Interview with Sharon Chadha - Part 10

Mac's last word

Before he has to yield the headlines back to the extremists....And now, for our last part of this 10-part interview with Mac Haque, our favorite Sufi rasta Baul jazz rocker singer.The last question I asked Mac was what advice he would give humanity.I mean, why not? If anybody should know what the secret of life is, surely a Sufi rasta Baul jazz rocker would, right?And so, here is what he said:

Humanity has never been game for good advice![Me: Ooops! That was a dumb question on my part. Nevertheless, he was kind enough to continue.]While we talk
about humanity – the forces of betrayal will always make inimical forces stronger. Now even the virtues of democracy are being viewed as some kind of institutionalized thugocracy.As Gil Scott Heron said ‘Peace can never be found if war is considered a solution’. And yet, too often it is ONLY war we think that will bring peace.The state of the world post 9/11 is nothing more than a legacy of hate. Unless we remove the hatred, the xenophobia, the racism, the future of mankind is certainly doomed.We also need to get over the prevailing perform or perish retinue and stop reckless consumption.For every citizen of the West to survive, a thousand Bangladeshis are imperiled to the spectre of Global Warming. In fifty years time – although I will not be a witness to it – scientific studies suggest that half of Bangladesh will be consumed by the sea.Once Bangladesh goes, and if humanity still doesn’t change its ways, mankind itself will be wiped out. And long before the year 3000 AD appears on our calendars.

So there you have it folks, the final word from Mac.Now while admittedly I don't see things quite the same Mac does, I know an awful lot of people who do. And they don't live on the same dELTA he does either or come from the same tradition or blah, blah, blah. So none of these details can be the source of any of our differences, can they?And that was really the point of this exercise. Because let's face it, if you didn't know where this Mac person was coming from - or anything about his cultural or religious orientation - I bet you'd never guess correctly just what his coordinates were.And that was my point here. To show that all this culture gap, this conflict of civilizations business is really just in our minds.On that note, now it's time to blast some music......Unless of course you are in Waziristan. In that case, just be sure to use your headphones instead of the speakers as you never know where those Taliban and Al Qaeda guys might be.If they ask what's up with the Bluetooth, just say you're on a conference call or something. Tell them some people from a place called Langley are trying to interest you in some $25 million business proposition.

Interview with Sharon Chadha - Part 9

Mac, the guy who just keeps grabbing headlines away from the extremists says we all have to get out there and touch someone.

The rickshaw is Mac's favorite form of transportation.Today our moderate Muslim (oops, did I just refer to him as a moderate? Sorry about that Mac), Mac Haque, none other than Bangladesh's legendary singer, responds to the question "Is there a role here [by that he means this jihad mess we're all in] for music? For poetry? For artists in general?"This 10-part series of interviews I'm conducting with him, as regular readers know, is part of an on-going series, Alternative Voices from the Islamic world. I bring you this because, well, who isn't getting sick of all this bloody jihad? Drop me a line and, well, I'll arrange for the police to pick you up. Anyway, so this was Mac's response to the question about the role artists can play in countering extremism:

Music and poetry have played pivotal roles in Bangladesh’s political history and social revolution. Whether it was the hymns of the Sufi revolt and renaissance against the British or the works of the rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, art has been successfully used here as a weapon against all form of oppression. And it continuously reestablishes and embellishes the secular nature of our culture and our people. . .The intermingling of the greatest religions in South Asia is a clear indicator of the possibilities yet available to the world.What is of paramount importance is closer people-to-people interaction. While technology today permits us to reach out and meet people from all countries of the globe, what is sadly lacking is the human touch.

Yes, indeed, but, I have to say, even in spite of the lack of touchy-feely, I for one still love my Internet fRIENDS.Now be sure to scroll down and see parts 1-8 of this interview - and check out the various links to his music.

Interview with Sharon Chadha - Part 8

Sufi Baul Bangladeshi rasta's somewhat harsh advice for the West

But only because I asked for it. So take a break from all that unsolicited crap you are constantly inundated with and hear the direct scoop from Dhaka's greatest lead singer ever, Mac Haque of the band, Maqsood O'dHAKA. Yep, the greatest band to have ever emerged from the Bangladesh Delta. [Note to Mac: I mean dELTA.]

