Dear Nasima Khatun,

Here is my response to your message.

Your writings are in black and mine are in red.

Well in order to improve the situation in the Muslims countries, we should not blame the religion for all the mishaps that happen, such as rape, murder, etc. We know that this is not true. Islam has had many positive impact on the world today.

I agree with you that it would be unfair to blame all the mishaps of the society on religion. There are many crimes that happen due to the human’s own wickedness that is often caused by wrong education. Criminals fill the prisons of all countries whether Muslim or not. If a man is abusive to his wife it is not necessarily because of his religion. It could be because of his upbringing in an abusive family. But what if this abusive behavior is not the exception but the norm? In that case one could conclude that in such places many families are abusive and therefore the abuse becomes part of the culture. If few people beat their wives, that is abusive but if most people do it, it is “normal” and a cultural thing.  

We notice that the abuse in Islamic countries towards the women is far more than the abuse of women in the West. One example of that is honor killing. In many Islamic countries honor killing is not a bad thing at all. In fact the killers regain their honor by killing a female member of their own family. Often these victims have done nothing wrong. They have been raped forcefully and now they have to be killed by their own brothers or fathers. In Jordan a brother killed his own sister after another brother had raped her. The killer got one-year jail and was extremely proud of his crime. Sometimes the husband just kills his wife and then accuses her of infidelity to get a lenient treatment.  

The question is why abuse towards women in certain cultures is a norm while in other cultures it is an exception? We could ask this question about other “cultural” traits. For example all Islamic countries are antidemocratic to the extent that they are Islamic. Is there any relationship between Islam and lack of democracy?  

What is culture? Culture can be defined as the general characteristic of a community. The community is made of the individuals. Individuals have values and act according to those values. Those vales are often given to them at their childhood in their families. Values drive from beliefs. If my beliefs subconsciously make me a misogynist, it is very probable that I will end up as a woman hater and abuser. 

What values Islam give to its followers? Quran is very clear that Men are a degree superior to women and that they are their protectors. This undoubtedly conveys the idea that women are incapable to take care of themselves and they are dependent on men. This false image of women is further emphasized when the laws of the Sharia do not recognize women as intelligent enough to witness is a court. The reason given is that if one of them forgets, the other one can remind her. Is there any scientific study that demonstrates women are more forgetful than men? Absolutely not! All these stereotypes convey only one message to the subconscious of the man who believes those teachings are from God. The message is that women are inferior, that they are deficient in intelligent, that they are crooked like a rib that cannot be strengthened. What are the consequences of such conditioning? The consequence is that women should not be trusted. That they are naturally inclined to be wicked, and that they must be punished and even scourged (beaten). An unequivocal example of such conditioning can be witnessed from the writings of Mr. Sulayman Yahya who in his last message to me wrote;

 “Maybe a liberal freethinker like you would enjoy watching his wife screwing (which is transgressing) with another freethinking man. Perhaps a free thinking wife has the right to do so.”

This gentleman is incapable to accept the facts that women have equal rights. He equated emancipation of women with adultery. This is disturbing and shameful yet as a Muslim he is incapable to elevate himself beyond that. No wonder these Muslims kill the women and deal with them so harshly for little offences like when a woman exposes her hair or her arm. He sees that as tantamount to adultery.

Therefore there can be no denial that religion has an important effect on our culture, that it shapes our individual as well as our collective behavior. Therefore we must blame the religion for most of negative trait of a society. If rape, murder, violence against women, abuse of human rights and dictatorship are part of the teachings of a religion and the majority of the individuals who are subjected to those teachings behave in such manner then it is those teachings that are to be blamed and nothing else.

