Secularism is not mere a simple word. The repercussion of this concept is far-flung. Historically, it is intertwined with vengeance and violence; persecution and execution. Atheist thinkers of the so-called enlightened period put forward this worldview or ideology based on materialistic philosophy. Therefore, the word secularism is fundamentally implicated with negative connotation when compared with monotheistic religious worldview. Scholars and philosophers of our time have been trying to define or depict this secularism concept in a more presentable way in order to get the acceptance from public or to avoid public backlash. As a consequence, there are several versions of secularism concept have been emerged over the ages, for instance, French secularism, American secularism (allow more freedom from religious point view), English secularism, secularism without democracy (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan etc.), Hindu secularism (India) and Muslim secularism (some Arab countries, Indonesia etc).If we consider the models of Western secularism and secularism without democracy (it should be, since they are more developed), there are some universal core principles of secularism including modernization, progressiveness, human rationalism, freethinking and freedom of expression (in political sense, this is not applicable for china and Russian block). As an outcome of these core values, there are some social norms have established in the secular society. What we know as "sin" in religious perspective that is not sin or is legalized in secular term depending on personal freedom until it does not harm other people directly. Homosexuality, for instance, was defined as mental disease until 1973 in American Psychiatric Association. Currently, most of the Western countries regard this phenomenon as natural and accepted in the society. The same-sex marriage has been legalized in more than 23 European countries (first in Denmark in 1989), US (some states), and some countries of Latin America, South Africa and Nepal (judicially mandated but not yet legislated). Many more countries are on the process of legalization of same-sex marriage in order to keep up pace with modernization and progressiveness. Forget about nudity, sexual promiscuity; these days' people of the secular society are campaigning to legalize incest (see also Wikipedia): sex between father-daughter, brother-sister (my hands are scrambling to write about this phenomenon).



How about Muslim secularism?

Among Arab countries, Islam is "the religion of the state" in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Syria, Mauritania, Algeria, Bahrain, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Tunisia and Yemen. Since all those countries' regimes are undemocratic and unpopular due to their inefficiency, corruption and Westernized way of life, they try to claim legitimacy by resorting God's name. On the other hand, Malaysia and Indonesia can be considered as secular state (both Muslim and non-Muslim have separate civil courts). Army is required to rescue secularism in Turkey and Algeria.

Over the decades atheistic form of secularism have been tried in many Muslim countries (such as Iraq under Saddam's regime) but ended with failure, bloodshed, oppression and execution. Secularism was also tried in Afghanistan and Iran but backfired. In Iran 1928, Reza Khan seized power in 1928. It decreed European attire for men (1936) and banned hijab and chador for women in order to generate Europeanizing Muslims. This type of oppression led to the Iranian Revolution in1979, which reversed the decree, where hijab is obligatory. Interestingly, the secular rulers of the Muslim countries have attempted to implant Westernized secularism but in most cases failed due to public outcry. Even though in Tunisia, practicing Muslim is the prerequisite to be the president according to constitution, government has declared hijab as "sectarian dress code" and banned from public sphere. Police have been employed to implement this decree fiercely. There are many allegations to human right organization about harassments; woman wearing Muslim dress was raped in the police station in order to spread the fear among people who wish to wear Muslim dress. Hijab is used to snatch away on the street, university by police. Another Muslim secular country, Morocco is on the verge of banning Muslim dress in the ground of the symbol of fundamentalist/Islamist.



Turkish model of secularism:

Turkey (having 99% Muslim) is considered to be the role model of secularism in Muslim country according to Western observers. Ottoman Empire ruled the world for seven hundred years based on Islamic principles. Caliphs and ummah of the moribound Ottoman Empire were dirfted away from their guiding principles. As a consequence, it became corrupted and infficient. Mustafa Kemal Pasha, a military commander led the Turkish War of Independence to form the Republic of Turkey from the ruins of the defunct Ottoman Empire. The Turks revered Ataturk so much and given the title as 'Atatürk', meaning Father of the Turks. He used to give sermons during Friday prayer under Ottoman rule. He was an astute statesman and strewed strategist. He didn't express to the public how he would develop Turkey until he became president. He carefully devised a secular master plan, known as Kemalism. Ataturk and associates first started to question the religious values publicly and held the view that religion was not compatible with modern science and progress.

In order to implement Ataturk's ideology, government abolished Islamic religious institutions; replace the Shariah law with adapted European legal codes; replaced the Islamic calendar with the Gregorian calendar; replace the Arabic script (used to write the Turkish language) with the Latin script and closed all religious schools . Morevoer, Ataturk took control of the country's 70,000 mosques and restricted the building of new mosques. Muftis and imams (prayer leaders) were appointed and educated by the government. Imams were used to preach his ideology. According to Ataturk modernity was valued and represented as not wearing any religious dress or being non-religious.

