Misinterpretations
Ayesha Hossain Shahnila, Dhaka
A couple of years back I was confronted with a Pakistani who vehemently declared that all these storms, tornadoes and floods, a regular phenomenon in Bangladesh , are in fact " the curse of Allah" . Although reeling with rage, I could do little to clarify or change her views as she was a very senior woman. Some religious people, at least in this continent, have a high level of rigidity. Once in Kuala Lumpur, a money changer asked me, " There are so many floods in your country, surely you people don't pray, do you? " A couple of days back, I came across a discussion programme ' Islam ki bole, aamra ki kori ' in a local TV channel. There a maulvi was putting forward his views in something like "after what Saddam had done during his rule, why 'Allah's Gazab ' won't fall on him?" ........... Time and again we cross paths with such so-called religious people who refer to our plights, hard/ bad times and defeats as "Allah's Gazab" on us. Is that what the religion teaches us?
|
. PHOTO: AFP |