In your own message to me you mentioned that when in Bangladesh your Islamic teachers did not allow you to ask religious questions. They did not allow you to ask questions because Muslims are very sensitive towards criticism. You can ask as many questions as you like but your reaction to the response must be “yes I agree”, “yes now I understand” to all of them. If you ever insist or God forbid disagree with a statement given as the answer, you will be dealt with not so pleasantly. This is not a personal characteristic of a Mullah but a general characteristic of all the Muslims, Mullah or not. In such culture where freedom of thinking and questioning does not exist, dictatorships thrive. Dictatorships exist in the family where clearly Muhammad puts women under the tutelage of men. Dictatorship exists in the community where a Mullah can decide the life and death of another person without the need of any trial or defense. And dictatorship exists in the system of government.  As Westerners distanced themselves from religion and learned about equality, they also learned about democracy. It is unthinkable that a dictator can rise in USA, Canada, UK or Australia and be accepted. This cannot happen even in Germany anymore. But in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and virtually all Islamic countries dictatorships are the norm. If a democratic government comes to power, it will be soon overthrown by another dictatorship or it will become a dictatorship. People, who have been suppressed by a pernicious culture like that of Islam, accept dictators. This is unthinkable in the West. Therefore whether you admit it or not most of the mishaps in our world happen thanks to Islam.

From Ali sina’s mail, there seems so much hate for the Muslims on his behalf. I feel that his hatred, although based on the concepts of Islam, is also based on the fact the he is a shi’a and from Iran. Your article about the sunni’s prohibiting idol worship clearly shows your personal discontent with the majority Sunni Muslims.

There is not a single verse in all my writings that contain hate against Muslims. My whole purpose of writing is to save my Muslim brothers and sisters from the claws of Islam. My writings are my messages of love to Muslims. I challenge you to find one sentense were I have spoken against Muslims with hate. I consider Islam as a disease and Muslims as the victims. My aim is to save Muslims from Islam. I hate Islam very much. I hate Islam for the same reasons that I hate Nazism or any ideology of hate. Sunni and Shi’a are not relevant to me. They are both doctrines of misguidance. There is no difference between the two. My article about the images of Muhammad criticizing Sunnis simply points out to the absurdity of Islam where some of its followers consider blasphemy what its other followers regard as the expression of devotion.   

This is why in countries like Bangladesh, more harm will be done than good, by forming an organisation whose sole purpose is to implement freedom of speech.

I am afraid you are completely wrong. Freedom of speech never does harms anyone. It is absurd to think that I will do you a favor if I gag you and suffocate your voice. This is a very strange logic. Do you think that you are better now in UK where you can say what you want, read what you want and think what you want or when you were in BD where you were not even allowed to ask certain questions? If you think you prefer this freedom then why is it that you prescribe its suppression for your Bangali compatriot women? Isn’t that hypocrisy to come to UK and enjoy from all the freedoms that this country offers and insist that your sisters back home remain under the oppression of men, and keep upholding a religion that suppresses their rights and freedoms?   

The term ‘freedom of speech’ is very vague. What is the purpose of freedom of speech? Just to show that I am right and u r wrong?

The term freedom of speech is not vague at all. Why in the world it is vague to you I cannot understand. The purpose of freedom of speech is to allow everyone to express their views without being persecuted or lose their lives over it. In fact the freedom of speech is to avoid that evil that you are referring to, that where this freedom does not exist takes roots. When a group assumes to have the absolute truth, it abolishes the freedom of speech because it assumes that there is nothing that anyone else could teach them. It is because they feel threatened by opposition and want to eliminate it. Where every one is free to express his views, different ideas collide and from this collision the spark of the truth is kindred.

About 5 yrs ago I saw an interview of Taslima Nasrin on TV. She was proclaiming her fight for the justice for the women in bangladesh. But did Salman Rushid have the same objective when he insulted the Muslims with his book? There is a fine line between freedom of expression, and libel and slander. The latter is disproved of by the so-called ‘freethinkers’, and the former is promoted. As far as I was concerned Salman Rushdi was in breach of libel and slander of the prophet and the Muslims. His book was not a critique or an analysis of Islam – that would have been freedom of expression. His book was an expression of erotic fantasy. If he wanted to prove that Muhammad was sleaze he could have put some kind of constructive arguments. But his book was just an entertainment.  

