NOTE: I received the following comments from A.B.M. Shamsud Doulah Advocate, Supreme Court, G.P.O. Box 351, Dhaka, BANGLADESH on May 11, 2012 in “Mukto Mona” and reproduce below with my response.
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“Dr. J. Bhattacharjee:
Thank you for your messages on Islam. I appreciate your interest in Islam and the Muslims.
Islam, Christianity and Judaism are one religion with reformed status in different phases concluded in Islam by the Holy “Koran”. There have been many interpretations and presentations on the religious principles and philosophy of Islam. Many are conflicting and many are contradicting due to lack of proper guidance and research, especially of the Mullahs.
I strongly feel that you may get many good and satisfactory answers if you go through the learned papers and studies. I may be allowed to refer to the publications of Dr. Zakir Naik of India (vide his presentations in “PEACE TV” programmes.
Please try to understand that the Holy “Koran” is not the Prophet Muhammad and the Prophet Muhammad is not the Holy “Koran”. They are related. But they are not the same as in may other religions.
Islam directs the Muslims to respect the great founders of all religions; Islam recognizes the rights of the Non-Muslims; Islam recognizes the property rights of women; Islam stands for peace. We may recognize Islam in its total value and not by any fragmented interpretation.
Sir, I respect you and your interest in Islam and the Muslims. It will be appreciated if you continue your study and research on the subject.”
My response:
Dear Shamsud Doulah Sahab,
Thank you very much for going through my pieces in “Mukto Mona” with patience. Unfortunately, I don’t believe in religions as these are man made concepts. All such concepts have been operationalised (constructs) in the vested interests of contractors of all religions. There may be some good things in all religions. But there are more bad things also. Religions have divided people like no other divisive factors taken together. I don’t have any confusion, whatsoever, between Qur’an and Prophet. My problem with religions starts when each religion proclaims to be the truest and best. Will your statement “Islam, Christianity and Judaism are one religion with reformed status in different phases concluded in Islam by the Holy Koran” be accepted by a Christian? It will always be your statement versus his. All religions had and have compromised humanity and compassion in the name of religion. You talk of many good things of Islam (other religions also claim the same). I shall not contest those here. But are those good aspects of Islam in practice in Bangladesh? This is my second area of concern in respect of religion (Islam in this case).
I do not like to refer to Dr Zakir Naik in a positive manner. He sometime brings scholars/men of religion from other faiths in open forum for discussions with the object of saying that all religions are good. But he always puts Islam ahead of other religions. I have seen him openly finding faults with different Gospels and ultimately justifying that Islam is the only true religion. To me he is a dangerously brain-washed “Pandit Murkha”. He is allowing fanatics of other religions to come out with their Dr Zakir Naiks. Dr Zakir Naik has made himself a “marketing product” like “Baba Ramdev”.
I request you to go through the ebook “Je Satya Bola Hoyni” by Akash Malik. It is available in the internet. Just try to read the book without any preconceived notion.
I sincerely thank you for your open hearted comments and look forward to interact with you in future.