soul, archangel Gabriel, informed Mary that Allah is capable of doing anything; her son (Jesus) would be a sign from Allah.

Jalalyn writes that Gabriel breathed into the opening of her shirt, whereupon she sensed the formed foetus in her womb.

In verse 19:22 Allah says that after conceiving Jesus, Mary isolated herself to a faraway place.

Ibn Kathir writes:

…the angel (who was Jibril) blew into the opening of the garment that she was wearing. Then the breath descended until it entered into her vagina and she conceived the child.

This means Allah’s Soul, Gabriel, carried in his breath the seed of Allah, which induced Mary’s pregnancy.

In verse 21:91, we read that Mary guarded her chastity (sexual organ). Allah breathed into her His spirit, the Ruh. Thus, Allah made her and her son (Jesus) signs for all people. Note that Allah did not specifically mention that the Ruh or the Soul was Gabriel. So we can be certain that it was Allah’s seed that caused Mary’s pregnancy, and not the seed of Gabriel.

Jalalyn writes that the Ruh in 21:91 was Gabriel, and Gabriel breathed into the opening of Mary’s garment and she became pregnant.

Let us read in full what ibn Kathir writes on 21:91:

`Isa and Maryam the True Believer
Here Allah mentions the story of Maryam and her son `Isa, just after mentioning Zakariyya and his son Yahya, may peace be upon them all. He mentions the story of Zakariyya first, followed by the story of Maryam because the one is connected to the other. The former is the story of a child being born to an old man of advanced years, from an old woman who had been barren and had never given birth when she was younger. Then Allah mentions the story of Maryam which is even more wondrous, for in this case a child was born from a female without (the involvement of) a male. These stories also appear in Surah Al `Imran and in Surah Maryam. Here Allah mentions the story of Zakariyya and follows it with the story of Maryam, where He says:

 (And she who guarded her chastity,) means, Maryam (peace be upon her). This is like the Ayah in Surah At-Tahrim:

 (And Maryam, the daughter of `Imran who guarded her chastity. And We breathed into it [her garment] through Our Ruh) [66:12].

 (and We made her and her son a sign for the nations. ) means, evidence that Allah is able to do all things and that He creates whatever He wills; verily, His command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, “Be” — and it is! This is like the Ayah:

(And (We wish) to appoint him as a sign to mankind) [19:21]

The above interpretation means the angel (Gabriel) implanted Allah’s seed inside Mary’s womb. It might seem incredible but let us read ibn Kathir’s interpretation of verse 66:12 where he repeats the theme. This verse says that Mary was the daughter of Imran; she guarded her chastity (sexual organ) and was a virgin before she became pregnant through Allah; Allah breathed His spirit into Mary’s body.

Ibn Kathir writes:

(And Maryam, the daughter of `Imran who guarded her chastity (private part) meaning, who protected and purified her honor, by being chaste and free of immorality,

(And We breathed into it (private part) through Our Ruh,) meaning, through the angel Jibril. Allah sent the angel Jibril to Maryam, and he came to her in the shape of a man in every respect. Allah commanded him to blow into a gap of her garment and that breath went into her womb through her private part; this is how `Isa was conceived. This is why Allah said here,

(And We breathed into it through Our Ruh, and she testified to the truth of her Lords Kalimat, and His Kutub,) meaning His decree and His legislation.

Even ibn Kathir admits that Jesus carried Allah’s seed. The Soul of Allah, Gabriel, implanted seed of Allah inside Mary’s womb, and Mary became pregnant with Allah’s seed.

It appears that the Qur’an supports the Christians assertion that Jesus is the son of Allah.

 

Jesus is Allah’s Soul (Spirit)

The scenario of the creation of Jesus can be summed up in this manner:

Allah gave Gabriel His (Allah’s) seed.

Allah sent His Soul or Spirit, Gabriel, to impregnate Mary.

Gabriel brought with him the seed of Allah.

Gabriel opened Mary’s garment and inserted Allah’s seed inside Mary’s vagina.

Mary became pregnant with Allah’s seed.

Mary gave birth to Jesus.

Jesus became Allah’s Soul, the Son.

Maulana Asad translates that Jesus was Allah’s soul. Let us read 4:171 as translated by him:

4:171 Maulana Asad: O FOLLOWERS of the Gospel! Do not overstep the bounds [of truth] in your religious beliefs, and do not say of God anything but the truth. The Christ Jesus, son of Mary, was but God’s Apostle – [the fulfillment of] His promise which He had conveyed unto Mary – and a soul created by Him. Believe, then, in God and His apostles, and do not say, “[God is] a trinity”. Desist [from this assertion] for your own good. God is but One God; utterly remote is He, in His glory, from having a son: unto Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth; and none is as worthy of trust as God.

In a footnote Maulana Asad writes this comment:

Footnote 181: Lit., “His word which He conveyed unto Mary and a soul from Him”. According to Tabari, the “word” (kalimah) was “the announcement (risalah) which God bade the angels to convey to Mary, and God’s glad tiding to her” (a reference to 3: 45) – which justifies the rendering of kalimatuhu as “[the fulfilment of] His promise”. (See also note on 3: 39.) As regards the expression, “a soul from Him” or “created by Him”, it is to be noted that among the various meanings which the word ruh bears in the Qur’an (e.g., “inspiration” in 2: 87 and 253), it is also used in its primary significance of “breath of life”, “soul”, or “spirit”: thus, for instance, in 32: 9, where the ever-recurring evolution of the human embryo is spoken of: “and then He forms him [i.e., man] and breathes into him of His spirit” – that is, endows him with a conscious soul which represents God’s supreme gift to man and is, therefore, described as “a breath of His spirit”. In the verse under discussion, which stresses the purely human nature of Jesus and refutes the belief in his divinity, the Qur’an points out that Jesus, like all other human beings, was “a soul created by Him”.

But Allah contradicts Himself. In the very next verse Allah says Jesus was His servant.

4:172 Maulana Asad: Never did the Christ feel too proud to be God’s servant, nor do the angels who are near unto Him. And those who feel too proud to serve Him and glory in their arrogance [should know that on Judgment Day] He will gather them all unto Himself: (4: 173) whereupon unto those who attained to faith and did good deeds He will grant their just rewards, and give them yet more out of His bounty; whereas those who felt too proud and gloried in their arrogance He will chastise with grievous suffering: and they shall find none to protect them from God, and none to bring them succour.

