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By Rock Rozario, Dhaka | Bangladesh
"Speak no ill of the dead" is an old saying, so it is inappropriate to ask Maulana Zubayer Ahmad Ansari, a prominent Islamic preacher and politician in Bangladesh, why he had to die in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ansari, 56, was a firebrand preacher and leader of Khelafat Majlish, an Islamic political party, who had a large in his home district of Brahmanbaria and in other parts of the country.
More than 100,000 of his diehard followers defied a ban on public gatherings amid an ongoing nationwide shutdown to attend his funeral at his home village on April 18. It made national and international headlines and triggered fear about speedy community transmission of the coronavirus.
Social media sites were flooded with criticism and memes, and many grabbed the chance to hit out at the people of Brahmanbaria, a district known for religious fundamentalism and whose villagers are infamous for deadly violence over trivial matters such as quarreling about food quality at wedding ceremonies, cutting branches and so on.
The government was upset and vented anger by transferring some local officials, although they said they didn't permit the gathering but were helpless to stop it.
In fact, no local administration can stop such large crowds from honoring Islamic leaders, whether dead or alive.
Why do people take such risks to honor Islamic preachers and leaders? And why does the government remain toothless in stopping such gatherings?
A local journalist asked an Ansari follower what made him defy restrictions on movement. The man said he knew about the risks but he was "carried away by emotions."
Such actions are also seen among adherents of other faiths.
Late in March, hundreds of Hindus at Langalbadh in Narayanganj district in Bangladesh bathed in rivers as part of a ritual called Holy Ashtami Snan, with the belief that the dip would purify their sins.
This happened despite Narayanganj already being known as the second worst-hit area for COVID-19 after Dhaka. No Hindu group warned people to refrain from the ritual this year and the government apparently did nothing to stop it.
During that time, several Catholic dioceses continued to organize pubic liturgy despite a nationwide shutdown, while others proactively banned all forms of public liturgy. All churches locked doors only after people took to social media to criticize the decision to keep churches open.
This tendency is also common in other South Asian countries such as India and Pakistan.
Indian authorities recently failed to stop a pan-Islamic conference in New Delhi that has been blamed for spreading the coronavirus.
India media reported that hundreds of Hindus in Tamil Nadu state joined the funeral procession of a "holy ox" despite the lockdown.
In Pakistan, the government is unable to stop Muslims from attending prayers in mosques despite a nationwide lockdown and has been negotiating with Islamic clerics to reopen mosques during the holy month of Ramadan.
Collusion of politics and religion
This overbearing emotion for religions, particularly for clerics, is profound in Bangladesh where dozens of Islamic preachers-cum-politicians enjoy superstar status among poor and illiterate Muslims.
Islamic gatherings such as waz mehfils by preachers attract tens of thousands all year round. On social media such as YouTube, these preachers have more followers than any public celebrity.
On YouTube, their speeches are viewed and shared by millions, no matter how much truth or lies are in there. At the height of frenzy during preaching, Muslims sing, dance or do whatever their preachers tell them.
In a recent speech, a crowd cheered with thunderous applause when an Islamic cleric declared the coronavirus was a disease for infidels (non-Muslims) and it could not touch pious Muslims.
This might sound insane and ridiculous, but many in Bangladesh still believed it. The large funeral crowd in Brahmanbaria on April 18 provided proof. It shows how strongly religious clerics can influence public psyche, positively or negatively.
There has been collusion between politics and religion for decades in the Muslim-majority country and all governments have more or less appeased religious sentiments despite the fact the country gained independence from Pakistan in 1971 in defiance of religion-based politics. The nation's first constitution of 1972 put secularism as one of four basic principles.
Bangladesh's backward journey started in 1975 following the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country's founding leader and first president, and consequent assassination of four top leaders of his Awami League party.
Since then, military and civil governments have amended the constitution to give it a Islamic flavor and religion-based politics was allowed.
Our political leadership has failed to cast away poverty, illiteracy and ignorance effectively, so many people resort to religion and clerics to find solace, and often they are misguided.
While people often don't trust politicians because of their follies such as crimes in the form of corruption and abuse of power, they continue to revere and follow religious clerics blindly.
In 2013, about half a million Muslims held a rally in Dhaka to demand the death penalty for so-called atheist bloggers. Most had never even heard of atheist bloggers and never read their writings at all.
The same year, communal riots broke out in various districts a day after a special court sentenced Maulana Delwar Hossain Sayeedi for war crimes during the 1971 war.
Sayeedi is a firebrand preacher and former parliamentarian and has a huge fan base across the country despite his dark past being known to many.
His supporters circulated posters showing Sayeedi on the moon and consequent communal riots killed dozens and injured scores. Probably the riots saved Sayeedi from death and his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment in the High Court.
A great irony of our time is that in an age of great scientific achievements too many people in the world are still in the dark and carried away by overarching emotions for oft-misleading preachers.
It is very unlikely that even a catastrophic pandemic like COVID-19 will suffice to open their ears and eyes to witness the light of day.
Rock Ronald Rozario is bureau chief of UCA News in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
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