Reversing Bangladesh's Descent into Anarchy

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Bangladesh is slowly but surely descending into anarchy.

The time to reverse the descent is now, or it may be too late.

The carnage at an upscale eatery in the diplomatic enclave in the capital city of Dhaka on 1^st July, in which twenty hostages, mostly foreigners, were killed with cleavers and long knives, was only a continuation of the butchery of about 40 secular bloggers, university professors, gay rights activists, writers, publishers, foreigners and members of religious minorities, including Shia and Sufi Muslims, Hindus and Christians, since 2013.

The virus of extremism and religious fanaticism is rapidly spreading, infecting a segment of the population that includes estranged and affluent educated young men in their teens and 20's who hate openly and kill wantonly.

ISIS, the death-cult organization, has taken credit for the carnage. Latest reports suggest that the seven young attackers were driven by the nihilistic goals of ISIS, although they probably received military training from homegrown terrorist organizations like Ansar
al-Islam and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen.

It is a tragedy of gigantic proportion that the Wisconsin-sized nation of 160 million, held up as a symbol of Muslim moderation not too long ago, has become a pawn, perhaps even a player, in the deadly game of global jihadism.

What can Bangladesh do to reverse its descent into the abyss and restore its reputation as a moderate nation?

First, the government must acknowledge that terrorist organizations like ISIS and al-Qaida have planted themselves in Bangladesh, with local fanatics ready to respond to their evil messages with extreme violence. One can fight the enemy only if one identifies who the enemy is. Last month, the government arrested over 11,000 people in a supposed crackdown on terrorism but critics, national and international, complained that many of those arrested were supporters of opposition parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) that Prime Minister Hasina is determined to undermine under any pretext.

Second, the conditions that foster the growth of jihadist movements must be eradicated with as much fervor and foresight as the jihadist movements themselves. For Bangladesh, this means giving up its obsession with the past and focusing more on the future.

ISIS-inspired killers in Bangladesh did not grow in a vacuum. A major factor in their rise has been the government’s relentless pursuit of Bangladeshis responsible for war-crimes committed during the nation’s bloody war of independence in 1971. While most Bangladeshis supported the idea of their trial, what was not acceptable was the utter lack of transparency of the so-called “International Crimes Tribunal” established in 2010. There was nothing ‘international’ about the tribunal. Filled with party hacks, it resembled a kangaroo court more than it did any genuine dispenser of justice. The tribunal hanged several members of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party, including its leader Motiur Rahman Nizami in May this year. This helped radicalize some Bangladeshis who were convinced that Islam itself was under siege by Sheikh Hasina’s government, despite the fact that the prime minister is a devout Muslim herself.

A corollary of this unfortunate development is the opportunity it has given ISIS looking for soft targets around the world after losing territories in Syria and Iraq. It is clear that it has found one in Bangladesh where general lawlessness, corruption, nepotism, violence and partisan politics have combined to make it a prime target for terrorist organizations.

As an American of Bangladeshi origin, I have been visiting the country of my birth every year for the last several years. The reason for my visit is to be with my octogenarian mother battling several physical ailments. Prophet Muhammad taught that paradise lies beneath the feet of mothers. That, combined with respect and gratitude for the woman who instilled in me the importance of having a purposeful life, used to fill me with happiness every time I boarded the flight from San Francisco on my way to Dhaka.

In the last couple of years, however, my attitude has changed. For one thing, it just isn’t safe there anymore. Anything can happen. Family and friends warn me not to venture outside after dark. News of kidnapping, killing, mugging, bombing and assorted violence fill the daily media. For another, the disintegration of the civil society is too jarring to accept. The opening line of the national anthem of Bangladesh reads: “My Golden Bengal, I love you.” For the common man, that Golden Bengal of yesteryear has degenerated into a cruel and callous country where trust, security and honesty seem quaint relics.

The day after the attack in Dhaka, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave a speech in which she said: “We will turn Bangladesh into a peaceful state by eliminating the terrorists from their roots. No conspiracy can hinder our advancement.”

For the sake of Bangladesh, and the world, we can only hope that the Prime Minister will take rational, practical steps to keep her promise, instead of resorting to policies mired in the past and driven by the idea of revenge.

Playful Pugilist with a Purpose

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In May of 1989, Muhammad Ali made a surprise appearance at a community dinner of the South Bay Islamic Association of San Jose, California. It took us about three seconds to change the program and make him the keynote speaker for the evening. Ali spoke slowly, between a rasp and a whisper, and although time has dimmed my memory of the details, I can still recall the essence of his message: Take it easy. Enjoy life. Don’t take yourself too seriously but don’t forget you have a purpose in life as well.