Mac: The first advice I would give is that the West is to climb off its high pedestal and start accepting advise especially from the third world, whose experience is far different from many in the first or second world - or for that matter many of the Islamic nations of the Middle East.[Blogger's note: Ouch! But, even if it's painful, we should hear him out, folks.] Mac: The West set a bad precedence post 9/11 in disregarding many people’s civil liberties and human rights. Even in many democracies, rulers have shamelessly taken advantage of this new reality. The denial of civil liberties mean that over time, the world will NOT be divided into Good versus Evil regimes, but Tyrants versus the Free World. . Mac: Thirdly and most importantly, pre-9/11 the West – and the UN - supported self- determination movements all over the world. Because of the WoT, many of these movements have been sidelined and unfairly accused of terrorism. .‘Low intensity wars’ border wars, such as those India is experiencing, create refugee crises and are prone to escalate and provide an opportunity for lunatic Jihadists on either side of a porous border to link up and destabilize the region.

Scroll down to see Parts 1-7. And check out the YouTube video I'm about to post above.

Interview with Sharon Chadha - Part 7

The Sufi musician who just keeps snatching the headlines away from the terrorists

Well, at least on this blog he does.In part 7 of my 10-part interview with one of Bangladesh's most popular musicians, Mac Haque, lead singer of the band Maqsood O'dHAKA, I ask him whether the global jihad movement will change Islam in the world. See the Intro to this series and Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the interview here.This was his response:

It is only a matter of time that a ‘truce’ of some kind will be declared in this WoT, which many liberals and conservatives regard as a war against Islam. I don’t know how or when this will happen, but perhaps it will require a ‘regime change’ in Washington.The examples being set in Bangladesh are unique and many Islamic nations would benefit from emulating our model. Bangladesh can lead the Islamic world importantly by showing how it always helps to go that extra mile to defuse friction and strife.

Be sure and check out one of his concert videos on the YouTube link provided below.

And stay tuned, tomorrow Mac will be giving some advice for the West.

Interview with Sharon Chadha - Part 6

A Sufi Baul Minstrel grabs the headlines (at least on this blog) from the extremists

Today in Part 6 of our series on Mac the Man, otherwise known as Mac Haque, the lead singer of the great Bangladeshi band Maqsood O'dHAKA, Mac, as you will see below will answer two question. Be sure to scroll down to see Parts 1-5, not to mention the Introduction to this series on Alternative Voices from the Islamic World. And check out his music! You can find links in previous posts.

Will the jihadist movement change Islam in Bangladesh?

I think the reason why Bangladesh has for the most part been spared by Jihadist extremism is because of the value we place on Ijtihad and in our Sufi traditions. Ijtihad is widely practiced. Ijtihad is the Islamic tradition of inquiry, assessment, fact sorting, scripture analysis, logic and proof. The Sufi twist is that we do this to music.In the far flung backwaters of rural Bangladesh, for example, Ijtihad is used to resolve disputes and in its musical form – part of our Sufi tradition - it is often the only form of ‘entertainment’ in many rural villages. I have a keen interest in Ijtihad music and collect many of these extraordinary songs. Ijtihad is also part of the Baul quest for spiritual transcendence. Baul is a Bengali and Bengladeshi system of thought that combines elements of Sufi Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, and has inspired Bengali and Bangladeshi musicians and poets for hundreds of years. I see myself as part of this Baul tradition. [UNESCO designated Baul as one of the "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" in 2005.]Our rural culture in Bangladesh is neither backward nor close-minded. It’s the urban centers that produce the most of the communal and extremist elements!

Is sharia a solid basis for the modern polity?

