[Back
in 1988, old-school secular elites like Mr. Choudhury and his friends warned
that naming Islam the state religion would set the country on a slide toward
fundamentalism. But the country’s military leadership, eager for the populist
boost it got from passing a constitutional amendment that year to make Islam’s
status official, shrugged off their worries. The petition went nowhere.]
By Maher Sattar
DHAKA,
Bangladesh — It came as a surprise to Serajul Islam Choudhury, a retired
English professor, to learn that his petition to drop Islam as Bangladesh’s
state religion would finally be heard in court on Sunday.
For
one thing, he filed the petition 28 years ago. Of the 15 friends who had
signed, 10 were dead.
Back
in 1988, old-school secular elites like Mr. Choudhury and his friends warned
that naming Islam the state religion would set the country on a slide toward
fundamentalism. But the country’s military leadership, eager for the populist
boost it got from passing a constitutional amendment that year to make Islam’s
status official, shrugged off their worries. The petition went nowhere.
This
month, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court announced that the petition would at last be
heard. That decision came at a delicate time: The leadership of the governing
party, the Awami League, has committed to defending secular values, and anxiety
prompted by a series of extremist attacks has been rising.
The
petition has served as a test of public sentiment in Bangladesh, where
passionate splits over the role of Islam date to the 1971 war for independence
from Pakistan. Officials acknowledged nervousness as the court date approached.
After prayers on Friday, Islamic groups held protests calling for the hearing
to be canceled.
“This
hearing will be a blow against peace, it will be a blow against law and order,”
said Mufti Fayezullah, the joint secretary general ofHefazat-e-Islam, a
religious movement that helped organize the rallies. “The Muslims of this
country will not stand for it. Their conscience would not allow it.”
Mufti
Fayezullah, like many older Islamic leaders in Bangladesh, rejects the notion
that Bangladesh risks slipping into extremism. He said the petition had been
put forward by atheists.
“I
don’t like this term ‘moderate’ Islam,” he said. “Islam is Islam. It is the way
it always was. It will remain this way until the day of judgment.”
Article
2a of Bangladesh’s Constitution, which names Islam as the “state religion,” has
little practical effect. About 90 percent of Bangladeshis are Muslim; 8.5
percent are Hindu, with tiny Buddhist and Christian minorities.
Since
2009, when the Awami League took power, the Supreme Court has taken steps to
shore up secular values. It reinstated Article 12 of the Constitution, which
lays out “the ideal of secularism” and dates to 1972. In 2011, the court
recommended reviving Mr. Choudhury’s petition.
The
past year has brought rising fears about Sunni Muslim extremism in Bangladesh,
as domestic militant networks appeared to regroup after a period of inactivity.
Six writers and intellectuals who campaigned against Islam were killed in 2015,
most of them hacked to death with machetes.
In
the fall came signs that the militant cells were shifting their focus,
targeting Hindu priests, Christian converts and Shiite mosques. Since then, a
series of attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State extremist group on
social media sites. Officials deny that the organization has a presence inside
the country.
Alok
Sen, a Hindu activist in the Faridpur District, said religious minorities felt
more vulnerable than at any time in his memory.
“I’ve
been an activist for many years now,” he said. “I’ve taken part in a lot of
campaigns to promote the rights of religious minorities, but I was never
attacked. Today I no longer feel safe. Make of that what you will.”
Mr.
Choudhury, 79, said the rise in violence was linked to the decision to declare
Islam the state religion.
“It
changed the whole atmosphere of the country,” he said. “It gives a kind of
impunity to those who act in the name of Islam. People have over the years
gotten away with a lot in the name of religion, and it has led us to last
year’s murders.”
Nerves
were raw this week as the court date approached. The country’s attorney
general, Mahbubey Alam, said he planned to argue on Sunday for postponing
further action on the petition, saying the circumstances were too contentious.
He said he saw no connection between the rise in extremist violence and Islam’s
status as the country’s official religion.
“There
will always be some people trying to create havoc,” he said.
Ellen
Barry contributed reporting from New Delhi.