'Secularists' crusade' against 'organised religion'?
As a feminist scholar working in a leading university in Bangladesh and a believing Muslim woman who wears the hijab, I strongly object to the comments made by Mayesha Alam in her article 'In pursuit of a new dawn' (Daily Star, March, 5) where she writes that our “freedoms are up for sale …to a group of religious zealots who would…reduce women to little more than burqua-clad wives and daughters whose rightful place is within the confines of the home.” Furthermore, towards the end of her article she feels the need to issue a clarion call for a secular crusade, (a non-violent one, however,) against those motivated by “… blind faith in organised religion that would, ultimately, dismantle the people's democracy.”
Firstly, I would like to point out that in the highly charged emotional and political atmosphere of our country; such outdated stereotyping of women's place in Islam is both dangerous and misleading. I would like to point out that such comments insult and belittle women like myself who are absolutely comfortable with our identities as Muslims, as intellectuals and as working women who are free citizens of a free country and in no danger of being hijacked by any religious zealots whatsoever. No Islamic party in Bangladesh has ever had it as their political or ideological manifesto to deny Muslim women their right to full civic participation in the nation's affairs. Secondly, this dangerous binary of 'organised religion' versus 'secularism', this mentality of being either 'with us or against us' leads to a curious 'flattening of discourse' and a shrinking of 'space for internal critique.' ('History is hard work, but are we willing?' Naeem Mohaimen, Forum: Vol. 7, Issue 3, March 2013). Needless to say, such a dangerous polarisation of Islam and secularism will only serve to divide the nation at a moment when there is an urgent need for reasoned dialogue which can soothe the sentiments of all the parties involved so that an attack on Jamaat-e-Islami does not become conflated with an attack on Islam itself.
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