Disturbed by such an imbroglios mind of Allah, one anonymous Islamist writer (http://www.altway.freeuk.com/Views/View-23.htm ) attempts to distinguish between a Soul (nafs) and a Spirit (Ruh). He writes:

However, we have to distinguish Nafs (soul) from Ruh (spirit). Whereas the Spirit is a Universal principle, each person has his own soul and it can degenerate or it can be made to grow. The atrophication (sic) or development of the soul depends on the withdrawal or introduction of Spirit.

This obfuscation continues when this Islamist writer continues:

The soul may be regarded as a local organization of the spirit and contains the information relating to the individual (his inherited and acquired characteristics and those created by his own efforts at integration).

This attempt is silly, fatuous and a sign of desperation, for, nowhere in the Qur’an Allah says that the Spirit is a Universal Principle. In part 3 we shall learn that when the Jews asked Muhammad about his claim of visitation by a Spirit, Muhammad replied that the knowledge of spirit was only with Allah. Later, Muhammad said that the spirit was Gabriel. The Jews replied that they could not accept Muhammad as their messenger as they considered spirit Gabriel as their enemy. We also noted that most exegetes of the Qur’an consider Muhammad’s Soul was Gabriel. In this context, there is virtually no difference between an Islamic spirit and an Islamic soul.

In the following verse Allah says:

16:102 Hilali and Khan: Say (O Muhammad) Ruh-ul-Qudus [Jibrael (Gabriel)] has brought it (the Qur’an) down from your Lord with truth, that it may make firm and strengthen (the Faith of) those who believe and as a guidance and glad tidings to those who have submitted (to Allâh as Muslims).

And here is more from Allah:

26:192 Hilali and Khan: And truly, this (the Qur’ân) is a revelation from the Lord of the ‘Alamîn (mankind, jinns and all that exists),
26: 193 Hilali and Khan Which the trustworthy Rûh [Jibrael (Gabriel)] has brought down;
26:194 Upon your heart (O Muhammad) that you may be (one) of the warners,

Moreover, the attempt to distinguish between the Islamic Spirit and the Islamic Soul creates more problems for Islam. For example: the distinction establishes three entities: Allah, the Spirit, and the Soul. This is similar to what the Christians assertion—the Father, the Holy Ghost, and the Son—the concept of Trinity.

…To be continued in part 3

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Abul Kasem is an Bengali freethinker and is a teacher by profession. He has contributed in Leaving Islam – Apostates Speak Out and Beyond Jihad – Critical Voices from Inside. He has also written extensively on Islam in various websites and is the author of several e-Books including: A Complete Guide to Allah, Root of Terrorism ala Islamic Style, Sex and Sexuality in Islam, Who Authored the Quran? and Women in Islam. Mr. Kasem leaves in Sydney, Australia. His latest contribution is in the book Why We left Islam, edited by Susan Crimp et al.  He can be contacted at abul88@hotmail.com and nirribilli@gmail.com

যে কথা বললে বুকে গুলি এসে বিঁধে

- সৈয়দ জাহেদ হোসেন

আমরা শান্তি চাই,
তোমরা তোমাদের কাঁধ থেকে রাইফেল নামিয়ে নাও।
আজ যুদ্ধবিরতির জন্য শিশুদের আকুতি তোমাদের দরবারে পৌছায় না,
তাদের পুতুল খেলার কাপড় - চোপড় দিয়ে তৈরি করতে হয় যুদ্ধবিরতি পতাকা।
শহীদের সমাধিতে আজ শিশুদেরও নাম পাওয়া যায়।
রাস্তায়, ডাস্টবিনে, নদী নালা নর্দমায় শিশুর গলিত লাশের গন্ধে
তোমার নিঃশ্বাস নাও, হাত জোর করি,
আর কত লাশ চাও?
তোমরা তোমাদের কাঁধ থেকে রাইফেল নামিয়ে নাও।

যখন মৃত্যুর জমি থেকে শহীদের সমাধি মুছে ফেলা হয়েছে,
হায়েনেরা শান্তি সন্ধ্যায় পদব্রজে ভ্রমণ করতে বের হয়,
যখন ধর্মীয় অনুষ্ঠানে কোন সুগন্ধি ছড়ায়না,
শশানে পোড়ানোর ধূপের গন্ধ,
শান্তির শৈশব কৈশোর যৌবনের জাগ্রত স্বপ্ন ধুলিসাৎ হয়
বৃদ্ধ দুঃস্বপ্নের অপব্যবহারে।
শান্তির পৃথিবীর
পিরামিডগুলোর মাঝে যে অশান্তি, শোষণ, জুলুম, অত্যাচারের,
রহস্যময় ইতিহাস বন্ধি হয়ে আছে,
দূষিত আত্মার নীল স্রোত স্পন্দন মাঝে মাঝে জেগে উঠে।
এখনো অন্ধকারে যারা শান্তি খুঁজে বেড়ায়
শান্তির সম্ভ্রম তারা কি বুঝে?
কে জানে, বিশ্বের একমাত্র বিস্ময়কর শব্দ হল শান্তি।
দুঃস্বপ্নের বাহ্যিক নিরাময় আছে,
দুর্নিবার আবেগপ্রবণতা তা স্পর্শ করতে পারে না।
বাইরে যেমন অসঙ্গতি বিশৃঙ্খলা, মনেও তাই।
আমাদের শান্তিকে তন্ন তন্ন করে খুঁজে বেড়ায় শয়তানেরা,
আমাদের স্বপ্নকে গুলি করে ঝাঁঝরা করে দেয়।

আমরা শান্তি চাই,
তোমরা তোমাদের কাঁধ থেকে রাইফেল নামিয়ে নাও।
তোমাদের স্বেচ্ছাচারীতা মৌলবাদের ঘাঁটিকে উর্বর করে,
তোমাদের হেয়ালিপনা মৌলবাদের শিকড় শক্ত করে,
তোমাদের মিথ্যাচারে মৌলবাদের অশান্তির আগুনে জ্বলে উঠে আমাদের সোনার দেশ,
তোমাদের হঠকারিতায় জীবন দেয় আমাদের শিশুরা,
তোমাদের দূষিত সারে, জলবায়ুতে গর্জে উঠছে মৌলবাদ,
তোমাদের ক্ষমতা বিলাসে মৌলবাদ পাচ্ছে প্রশ্রয়,
বকধার্মিক ভক্তি দিয়ে স্বাধীনতাকে বাঁচানো যায়না।