Salman Rushie’s book was a fiction. He is a novelist. Taslima Nasrin is a social critique. They have different specialties. I personally love to write a novel but I am not talented for that. The style of the writing of a person is his or her own business. The point is that anyone must be free to write whatever he wishes. Compose any style of music, paint in any color, form or theme. This is freedom. You are also free not to buy his books, music or paintings if you dislike them. But you cannot prohibit another person to express himself the way he or she wishes or suppress his message nor deprive me from listening to the message that I like.  If you allow yourself such prerogative, then I should do the same. And you know what? I firmly believe that Quran has a bad influence on people and I would like to ban it. Tell me please why you allow yourself to ban the book of Salman Rushdie and think I should not have the same right to ban Quran? Of course you may say that I am in minority, but not in the West.  Here many people from Christians to atheists believe that Quran is a bad book and technically we have enough force to demand the ban of Quran. This of course sounds very much absurd and ridiculous. Well you are right it is. But so is the demand of the Muslims to ban the books of Rushdie, Duran or any other writer. The Golden Rule dictates that you do to others what you expect others do to you. If you don’t like to be censored personally, you should not censor others. Period.

You want to make salman rushdi a leading name for your organisation. But why? Because he enjoys insulting Muslims? Or because he really wants to eliminate the inequity in the world caused by muslims.

I suggested the name of Mr. Rushdie along with few more names. Whether these people enjoy insulting Islam or not is not of my concern. I suggested Mr. Rushdie because he is known worldwide and his name has become an icon of religious persecution of the free thought. His name associated with our organization gives tremendous prestige and credibility to this nascent organization.  

‘Freedom of expression’ violates the concept of tolerance. If what I say does more good than harm then I will certainly say it. If what I say Causes more harm than good then I will stay Quiet, and that’s TOLERANCE for me.

This is the most absurd statement you could every say. What you describe could be defined as tact or political correctness but has nothing to do with tolerance. You are putting the carriage before the horse. The tolerance comes from the listener not from the one who wishes to express herself freely. If what you say is hurtful to me, it is up to me to be tolerant and let you say what you say without chopping off your head. If you have to keep silent because you fear angering me, and that may cause me to act erratically, you can choose to remain silent because a) you don’t want to lose your life and b) you don’t want me to go nuts. That is not tolerance. That is fear in the first case and tact in the second. But as long as I keep suppressing your opinions by behaving violently you will not be able to talk. It is me who is intolerant towards you. I am the one who is taking away your right to tell your side of he story. What is your side of the story is not important. Whether it is a logical argument against me or simply a satire ridiculing my tantrums is not important.  

Muslims have acted like hooligans throughout the history. They have silenced anyone who has said anything against that garbage they call the book of miracles. How in the world anyone can learn the truth if as soon as someone tells the truth his head is demanded? Is this rational? If Quran has any truth in it, it should withstand the criticism of its opponents and if it hasn’t then why should anyone follow it?    

I am guessing that you want to promte freethinking because it will illuminate all the prejudices and injustices that are advocated my Islam. But do you think your hate for Islam will allow that. You have to educate them and be more tactful. Little is achieved by publishing  

That strategy is being used by many. For the last 1400 years there has been very little success in that approach. In fact the fundamentalism is on the rise and with that the oppression, deaths and misery of millions of people who are victims of this cult. I am not stopping those who still believe in that strategy and wish them good luck. I personally have a different philosophy. I have written about it in an article called “How to Wean Muslims From Islam”. I believe in shock therapy. This shock therapy works only on those whose values are humane. For those who actually believe women are inferior, that they must be obedient to men or beaten, who think Kafirs are najis, that the unbelievers must be killed, subdued and humiliated, etc. the shock therapy does not work, because they won’t be shocked. They have become brainwashed and murderers who believe killing is their thicket to paradise and to Allah’s brothel. But it works on those who have some decency left in them, who are still humans, who are still capable to think. And I have some success in my approach and quite happy with the result. However I am not stopping others to take the approach that you are suggesting.  

I am all for promoting justice and human rights, but the same time I believe in Islam. My humanistic thoughts emanated from (believe it or not) Islam, Western education and my Parents.