Mustafa Kemal, took an infamous famous "hat revolution" in 1925. By this hat law, he outlawed all religious turbans and made it compulsory for civil servants to wear the "headgear of the civilized peoples. It was impossible to wear this rimmed hat during the daily Muslim prayer, in which the believers put their foreheads to the ground as a sign of submission to the Almighty. One religious scholar named İskilipli Atıf, wrote an treatise titled "The Hat and the Imitation of the Franks," He objected to the idea by arguing that it would amount to the abandonment of Muslim culture. Later, he was arrested and charged with treason. In his defense, İskilipli Atıf said that he stood behind his views, and the court cold-bloodedly sentenced him to death. The old man was executed by hanging on Feb. 4, 1925. "Don't cry my child," he said in his last hours to his daughter who was in tears. "Just recite the Koran for my soul." He was only one of the many victims of the hat revolution. According to the Turkish version of Encyclopedia the number of people killed by the regime was as high as 78. Moreover, many others were sentenced to 10 to 15 years of imprisonment.

Druing Ataturk regime, the veil and hijab (headscarves) were discouraged and restricted for women. After some time the Atatürk regime moved towards more extreme measures. Ataturk prohibited religious education. The existing mosques were turned into museums or used for the regimes secular purposes. Those who protested against his ideology were brutally oppressed in order to suppress the rebellions after massive bloodsheds. (for example, Seyh Sait rebellion in southeastern Turkey claimed about 30,000 lives). In 1980s, amidst this environment, a new generation of educated, articulate and religiously motivated leaders emerged to challenge the dominance of the Kemalist political ruling elite. By their own example of piety, prayer, and political activism, they have helped to spark a revival of Islamic observance in Turkey. Works of Fatemullah Gullen and Harun Yahya have contributed in this regards. Secular establishment/elites were frigthened to this revival. Secular military took over the power in order to protect the secularism. As a control measure, the wearing of the hijab in universities was first banned shortly after a 1980 military coup. The headscarf is banned in the public square such as, governmental building, schools, colleges, courts and universities (both private and public).



How about Bangladesh in the context of secularism?

If we consider the positive connotation of secularism, the present laws in our country fulfill the requirement of secularism. In Bangladesh, everybody can freely practice their own religion and at the same time, constitution is not sharia based. In some cases, our system is better than that of US. For instance, every religious group enjoys their important religious festival as national holidays in Bangladesh, which is unthinkable in US and Europe. But astonishingly, when Awami league government comes to power, the ideology of secularism comes to scene. Does this mean, policymakers and intellectuals of AL want to impose atheistic version of secularism in Bangladesh? Government assures people verbally but general people like me are not assured due to some legitimate concerns. It is quite well known that supporters (journalist, intellectuals, leftist) of staunched secularism always try to mock or ridicule Islam, Islamic values, Islamic symbols in the name of attacking Jamaat and therefore general people may not be aware. It has been well established as norms that intellectuals of secularists' forums who are fiercely promoting for secularism in Bangladesh, ridicule religious values, symbols and our prophet. It is quite rational to doubt their motives and version of secularism. In this regards, one of the key Awami league policy makers, Ex-Mayor Hanif, repeatedly and confidently protested about the secular view in AL constitution. According to the report published in the Daily Star (2005) he said; "I am not secular because I believe in Islam and follow its teachings ". Afterwards, Mayor Hanif was politically sidelined. Before election, one of the chief policymakers clearly stated his plan which was published internationally regarding the establishment of secular system in Bangladesh:

"Can the Awami League stop the growing tide of Islamism in a country that has seen the sale of burkas rise nearly 500 percent in the last five years? The answer is yes if it implements the following secular renewal plan. First, it must modernize the curriculum of the madrasses. Second, it must build proper, secular elementary schools and hospitals. Third, it should increase the recruitment of secular-minded students into the military from secular cadet academies. Fourth, it must attempt to rehabilitate known extremist clerics. Lastly, and perhaps the most abstract solution, it must push to vanquish Bangladeshi poverty and illiteracy that consistently ranks among the worst in the world. This plan would make the country less hospitable to a growing Islamist movement and help return Bangladesh to its secular roots".

Why does this key policy maker label religious dress as sectarian dress? If we carefully look at the proposed plan, you will find that the proposal is in paralleled with Turkish model, which is atheistic version of secularism. In the meantime, education policy has been made in that direction in order to implement this master plan in the long run. The education policy has been made based on thoughts and experiences of several individuals whose ideological view are well known from their seminar, symposium, books, and columns. It is noticeable that their ideological thoughts have been reflected in the policy. As a general citizen of Bangladesh, it is my right to see the explanation whether motives are really honest, since my kids and the next generation would be affected by this policy. In historical perspective, it would be imprudent to divert the general public attention just by labeling this important issue as the propaganda of Jamaat or Islamists.



http://shodalap.com/sorowar/311
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5413808.stm
http://thedailystar.net/2005/10/23/d51023060364.htm
http://www.yvonneridley.org/yvonne-ridley/articles/hijab-ban-in-tunsia-4.html
http://hir.harvard.edu/index.php?page=article&id=1784