Lets talk about futures of political Islamisms in desh

As the Deoband-Madani oriented Hefazat ul Islam's points of contention and (intentionally) limited scope still ringing around society in Bangladesh, the place, potential, translation and movement of Islamic socio-political principles and shapes comes to attention.

With today's arrest of Amar Desh's editor and past BNP energy adviser Mahmudur Rahman, and the sealing of its press, the dissenting voice of 'Islamic forces' has been muzzled. I remember how Amar Desh broke the TribunalGate story in December that sent the War Crimes Tribunal into a headspin and magically began the corrosion of 42 years of powerful guilt tripping and rumour mongery that has made a self-mutilating laughing stock of the country.

That said, I don't think he is the Mahdi or the Sonar Bangla Bullet. I pray he is returned safely to his family ASAP (just like everyone else who is unjustly confined) and see this arrest as just one part of the actions of a despicable, dissent-crushing and murderous government. I just wanted to take the moment to ponder beyond dinosaurs, clones and religious tribalisers.

The more I think of the political autisms of Shahbag and and LongMarch the more I feel that we need to reconnect, critically, with the politics of Maulana Bhashani, the 80 day president Khondhokar Moshtaque Ahmed, and the erudition of Kamal Hossain. [The Kissinger Cables hyperlinked provide a one-click time machine to them]

It is sad that the country is probably not even hungry for a creative generation of Islamic thinkers, justice and serenity makers. The tail end batsmen can only last for so long, especially now that they have acquired a habit for self harm.

Imagine

1. A public sphere more inclusive of Islamic and other non secular contribution and social imagination.
2. Hefazat-un-Nisa, a radical Islamist Begumhood dedicated to ensuring dignity and a living wage for garments workers, male and female and the vibrancy of the sector.
3. The country's apparently Islamic types inspired by the work, talent and martyrdom of Shaheed-e-Kormi Aminul Islam .
4. Political formations and actions that rupture the firewalls between rightist-Islamist and leftist-Atheist. 
5. A Jamat happy to admit mistakes and nuance and Islamic alternatives.
6. A left that is co-operative with political Islam.
7. Greater dialogical relations between Islamic, social and physical sciences and scholars.
8. A vibrant, Islamically moved creative class providing social yeast, not decoration or nostalgia.
9. A world-class weekly publication to carry the conversation and raise the tone. 
10. That the judiciary had integrity.
11. That talents would be nurtured and given scope, not hamstrung, embittered and cleft asunder.
12. In the coming years there are fewer blockheads in every camp.
13. A new political grammar to supercede hartals, encampments, marches and naff renditions of whiteous indignation.
14. Ecological politics, not confrontational politics.
15. Bangladesh as an ummahtic destination for more than the Tabligh, Tawfique Chowdhury and Zakir Naik.
16. Real, confident and credible engagement in the Asian regional scene.

Khutbas from our Kitchens, again

Urban, immigrant life estranges us from the rest of creation.  We are becoming part of the problem. So let us alter the relations between the built, lived environment and the (mal)functionings of the urban ummah which we see being stripped away from soulfulness and plunged into consumerism.

Khutbas from the Kitchen is an idea, potentially an institution,that intervenes practically in our lives to help embody Islamic principles in our relations with creation, not least the food system, family and social relations. It is as simple as recording short educative videos from eachother’s kitchens about the ethics and values behind what we eat, warts, proverbial kitchen sink and all.

Competing with slow, unjust people over reclaiming the mimbar in the mosque is probably a useful expenditure of some people's energy. It need not distract us from the potential of networking and reimagining our existing networked ummahstuctures to overcome the cultural degradation arising from some of the activities of Islam Channel, PeaceTV, ISB, the Quilliam Foundation, Saudi Arabia/America.

Khutbas from our Kitchens rehonours the domestic, creative, hospitable space. For certain, it is not some kind of come dine with me/ready steady cook/diary of a bad man goes for chicken and chips venture. The objects around this vital room tell stories that are mostly hidden and unmarked. The packet of plain flour tells us of the history and politics of American grain surpluses. The dish rack, which bears a lot of the burden, tells us of steel, geometry and evaporation. Not to be funny or anything, but the kitchen plan itself speaks about the design and food values at the time of the building’s construction.