আমরা শান্তি চাই,
আমি জানি, এই কথা বললে বুকে গুলি এসে বিঁধে,
এটি বিস্ময়কর নয়, এটি সত্য, এতে আশ্চর্য হবার কিছু নাই,
আমার কিছু করার নেই,
আমি জানি, আমি লাশ হব,
আমি তবুও বলব, আমি কখনো থামব না,
হে আমার প্রিয় স্বদেশ, বাঁচাও আমার স্বপ্ন, বাঁচাও আমার ভবিষ্যৎ,
বাঁচাও, আমাদের বাঁচাও।
তোমরা তোমাদের কাঁধ থেকে রাইফেল নামিয়ে নাও।

Mumbai terror attacks: Who could be behind them?

Mumbai terror attacks: Who could be behind them?

Some of the groups possibly behind the strikes

Deccan Mujahideen

Some six hours after the attack on Mumbai began on Wednesday night, Indian media organisations received an e-mail from an unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claiming responsibility for the deadly, well-planned operation. “We want to warn the Indian government that they must stop the injustice against the Muslim community,” the email warned.

Security experts however remained sceptical about the existence of the Deccan Mujahideen. Such emails have been issued in the past by other jihadi outfits that have attacked Indian cities. What was unusual this time was the fact that the message was written in Hindi, and not, as on all previous occasions, in English.

An Indian TV news channel also reported that the internet connection used to send the email had been traced to Russia. “There are no ‘indicators of authenticity’ in this email,” intelligence expert B Raman told NewsX channel. By adopting the name Deccan Mujahideen, analysts felt, the organisation behind the attack appeared to be trying to make it seem like the gunmen were from the Deccan plateau region in southern India, one of whose premier cities, Hyderabad, has a politically vocal Muslim population.

Major General RK Hooda, in charge of army operations at Hotel Trident in Mumbai, also told NDTV channel that a terrorist security forces had caught “tried to pretend that he was from Hyderabad.” But Hooda added that intercepts had shown that the terrorists spoke to each other in Punjabi, a language spoken on both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border.

Some major attacks in India since 2005, most blamed on Islamic militants:   • Nov. 26, 2008: Series of shooting and grenade attacks, including two on luxury hotels, kill at least 78 people and wound at least 200 in Mumbai, India’s main commercial city. • Sept. 13, 2008: At least five explosions in crowded shopping areas kill 21 and wound 100 in New Delhi, national capital. • July 26, 2008: Some 16 small bombs explode in Ahmedabad, killing 45. • July 25, 2008: Seven small bombs kill two in Bangalore, hub of India’s technology industry. • May 13, 2008: Seven bombs hit crowded markets and streets outside Hindu temples in Jaipur, killing 80. • Nov. 24, 2007: Nearly simultaneous explosions rip courthouse complexes in Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad, killing 16. • Aug. 25, 2007: 43 people killed by three explosions at park and street-side food stall in Hyderabad. • May 18, 2007: Bomb during Friday prayers at historic mosque in Hyderabad kills 11 worshippers. Police later fatally shoot five people during clashes with Muslims protesting attack. • Feb. 19, 2007: Train heading from India to Pakistan torn apart by two bombs, sparking fire that kills 68. • July 11, 2006: Seven blasts rip through rail stations and commuter trains in Mumbai, killing 187. • March 7, 2006: Three explosions rock Hindu temple and train station in Hindu holy city of Varanasi, killing 20. • Oct. 29, 2005: 62 killed by three blasts at markets in New Delhi ahead of Hindu holiday of Diwali.

Indian Mujahideen

The emails sent out by the Indian Mujhideen (IM) group after recent bomb attacks on cities such as Ahmedabad and Delhi, on the other hand, were considered authentic by the authorities. Not only that, but after evading the law for years, several activists of IM were caught by police in at least five Indian provinces.
The most significant breakthroughs came from the Maharashtra police – both the anti-terror squad at the state level and the crime branch of the Mumbai police.

Among those arrested was Mansur Peerbhoy, a 31-year-old Yahoo India software engineer earning £25,000 a year, a princely salary in India. Peerbhoy is alleged to have been IM’s head of internet operations. Though Peerbhoy was by far the most well-off among all the IM suspects arrested by the police, a majority of the others hailed from a similar background – young, educated and middle-class.

Some others, especially those hailing from Azamgarh district in the eastern Uttar Pradesh state, were from humbler rural backgrounds and had been schooled in Islamic seminaries. But all seemed subsumed by the same passion – to take revenge against the Indian state and even the Hindu majority for the atrocities committed against Indian Muslims, from the demolition of the Babri mosque in Uttar Pradesh in December 1992 to the more recent communal carnage in Gujarat state.

But all previous terror strikes associated with the IM have involved the planting of bombs in public places in crowded urban areas, such as Delhi’s Connaught Place. Security analysts believe that the IM would not have the resources to conduct an operation like the latest Mumbai outrage on its own. In any case, the organisation is on the run following the recent police crackdown. However, stray members of the IM could have played a secondary, supportive role in the Mumbai attacks.

Criminal syndicates

IM activists are said to have been motivated and trained by an allegedly shady businessman with underworld connections, Riyaz Bhatkal, alias Roshan Khan, wanted by the police and identified as IM’s co-founder. As his name suggests, the gangster/businessman hails from Bhatkal town in the southern Karnataka state. But Bhatkal is still a relatively minor figure compared to the crime lords of Mumbai, a financial hub with a large and resourceful underworld.

None among Mumbai’s crime bosses is more notorious than Dawood Ibrahim, accused by Indian authorities of having been the mastermind of the March 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai. The blasts had been executed in retaliation for attacks on Muslims by Hindu extremists following the demolition of the Babri mosque. At that time Ibrahim, wanted in Mumbai on murder, extortion and other charges, was living in Dubai.

