Bangladesh may drop Islam as country's official religion following attacks on minorities

The word Islam to be removed from Bangladesh | www.WorldMuslimCongress.com


This is good news indeed and I welcome it. For the last full decade I have been thinking of starting a movement to strip the word Islam off the titles of Government of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan and a few other nations. What is Islamic about them? Not much!

To call themselves an Islamic Government - they have to have the following:

1. Respect other faiths in the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad's Madinah treaty
2. No compulsion and forced conversions or forced marriages

3. No honor killing
4. No death penalty for Apostasy and Blasphemy

5. No aggression towards other nations, no war is permitted unless it is in self defense
6. No terrorism, you cannot kill yourselves let alone others.
7. Compulsory education for girls, an Islamic requirement to think for oneself

8.  No application of shariah laws from the Middle Ages to any country in the 21st. century.

9.  Gender parity in all decision making at every level of Islamic education, law, and clergy.

10.  Muslims, including men and women, from diverse perspectives and countries must be involved in the interpretation of our faith, with a view to ending the supremacy of Arabs and the Arabic language in Islamic discourse.  All Muslims must be equals regardless of gender, language, ethnicity, sect or any other characteristics.

(Items 8-10 added by Ali Shaheen) 

A lot of it is human behavior, no matter what religion they follow, but a state should check and stop such acts.

Bad things are done by bad people, why blame religion?

Religion should not be a part of the government, yes, each one of us with the exception of our Atheist friends, believes in God in one form or the other and it will influence us, but our actions should not be pushed on or expected from others.  You do your thing, I will do mine, as long as we are not robbing each other, we should mind our own religion.

Mike Ghouse
www.MuslimSpeaker.com
www.WorldMuslimCongress.com

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Bangladesh may drop Islam as country's official religion following attacks on minorities

Courtesy: Times of India

lam could be dropped as Bangladesh's official religion following a number of attacks in the country against people of other faiths.

Christians, Hindus and Muslim minority Shiites have recently faced attacks that are believed to have been carried out by Islamic extremists.

The country's Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments in favour of removing Islam as the official religion of Bangladesh, the Daily Mail reported.

Islam has been the country's official religion since 1988, but the battle to overturn this - which is being supported by many minority religious leaders - will argue that the decision to designate Islam the official religion was illegal.

However it is unclear how much widespread the support the move would have in the country, where 90% of the population is Muslim, 8% are Hindu and 2% is made up of other minority religions.

In the past month, a Hindu priest was hacked to death at an attack at a temple in Bangladesh's Panchgarh district in which two Hindu followers were also injured, while in the past year several prominent religious minority bloggers have been murdered.

Islamist groups Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh and Ansarullah Bangla Team are believed to have carried out at least seven attacks on foreign and minority people in Bangladesh in the past year, and although the government denies there is an ISIS presence in the country, it is believed members are increasingly being recruited from there.