Non-Muslims in Muslim countries Archives

A Bangladeshi social media sensation in a recent interview exposed the extent of online hate, bigotry, abuse and chilling threats from Muslims she had to endure, all because of her religious identity. Hundreds of people not only used unspeakable profanity against her and her family, but also the Gods she prayed to. Some even left threats describing how they would molest her. The virtual terror unleashed upon her not only wrecked her mental wellbeing, but made her second guess every aspect of her identity and life in Bangladesh. Is it a sin to be born as a Hindu in Bangladesh? She recounts that she couldn’t sleep for days.

While speaking with Manju Ahmad, anchor of a Bangladeshi talk show, the celebrated TikToker Samonty Shoumi stated that she had posted a video of herself at the Durga Puja Pandal on the seventh day of Durga Puja this year. In response, Muslims, who had so far been unaware of her religious background, hurled unimaginable abuse at her, including: “You are a sub-human”; “You Hindu whore”; “F*ck you and f*ck your fake idol-worshipping religion”; “Dirty Hindu maid,” and so on. There were choicest of obscenities, very descriptive ones, for the Hindu Goddess Durga as well. While most of the expletives were beeped out on the show, we have tried to provide the closest possible translations of the Bengali slang. Apart from these, in numerous comments people said that they were unfollowing her upon learning that she was a Hindu. Muslims, irrespective of gender or age, tagged each other, directing people in their network to unfollow her because she was a Hindu. Samonty further revealed that around a thousand people unfollowed her that day.

In response to the Islamic attack, Samonty said that she was raised in Bangladesh, but it never occurred to her that she didn’t belong there; she has, however, now been introduced to the jihadi side of the society of which she is a part. Looking into the camera, she asserted that she took extreme pride in the family she was born into and the religion she belonged to. She emphasized that it was not Hindus who carried explosives onto a plane, and pointed out that the recent attacks on the Hindus were carried out for alleged blasphemy against Islam, though everyone knows now who is the real culprit was (a Muslim man, Iqbal Hossain, placed a Quran at a Durga Puja pavilion, triggering an anti-Hindu pogrom in Bangladesh).

Samonty is not the first Bangladeshi celebrity to be harassed for not being a Muslim. All hell broke loose when National Award-winning actor Chanchal Chowdhury posted a picture of him with his mother on Mother’s Day this year. As he has a religiously ambiguous name, most people had no idea he was a Hindu. However, the bright vermillion on his mother’s hair partition (a sign of matrimony worn by Hindu women) gave away his religious affiliation. Rabid religious fanatics came out of the virtual woodwork to spew vitriol against him and hurl revolting epithets at his mother. Some suggested that he must convert to Islam, while others explained how every human being is born a Muslim, but goes astray after he starts worshipping idols.

Things are not very different either for Hindu sportsmen in Bangladesh. A couple of years ago, Hindu cricketer Liton Das drew massive hate for being a Hindu after he shared good wishes for Durga Puja on social media. Some Bangladeshi Muslims can get remarkably creative with their slurs. One Md Metun stated that the status of the Hindu goddess Durga was lower than that of a strand of a fur on a dog’s paw in a Muslim’s home (domesticating dogs is haram in Islam). Liton was compelled to concede and take down the picture featuring good wishes for Durga Puja.

Interestingly, in portraying itself as a sad, hapless, underprivileged South Asian country struggling with lack of educational and medical infrastructure, Bangladesh has received massive grants from international welfare bodies. But beyond that pity-arousing surface, Bangladesh is home to hundreds of thousands of Muslims who have no interest in the growth of their country. Their efforts are all directed toward hating non-Muslims, forming massive mobs and ransacking Hindu villages, putting up fake stories of blasphemy by Hindus, and then attacking them. If they are not able to attack anyone physically, these religious zealots quench their fanaticism by hounding non-Muslims online. It is funny because just a couple of forefathers ago, this entire demography was a Hindu civilization converted to Islam through the application of force or fear, by some Muslim invader or the other from across Asia.

COLUMN BY

ASHLYN DAVIS

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Once again, anger and fear resurface among Christians living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, who also are preparing to celebrate Christmas amidst the restrictions due to the Covid19 pandemic.