But he subsequently moved to Karachi, and Indian intelligence alleges that he is holed up in the Pashtun tribal areas of Pakistan ever since Washington also put him on its terror list for his links with the Al Qaida. Ibrahim though is a ruthless, multi-millionaire crime boss with operations in several countries, especially in South Asia. His syndicate is known to have an extensive network in India, particularly in Mumbai, where some of his siblings still reside.

But if Ibrahim is involved, his gang members are suspected of having played a local, supportive role in the terror strike. “The latest attack on Mumbai has the stamp of Dawood Ibrahim,” said a Delhi-based security expert who did not want to be identified. “Definitely the people who hit Mumbai were a mixture of local guys who know the city very well, and trained, hardcore fighters who came by sea.”

Pakistani terror groups

In a television address to the nation on Thursday, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh identified the gunmen who attacked Mumbai as coming from “outside the country”. It was clear to everyone which country he was referring to – India’s neighbour Pakistan, which had also been implicated by authorities in many other terror strikes in the past, such as the 1993 Mumbai blasts and the more recent attack on the Parliament building in Delhi.

Major General RK Hooda, GOC, Maharashtra, was more explicit. He told NDTV news channel that the attackers had come by boat from Pakistan. Other TV channels named a gunmen held by authorities as Abu Ismail, said to be a Punjabi-speaking youth from Pakistan. A satellite phone recovered from two dead terrorists reportedly showed calls made to Karachi before and after the attacks commenced.

Intelligence analysts suggested the prime suspect in the al-Qaeda-type operation would be the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the banned military wing of the Islamic organisation Markaz-ud-Dawa-al-Irshad headquarted in Muridke near the Punjab capital Lahore.

The Al-Qaeda linked LeT was founded in 1989 in the Kunar province of Afghanistan, and its fighters have been active in fighting Indian security forces in Kashmir since 1993. But security analyst Uday Bhaskar said “though it would be tempting to blame a Pakistan-based group, especially the LeT, we need to wait for some more evidence to establish the link”.

In the past, the LeT was alleged to have close links with Pakistan’s ISI agency. But on the basis of what is known so far, none of the Indian security analysts believe that the Pakistan security establishment would have played a role in the organising the Mumbai operation. “But former ISI or even retired Pakistan Navy officials could have been involved with the LeT,” said an analyst.
 

Source : Guardian and yahoonews

Also see BBC latest report from here

Allah Plays with His Souls:Part 1

Allah Plays with His Souls

 

Introduction

The Islamic concept of soul is quite intriguing. Islam considers every living object has a soul. A living entity does not die until the Soul Snatchers (Sura 79) remove the soul from the dying person, hands it over to other angels, who take them to Allah. Allah then stores these souls in a safe vault until the day of resurrection, when the souls are released with the blowing of the trumpet of angel Israfil. The respective souls then rushes to the graves of the person/object, joining with it again. The dead person sits up alive, and is taken to the moorland of the Judgment Day. The only exception is the souls of the jihadists, their souls immediately join with their respective dead bodies and straight proceed to the Islamic Paradise.

 

That was, in brief, what Islamic souls are.

 

What is more fascinating is that Allah has a Soul, which He created for Himself. In the Qur’an we read quite contradictory, recondite, doltish, demented, and vacuous statements about Allah’s Soul. In many verses Allah often talks about His soul, but the striking aspect of Allah’s mind is that He is often confused about His own soul.

 

In this essay we shall demonstrate how Allah derives fun playing with His own Soul.

Allah distributes His Souls

To comprehend how Allah often changes His mind about His Soul we need to study the following verses in chronological order.

 

In the beginning, when Muhammad began preaching; Allah said:

 

Sura 38 (Sad), chronological order 38, is a Meccan Sura. Allah revealed this Sura when the Quraysh tried to persuade Abu Talib to withdraw his protection for Muhammad, or when Abu Talib died.

 

038:072
YUSUFALI: “When I have fashioned him (in due proportion) and breathed into him of My spirit, fall ye down in obeisance unto him.”
PICKTHAL: And when I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My Spirit, then fall down before him prostrate,
SHAKIR: So when I have made him complete and breathed into him of My spirit, then fall down making obeisance to him.

 

Sura 15 (Al‑Hijr), chronological order 54, is a Meccan Sura. Allah revealed this Sura three years before Hijra (Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina).

 

015.029
YUSUFALI: “When I have fashioned him (in due proportion) and breathed into him of My spirit, fall ye down in obeisance unto him.”

PICKTHAL: So, when I have made him and have breathed into him of My Spirit, do ye fall down, prostrating yourselves unto him.

SHAKIR: So when I have made him complete and breathed into him of My spirit, fall down making obeisance to him.

 

The above two verses are quite similar. The plain English meaning is that: after the creation of Adam, Allah breathed into Adam His (that is, Allah’s) Spirit or Soul.

 

The problem is: in other few verses Allah claims that Gabriel is His (Allah’s) Soul or Spirit, the Ruhul Quddus. For example, commenting on verse 2:87 ibn Kathir writes that Ruh al‑Quddus refers to Gabriel.

 

Allah says in verse 16:70 that He creates and destroys souls. This means Allah created Gabriel, the Ruhul Quddus as His soul. Then Allah breathed His soul, Gabriel, into Adam. Thus, Adam inherited Allah’s soul. Since all human beings are from Adam, we may conclude that every human on earth carries inside him Gabriel, the soul of Allah.

 

After a while, Allah realized His gaffe. So, in 32:9 Allah corrects Himself. Now Allah told Muhammad that He breathed into Adam something of His Spirit. That is, Allah induced into Adam a part of His (Allah’s) soul. Let us read this verse:

 

Sura 32 (Sajda), chronological order 75, is a Meccan Sura. It deals with the mystery of creation.

032.009
YUSUFALI: But He fashioned him in due proportion, and breathed into him something of His spirit. And He gave you (the faculties of) hearing and sight and feeling (and understanding): little thanks do ye give!

PICKTHAL: Then He fashioned him and breathed into him of His Spirit; and appointed for you hearing and sight and hearts. Small thanks give ye!

SHAKIR: Then He made him complete and breathed into him of His spirit, and made for you the ears and the eyes and the hearts; little is it that you give thanks.

 

It is very perplexing. Yususf Ali, in 32:29, writes: ‘something of His spirit’.