A technical question indeed. Conservative Muslim thinkers would argue that sharia is ‘unchanging and unchangeable’ but is still appropriate even in modern circumstances.Contemporary thinkers, on the other hand, say that sharia can be modified to adjust for the new conditions. This is where Ijtihad or debate comes in. If Ijtihad is allowed then, they say, sharia is appropriate even for a modern polity.Bangladesh legislation is not based on sharia. Rather, it is modeled on the British system of law. Other than Family Law, where disputes are adjudicated in Islamic courts, everything else is secular.By the way, I believe the development of Jihad and Ijtihad simultaneously does not in any way indicate that we are in a degenerative phase at this point of history, but rather, shows we are finally waking up from our collective slumber of centuries.

Interview with Sharon Chadha - Part 5

Here's a Muslim that should be getting headlines: A pious Muslim who rocks and....

Well, all that you'd imagine a rock star doing....Ok, maybe not ALL you'd imagine - I know there are plenty of overactive imaginations out there - and this is one rocker who stayed married to his childhood sweetheart until her untimely death in 2004....So on that incredibly sad but also so entirely romantic note, meet Mac Haque, lead singer of the Bangladeshi band Maqsood O'dHAKA. I introduce you to him in order to bring you alternative voices from the world of Islam. This is part 5 of my 10-part email interview with Bangladesh's "Poet of Impropriety," rocker, rasta, activist Mac Haque, otherwise better known as the lead singer of one of Bangladesh's leading bands, Maqsood O'dHAKA. (Here is the introduction to this series, along with Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.) But before you start reading, why not download some of his music for background?

Today's question for Mac was "What is Bangladesh doing to counter extremism?"

Here is his response:

On the surface there is zero tolerance for Islamic extremism. Anybody found in possession of a Jihadist leaflet is subject to arrest and imprisonment. The laws are harsh. And as is the case in most nations fighting the War on Terror, there have been many violations of basic human rights. The state does what it has to in order to receive applause from the West.

But the real war is being fought culturally. The Sufi and Vaishnavite influences in our culture that have roots in Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as Islam, are the real ‘weapons of choice.’After the series of 2005 bomb attacks and assassinations of judges, the Government activated an elite anti-terrorist police commando called the Rapid Action Battalion. Hundreds of mullahs linked to the Jama’atul Mujahideen, an Islamist party, were arrested. The key figures were executed after a quick trial in March this year.

But what I think had a greater effect was the reaction of the mainstream clergy. They went out in force, to explain Jihad to all the mosque goers in much the same way my father did to me when I was a child. At Friday prayers they issued stern warnings saying there is no place for extremism in Islam – and that a Jihad cannot be declared in a nation such as ours, one with a pre-dominantly Muslim population, when there is no clear indication that war or war-like situation has been unleashed on it.

Cultural activists such as myself - and there are thousands others – have been active against the extremist movement for years now. In Bangladesh we have an abundance of progressive theatre, literature, song and poetry written by people who are committed socio-cultural activists against extremism.Our ‘battle’ started much earlier than the Governments did, incidentally.In my 1997 socio-political activism album Prapto Boyeshker Nishiddho (Banned for Adults), for example, I have a song called Parwardigar or The Creator, an adaptation, if you will, of the American singer Jim Croce’s song about the dangers of Christian extremism. As he wrote: “Which way are you going, which side are you on, one hand on the Bible one hand on the gun.”

Incidentally, I received a series of death threats after this, none of which made me afraid enough to want to back down. I think we cultural activists in Bangladesh deserve some of the credit for the fact that our agenda for a peaceful, extremism-free Bangladesh seems to have taken root and crowded out the extremist forces.Our War on Terror began long before it became fashionable, and we didn’t need the West or the US to tell us what to do!

Interview with Sharon Chadha - Part 4

More from the Muslim rasta, rocker, poet, pundit...

Samurai, whatever....call him what you want but just don't call him late for dinner (as my grandmother used to say) or describe him as a 'moderate Muslim.' You'll find out why below.Part 4 of my interview with Mac Haque, lead singer of the band Maqsood O'dHAKA, live from the Islamic world. Scroll down my home page for Parts 1-3.

