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The Bengali daily Janakantha http://www.dailyjanakantha.com/ of
October 15, 2004 published a cover story on the fallout of Professor
Hans Kippenberg's scholarly paper presented at the recently concluded
seminar on religious militancy held in
Dhaka
,
Bangladesh
. The focus of the German professor's paper was very relevant to the
main subject of the conference. In his paper, Professor Kippenberg
attempted to assess the root cause of Islamic militancy. He wanted to show
there could be Islamic theological codification behind Jihadi aspiration
of militant Muslims. As expected, his speech was not welcomed by
Bangladeshi Islamists. For a typical Islamist, any sort of critical
inquiry of their so-called peaceful religion is prohibited. To them, a
critic of Islam has no right to live. They know that threat, coercion and
intimidation were the main factors that kept Islam a primitive
religious practice for thousands of years. They are well aware of this
historical reason, which prevented Islam from metamorphosing into a tolerant
religion. They want to keep the status quo intact. I am giving the literal
translation of the Janakantha
cover story.
Janakantha
/ October 15, 2004
Islamic Constitution Movement: Arrest
Researcher Professor Hans; otherwise the German embassy would be
blockaded.
Staff Reporter:
The Islamic Constitution Movement demanded the exemplary punishment of
German researcher Professor Hans and the officials of the Bangladesh
Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) immediately. A
central leader of the Islamic Constitution Movement, Professor Syed
Belayet Hossain said, "If Hans and BIISS officials are not arrested,
the German embassy would be blockaded.
Speaking at a discussion forum at the
Islamic Constitution Complex on Thursday Professor Syed Belayet Hossain
declared the blockade plan of the German embassy. The discussion program
was presided by the Dhaka City Secretary of the Islamic Constitution
Movement, Rashid Ahmed Ferdous. A few of the other speakers included
Maulana Syed Mosaddeq Billah, Mufti Noor Hossain Noorani, and A.S.M.
Saiful Islam,the director of Ahban Industrial Conglomerate.
Professor Syed Belayet Hossain said, "The
German Professor Hans's speech is unpardonable as he made taunting and
derogatory remarks about the peaceful religion Islam and pioneer of peace
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him)". Professor Hossain declared,
"Because of Hans speech, if the coalition government does not punish him
exemplarily, then the devotee people would surround the German
embassy". He urged the government and their Islamic coaltion
partners to take constructive steps against those who were conspiring
against Islam and Muslims.
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