 

What is that something? To grasp it let us read what Yusuf Ali comments on 15:29 and 32:9.

Comments by Yusuf Ali on 15:29 and 32:9

15:29
Note 1968 (p.643): Among other passages where creation of Adam is referred to, cf the following: ii.30‑39; vii.11‑25. Note that here emphasis is on three points: (1) the breathing of God’s spirit into man i.e. the faculty of God like knowledge and will which, if rightly used, would give man superiority over other creatures: (2) the origin of evil in arrogance and jealousy on the part of Satan, who saw only the lower side of man (his clay) and failed to see the higher side, the faculty brought in by the spirit of God; (3) that this evil only touches those who yield to it, and has no power over God’s sincere servants, purified by His grace (xv. 40, 42) Adam is not here mentioned by name but only Man, whose symbol is Adam.

32:9
Note 3639 (p.1094): The third stage is indicated by “fashioned him in due proportion”, Cf.xv.29. After fertilization of ovum by the sperm, an individual life comes into existence, and it is gradually fashioned into shape: its limbs are formed; its animal life begins to function; all the beautiful adaptations come into play. The fourth stage here mentioned is that of distinctive man, into whom God’s spirit is breathed. Then he rises higher than animals.

 

If Gabriel is Allah’s sprit, it may also mean Allah breathed into Adam a part of Gabriel. How is it possible? Can we make any sensible meaning/s from those two verses?

 

In simple English, what Yusuf Ali says is this: After the creation of Adam, Allah let the human reproduce like other animals; that is, through sexual intercourse. The only difference is that when a human being is conceived in a woman’s womb, Allah’s soul or spirit, Gabriel, is breathed into this newly conceived child. To support this idea we can refer to a few Qur’anic verses and ahadith. A few ahadith in Sahih Bukhari (1.6.315, 4.54.430) say that at a certain stage of fetus development Allah sends into the pregnant woman’s womb an angel that monitors the progress of the human embryo. This angel must be the Allah’s Spirit; that is, Gabriel.

 

This means: even today, when a human embryo is formed in a womb, Allah breaths into it a part of His Soul, Gabriel.

 

In verse 30:54 (also see 22:5, 36:68) Allah says He created us helpless, then gives us strength, and then makes us weak again. Ibn Kathir, commenting on this verse, writes:

 

Allah points out how man passes through different stages of creation, one phase after another. He is originally created from dust, then from a Nutfah, then from a clot, then from a lump of flesh. Then he becomes bones, then the bones are clothed with flesh, and then the soul is breathed into him. Then he emerges from his mother’s womb, weak and thin and powerless.

 

The modern translators, such s Hilali and Khan, were quick to spot Allah’s blunder. They realized the problem of Allah’s sharing His Soul (that is, Gabriel) with Adam and other human beings. Therefore, Hilali and Khan twisted the meaning. Here is their translation:

Hilali and Khan

38:72 So when I have fashioned him and breathed into him (his) soul created by Me, then you fall down prostrate to him.”

15:29 “So, when I have fashioned him completely and breathed into him (Adam) the soul which I created for him, then fall (you) down prostrating yourselves unto him.”

32:9 Then He fashioned him in due proportion, and breathed into him the soul (created by Allâh for that person), and He gave you hearing (ears), sight (eyes) and hearts. Little is the thanks you give!

 

According to Hilali and Khan Allah created a special soul or spirit, and inserted that soul inside Adam.

 

Please note that by ignoring the reputed translators, such as Yusuf Ali, Pickthal and Shakir, these modern translators have completely altered the meaning of Allah’s Soul that was incorporated inside Adam, and consequently into all human.

 

To find the accurate picture, I obtained the translation from an Arab friend, who is very fluent and knowledgeable in the Qur’anic Arabic. His translation stands thus:

 

15:29  So when I have made him and breathed into him from my spirit, fall down prostrating for him.

32:9 And He made him and breathed into him from his spirit and made for you the hearing and sight and the hearts. You thank little.

 

This means: it is part of Allah’s soul which is inserted in Adam. The above translations seem to agree with the three well‑known, and well‑respected translators.

 

This means Hilali and Khan’s translation is misleading, if not mischievous.

 

Now, we may wonder about Allah’s sanity. Did Allah insert in Adam His (Allah’s) Soul or a soul specially created for Adam?

 

Here is another important question: how many sprits or souls does Allah have? If He has just one, then how many pieces has He divided it into? How does Allah distribute His soul? How do the harami infidels inherit parts of Gabriel, Allah’s Soul?

 

In other verses (6:61, 6:93) we note that Allah says a person does not die until his soul is taken out. This means when a person dies, his soul, a part of Gabriel, leaves his body. In verse 29:57 we read that every soul will have a taste of death, and then the soul will return to Allah.

 

To hide the utter silliness of the Qur’anic verses quoted above, many Islamists often contend the breathing of Allah’s Soul inside Adam means: Allah created Adam in His own image. Sadly, many gullible Muslims, and non‑Muslims blithely believe such a canard.

 

The truth is: there is no verse in the Qur’an which clearly stipulates that Allah created Adam to resemble Him.

 

Here is a verse that many Islamic scholars use to state that Allah created Adam in His own image.

95:4
YUSUFALI: We have indeed created man in the best of moulds,
PICKTHAL: Surely We created man of the best stature
SHAKIR: Certainly We created man in the best make.

 

According to ibn Kathir this means:

Allah created man in the best image and form, standing upright with straight limbs that He beautified.

That is: Allah made Adam the best in physical appearance, Adam was able stand upright which distinguished him from other creatures. This verse does not tell us that Allah made Adam in His image, or simply stated: His lookalike.

Maulana Asad’s commentaries on 15:29 and 32:9

Many modern Islamist apologists often consider Maulana Asad, a Jewish convert to Islam, as a highly respected translator and commentator of the Qur’an. Maulana Asad is certainly very clever, because he dismisses out of hand, the concept of Allah’s soul, terming it as a ‘metaphor’ and/or ‘allegorical’. Here is what he writes about 15:29 and 32:9:

 

15:29Note 26: Cf . (2:30‑34) and the corresponding notes, as well as (7:11-18). The allegorical character of all the passages bearing on the creation of man and on God’s command to the angels to prostrate themselves before him is brought out clearly in God’s saying, “I am about to create mortal man…; and when I have formed him fully…”, etc.: for it is obvious that, in reality, no lapse of time is required for God’s completing its creation—since “when He wills a thing a thing to be, He but says unto it ‘Be’—and it is’ (cf. 2:117, 3;47 and (59). 6:73, 16:40, 19:35, 36:82, and 40:68). God’s ‘breathing of his spirit’ into man is obviously a metaphor, for His endowing him with life and consciousness: that is with a soul.