Today's question for Mac was: Is Islamic extremism a problem in Bangladesh?And this was his response:

Over all, it would be very unfair to say we have a major problem with Islamic terrorism here in Bangladesh. We had some simultaneous bombings in 2005 that were attributed to Islamic terrorists but I had and continue to have serious doubts about the government’s version of these events. A recent expose suggests that my
initial hunches may have been correct. Now that many of the politicians then in power are now behind bars on corruption charges, perhaps the truth about these attacks will finally emerge.In my view, many Westerners have a lot of media-driven misconceptions Muslims. This started when Bill Clinton coined the term ‘moderate Muslim’. There is no such thing as a moderate Muslim and there never has been one. The pluralist nature of the Muslim people speaks for itself.

Then I object to this idea that madrasas produce terrorists. I have never seen convincing evidence of this – at least not in Bangladesh.Westerners need to understand that for poor children, a madrasa education is often their only option. Madrasas are for the most part free and in many cases, these schools also double as orphanages. Without the madrasa system here, millions would be left completely illiterate. We are simply not a rich enough country to mandate compulsory education for all.That said, there has been a concerted effort to incorporate a modern education into the Islamic syllabus. There is a successful training program here in Bangladesh, funded by the U.S., that offers prayer leaders and madrasa teachers English-language and computer-skills training. Western NGOs also work with the madrasas to educate them on the concept of Islam in a changed world. Many madrasas now teach HIV awareness, contraception, and gender issues - subjects that even five years back were taboo.

By the way, you can purchase some of Mac's music (and other Bangladeshi recordings too) - for the incredibly low price of $1.89 at http://www.amadergaan.com. Key in the word pOTAKA in the SHOP section.

And here's this note from Mac about these recordings:

One word I would like to mention about the pOTAKA, it is NOT a dHAKA album, but a special project I took up for my Baul musician friends both urban and rural under my Heritage Revival Ensemble banner. So its a bunch of young , little or unknown musicians (including my son Dio playing 9 out of the 10 tracks) backing me on all tracks.Let Mac know if you buy this music, and he'll send you what all the songs mean.

Sharon Chadha

More from the Muslim rasta, rocker, poet, pundit...
Samurai, whatever....call him what you want but just don't call him late for dinner (as my grandmother used to say) or describe him as a 'moderate Muslim.' You'll find out why below.Part 4 of my interview with Mac Haque, lead singer of the band Maqsood O'dHAKA, live from the Islamic world. Scroll down my home page for Parts 1-3.Today's question for Mac was: Is Islamic extremism a problem in Bangladesh?And this was his response:
Over all, it would be very unfair to say we have a major problem with Islamic terrorism here in Bangladesh. We had some simultaneous bombings in 2005 that were attributed to Islamic terrorists but I had and continue to have serious doubts about the government’s version of these events.A recent expose suggests that my initial hunches may have been correct. Now that many of the politicians then in power are now behind bars on corruption charges, perhaps the truth about these attacks will finally emerge.In my view, many Westerners have a lot of media-driven misconceptions Muslims. This started when Bill Clinton coined the term ‘moderate Muslim’. There is no such thing as a moderate Muslim and there never has been one. The pluralist nature of the Muslim people speaks for itself.Then I object to this idea that madrasas produce terrorists. I have never seen convincing evidence of this – at least not in Bangladesh.Westerners need to understand that for poor children, a madrasa education is often their only option. Madrasas are for the most part free and in many cases, these schools also double as orphanages. Without the madrasa system here, millions would be left completely illiterate. We are simply not a rich enough country to mandate compulsory education for all.That said, there has been a concerted effort to incorporate a modern education into the Islamic syllabus. There is a successful training program here in Bangladesh, funded by the U.S., that offers prayer leaders and madrasa teachers English-language and computer-skills training. Western NGOs also work with the madrasas to educate them on the concept of Islam in a changed world. Many madrasas now teach HIV awareness, contraception, and gender issues - subjects that even five years back were taboo.By the way, you can purchase some of Mac's music (and other Bangladeshi recordings too) - for the incredibly low price of $1.89 at http://www.amadergaan.com. Key in the word pOTAKA in the SHOP section. And here's this note from Mac about these recordings:
One word I would like to mention about the pOTAKA, it is NOT a dHAKA album, but a special project I took up for my Baul musician friends both urban and rural under my Heritage Revival Ensemble banner. So its a bunch of young , little or unknown musicians (including my son Dio playing 9 out of the 10 tracks) backing me on all tracks.Let Mac know if you buy this music, and he'll send you what all the songs mean.

