The month of holy violence ?

On Friday night in the Dhaka restaurant they were choosy. On Saturday night in Baghdad,  when they killed 126 people including 25 children enjoying an evening out in the holy month of Ramzan, they were not.

Wait, it seems they were choosy on Saturday too.

Iraqi firefighters and civilians carry bodies of victims killed in a car bomb at a commercial area in Karada neighborhood, Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday. Khalid Mohammed / AP

Iraqi firefighters and civilians carry bodies of victims killed in a car bomb at a commercial area in Karada neighborhood, Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday. Khalid Mohammed / AP

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Killed for not being able to recite Koran and not wearing a veil

Twenty people who were dining in a restaurant in Dhaka, Bangladesh were killed by Islamic terrorists for not being able to recite Koran and not wearing a veil.

Gruesome image (blurred) released by ISIS

Gruesome image (blurred) released by ISIS

Which verse they should have recited ? Though not born a Muslim , I can tell the English translation of a few, though not by heart.

Should they recite this

Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment,              5:33

 

or this

And you did not kill them, but it was Allah who killed them. And you threw not, [O Muhammad], when you threw, but it was Allah who threw that He might test the believers with a good test. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing                                                                                         8:17

If those verses were recited, it would have reinforced the belief of the terrorist that heinous cruelty they are doing against those who cannot recite their holy book is for the mythical god and they will land up in heaven.

People may still say it has nothing to do with religious beliefs !

Shooting , hostage situation in Dhaka , Bangladesh

After the recent terror strike in Istanbul airport that killed 44 people, more disturbing news coming, this time from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Police exchanged gunfire with armed attackers Friday in a diplomatic zone of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Gunmen are holding about 20 people hostage at Holey Artisan Bakery, a cafe popular with expats, cafe owner Sumon Reza told CNN. A police officer in charge of a nearby police station was shot dead.

Another report :

Sumon Reza, superviser at the bakery, who escaped the attack, told reporters that at least 20 people were at the bakery when the attack began and all of them were foreigners. He saw two attackers and both of them were slim and appeared to be under 30. He said they had small firearms and at least one was carrying a sharp weapon. He said the attackers were shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ when coming into the bakery. Two of the bakery’s staff are also foreigners, he said. One baker, an Italian, had escaped the attack but the other one, an Argentine, could not, according to Reza. His information could not immediately be verified.

Holy month becoming a very violent month?

Atheists taking pot shots at feminism ?

Many a time I had seen this, both online and offline, in the West and in the East. I never understood the logic and reason behind it. It seems some atheists just hate feminism, though they claim themselves to be feminists.

I just happened to see this tweet this morning.

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What did he mean ?  His tweet is addressing feminists. He is implying that ALL feminists will criticise patriarchal religious values only if it is from Christianity. He is of the firm opinion that feminists do not and will not criticise patriarchal values seen in other religions, especially Islam.

He is supposed to be a rationalist, so before forming an opinion people will expect him to have solid evidence for his claim that feminists as a class do not criticise misogyny of Islam. But it seems he is selectively blind.  I can’t believe that he has not seen this picture.

I can’t also believe that he has not heard and read atheist feminists Ophelia Benson, Maryam Namazie , Taslima Nasreen and countless others who are vocally critical of misogyny in Islam.

So why he is generalising and branding all feminists with the same brush?  May be he wants people to think bad about feminism. May be he want people to think ALL feminists are hypocrites and are afraid of criticising Islam. What ever the motive, for me it is in very bad taste.

Chennai Rainbow Pride parade

Though homosexuality is still illegal in India under its oppressive colonial period law, there has been increasing acceptance and support for homosexuals in the civil society, at least in major cities.

Credit: Arun Sanker, AFP Getty images

Credit: Arun Sanker, AFP Getty images

On this Sunday  the South Indian city of Chennai witnessed  the annual Rainbow pride march of the LGBTQ community belonging to the Tamilnadu state.

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A fatwa in support for transgender rights

Homosexuality is legally disallowed in all countries of Indian subcontinent. But transgender people, though abused and pushed into sex trade, have some legal provisions to protect their rights. Now we have an Islamic fatwa too, supporting transgender rights, from Pakistan.

A man offers money to Sonia, 26, a transgender Pakistani, while dancing at a birthday party in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

A man offers money to Sonia, 26, a transgender Pakistani, while dancing at a birthday party in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

At least 50 clerics affiliated with a little known Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ummat have issued a fatwa (religious decree) that marriage with a transgender person is lawful.

The fatwa, released on Sunday, said a transgender person having “visible signs of being a male” may marry a woman or a transgender with “visible signs of being a female” and vice versa.

But, the fatwa added, a transgender person carrying “visible signs of both genders” may not marry anyone.

It declared that robbing transgender people of their share in inheritance was unlawful and that parents who deprive their transgender sons/daughters of inheritance were “inviting the wrath of God”.

The clerics called upon the government to take action against such parents.

The decree also dwelt upon societal attitudes towards transgenders. It went to the extent of terming ‘haraam’ any act intended to “humiliate, insult or tease” them.

The fatwa ended with a word on last rites, declaring that all funeral rituals for a transgender person will be the same as for any other Muslim man or woman.

So if a devout Muslim abuse a transgender person, he can be at least told that what he is doing is haraam ( against Islam). No such fatwa for homosexuals though. They remain haraam.

A petition to stop training in homeopathy !

Most people in India think homeopathy is accepted as science because Government is strongly promoting it.

Students in India who want to become a doctor write a tough entrance exam. Those who get top ranks usually choose  Scientific medicine while those who miss out by a mark or two choose to become a doctor in Ayurveda or Homeopathy. The students and their parents are made to believe that all are valid scientific ways of treatment. Once they become homeopathy doctors they will have to practice and defend homeopathy.

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