Islam has been a restless and anxious cult since its inception. The restlessness and anxiety ingrained in it had made it violent, intolerant and exclusive. Following the death of Muhammad, early Islamic kingdom went through three major civil wars to address the restlessness of violent power struggle. The Islam we see today got crystallized during late seventh to tenth centuries.
The extreme weather events of 535 AD to 536 AD were the most severe and protracted short-term episodes of cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the previous 2000 years. The event is thought to have been caused by an extensive atmospheric dust veil, possibly resulting from a large volcanic eruption. Its effects were widespread, causing unseasonable weather, crop failures, and famine worldwide.
The poor and primitive tribes of Arabian Desert were a scared lot following the extreme weather events. Muhammad was born in Mecca in 570 AD, barely 35 years after the said natural disaster. The community was ready to face extinction within years and was keenly waiting for a savior. Muhammad fitted into the demand and became the ‘last Prophet’ as universal destruction, called “Day of Judgment” was not far away.
So, time was very short to face the Day of Judgment (Keyamat) and all ideas of ‘best religion’, ‘best Prophet’, ‘unbelievers being enemies of Allah’, ‘duty of converting unbelievers or killing them to please Allah’, ‘fearing the Allah’ and ‘complete submission to him’ became the main tenets of Islam. Though Keyamat has not come yet, the Islamic tenets, stated above, continue to dominate the Muslim psyche even after 1400 years. And Muslims remain a restless and anxious community with a violent intent to convert all unbelievers or kill them.
As a proof in Bangladesh, we come across an inscription upon a sixteenth century mosque built at Pabna locality of that country, by the Ilyas Shahi king Nasir al-din Nusrat Shah (reigned from 1519 to 1532 AD) which evokes the almighty to give the king opportunity to “uproot the enemies of Allah from among the unbelievers and polytheists”. This nature of the state or country or situation, whenever manifest, could lead to wide spread violence upon unbelievers and polytheists by the restless and anxious Muslim community.
During earlier days, Muslim never needed any pretext to kill unbelievers and destroy their temple and loot properties and women. But now-a-days, international situations have changed and they need some pretext to launch riot. Islamic blasphemy Sharia comes handy in such situation and one hears ‘insult of Prophet’, ‘insult of holy book’ etc. before large scale Islamic riot. Since the days of Muhammad, Muslims have been living like a ‘herd’ which they call Ummah. Muslims cannot think individually in religious matter. This can convert Muslims into a violent mob in no time. Over the centuries, Islam has become all about dominance over unbelievers and polytheists, – physical, social, economic and religious.
Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee resigned from Nehru’s first Cabinet in protest against the Nehru-Liyaqat Ali Pact of 1950 which, as per Dr Mookerjee, left the Hindus of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) at the mercy of Muslims. The Pact refused to accept the idea of exchange of minority population between India and Pakistan and made the minority hostage in either country. That was ridiculous, as it assumed equality in the violent nature of Hindus and Muslims. As Dr. Mookerjee expected, Hindus have been constantly persecuted in East Pakistan / Bangladesh since 1947 and their proportion of population decreased from 22 per cent in 1951 to about 10 per cent now, whereas Muslim population in India increased from 8 per cent to about 18 per cent during the same period. This demographic differential between India and Bangladesh is of great concern now for Hindus.
The bloody anti-Hindu riots, we are seeing across Bangladesh today (October 2021), was prefixed 1400 years back in Arabian Desert. Finding the cause(s) of riots with Awami League, BNP, India, ISI, JMB, Jamaati, or Hefajoti; – is futile, as all are secondary factors in the anti-Hindu riots in Islamic society of Bangladesh. It seems that about sixty per cent of Bangladeshi Muslims wants cleansing of Hindus. Thirty per cent remains silent and only ten percent speaks against the atrocities. One can draw a parallel of Bangladesh riots with the cleansing of Pandits in Kashmir valley. And the stupid stories of “terrorism has no religion” and “Islam is the religion of peace” go on playing like a broken record.