32:9

Note 9: As in 15:29 and 38:72, God’s “breathing of His spirit into a man” is a metaphor for the divine gift of life and consciousness, or of a ‘soul’ (which as pointed out in surah (4) note [181], is one of the meanings of ruh). Consequently “the soul of every human being is of the spirit of God” (Razi). Regarding the verb sawwahu : rendered by me as “He forms him in accordance with what he is meant to be”—see note [1] on 87:2 and note [5] on 91:7.

 

It appears Maulana Asad has adopted the tried and tested method of Islamic trickery—to consider simply as ‘metaphor’ or allegorical of any references of ambiguity, contradictions, inanities and embarrassment in any Qur’anic verses. For example, mortified by the lascivious verses in connection with the Islamic Paradise, many such Islamist apologists maintain that these hedonistic descriptions are simply ‘metaphors’ or ‘allegorical’, as if, adopting this ploy will exonerate the Qur’an of its doltishness, illogic, and dementia. Part 1, Abul Kasem

 

 

…To be continued

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Abul Kasem is an Bengali freethinker and is a teacher by profession. He has contributed in Leaving Islam – Apostates Speak Out and Beyond Jihad – Critical Voices from Inside. He has also written extensively on Islam in various websites and is the author of several e-Books including: A Complete Guide to Allah, Root of Terrorism ala Islamic Style, Sex and Sexuality in Islam, Who Authored the Quran? and Women in Islam. Mr. Kasem leaves in Sydney, Australia. His latest contribution is in the book Why We left Islam, edited by Susan Crimp et al.  He can be contacted at abul88@hotmail.com and nirribilli@gmail.com

Humans share kangaroos genes ― does this surprise anyone?

Humans share kangaroos genes ― does this surprise anyone?

A.H. Jaffor Ullah

Science deals in figuring out the truth – a lot of truth.  Truth is beautiful; therefore, science is inherently beautiful.  Is it a small wonder that the modern civilization’s foundation is anchored to scientific principles? 

When we see the marvels of science, we are simply awed.  On the macroscopic side, the tallest building stands erect majestically because the laws of physics, mechanics in particular, is used both by architects and builders to defy the gravitational pull of the earth; consequently, the Empire State Building, the Eifel Tower, and Taj Mahal could stand erect all these years. Microscopically speaking, the nucleotide sequence (read gene) homology between mouse and man also makes us wonder how these two species are interrelated!      

When I read today (November 18, 2008) in the Net from a Reuter’s science report in which it was mentioned that humans have a lot of kangaroo genes in their chromosomes, was I surprised?  Not at all.  Any student or person, who think Charles Darwin’s scientific theory of evolution is the only logical explanation of origin of species, will surely admit that human beings have not evolved suddenly as the biblical account will lead us to belief ― based on a blind belief system.

As per Judeo-Christian belief, God created humans about 6,000 years ago.  However, science is at odds with this figure.  The Australian marsupial, kangaroo, had evolved about 150-170 million years ago.  The blind belief systems of the world originating from Middle East would, however, lead you to believe that about 6,000 years ago all the species have evolved simultaneously.  Therefore, all the fossil records have no meaning whatsoever as per the religious schools of thoughts.

Any reputable astrophysicists will however tell you that the age of the universe is about 5-6 billion years.  This fact is at variance with the believers of any monotheistic religion such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  The religious scholars would propound that the earth is hardly 6,000 years old.  Now, who is correct?  Astrophysicists or the practitioners of the monotheistic religions?  You be the judge.

Evolutionary biologists had estimated that the simplest life, prokaryotes, had evolved about 3.8 billion years ago.  The process of photosynthesis through which simple energy rich compound such as hexose (sugar) could be made by sunlight and a bunch of enzymes (catalytic proteins) had evolved in water borne microbes such as cyanobacteria or photosynthetic bacteria about 3 billion years ago.  It took about 1 billion years after the emergence of photosynthetic apparatus in bacteria for simple eukaryotes with mitochondria and chloroplast to have evolved.  Again, it took one billion years to evolve complex multicellular organism.  Therefore, about 1 billion years ago the complex eukaroytes were part of flora in waters. 

The clock of evolution was running faster after the emergence of complex eukaryotes.  In the next 500 million years fish and other chordates had populated the earth’s streams, lakes, rivers, and oceans. About 475 million years ago the plants were evolving; thereby, populating the ground.  About 400 million years ago, the insects and pre-gymnosperm (ancient seeded plants) made their way into our earth; thus making the world a bit crowded.  About 350-360 million years ago the amphibians started to evolve while 50 million years later, roughly about 300 million years ago, the reptiles were making their way into our earth. 

The last 200 million years saw the emergence of first marsupials such as kangaroos, opossums, bandicoots, etc., which lacks placenta – the vascular organ that develops in female mammals during pregnancy lining the uterine wall.  From reptiles another line of animals – birds had evolved about 150 million years ago. On the plant side, the first batch of flowering plants started to grace our world about 130 million years ago.  The land-based dinosaurs became extinct about 65 million years ago.

The first member of the genus Homo probably has evolved 2.5 million years ago.  The first member of human that had some semblance of modern man had evolved about 0.2 million or 200,000 years ago.  About 25,000 years ago, the last of the Neanderthal (ancestors of the modern man) ceased to exist.  About 6,000 to 8,000 years ago, human being learned how to do the primitive agriculture probably somewhere in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq and Southern Turkey ).  The great religion, the first of the monotheistic class, Judaism, have evolved 2,500 years ago.  In a nutshell, this is the history of the accent of modern human being.