However, their concerns are not because of the spread of coronavirus, but rather because of a letter (which was made public on social media and other Palestinian websites) that was sent to the government of Hamas in Gaza regarding the upcoming celebrations of Christmas.

The letter, entitled “Activities to reduce interaction with Christmas during the next two weeks,” was sent by the Director-General of the General Administration of Preaching and Counseling of the Palestinian Endowment Ministry in Gaza.

In what appeared to be an official correspondence between Palestinian officials, the letter discussed the steps taken during “an emergency meeting” that was held in Gaza on December 15. It included the issuance of “awareness and guidance” that needed to be implemented by 10 departments within the Islamic Waqf ministry.

The main goal behind this campaign would include “issuing fatwas [to prohibit Muslims from participating in Christmas], releasing videos, and requesting some preachers” to talk about the great sins of celebrating their holidays with the Christians.

It is worth noting that the number of Christians still living in Gaza may not reach 1000, while the Orthodox and Catholic churches continue to provide parish services to the remaining families, in addition to two schools whose students are mostly Muslims.

After Hamas gained full control of the Strip, the Baptist Church in Gaza, which had operated since 1950, was soon almost shattered. In October 2007, Rami Ayyad, one of its active members in Gaza, who managed its Christian bookstore there, was kidnapped, tortured, and then killed.

After Ayyad’s assassination, seven church leaders left for the West Bank, while Hanna Massad, the church’s pastor, moved to Jordan with his family.

Since Hamas installed Shari’ah law in Gaza, which fomented further threats against the remaining Christians from Islamic extremists, Christians in general feared gathering in groups. They no longer wear crosses, while women dare not move around freely by themselves or be unveiled.

Hamas has always prohibited the Christians from holding public celebrations during Christmas and New Year, ever since its usurpation of power in 2007. This time, it intends to socially isolate them as well.

In the West Bank, the situation of the Christians may seem relatively better, but the fear of Islamic jihad remains a ghost haunting them.

The number of Christians in Bethlehem, which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, is rapidly dwindling. Christians today make up merely 15% of what was once known as a Christian-majority town. The violent military actions taken by Fatah militants wreaked havoc on the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ after the outbreak of the so-called Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000.

Palestinian Christians singing Christmas carol near the Church of the Nativity

A few years ago, a visa clerk at the US consulate disclosed to this writer that Palestinian Christians who met the US tourist visa requirements often decided to overstay their visit to the United States, and eventually applied for political asylum because of fear of growing Islamic jihad activity within the Palestinian society. Those applicants share with the USCIS in secrecy their valid stories of persecution at the hands of “their Muslim brethren.”

On the other side of the country, Christians inside Israel tell a completely different story. They increasingly are incorporated in all walks of life, and their numbers are growing. It is worth noting that their academic achievements rival those of the majority Jewish population.

The head of the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association recently posted on his Facebook page an appeal to the Likud, the main party of the current Israeli government. “We call upon the Likud party which is the [ Israeli] government to open up for appointing Christians and to work on integrating our Christian community and our youth into the state of Israel. This is the responsibility of the members of the Likud party today.”

The Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic, recited by Shadi Khaloul, head of the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association

In Jordan, where Christians have lived so far in peace and safety and enjoyed opportunities that secured them access to both the public and the private sectors, the picture has begun to change.

Yesterday, The Students’ Union of the College of Sharia at the University of Jordan issued a statement expressing its refusal to erect a Christmas tree and light inside the university courtyard. It added that what the university did is a matter that does not appease God in a country whose religion is Islam.

“Muslims, in general, are living in a crisis because the image of Islam has worldwide been shaken. I am not surprised that they seek to defuse their anger in the remaining Christian minorities.” George Abu Kova, a Palestinian Christian who lives in the United States commented on Facebook in reply to Hamas’s letter against Christmas.

Samir Qumsiyeh, a former advisor to the Orthodox and Catholic Patriarchs in Jerusalem, expressed his dismay and anger to the letter in a post on Facebook, saying, “Hamas’s positions are well known. Have you forgotten that Ismail Haniyeh [Hamas Prime Minister] congratulated Erdogan for turning the Hagia Sophia Church into a mosque and thus ignored the feelings of Christians in general and the Christian Palestinians in particular? Then you hear from them that we are one people within all its components.” Unfortunately, our reality is painful and we have no future.“

COLUMN BY