Ali holding Ayesha Rahim, 4-year-old daughter of the author,
during his May, 1989, visit.

Those who knew Ali only through his hyperbolic self-promotion would have found his mix of play and purpose strange but that was Ali. Beneath the bluster was a serious soul who thought deeply about race, responsibility and justice and how they shaped him into who he was.

Aware that he was blessed in the sweet science, Cassius Clay (later to give up his “slave name” to become Muhammad Ali) was determined to make it his ticket to success but on his own terms, a daring dream in the Jim Crow South of the ‘60s. When he beat Sonny Liston against all odds in February of 1964 (eighteen days after the Beatles first landed in America) to become the heavyweight champion of the world, white America was stunned but a wide-eyed world embraced the genius of a fast-talking, fleet-footed heavyweight with lightning-fast hands.

For the following two decades, Ali would take us on an emotional roller-coaster ride. When he won, we won; when he lost, we lost. Fight fans will forever debate who the “greatest of all time” is but can anyone dispute that Ali at his best will remain peerless? Even past his prime, Ali could summon that rare intestinal fortitude to beat the fearsome Foreman and Frazier, although at a terrible physical cost.

The confluence of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War convulsed America but transformed Ali into an icon. He spoke truth to power long before politicians turned the phrase into a platitude. From “I have seen the light and I am crowing” to “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong,” Ali opened raw wounds in the psyche of America, provoking hate and anger that in the end proved cathartic for our nation.

Ali’s unique brand of humor eased his acceptance. His punchy poems made us laugh at a time when laughter was scarce. After he had won the light heavyweight gold medal in the Rome Olympics in 1960 and received a hero’s welcome in Louisville, Kentucky, Ali and a friend walked up to a restaurant in his hometown one rainy day.

Waitress: “We don’t serve Negroes.”

Ali: “Well, we don’t eat them either.”

Drawn by the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, Ali had become a Muslim in 1964. Following a falling out with Malcolm X that he was to regret later, Ali gradually gave up on the supremacist ideology of the Nation and settled on mainstream Islam.

Ali found strength, serenity and purpose in his faith but he wasn’t immune to vice. He could be cruel inside the ring - Floyd Patterson, Ernie Terrell - and unfaithful outside. Ali never sought to idealize his life, however, and publicly acknowledged his moral failings. He was as devoted to his two out-of-wedlock daughters as he was to his nine children from four marriages.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, as Ali watched the terrorist attacks unfold on TV at his home in Berrien Springs, Michigan, his confidant Howard Bingham asked him how he felt about different religions. Replied Ali: “Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams. They have different names, but all contain water. Religions have different names but all contain truth.” In my three decades of attending prayer services in mosques throughout America, I never heard an Imam summarize our common humanity in such compelling words. He would later affirm: “I wouldn't … represent Islam if it were the way the terrorists make it look.”

Today’s generation, weaned on social media and celebrity idiosyncrasies, may find Ali’s legacy hard to fathom. That’s a pity. Ali was the real McCoy. He transcended boxing by standing up for his belief even though it cost him the best years of his career. Racism scarred his soul, traumatized as he was at 14 by the fate of another fourteen-year-old named Emmett Till. But his intolerance was for the sin, not the sinner. Meeting with both triumph and disaster, he came as close as anyone to treat the two impostors just the same.

San Jose Sharks: Redemption After a Quarter-Century of Heartbreaks?

Plain, old-fashioned justice demands that San Jose Sharks win the Stanley Cup against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Penguins won the Cup in 1991 and 1992, powered by the legendary Mario Lemieux and ably supported by Jaromir Jagr. In 2009 they won it again, led by Lemieux's protege, Sidney Crosby.

Three times have the Penguins etched their name into NHL history.

But the Sharks? In the 25 years of their existence, not only have they never won the Stanley Cup, they never even reached the final, in spite of a profusion of talents. 

How come?

Because individual talent is never enough. If there is no chemistry at the highest level, if there is no catalyst that can holistically unite the talents, it is bound to be one heartbreak after another.

And that's what happened to the San Jose Sharks, and to their long-suffering fans.

But the new Sharks coach Peter DeBoer, hired only in May, 2015, seems to have found that elusive ingredient that prevented the Sharks from reaching their full potential. In his very first year, with deep changes in player roles and an altered philosophy about playing the game at its most elemental level, he has brought the Sharks to the penultimate match-up.