On the contrary, the blind belief system would tell you that the earth is about 6,000 years old and all the life forms had evolved simultaneously.  The scientists from early on wanted to know how the molecules of life for example amino acids (the building blocks of proteins and enzymes), nucleotides (the building blocks of DNA and RNA), etc., formed through abiogenesis (without inside the microbes or cells).  The famous ‘Miller-Urey’ experiments of 1953 showed that under reducing environment, which is the absence of oxygen, a mixture of gas and electric spark could give rise to amino acids.  This important experiment gave credence to the ‘primordial Soup Theory’ as propounded by J.B. S. Haldane and Aleksandr Oparin in 1920s.

I digressed a bit from the original theme of this article to give the readers a sense of how life forms have evolved over 3.5-3.8 billion years ago.  The advent of genomics – the study of genome or the entire nucleotide sequence of an organism is a new branch of biology that dates back to hardly 3 decades.  When I came to America in 1969 to study molecular biology, no one knew how to sequence the DNA or RNA.  Dr. Sanger, a renowned British biochemist, however devised a method to sequence the primary structure of Insulin (a small protein) for which he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1958.  Dr. Sanger invented a chemical method to sequence DNA for which he again received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980.

The sequencing of DNA became a hot field starting from late 1970s and it is still continuing without any sign of a slowdown.  Many microbes, plants of agronomic value, and animals were targeted for genomics study.  The first microbe whose genes (DNA) were sequences was that of a bacteria by the name Escherichia coli. Next, on the eukaryotic side the genome of baker’s yeast was completely sequenced.  Soon, the fruit fly’s genome was sequenced.  Now, the genomes of many species of mammals are being sequenced and the results are being compared for sequence homology and the orderliness of many genes is being studied.

The Australian marsupial kangaroo was targeted by the Australian biologists for the studies of genomics. The government in Australia established a center by the name ‘Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics.’  The Scientists from the center said they had for the first time mapped the genetic or nucleotide code of the Australian marsupials and found much of it was very similar to the genome for humans.

Biologists with genomics background had opined that there will be genetic similarities between kangaroo and human for sure but no one ever thought that clusters of genes will be same in these two groups of mammals.  Perhaps during speciation the gene clusters were transferred from species to species.  Dr. Jenny Graves, the center director of Australian kangaroo research put this finding this way; “We thought they’d be completely scrambled, but they’re not. There is great chunks of the human genome which is sitting right there in the kangaroo genome.” 

In my view Dr. Graves should have said that the clusters of Kangaroo genes are sitting right in the human genome because humans have evolved from kangaroos.  Evolutionary biologists think that humans’ primitive ancestors have parted from kangaroos about 150 million years ago.  Contrast this, if you may, with that of mice and humans.  Human’s ancestors have diverged from mice about 70 million years ago.  The genomes of humans and mice show an astounding 95% plus sequence homology.  Similarly, the chimps show a lot more sequence homology with humans than it is with mice.  Conversely, the fruit fly and human genes show about 60% sequence homology.  These results clearly show that Darwin ’s theory of evolution is after all correct.  Darwin was a naturalist who studied diversity of traits among animals. This he did at the time when no one knew what a gene is!  In one hundred years or so the field of biology made so much progress that Darwin ’s theory is now being applied to molecular biology.  The fusion of evolutionary biology into molecular biology has spawned many new fields of study.      

On a lighter side, it has not escaped my attention that humans still sport a pair of strong legs just as goats, cattle, kangaroos; consequently, humans could jump.  The basketball players, soccer player etc., are adept in jumping; therefore, the genes controlling the muscle strength of legs in humans must have originated from kangaroo or the species that is the ancestor of Australian jumping marsupials.  Try telling all these to a person who thinks that the biblical account of genesis is true.  You surely will get a strange response.     

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Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher, writes from New Orleans , USA

Some Odd Things Regarding BD Politics

Some Odd Things Regarding BD Politics

Ernesto Guevara

 

Rcently BNP-Jamat has realized after some ground surveys that they will fare terribly in the upcoming December 2008 polls in Bangladesh. According to Daily Bhorer Kagoj, 13th November, BNP-Jamat has a chance of victory only in Chittagong. And so they are spending time devising new strategies to delay the polls. If we observe their activities — yes they are actively pursuing the delaying program. Now they have added Hajj as an issue. However, the BNP-Jamat bloc says that the real issue is that they suspect the neutrality of the Election Commision. Is the EC neutral?

 

Recently Khaleda (BNP) and Hasina (AL), have decided (been forced?) to sit for talks. BNP wants talks to be private while AL wants public talks — televised. The talks if not televised will not be private… they will only be private from the people. However, it can only be assumed that foreign diplomats and governments will be privvy to the details of the discussion. So why keep Bangladeshi people out of the loop? The people of Bangladesh surely has had enough of ‘secret talks’… What does Khaleda and BNP want to hide from the people. Are they planning to use unfair means to get their wish? Are they expecting undue help from foreingers? I say the people have a right to see what is being discussed — Khaleda and Hasina are not parents and the people are not underage minors. It is the future of the nation — and the people are the nation! No sneakiness should be allowed by the Bangladeshi people. Long has Bangladesh lived at the feet of other nations… the leaders have not been able to raise the country’s image and economy…  The leaders cannot be allowed to have secrets from the people. The people should know what is going on. Or the leaders who want to operate in the shadow should exit the stage!

 

Recently I observed something else that was odd. I am no fan of Hasina but I must say many in Bangladesh are. Over a million — around a million and a half people gathered to welcome her when she returned to Bangladesh. Though I think personally that this support is undue, it was a spectacular event. An unprecedented event… but the newspapers downplayed it subtley. The words used in the reports are not untrue but hides the true size of the welcome. Some newspapers reported ‘thousands’ — which implies less than 10 thousand people; a couple reported 100s of thousands — implying less than a million. Some avoided the reception gathering altogether as if it did not happen. Was there a secret government instruction to the newspapers — or are they hired by those opposed to Hasina.

 

Then something else happened — odd. Khaleda had been having secret talks with Hossain Zillur Rahman, an advisor of the current military government. Then she rushed off to Chittagong to hold a rally. The rally drew a lot of people and though they were all gathered together, unlike the AL reception, the number paled in comparision to Hasina’s reception. Though it was a remarkable gathering — it was transformed into a ‘show stealer’ by news papers. Newspapers were aglow in reporting the event. Odd.

