Defining Self and Other Bangladesh's Secular Aspirations and lts Writing of lslam (original) (raw)

Bangladesh's experience with secularism has been chequered. Beginning with a strong constitutional mandate and political rhetoric, the word "secularism" has been changed, removed and restored, while lslam remains the state religion. Aspirations to the principles of secularismtolerance, peaceful coexistence, and equal treatment of all religions by the Statehave been battled at the level of constitutional amendments and political affiliations. These aspirations also undergird a certain epistemic ground, framed by hermeneutic approaches, which produces particular ways of understanding the self as Muslim and its non-Muslim others. This article examines that epistemic Around, tracing the changes in constructions of the self and the other brought about by the manner in which the lslamic Foundation has approached the Quran, methods for reading it, and the manner in which it has advocated attachment to the lslamic tradition. The article highlights how an increasingly muted understanding of power has led to an ever expansive gap between Muslims and the non-Muslim others they share the nation state of Bangladesh with. I would like to thank the Pathways of Women's Empowerment RpC, which funded the part ofthis research that deals with the shaping ofwomen and Islam in the r95os and r96os in what was then East pakistan. The research on Abul Hashim is an outcome of that project. I wish to thank Firdous Azim, with whom I had thought of and proposed the work. I am also thankful to Mulki Al Sharmani for providing me with material, for reading and sending me comments on this article. I would also like to thank David Burrell and Mikhail Islam for their valuable feedback. Last but not least, I am thankful to my contacts at the Islamic Foundation, who have given me their time for interviews and helped with whatever material they considered useful. I gratefully acknowledge the comments olan anonymous reviewer.