It's about time.

Of course, what stands in the way of the Sharks winning the ultimate prize in NHL is Sidney Crosby and company.

It falls on the shoulders of the two Joes, Thornton and Pavelski, and Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture, Brent Burns and youngsters like Thomas Hertl to check (literally) Crosby, Malkin and friends to deliver the goods.

Sharks have to match the Penguins in speed, power play, hustle and hand-eye coordination and then have something left over to win.

And the only way they can do that is to win at least one game in Pittsburgh as they open the series.

It will be tough but it can be done. The Sharks flounder so badly at times that a fan has difficulty believing it is a team that contains world-class players. But when they play to their strength and to their natural abilities as a cohesive team, no one can stop them. When Martin Jones, the Sharks goalie, is in his groove, the puck stays put.

But a Penguins fan can make the same points and conclude that Pittsburgh will win the Cup for the fourth time in its Lemieux-laden history.

So what does it all come down to? 

Surely the thunderous win by the Golden State Warriors against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 'Win-or-Die' Game 6 in Oklahoma City on May 28 - a win for the ages mostly due to the impossible heroics of splash brothers Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry - will be hugely motivational and inspiring.

But in the final analysis it will come down to one advantage in which the Sharks are peerless in the NHL this season.

Facial hair.

Ultimately, it is the team with the most facial hair that will hoist the Stanley Cup in June, 2016. 

And that will be the hirsute San Jose Sharks.

Do We Know Our Children?

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Five days after the bodies of Golam Rabbi, 59, and Shamima Rabbi, 57, were discovered at their home in San Jose, California, about three hundred friends and relatives gathered at the Five Pillars cemetery in Livermore on a Friday to bury the couple. With the sun on our back and a brisk breeze blowing, we prayed for their forgiveness and salvation as the bodies were lowered into the grave next to one another while the Imam recited verses from the Quran.

Shamima Rabbi and Golam Rabbi

Police have charged the couple’s two sons, Hasib Golamrabbi, 22, and Omar Golamrabbi, 17, with homicide. “I want everyone to know what happened,” said Hasib in a jailhouse interview. Both brothers pleaded not guilty to the murders at their arraignment.

I knew the Rabbis for over two decades as Bangladeshi immigrants who worshiped at the same mosques. We were members of the Evergreen Islamic Center where Golam, an engineer, and Shamima, an accountant, volunteered their services. Soft-spoken, humble and generous, they radiated peace. Friends sought Golam’s advice on how to grow the perfect apple or the peach, drawing on his extensive knowledge of gardening. He often brought his two sons to the mosque to pray next to him. Although I found them rather reserved, nothing seemed amiss or foreboding.

Ever since 9/11, Muslim-Americans have been stereotyped as jihadists and extremists and found themselves in the cross-hairs of politicians and presidential candidates like Donald Trump who would stand to gain from such labeling. We had been under siege for home-grown terrorists like those responsible for the 2009 Ford Hood shooting, the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings and the San Bernardino attacks in 2015.

But this macabre murder is a darker development in which young people have allegedly turned on their own family. Every parent’s nightmare is that their children will kill themselves due to depression, anxiety, stress, or emotional rage, or get killed in gang fights, or wind up in jail, or most frighteningly, run away to join ISIS, as did a teenager from Virginia last year.

Added to these fears now is the fear of violence being turned on the family itself, causing despair among us bordering on fatalism.

A week after the killings, a few Bangladeshi-American families in the Evergreen area met to try to make some sense of what had happened. After a lot of anguished back and forth, we concluded that we only had a superficial relationship with our children, other than constantly worrying about them. We led our lives and they led theirs, with the occasional intersection that didn’t mean much. We didn’t know what animated them, whether they felt alienated from us, or what they wanted to do with their lives. In the end, we resolved to be more involved in the lives of our children, not as parents but as friends. And not just with our kids, but with the kids of our community. What we realized is that it takes a community to raise a youth in these tough times.

It is impossible to fathom what Hasib and Omar had been thinking prior to their alleged roles in the killings. A recent Instagram posting by Omar offers a clue: “I always hated myself. Not sure what I am doing here.” No clue could, of course, be clearer or more chilling than what the brothers had scrawled on the wall and the floor of their home (police have matched the writings to the brothers): “Sorry my first kill was clumsy,” and “I can’t be like you telling a lie … I can’t love someone without telling them.”

