What’s that? A popular Muslim preacher? How did a man who has dedicated his life to understanding Islam properly and communicating it effectively so spectacularly misunderstand the Religion of Peace? How did he attract tens of thousands of followers while preaching a twisted, hijacked version of Islam? Why does no one other than me ever ask this question?
“Popular Bangladesh Islamist preacher detained in ‘anti-terrorism’ case,” AFP, May 25, 2021:
Bangladesh police have arrested one of the country’s most popular Islamist preachers, whose rallies draw tens of thousands of people, on charges of inciting militants, a senior officer said Tuesday.
Amir Hamza is the latest high-profile Islamist to be held since March, when a visit by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi sparked protests in which at least 13 people died.
Hamza was detained in a raid at his home in the western city of Kushtia and then transferred to Dhaka, police said.
A court remanded Hamza for 10 days for questioning, Mohammad Asaduzzaman, head of Dhaka police’s counter-terrorism unit, told AFP.
“He is an accused in an anti-terrorism case,” Asaduzzaman said, adding that investigators had found videos of Hamza’s speeches in the mobile phone of a suspect detained this month over an alleged plot to attack Bangladesh’s parliament.
Hamza, who is in his 30s, is one of a new generation of Islamist preachers whose firebrand speeches draw huge huge crowds in the Muslim majority nation.
Hamza’s YouTube video speeches get millions of views….
Bangladesh’s deputy national police chief, Haider Ali, told AFP that at least 1,230 followers of the Hefazat-e-Islam group had been arrested since the deadly protests on March 26-28….
gravenimage says
Bangladesh: Popular Muslim preacher detained on charges of inciting jihad terrorists
………………….
Likely he is only being charged because his Jihad threatens Bangladeshi authorities. If he was just, say, preaching the oppression of women and non-Muslim minorities like the Ahmadi–or protesting Modi’s asylum plan for Infidels in neighboring India, as they often do–it would likely be fine.
Note that Hefazat-e-Islam’s main focus has been trying to crush women’s rights, including forced veiling–and to get more stringent “blasphemy” laws enacted–including the death penalty for “defaming” Islam. The name means ensuring the safety of Islam–in other words, they are more “defenders of Islam”. They are largely funded by Saudi Arabia.
They are the main element behind the presecution and murder of Atheist bloggers in Bangladesh.
Daniel says
R u Robert Spencer or do u get paid by Robert Spencer??
gravenimage says
No, I am neither Robert Spencer, nor does he pay me.
I am, like most people here at Jihad Watch, an Anti-Jihadist who is fairly knowledgeable about Islam and its horrors.
Note that “Daniel” here does not dispute anything I have said–he is just upset that so many people oppose the horrors of Jihad. Too damn bad.
Wellington says
Get lost, loser.
mortimer says
Daniel, u r obviously a jihadist. Did u know u r being OBSERVED?
E T says
Daniel, Are you Nihad Awad or do you get paid by Nihad Awad? Please tell your Muslim friends pill box hats are so yesterday.
Wellington says
Yes, a selfish motive, indeed quite self-serving, is at the bottom of this as you astutely observed, gravenimage.
gravenimage says
Thank you, Wellington.
BlackSabbath says
Is there any other job Muslim preachers have besides inciting jihad?
Wellington says
All this is dispositive of the fact that if one is a fully devout Muslim encouraging “eternal jihad,” which means interminable violence and intolerance, such people are truly the “best of peoples” {Sura 3:110}. What is so wickedly humorous in all this is that so-called moderate Muslims must contain the “pure theorists” who adhere to Islamic dictates because Islam fully implemented means eternal strife, maiming, death, destruction of all kinds, the closing of the mind, no true Golden Rule for all, et al.—no alcohol or fine pork products either but I digress.
Yes indeed, goes back to the reputed founder of the world’s worst religion who was a brutal, narcissistic, control-freak psychopath. In brief, the character of Mohammed sucks big time—but I digress again.
The larger point that should be so obvious to all with a minimum of half a brain (sadly, this would exclude, at the very least, a quarter of the human species) is that pure Islam, unadulterated Islam, is a menace to mankind and no other major religion’s theological blueprint is. Hell, even many Muslims at some cognitive level know this but for sundry reasons, all in the final analysis indefensible reasons, nevertheless cling to a religion that should have been put on the ash heap of history long ago.
What a collective idiot mankind is so many times. The continued existence of Islam proves this in spades.
mortimer says
Yes, jihadism is the teaching that warfare against disbelievers is the most important action in Islam … JIHADISM is a form of NARCISSISTIC SOCIOPATHY.