Kitchen media is interesting, televisions entered a lot of them in the late 80s, but now the direction of travel has reversed and one–to-many communications can be exchanged for more realistic many-to–many relationships. And perhaps the people in them have changed, less learned in some ways (humanity), more so in others (web search).

The kinds of impacts I would anticipate from this collective endeavour include a practical, shared space for learning, ensouling, deciding and creating more Creator-conscious and justice-based patterns of life and consumption.

Maulana Bhashani's death anniversary today

 Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani. Born 1880, Died 1976. aka The Red Maulana

He returned to his Maker on 17th November 1976, a few months after leading the Long March in protest at the Indian Government's dastardly construction of the Farrakha Barrage on the Ganges River. He was doing this kind of thing in his 90s!!!

This was an immense display of political mojo from a gentleman who demonstrated it quite a lot and didn't get stuck in personality cults and petty bickering.

Those of us who share Sylheti ancestry tend to admire his leadership during the Assam Referendum on 1947 and against the Line System which tyrannised cultivators of the Surma Valley, as it was known then.

He embodied a Left Islamic political practise and hailed from a joint Jatra Movement-Deoband training. Interesting huh?!? Mister Jinnah didn't quite like him as he wasn't British educated and suited enough.

He stood against the Pro-US turn of the Pakistani State, and was feted by Late Chairman Mao.


His involvement in the Bangladesh War is hard to figure. He boycotted the 1970 election. The Indian government basically trapped him for its complete duration, as they couldn't trust him.

All of these facts mentioned above mark him out as someone every deshi could easily relate to, limitations and all. Alas, we the bangali musalmans and musalwomans have become seminarised, selfish, secularised and docile.

Allahummah grant him protection, mercy and high station, since you are the Knower of Subtleties, the Reckoner and the Majestic.


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On Prevent: What to do

Seems to me that resistance to this campaign particular campaign by the British Government to produce docile Muslim subjects is growing and needs to be both broadened and deepened.  I suspect its intimately tied with the discovery, creation and exercise of ummahtic mojo.

Here's what folks can do.

1. Read this dossier on PREVENT
2. Highlight the experiences and ordeals of those at the bum end of the Project to Produce Docile Muslims
3. Sharpen awareness of whats going on around us in legislation, institutional policies and everyday life
4. Convey the experiences of those who have previously engaged with this shit
5. Encourage radical forms of expression, action and imagination
6. Delegitimate engagement and engagers
7. Lampoon and spit upon ideological foundations of the project
8. Reward creative - disengagement with social dignity
9. Share best resistance practice

I do so hope that you share this good news with others.

New word : Ganjineering

I think a FAQ structure is appropriate here.

Ganj?
In Bangladesh, a lot of the towns and districts have the suffix 'ganj'. For example Sirajganj, Munshiganj, Zakiganj, Habiganj and (deep breath) Chapanawabganj. Farsi used to be the language of power in preBritish colonial times, until they banned it, and ganj means 'storehouse' in that language. Over the years the word ganj had transformed itself into more than a storehouse in my mind and those around me. Indeed the *Spirit of the Ganj* is a force to be reckoned with.

What is Ganjineering?
The processes and relationships through which we can interact organically with our ancestral homelands to learn and try to be of use.

You mean NGOgiri do you not?
Nope, though the waqf (the pious endowment), is an authentic means of engaging in collective action that we need to respect more if we expect our societies to advance. Ganjineers tend not to play on the poverty of others to assert any kind of ego trip and earn money using the Development Industry at the same time. They do not try to turn their communities into aliens from their religious heritage and culture, into savages to be civilised with fashionable empowerment speak, decontextualised development indices and glossy reports to donors.

Who are you to intervene? What makes you less imperialist than the NGO lords and sell outs that haunt you?
If you know your history, then you will know where you are coming from, then you wouldn't have to ask me, who the hell do I think I am. (Bob Marley)

Who does Ganjineering?
Ganjineers.

You pretentious fiend give us an example!
Ok, i feel that Akhtar Hameed Khan was the epitome of the Ganjineer. May we learn from people like him.