 

So why this bias reporting? And why was Khaleda’s showdown not in Dhaka?

 

If one intends to compare the two parties — they would be overwhelmed by AL’s showdown but if they search in the news — they would not be overwhelmed. They would find two equally popular parties — more or less, with BNP a bit larger. So if BNP performs better than what its smaller rally implies — and AL does worse than what their showdown implies — people wont be so shocked, as in the media they were evenly matched.

This implies that the door for a questionable election remains. If the news had been reported neutrally — election engineering would have been more blatant, difficult and more unacceptable.

 

Why not in Dhaka?

If BNP’s showdown were in Dhaka — it would have been easier to compare… and newspapers would not have had a free poetic lisence. Easier to pull the wool over the people’s eyes with the new location?

 

Why? Is the election commission and the govt really neutral? What do they want? Who helped organise the rally?

 

Personally I hope that people forget parties and start looking at candidates forcing both alliances to choose better candidates… and eventually get rid of half educated, ill-educated, corrupt, divisive and religiously extreme politicians who are servants not of the people but of money and foreign paymasters.

 

Che

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Etnesto Guenara is a member of Mukto-Mona and writes from Bangladesh. He can be reached at cheguevara28@yahoo.com

Bangladesh is not quite out of the woods from Islamists’ attack!

Bangladesh is not quite out of the woods from Islamists’ attack!

A.H. Jaffor Ullah

There must have been a gaping hole in Bangladesh’s homeland security for the last 22 months or so when the military backed “caretaker” government comprising of some oligarchs and technocrats came to power on January 11, 2007.

To prove unequivocally that the army-backed government means business, six Islamists who were captured during the previous government were railroaded to walk to their gallows when many people requested the government to allow the convicted Islamists to talk to the press.  But the government of Fakhruddin Ahmed (the “caretaker” government) was nonchalance.  It ignored the plea of the civil society and let the convicted Islamists take their secrets to grave.  Thus, the people of Bangladesh were deprived of the full account of a vile conspiracy that runs deep in various agencies, civilian and armed forces, of the government.  The Islamists of Bangladesh are not that capable of blasting their homemade crude bombs without their silent conspirators from political parties, members of the intelligence communities, and the armed forces.

Granted that the army-backed “caretaker” government had tightened the screws a bit on Islamists; consequently, the cottage industries of bomb-making in four corners of Bangladesh came to a screeching halt in the last 22 months.  The civil society thus heaved a great sigh of relief knowing that terrorist outfits such as Jama’atul Mujahideen of Bangladesh (JMB) is made infirm by government’s rapid action.  The police and its elite force, RAB, are on the constant lookout for Islamists while they are responding to any information with a lightening speed.  All of these measures taken up by the government had led a bulk of the Bangladeshis to believe that a semblance of normalcy had finally returned to this impoverished nation of 165 million people, which was rocked by terrorists’ made bomb blast since 1999.

However, from time to time the police and intelligence department had rounded up people in and around the capital city of Dhaka who were in possession of illegal firearms and bomb making paraphernalia.  The news of the arrests would certainly make the headlines in the newspapers and TV news but as time passes by without any incidence of bomb blasts, the general public will forget the danger thinking wishfully that the Islamists, who want to transform this society into an Islamic paradise, have been taken out of commission, and therefore, the nation is free from any foreseeable attack.

To the utter disbelief of many, most leading newspapers of Bangladesh carried a sensational news on November 17, 2008 depicting a photo that showed an array of bomb making paraphernalia, which the police say they found in a house located not too far from the capital.  The news account says that the tip came from an arrested JMB member hardly a day ago.  The police also seized about 40kg of nitric acid, 150 cases of improvised grenades, a large quantity of bomb-making materials and equipment, and over 2,000 books on jihad raiding two houses in Mirpur and another house at Shanir Akhra, the two suburbs of Dhaka city.  One police officer also mentioned to the newsmen that the Islamists were preparing for a fresh attack.  We all know that Islamists have the penchant for attacking on secular national holidays such as The World Language Day and Bangla New Years Celebration Day.

There is an adage that says where there’s one cockroach, you can be sure there are plenty more. The police in Bangladesh were very lucky to unearth one bomb making factory; however, who knows how many more like this are scattered allover Bangladesh?  Mind you, the Islamists like Siddiqul Islam (aka Bangla Bhai), JMB chief Abdur Rahman and four more JMB terrorists, who were forced to walk to their gallows, had flourished during the reign of Khaleda Zia’s term spanning 2001 through 2006.  During this period some of the parliamentary members belonging to BNP had given the needed protection and cover to the JMB men in western districts of Bangladesh where a reign of terror were let loose by Bangla Bhai’s foot soldiers.  And that was not all.  The JMB men celebrated the “success” of their operations by bringing out a motorcade procession in Rajshahi town while getting support from the divisional police chief.  Well, such was the nexus between the Islamic terrorists and the law and order department hardly 3-4 years ago!

It is quite plausible that the JMB men still have an active network; therefore, the people of Bangladesh will be deluding if they think that JMB terrorist organization was beaten to dust by the government’s action.
The government’s recent action to demolish art works including statues outside the International Airport revealing Bangladesh’s indigenous culture of folk music will give a mixed signal to Islamists who chose terrorism as a means to destabilize the society and tear the very secular fabrics that bind the entire population.  It was a mistake on government’s part to yield to the demands of the Islamists.  By kowtowing the Islamists what purpose is served?  Maybe, I am missing something a big time here!

The government should ponder over the facts that despite a number of major arrests made during crackdowns on Islamist militants in the last few years, the intelligence department officials think that over 250 trained operatives of JMB are still at large and many of them are reportedly trying to regroup under a new leadership.  It should be a matter of grave concern to the government that even the police have the slightest of clues about the source of funding, the emerging leaderships, and the future plan of attack by the fugitive JMB operatives. 

In summary, the news of a bomb making factory in the outskirts of Dhaka should not be taken lightly by the government or the civil society.  The government certainly had railroaded the 6 super bosses of the JMB outfit, but the political conviction of many JMB supporters still lingers in their mind and so is the zealotry that serves as the engine of hate and that fuels a promise leading up to the false notion that someday Bangladesh miraculously will be converted into an Islamic Utopia.
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Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and columnist, writes from New Orleans, USA