This is a contradiction. Quran’s teachings are unjust towards the non-Muslims, the women and the dissenters. How in the world your humanistic thoughts emanate from Islam? Islam is not a humanistic religion. Apparently you don’t know either humanism or you don’t know Islam. Please understand that what you say is an insult to us the humanists. Of course unlike you we don’t mind you speak out your mind even if they are false. You are free to say that and we are free to disprove them. Would you tell us please what is so humanistic about these verse and hundreds of other verses like this?

9: 29"Fight those who do not believe in God and the last day... and fight People of the Book, (Christians and the Jews) who do not accept the religion of truth (Islam) until they pay tribute by hand, being inferior"

4:34, Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great. 

Western education and Islam are like fire and water. The true Islam is what is being practiced by the Taliban and the Mullahs in Iran.  Also men like Mr. Yahya who equate women that want to have equal rights with adulterers are true Muslims. If you truly have humanistic values (Many people don’t and they are just giving themselves too much credit) then you cannot be a Muslim.  

I ask you jsut one question. Do you prefer to obey your husband and even accept being beaten by him? Do you agree that he in entitled to take another wife as soon as you lose your youth and relegate you to a lower category or you rather be equal and a partner in life to him? The first is what Muhammad asked you to do and the latter is what humanism teaches. You cannot have both. You are either a Muslim or a humanist. You want to have your cake and eat it too. That can’t be done I am afraid.  

You see when I was small my parent could not and would not answer many questions that I put to them. When I was small in BD my islamic teachers did not allow us to question them. But when came to UK I learnt Islam by myself through books. I learnt that Islam had a lot to offer me as a women, It gave me many rights but it was taken away by our bangali culture.

What is it that Islam offers? I can prove that those who are engaged in terrorism and believe they will go to Paradise having sex with 72 hooris for killing innocent Jews or the Kafir in this world drive their inspiration directly from explicit teachings of Quran. This is what they say too. I can prove the Pakistani soldiers who raped 250,000 Bangali women did exactly what Muhammad did in his wars and told his followers to do in the Quran. I can tell you the brutal and the most heinous practice of stoning as is now practiced in Iran is directly inspired by what the Prophet did and said. I can show you that physical mutilation and cutting the hands of the petty thieves is a teaching of Muhammad while he himself looted all the livelihood of the innocent people killing them and enslaving their wives with absolute immunity. Now can you tell me what is it that Islam gave you? I am afraid you are completely unaware of the real Islam. Have you read the Quran? Have you read the hadith? Do you really know what Muhammad said? What rights you are talking about? The right to be a “tilt” to your husband so he can enter in you from wherever he pleases? The right of obeying him and being scourged by him? The right to be called “deficient in intelligence”, being belittled and abused? These are what Quran teaches.  

You guys talk about the evil effects of Islam but I have seen how Islam has promoted broad thinking and equality. Islam in backward society promotes injustice and inequality. In UK I have seen Islam promoting women’s right. Many Muslim orgs promote and help divorced women, widowed women to get back on their feet, islamic women’s organizations aim to better the status of women in the British society. SO Islam is not as evil as you are portraying.

I think you are answering your self quite clearly. Islam in the backward societies promotes injustice because in those societies people follow the Quran. It is a vicious circle between ignorance injustice and Islam. Mr. Duran wrote that lack of education promotes religious bigotry. But it is also true that Islam, which is the epic of bigotry, promotes ignorance.  In the UK Muslim women do charitable work because they are following not the teachings of Quran but their newfound humanistic values. If they do good things is because of humanism and it is despite Islam. Islam is evil and we have all the Quran to prove it.

SO what I am saying is that if you feel that this organisation is going to promote justice and equal rights then I am all for it. But if it’s a forum that only allows u to say what u want then I would consider whether it is really worth it.

As far as this organization is concerned it is yet on the drawing table. How it will be depends on everyone’s opinion. My personal views are that this organization should stand for truth and if need be expose the fallacies of Islam. Slaying Islam will not be part of the agenda of that org. That is my job and the job of all those who have come to the conclusion that Islam is not reformable and like a cancer must be destroyed. But I think this organization unlike all other human right organizations should put aside the political correctness and when need be call a spade a spade.

Regards

 Ali Sina