Infidel says
Despite this arrest, Bangladesh, as a country, is completely lost. Every day, there is some story or the other of boys being lured into islam by dawa, girls getting preyed upon by marriage jihad, Hindus getting tricked into eating beef, an actor being denounced by the public the moment it’s discovered that he’s actually Hindu, Christians getting waylaid and assaulted even in the vicinity of their churches and schools, and so on. Their best hope is to hightail it out of that country, since the demographic trends are not in their favor
Yeah, this jihadist preacher was arrested, but Sheikh Hasina (73) is likely to be the last pro-India leader that Bangladesh has had, and solely b’cos back in the day, after most of her family – parents, uncles, aunts, cousins – were assassinated, she got refuge in India for a while before she returned. But the population of Bangladesh today is not where they were in the 1970s: many of them, far from being grateful to India for liberating them, regard India as an enemy that ought to be a part of their ‘Ghazwa-e-Hind’ project of reislamizing India, while lamenting the 1971 secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan
India would do well to take its Bangladesh border as seriously as their border w/ Pakistan before such a change in leadership happens, and also implement their NRC policy which would send all Bangladeshis packing back to Bangladesh
gravenimage says
+1
Goutam says
The truth is, being an islamic country, Bangladesh is much more proactive and steadfast while dealing with Jehadi ideologues than the supposedly “secular”, “Waste” Bengal, (mis)ruled by a ostensibly Hindu ‘Brahmin’ but truly full-steam Jehadi mad monster ? ? woman.
Infidel says
If you know Bengali, check out the YouTube channel ‘Hindu Lives Matter’. It’s by a Bangladeshi Hindu now living in Canada, and every couple of days, he does a video of some story or the other of Bangladeshi muslims harassing Hindus or Christians. And this ‘proactive’ government that you cite will be out the door once their prime minister dies: most Bangladeshis of today regret their secession from Pakistan, and regard India as an enemy. In that aspect, they are East Pakistan reborn: they share the same ‘Ghazwa e Hind’ project that muslims throughout the subcontinent possess
As for Waste Bengal, we heard Modi, Shah, Nadda and Yogi campaign in the state promising a lot of things, but once the elections are over and a total breakdown happens of law and order in that state, they can’t gather the cojones to dismiss that state government. The governor in particular is a sorry figure. Had the roles been swapped, a central secular government would have happily dismissed a BJP government and imposed army rule in the state, had there been a similar breakdown of law & order
OTTER says
The next election in Bangladesh will be very violent. The prime minister is not going to run again and people want to change. And the only change you’re going to get easier for more radical Muslim government. But Muslim governments to have to maintain law and order and no matter how extreme they are, they have to crack down on even more extreme elements. A Right-wing Muslim government always faces a threat from even more right-wing Islamic radicals. Sorry, I should say it faces the threat from Islam.
Infidel says
I wouldn’t use the term ‘right wing’ when describing an Islamic party. At best, it’s not socialist, but Islam does have a special status in the Leftist universe
But on Bangladesh, there is likely to be a coalition of parties contesting against the ruling party there. But regardless of what happens, neither government would be as secular as Bangladesh is now, which itself cuts a sorry figure, as I described above. As far as that country goes, I’m interested in only 2 things:
– All non-muslims hightailing it out of there (not including secular Hindus who come to Waste Bengal and then support leftist parties there)
– India deporting every Bangladeshi (except for actual Hindu, Christian and Buddhist refugees) and then maintaining an ironclad border w/ Bangladesh from West Bengal to Mizoram
Once that happens, that country can do whatever it likes – elect ISIS, invite the Chicoms to colonize them, or whatever
gravenimage says
Alas, most of what Muslims consider “law and order” involves persecuting women, non-Muslim minorities, and any free thinkers.
But you are certainly correct that no matter how Islamic a government is, there are *always* those pious Muslims who consider it “insufficiently Islamic”.
Giacomo Latta says
When you are corporate Islam you know that any kind of government is inferior to you. Governments with any kind of muslim presence know that too. Thus, the conflict.
OLD GUY says
Islam is not a religion, it is a criminal organization with political ideologies to reach world wide domination using violence and intimidation. If you can view islam as a religion that you probably see HITLER as the high priest of the NAZI religion of peace.
gravenimage says
Islam is a religion, OLD GUY–it is just an *evil religion*. There have been evil religions before, like the worship of Baal and the religion of the Aztecs, both of which involved human sacrifice. But yes–Islam is the only remaining major religion today.
John says
islam is just a Barbaric Totalitarian ideology of Male SAVAGES.