Muslims (finally) part of the American family

This will probably come as no surprise, but my favourite part about Obama's inauguration speech was the line "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers." Something like this would have been nice during the campaign, coming from Obama himself, and not just Colin Powell (although I certainly admire Powell for what he said). Now, though, Obama has righted a significant campaign wrong. The word "Muslim" is thus no longer a "smear"; it is part of what the US is.

My second favourite line was, "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect." And as part of the launch of this "new way forward", in his interview to Al Arabiya, Obama said "America is a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers", moving the Muslims into first place. This is not to say that the Muslims must have precedence in lists; rather, my point is obviously that delegitimising the Americanness of Muslim Americans has just got a lot harder.

It's certainly too early to say that American Muslims have "arrived", but it's a good start. It makes me happy for my American Muslim wife, but also for Muslims in the West in general, as well as for the US, which, it seems, is indeed on its way to building a "more perfect union".

[This is my 300th post on Notes on Religion.]

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Nepal's official religion goes with the king

Nepal, which is now the world's newest republic, has not only abolished its monarchy, but has also rescinded the officially privileged status of Hinduism in the Hindu-majority country. Thus, the only country in the world where Hinduism used to be, until recently, a state religion, is now secular (BBC).

Deoband against eating beef when there's a ban in place

In an edict issued in April, Darul Uloom Deoband, an Islamic seminary in India, ruled that "Muslims must refrain from cow slaughter, beef eating or trading in cow hide" if they live in a place where a ban on cow slaughter is in effect. The Hindu-majority state of Uttar Pradesh, where Deoband is situated, banned the slaughter of cows in 2001.

According to Mufti Habibur Rahman of Deoband, "Meat eaters can opt for buffaloes, goats, chicken and fish. [The] Shariat doesn't allow for beef eating if it's prohibited under law."

Javed Anand, a Muslim community activist, commented that "Muslims should respect Hindu sentiments and avoid cow slaughter. [The] influential seminary's fatwa would go a long way in ensuring this" (Times of India).

A very sensible decision.

Indian judge orders Hindu gods to appear before him

Sunil Kumar Singh, a judge in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, has used newspaper ads to summon the Hindu gods Ram and Hanuman to "appear before the court personally". Earlier, he had sent them court summons through the mail, but the letters were returned. The postal authorities said that the addresses used had been "incomplete".

Singh is seeking Ram and Hanuman's testimony in a case that has remained unresolved for the past 20 years. It involves a land dispute concerning a Hindu temple dedicated to the two gods. Manmohan Pathak, the priest of the temple, says that the 1.4 acre plot the temple is located on belongs to him, as it was granted to his grandfather by a local king. On the other hand, local people assert that the temple belongs to the gods it is dedicated to. Singh wants to ask the gods their opinion on the ownership dispute.

According to Bijan Rawani, a lawyer in Dhanbad, "since the land has been donated to the gods, it is necessary to make them a party to the case" (BBC).

You can't make this stuff up! This should help the priest's case, though.

Police role questioned in tragic Kolkata marriage

Last September, a Muslim man named Rizwanur Rahman, 29, was found dead on the railway tracks in Kolkata. His death, attributed by the police to suicide and by his family to murder, ended a marriage that was not wanted by his in-laws and, more controvercially, the Kolkata police.

Rahman's widow, Priyanka Todi, 23, is a Hindu and, moreover, from a wealthy family. Rahman, on the other hand, lived with the rest of his family in a two-room apartment, and that is where he brought his new wife when they got married in August. The bride had prepared herself for the move by forgoing air-conditioning for a year.

Soon after Todi moved in with Rahman and his family, the police started showing up at their apartment. Acting on behalf of Todi's father, who couldn't persuade her to go back to her family's house, the "anti-rowdy" branch of the police employed threats to get the couple to go to the police station. However, no charges were brought against them.

Finally, the police succeeded in getting Todi to go back to her parent's house, with a written guarantee that she would be able to return to her husband in a week. However, she did not return within the week, and in two weeks, Rahman died under a train.

In a press conference over the matter, Kolkata's police chief, Prasun Mukherjee, who was later transferred to a different position due to a public outcry over the matter, said that the Todi family's opposition to the marriage was "natural".

There has been loud opposition to the actions of the police in Kolkata. Whether or not Rahman took his own life, many in Kolkata think that it was money that made the police act the way they did. As a Telegraph of India editorial put it, "The police seem to feel avuncular towards a particular economic class only" (New York Times).

A sordid tale this, but the uplifting part of it (as usual) is how people from different walks of life have come together over the issue and let their voices be heard. Since when is the police supposed to be a rich dad's enforcer squad?

Indian culture minister offers to quit

Ambika Soni, India's Minister of Culture, has offered to resign in a dispute over whether the Hindu gods are mythological figures or not.

The trouble started when the Indian government decided to build a shipping channel called the Sethusamudram Ship Canal to link the Palk Strait with the Gulf of Mannar. This would give ships a way to circumnavigate the Indian peninsula without going around Sri Lanka. The channel, however, would cut through a sand-and-stone formation known as Adam's Bridge in English and Ram Setu (or "Ram's Bridge") in Hindi.

Some Hindu groups see any attempt to cut through the natural formation as blasphemy, because they believe it to have been constructed in ancient times by the Hindu god Ram with the help of monkeys. On 12 September, the Archaeological Survey of India submitted documents to the Supreme Court saying that the fact that Ram is mentioned in Hindu holy texts does not prove his existence in real life.

