Being A Muslim/To Be A Muslim : Presentation, confirmation, and (re-) generation of identity in Bangladesh

P(論文)In recent years, Masjid tends to be an arena of the political activities in Bangladsh. Even Baytul Mokarram, National Masjid, has become a base of the Islamic fundamentalists. Many people claim that this trend is just a "projection" of a small part of the fundamentalists. The author wonder whether it is the case. Before judging so, we will have to see the other aspects of the society. We can find the reports of many "curious" events in newspapers or in magazines throughout the world. In the case of Bangladesh, however, some of these events cannot to be understood without the recognition of the permeation of Islam through the society, irrespective of the difference of the area, i. e. rural or urban, and the difference of the social strata, i. e. upper or lower. This permeative phenomenon of Islam must, of course, be distinguished from the activities of the so-called Islamic fundamentalists mentioned above. How is this permeative phenomenon of Islam realized? There are various channels of the religious education for Muslim children in Bangladesh. One example is Maktab, the unofficial (not private, but semiofficial) small religious school opened in Masjids. This is the school for children of the pre-primary school age. Another is the class for religious education in the public primary schools. And the other is, of course, Madrasa, a formal Islamic school. Almost all Muslim children have experienced such a "printing" of Islamic memory in their early age. In the fields of language use, we must pay attention to the massive influx of Arab-Persian terms into Bangladesh-Bengali vocabulary. Usually, we need to use Bengali-English Dictionary edited in Dhaka, instead of the Calcutta version, to interpret a newspaper or a magazine published in Bangladesh. In some extreme cases, we will have to address some special types of dictionary such as "Dictionary of Arabic and Persian Words Used in Bengali" written in Bengali, or "Islamic Encyclopedia", etc. Chapter II tries the detailed examination and analysis of pictures, illustrations or cartoons appeared in the papers or magazines in Bangladesh. The analysis is focused on three points, i. e. the use of scarf and rosary, Islamization of the politicians and the political parties, and the flood of Islamic symbolism throughout the country. After the independence of Bangladesh, mass media repeats everyday such words as "independence", "Freedom Fighters", "1971" (the year of independence), or just "ekattar" (71). On the other hand, people hails "Bengali nationalism", and chants "jay Bangla!" (hail Bengal!), "joy bango-bandhu!" (hail "friend of Bengal", a nick name of the hero of independence and the first prime minister Mujibur Rahman). But, what does "Bengal" mean in this context? Independence for whom? As a tentative conclusion, the emergence or reemergence of a new identity of the Bangladeshi Muslims is suggested in Chapter III through the analysis of the "curious" events reported, of the condition of religious education, of the situation of everyday language, and of pictures or cartoons.departmental bulletin pape