Islamic Lynch Mob Hounds Taslima Nasrin: Walking in Footsteps of the Prophet
Published November 28, 2007
In a couple of months, the Prophet pursued another huge caravan returning from Syria under the care of Quraysh leader Abu Sufyan. This led to the bloody battle of Badr, in which the Quraysh got defeated. Some 50 Quraysh were slain and a similar number captured, while Muhammad’s side lost only 15 Jihadists.
Muhammad’s violent plundering raids one after another and such bloodbaths, rather uncommon in Arabia, enraged some conscientious intellectuals of Medina. There was among them the first Taslima, named Asma bte Marwan ― a poetess. She composed poetic verses disparaging Muhammad’s heinous acts and railed the men of Medina for allowing such as a bloodthirsty person to settle in their community, who had no regard for life whatsoever even of his own kinfolk of Mecca.
As her verses spread quickly, an exasperated Muhammad said: “'Who will rid me of Marwan's daughter?” Umayr, a disciple of Muhammad, took up the job of finishing Asma off. On one night, Umayr stealthily entered Asma’s apartment, when she was deep asleep with her suckling baby on her bosom. Umayr removed the child quietly and plunged his sword into her breast with such force that it got stuck onto the couch. The next day at the mosque prayer, the Prophet thanked Umayr: 'You have helped God and His apostle, O 'Umayr” [Ibn Ishaq, p675-6].
Umayr belonged to Asma’s clan and when he was returning from upper Medina and passed by Asma’s sons burying their mother―they accused him of killing her, to which he responded: “if they dared to repeat things such as she had uttered, he would slay the whole clan of them” [William Muir, The Life of Mahomet, p240].
The next intellectual to be in line to embrace the same fate was another poet, 120-year old Abu Afak. Horrified by the bloodthirsty zeal of Muhammad’s followers in the name of their God and religion―he wrote verses condemning his actions. He even wrote a poem to incite the Quraysh to take revenge against Muhammad’s Badr massacre without regard for kinship whatsoever. The prophet sent another disciple, named Salim, to finish him off [Ibn Ishaq, p675].
There started the journey of Holy terror or Jihad against the intellectuals critical of Islam. Six years later when Muhammad conquered Mecca in 630 CE, he ordered death penalty of 10-12 people, who had criticized, strongly opposed, or, apostatized from, his creed. Those belonging to influential families were spared upon reconciliation achieved by lobbying from their families. Finally, four persons were executed, among whom were two singing-girls, who had composed songs ridiculing Muhammad [Muir, p392-3].
- Islamic Lynch Mob Hounds Taslima Nasrin: Walking in Footsteps of the Prophet
- Published: November 28, 2007
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Politics
- Filed Under: Culture: Society, Politics: International, Politics: Law and Rights
- Writer: Alamgir Hussain
- Alamgir Hussain's BC Writer page
- Alamgir Hussain's personal site
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Kind of scary.
Muslims are graetest threat to Indian security. The socalled moderates also are apologists not really mindful of the violence by the militants. Except in FFI I have not come across any muslim who unapologitically found fault with the violent attitudes of muslims in sttling things
SP, obviously India has suffered terribly from her Muslim problem, especially over Kashmir, since its birth. The worst days are still to come from wider Muslim community.
We hear Bangladesh is going to go under water in 4-5 decades. If India is to bear the burden, that's going to add to India's troubles big time.
Indian Hindus almost universally condemn the British Raj for dividing India; not so much for the economic exploitation. In reality, the Partition was the biggest gift from the British -- although not many would buy it.
Everyone in this planet has an explicit right to criticize his or her own religion and express views on any subject except the use of violent and profane language. If Islam or any religion for that matter is great, then it should be able to withstand any criticism from its followers. That could not be construed as insult. The problem is Islam is religion that is extremely derogatory to women like covering them with burqa, four wives per man, and no rights for women etc. like no other religion in this planet. What Taslima did is to speak against the evils of Islam and the atrocities of the Moslems in Bangladesh against Hindu minorities like force to marry one daughter to a Moslem for Islamification of the Hindu families in Bangladesh. Taslima, being an elite intellectual of Bangladesh, spoke against the evils of her own religion, own society, and own country. Being a woman of Islam is a crime in itself.
Being a woman in Bangladesh and India is no easy picnic either. In Bangladesh and India particularly West Bengal, women including female children, have no more rights than family pets. Scores of girls, women, and even female fetus are abused or tortured, or killed every single day under a variety of pretexts in these regions every single day. In Bangladesh, under the Law of Sharia and in West Bengal under the communist rule, the funeral of Democracy has been over a long long time ago. Thus, pushing for democratic rights or talking about that is nothing more than intellectual mumbo jumbo. Under these poisonous conditions of these societies, women are expected to be tortured and suffer in quiet pain and not expected to oppose or speak against let alone write about it.
Taslima Nasrin dared to write and chronicle them in magnificent eloquence that should be must reading for all high school students in all societies. That is not to put any religion on the spot but to start a Jihad against the abuse of women in this planet start a movement fro true equal rights fro men and women.
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Very interesting. Thanks for the article.