Sharon Chadha

Interview with Sharon Chadha - Part 3

Bangladeshi rocker Mac recalls an era when Jihad was still a form of entertainment

In an effort to see what sane Muslims around the world really think of the War on Terror, I'm posting excerpts from an email interview I did with Maqsoodul Haque, lead singer of the band Maqsood O'dHAKA.

Here's one of his recordings on YouTube to download and play while you read this post.For the record, I'm not promoting Mac's way of thinking here as my own. While I believe him to be a person of good will - as someone who wants to build bridges across this great chasm we must now all confront - I disagree with many of his assessments on why we are in the particular fix we are.

And for the record, I'm sure he has lots of, well, quibbles with my views too. But hey, there's room enough in the world for both our points of view, isn't there?The hyperlinks in his responses, incidentally, were supplied by Mac, and I encourage you to click on them as I think they clarify some of his reference points.Yesterday Mac described what he learned about jihad from his parents and Islamic tutors. Here he explains what some real-life (or, as he says, "reel-life") jihads taught him:

...Then came 1971 and we watched the bloody birth of Bangladesh, our nation having fought a heroic guerrilla campaign to oust the Pakistani oppressors. With independence also came our doubts about the US and its intentions in the region. . .when it deployed its Seventh Fleet to the Bay of Bengal – to intervene and frustrate the aspirations of the Bengalees, so as to assist the Pakistani Army in carrying out their various crimes.

All of this happened when I was an impressionable fourteen-year-old.But it was also your great nation, together with British rockers, that organized the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden that publicized our struggle. . .Then there was the Jihad called by the Mujahideen against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1908s that was supported by the [Carter and] Reagan administrations as part of the US interest to do away with the Soviet Union. That was when the mujahideen were seen as freedom fighters by the U.S. Congress. . .The Jihad in Afghanistan was the first Jihad in a thousand years and we could watch it on TV and at the movies (Rambo)….When a Muslim nation declares Jihad it becomes obligatory for other Muslims to join in and the least I could do was watch.

I was surprised by the numbers of volunteers who were queuing up to fight the Jihad but with the US backing and Pakistan providing the supply and support base, this classic Jihad was surely destined for victory.Blow-by-tragic blow, we saw the
fall of Afghanistan, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the departure of the Mujahideen. The initial lessons from this Afghan jihad didn’t come from the Koran, but from US-funded text books.Then it was the rise of the Taliban, Bin-Laden Terror Inc, the cataclysmic fall of the Twin Towers, the fall of the Taliban, Iraq and its rulers, and - as if this grotesque theatre was in need of a new 'reel-life' drama - the capture and hanging of Saddam Hussein.Who but the lunatic fringe would seriously contemplate any kind of militant engagement with the West? But, despite all the demonization, the mud-slinging, and unhealthy abuses hurled on Muslims since 9/11, there has at the same time been a rise in the understanding and awareness of Islam never before witnessed in history.The state of the world today is a glaring example of how much caution and close scrutiny are required to trap the genie of Global Jihad that has been unleashed on all of us. I am convinced that neither Muslims, Christians, Jews, nor Hindus are the enemy. As my Bangladeshi Poet friend Nadeem Rahman put it:

Christ the Jew has become me and you, the Serb, the Croat, the Muslim
Bosnian, cut to pieces with a burst of hideous laughter from a heartless machine gun. From the Dome of the Rock to the Babri Mosque shot down like a dog in the name of countless gods, Christ cried at the cross and died of shame, for the Judas in all of us.

