Grassroots Shibir activists not happy with “un-islamic” lifestyle of top Jamaat families

Translated from The Daily Janakantha. Original: http://goo.gl/2M7Ak

There is a growing sense of dissatisfaction among the grassroots Shibir workers on the issue of top Jamaat families “not practicing what they preach”. This issue has created a huge division among the top leaders and the activists, where the activists feel that they’re being cheated. Even the other Islamic parties of Bangladesh have expressed their concern over this hypocritical nature of Jamaat leaders.

The main complain of the field workers are regarding the educational system the leaders’ children are going through. One of the key campaigns of Jamaat is against the traditional (or as they call “western”) educational system. The leaders aggressively promote Islamic education, where you have to through the controversial Madrasa system. “No Islamic person can knowingly support the British-initiated so-called modern educational system” - Ghulam Azam, the ex-Amir of Jamaat wrote in is popular book “Islami educational system” (page 7). “People giving in to the western civilization are blindly supporting an education system which encourages the upbringing of our children as animals rather than humans. It is impossible to learn any kind of moral lesson necessary to be a human from this system. The overall ambience of our schools is not favorable for Islamic education at all” – he also wrote.

But the workers say that the leaders don’t practice this so-called “Islamic educational system” even in their immediate families because they don’t believe the quality is on par with the traditional system.

There is plenty of evidence supporting their claim. “I didn’t put my sons through the Madrasa system because I want them to be competent enough to survive in the society” -the same Ghulam Azam wrote in another of his books. He is the father of six sons. All of them went through the traditional educational system rather than going to Madrasas. One of them, Abdullahil Mamum Al Azmi got his SSC and HSC degrees from Khilgaon Govt. School and Dhaka College respectively. Currently, he is pursuing his MA at Economics in Manchester, UK. Another son, Abdullahil Amin Al Azmi left Bangladesh while studying in Dhaka college and started working in a knitting factory in London. The third son, Abdullahil Aman Al Azmi passed SSC and HSC from Agragami High School and Dhaka Central college and joined the military later. The fourth son, Abdullahil Noman Al Azmi passed SSC and HSC from Ideal School and Dhaka College, and went on to get his Bachelors and Master’s degree in management from Dhaka University. The last son, Abdullahil Salman Al Azmi passed SSC and HSC from Ideal School and Dhaka College. Later he got his bachelors and Masters from Aligarh University, India.

The hypocrisy is even more severe in the case of Matiur Rahman Nizami, the current Amir of Jamaat. Shibir workers claimed his family has a history of corruption, drinking, adultery – all of which stands strictly against what they preach. His wife Samsunnahar Nizami was the principle of Manarat International School. She was accused of funds embezzlement and was forced to leave the school. Later she opened up her own school using hard-earned cash collected by grassroots shibir workers for Jamaat-Shibir fund, which is completely illegal. Nizami’s eldest son Tarek has allegedly led a life involving partying, drinking and other “un-islamic” activities while he was studying in Malaysia Islamic University. He later came back to Dhaka and joined East-West University as a lecturer, later transferred to North-South University. Even in Dhaka there are serious allegations against him for being sexually involved with the students, which is generally against the law in many Bangladeshi universities. Although Nizami claims his son has been involved with Shibir, the workers said they never saw him participating in any of their activities.

There is also allegation of corruption against Ali Mujahid, the secretary general of Jamaat. He allegedly sent his eldest son Tajdid to Australia using Jamaat funds. His daughter Tamrina completed her SSC and HSC from Viqarunnisa School & College a prominent but “un-islamic” school in the heart of Dhaka. She is currently pursuing her Bachelors in English from Al-Manarat University.

Assistant Secretary General Md. Kamruzzaman is the father of five sons and one daughter. His first son, Hasan Iqbal Wami completed his SSC and HSC from National Bank school and College and went on to get his Bachelors and Master’s degree in media and mass communication from Islamic University. The second son, Hasan Iqram Wali and Hasan Jaman Safi also passed their SSC and HSC from the same school. Ahmed Hasan Jaman completed his O levels from Academia English Medium School. Another prominent Jamaat leader, Mir Kashem has two sons and three daughters. One of them, Mir Ahmed Bin Kashem (Salman) completed his O-level and A-level from Al-Manarat English Medium School and currently studying dentistry in Pakistan Dental College. All of his other sons and daughters also went to the same English medium school.

These family portfolios clearly expose the blatant hypocrisy in the top leadership of Jamaat. They have been portraying themselves as the “savior of Islamic lifestyle and education”, although none of them practice it themselves, which casts serious doubts on their sincerity. “If they don’t believe in Islamic education themselves, what are we fighting for?” – was a common response from frustrated Shibir activists.