In response, Hindu groups held demonstrations in Delhi, Bhopal and other areas. The Archaeological Survey has now withdrawn its report from the Supreme Court, and the two Archaeological Survey directors responsible for the report have been suspended.

Ms Soni has now left the decision over whether or not she will continue in her job to PM Manmohan Singh (BBC).

The question is why the culture minister would take the fall over a construction project that is about commerce and shipping, rather than culture. Even if the Archaeological Survey falls within her portfolio, the government should either take or refuse the blame collectively, rather than letting a relative junior member accept the blame for arousing public anger among Hindus.

The Sethusamudram Ship Canal is expected to cost US $560 million (Canadian $576 million). Obviously there are bigger fish involved here.

Tiny Dalit paper makes waves in India

The Din Dalit is one of the huge number of newspapers in India and it has some degree of influence: for instance, it helped a man get his social security, which the government had previously denied him.

However, the Din Dalit is also a newspaper with a difference: every week since 1986, its part-time editor, a Dalit (untouchable) man named Gaurishankar Rajak, has written most of it himself by hand, and then photocopied it into 100 copies. Nowadays, the paper also has a reporter. Over the years, the paper has developed a following in Dumka, Jharkhand. As Dhrub Rai, a rickshaw driver, observed, "Rajak has simply waged a war against corruption and social evils here" (BBC).

On the one hand, it is sad that so much effort on the part of one person -- and thousands like him elsewhere in India -- has to go into demanding rights the respect of Dalits' rights in modern-day India. On the other hand, the very fact that the Din Dalit has been published for 21 years and has not faced attacks from high-caste neighbours, shows that India has come a long way from the days of prevailing caste-based oppression.

India blames Pakistani, Bangladeshi groups for bombing

The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has blamed unnamed "terrorist organisations based in Bangladesh and Pakistan" for the recent bombings in Hyderabad, which killed 42 people.

Meanwhile, Indian President Pratibha Patil has indicated that the intention of the bombers had been to harm harmony between Hindus and Muslims in the city (BBC).

Is the Indian authorities' tendency to blame most terrorist attacks on Pakistani -- and recently Bangladeshi -- groups a symptom of the fact that they do not possess adequate knowledge of terrorist groups possibly operating within their own country? In other words, why did it have to be Pakistanis or Bangladeshis, and not Indians?

The very idea that terrorists from Pakistan and Bangladesh supposedly cooperated in this attack is kind of hard to take given the sheer distance between the two countries. On the other hand, operatives representing unsavoury groups in the two countries may have met up in India, in which case someone was possibly harbouring them, and that someone might be an Indian group. So any way you look at it, blaming Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups looks like a copout.

Hindu activists protest vibrating condom in India

Right-wing Hindus in Madhya Pradesh have protested publicly against the sale of Crezendo condoms, which contain a battery-operated vibrating ring. The presence of this device in the condoms has led many in Madhya Pradesh, including the state's minister for roads and energy, to condemn them as sex toys, which are banned in India.

Asked to comment on the issue, Kunal Singh, who lives in Bhopal the state's capital, said "It is wrong to protest against the move. It is a matter of personal choice" (BBC).

It's hard not to agree with Singh.

Welsh Hindu temple seeks to prevent slaughter of its bull

The Skanda Vale Temple, located in western Wales, is fighting to save the life of a temple bull suffering from bovine tuberculosis. Welsh authorities intend to slaughter the bull, named Shambo, in order to prevent the disease from spreading from him to other cattle, or to humans.

However, the other 34 cows belonging to the temple are so far not showing any signs of tuberculosis, and the temple is asking the Welsh Assembly Government to make an exception for Shambo.

Killing cattle is strictly forbidden in Hinduism (BBC).

British "goddess" wants to extend stay in India

Stephen Cooper, a British man who says he has a "gender identity disorder", has been worshipped for the past month in Gujarat, either as a goddess, or as the goddess' messenger. He has spent this month at a temple in the town of Becharaji, which draws many Hindu eunuchs, who visit the temples hoping to have their "manhood" restored in the next life. They have been seeking blessings from Cooper and addressing him as "Ma", or "mother".

Cooper, who has changed his name to Pema (which means "lotus"), and is considered by some to be an incarnation of Bahuchar Mata, the patron goddess of eunuchs, came to India on a six-month visa, but would like to remain in Becharaji for the rest of his life (BBC).

Protesters attack Hindu temple in Uganda

A large group of Ugandans protesting against plans by a Ugandan-Asian-owned company to turn a third of the Mabira Forest into a sugarcane plantation have attacked a Hindu temple, trapping worshippers inside. Eventually, police rescued 40 people from the temple. Meanwhile, an Asian man found by the protesters on the street was stoned to death. Most of the protesters, however, were trying to peacefully express their opposition to the planned destruction of part of Mabira Forest (BBC).

Two remarks: Firstly, maybe it was premature for the Ugandan Asians to return to the country from which they were expelled in the 1970s. Clearly, racial prejudice is still alive and well in Uganda. Secondly, attacking the environment in this wanton fashion isn't likely to win you friends.

Bangladeshi Hindus to pray for cricket team

A Bangladeshi Hindu youth group is planning to hold a prayer service in Moulvibazar to ask Krishna to grant victory to Bangladesh in its match against India at the Cricket World Cup on 17 March (Dhaka Daily Star).

One wonders whether these earnest young people are trying to avoid getting beaten up in case India wins. Belonging to a minority ain't easy.