Sharon Chadha

Interview with Sharon Chadha - Part 2

Alternative Voices from Dar al-Islam: Bangladeshi rocker, Mac Hacque on Jihad

Here's the second installment of my 10-part interview with Bangladeshi rocker, poet, and pundit, Maqsoodul Haque, lead singer of the band Maqsood O'dHAKA. (Part 1 is here.)

So why the interest in global jihad, Mac?

Although I grew up to become an agnostic by choice, my childhood and teen years were thoroughly inculcated with Islamic culture. My mother was a pious believer and insisted I study the Koran – which a cleric would come to teach me.Since we didn’t understand a word in Arabic, our knowledge of the Sura (or Koranic verses) was all via word of mouth. The way my mother explained what the Koran said, however, pointedly differed from what the cleric was teaching us. And because we went to a Christian missionary school, the cleric would criticize us for using English to communicate among ourselves and admonish us for having Hindu friends. ‘Mingling with infidels!’ he would say. I remember one day mother had a serious disagreement with the cleric over this issue and very soon, to our delight, a younger and more educated one replaced him.

On the Muslim Sabbath (Fridays), I was dragged to the nearby mosque by father to hear the mullahs instill the fear of aLLAH in my little heart (as they still do today in many mosques). Compassion and mercy were rarely the subject of the sermons. The mullahs would instead exhort at length about history, the great Jihads, and that the Prophets of Islam had fought to ‘slaughter the Infidels.’ All of this had the effect of activating the deeper introspection cells within my brain.

Father was a liberal and would painstakingly address all my innocent curiosity about Jihad. The first lesson I learned from him was that the greatest Jihad is against the self, the battle to suppress greed, hatred, anger, mischief, or waywardness - and the struggle to be caring and humble.

He also explained the spirit of Ijtihad and how the world had changed since the earliest days of Islam. He told me that Islam had assimilated many cultures, including our own, and its spread to almost all corners of the globe would not have been possible had it not had a peaceful or humane mandate.

I was imparted with this one solid lesson which has remained with me all of my adult life: that Jihad of weapons is the lowest form of Jihad, and one that aLLAH dislikes the most.

Tomorrow we'll hear about Mac's ringside side on the jihads that began in 1979 with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan...So stay tuned.But meanwhile, check out another one of his band's video recordings here via YouTube.

Sharon Chadha Blog

Interview with Sharon Chadha - Part 1

"The Bangladesh Poet of Impropriety"

In an effort to bring you alternative views from the Islamic world, here is the first of my 10-part email correspondence with Maqsoodul Haque, who, as he writes on one of his many blogs is a "Bangladesh based anti-establishment radical thinker, columnist and jazz musician." As a lead-up to this interview series, a few days ago I posted this YouTube video of one of his recent concerts.

So who are you Mac?

Just an average Bangladeshi with a lot of varying interest, the foremost being a passion for music and one that has been a part of my life for almost thirty one years. In my family tree which I can track back to six generations I find no musicians and I guess I learnt it all from the hours spent listening to the radio. My parents were poor and couldn’t afford music lessons for me, but my stern yet affectionate father noting my enthusiasm encouraged me to sing along with the radio. The ‘shower’ is where I probably graduated next and where I would lock myself in and sing to my hearts content. Without an audience I would conjure mental images of playing to thousands and all of it miraculously added up to my real life experience! I must be blessed? To date, I remain musically illiterate i.e. I cannot play any instrument, not the guitar, I do not know what a chord or a note is, or which key I am singing, but my discography has about sixty songs that I wrote, composed, and sang and made popular – so I must be doing something TERRIBLY RIGHT. I have ten albums to my credit, the most recent being in October of 2006. What amazes me is the fan following I have and last week when I was at a FM station I was deluged by over 300 text messages by a generation of listeners that wasn’t even born when my earliest recordings were released. I average about fifty live concerts a year.

Tomorrow I'll be posting his answer to the question: "Why the interest in global jihad?" Meanwhile, enjoy another of his video recordings. Mac, incidentally, is the lead singer of the group, or, as he puts it, "I am the guy with a mullah beard and 'Gumcha' on my head."

Sharon Chadha