I was
born in a Muslim family. I was forced by my mother to read the Koran
every morning, to pray namaz, and to fast during Ramadan.
While
I was growing up, I was taken by my mother to a pir, a religious cult
leader respected by Muslims. He had his own group, who believed in a
genie and superstitions. The pir declared that women who laughed in
front of men and went out of the house
had been taken over by the genie and they were brutally beaten by the
pir so that the genie would leave. He gave a scary description of hell.
Whoever visited him gave money.
|
|
|
The
pir was surrounded by young women who massaged his body and served him
whatever he needed. One day, in my presence, he declared that keyamout,
the destruction day of the Earth, was coming soon, and that there was
no need for women to marry. They should sacrifice their lives for Allah.
I was
horrified to see all the torture he did to get rid of the genie and
to listen to the description of hell and waiting for keyamout. But it
did not come.
The pir
used to treat sick people by uttering sura and beating them. Water was
declared holy and said to cure sick people. The sick became sicker after
drinking the water. I was also treated by a pir, but I was not cured
until my physician father treated me with scientific medicine.
I was
encouraged by my father to get a secular education. I learned about
the big bang, evolution, and the solar system and became suspicious
about Allah’s six-day adventure to make the whole universe, the Adam
and Eve story, and stories of suns moving around the Earth and mountains
like nails to balance the Earth so that the Earth would not fall down.
My mother asked me not to ask any questions about Allah and to have
blind faith in Allah. I could not be blind.
Then I
studied the Koran instead of reading it without knowing the meaning.
I found it total bull-shit. The Koran, believed by millions, supported
slavery and inequalities among people - in other countries the equality
of women had been established as a human right and the moon had already
been won by men. Men had the right to marry four times, divorce, have
sex with female slaves, and beat their wives. Women were to hide their
bodies because the female body is simply a sexual object. Women were
not allowed to divorce their husbands, enjoy inheritance, or have their
testimony in court considered as seriously as men’s. I found that
Allah prescribed Muslims to hate non-Muslims and kill apostates.
With my
own conscience I found religion ridiculous because it stops free thought,
reason, and rationality. My father taught
me to believe nothing without reason. I did that. I could not believe
religion and I became an atheist. I started writing against religion
and all the religious superstitions. I was attacked, verbally, physically.
The outrage of the religious people was so big that I had to leave my
country.
I lived
in one of the poorest countries in the world. I saw how poverty was
glorified by religion and how the poor are exploited. It is said
the poor are sent to the Earth to prove their strong faith for Allah
in their miserable life. I have not seen any religious teaching that
calls for a cure for poverty. Instead the rich are supposed to make
Allah happy by giving some help (Mother Teresa’s type of help). The
poor should remain poor in society, and opportunists can use them to
buy a ticket for heaven.
So I don’t
accept Allah, His cruel unholiness. I have my own conscience, which
inspired me to support a society based on equality and rationality.
Religion is the cause of fanaticism, bloodshed, hatred, racism, conflict.
Humanism can only make people humane and make the world livable.
Taslima
Nasrin,
the Bengali writer, physician,
feminist and secular humanist, became the target of Islamists first
in 1993 when she published Lajja, a fictional account of the communal
frenzy that unleashed in Bangladesh as an after-effect of the demolition
of Babri Masjid in India on December 6, 1992 by Hindu fanatics. Heeding
to the demands of Muslim fanatics, the Bangladesh government banned
the novel. With several fatwas (to execute) issued against her by Muslim
Clerics, Taslima Nasrin left Bangladesh in 1994 and has been in exile
in various countries, mainly in Europe. In 2004 she came to India. Being
a Bengali writer, she decided to settle in Kolkata, which she calls
her home.
On August
9, 2007, when she was at a meeting (hosted by Center for Inquiry - India)
in Hyderabad to release a Telugu translation of her book, Shodh, she
was attacked by Muslim fundamentalists led by three members of the Andhra
Pradesh Legislative Assembly belonging to Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
(MIM). “We are proud of our MLAs a Taslima Nasrin needs the harshest
punishment for her writings agains Islam. The next time she come to
Hyderabad, we will implement the fatwa (of death) against her”, said
Akbaruddin Owaisi, the MIM floor leader in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
On September
21, 2007, “All India Minority Forum”, a group of militant Islamists,
organized a violent protest (resulting in the deployment of army) in
the streets of Kolkata against granting Indian visa to Taslima Nasrin.
Pressurized by the authorities (the CPM state secretary demanded that
Taslima Nasrin should leave Kolkata if her stay resulted in violence),
Taslima left for Jaipur. She was later shifted to Delhi and the Intelligence
Bureau kept her in a ‘safe house’ within a National Security Guards
complex. Under constant pressure from the Government of India and because
of her deteriorating health, Taslima left for London on 18 March 2008.
|