While the Quran does not directly address the issue of patricide and matricide, it talks extensively about mercy and forgiveness. “My mercy encompasses all,” says a verse, complemented by a saying of the Prophet Muhammad: “My (that is, God’s) mercy takes precedence over My anger.” Another verse states: “If one is patient in adversity and forgives, this indeed is something to set one’s heart on.”

There is a most stirring example of the power and grace of forgiveness in recent times. In June of 2015, a 21-year-old white supremacist named Dylann Roof, embraced with open arms at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, opened fire during a prayer meeting, killing nine people. Within a few days, however, relatives of the nine victims declared that they had forgiven Roof. “We have no room for hating, so we have to forgive,” said the sister of one. “I pray God on your soul.”

But while mercy and forgiveness are pertinent for the wider public, it should be remorse and repentance for the alleged perpetrators. The Quran says: “Those who committed evil deeds and then repented afterwards, surely your Lord is forgiving and merciful.”

Are the sons feeling any remorse? Are they repenting? Do thoughts of atonement even cross their minds?

We have no way of knowing, unless they themselves disclose what is in their hearts.

No matter how noble the instincts of mercy, forgiveness and repentance may be, however, they will not override the imperatives of justice. San Jose’s deputy district attorney Matt Braker has said that “there are some unanswered questions to this case. Police are working tirelessly to answer those questions and to ensure that both of these victims receive justice."

So what can we do as we await the trial that is likely to be as sensational and gripping as any in recent memory? Perhaps it is contained in one of the verses that the Imam recited after we had buried the Rabbis: “Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear.”

Muslim-Americans Need to Engage in Self-Analysis

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Muslim-Americans are reacting to the increasingly strident anti-Muslim rhetoric of Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz with emotions ranging from shock and disbelief to wariness and resignation. The latest came in the wake of the Brussels bombings when Mr. Cruz called “to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.”

The suggestion is absurd. Most of the 3 million American-Muslims of widely diverse backgrounds, about 1% of the population, live in integrated neighborhoods. A recent landmark study by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding reported that in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are about 250,000 Muslims living over six assimilated counties. South Asians comprise 30%, Arabs 23%, Afghans 17%, African Americans 9%, Asian/Pacific Islanders 7%, Whites 6%, and Iranians 2%. My neighbors in San Jose, for instance, include Christians, Jews, Chinese, Korean and Indian Americans, but not a single Muslim.

If Muslims do cluster in certain neighborhoods, as in Queens, New York, it is based more on ethnicity than on religion. When I visit friends in Jackson Heights, I see far more Bangladeshis spending long stretches of time in ethnic restaurants serving Samosas and Biryani than in mosques serving piety. There is no equivalent Molenbeek in America, the ghetto in Belgium that breeds petty thugs and criminals who, bereft of a future, real or imagined, become foot soldiers for ISIS.

So if Mr. Cruz can identify Muslim neighborhoods that require special patrolling, he will not only be helping law enforcement but, even more, Muslim-Americans. Whether the senator knows it or not, Muslims have been at the forefront in foiling terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Of the 72 known terrorist plots since 9/11, 56 were detected by law enforcement, 44 of which happened with tips from Muslims. In the 15 years since 9/11, the number of Americans killed by Muslim terrorists in the U.S., including San Bernardino, is 45. That’s 45 too many, which is why we would like Mr. Cruz to tell us where to look, so we can help apprehend the radicalized without going through ‘needle in haystack’ hunts.

Here are the facts, however. N.Y.P.D. has almost 1000 Muslim officers, some of whom are also combat veterans. For the record, combat experience on behalf of the United States is something that is missing from Mr. Cruz’s resume. 

But while the threat of Islamophobia is real, it is not preventing Muslims from engaging in serious self-analyses. Because of our diversity, such analyses assume many forms but the basic goals are the same: Confront our internal problems honestly and work on solutions that will help us become more open and responsible.

Based on my years of observation and interaction with fellow Muslims, there are three areas we need to work on, even though we are making cautious progress on all three.

First, we must curb our excessive reverence for imams and scholars.

Enlightened Muslims who have earned their reputation deserve our respect but the attitude of some of us toward them verges on hero-worship. The infatuation with celebrity imams is fraught with peril for all. I have also seen highly-educated Muslims turn into toadies in blindly accepting the most banal, absurd, misogynistic, or downright stupid, religious statements made by some of our imams and scholars, often members of an old boys’ club trained in religious schools abroad without any exposure to modern subjects. At a Friday congregational prayers, for instance, I heard a ‘scholar’ claim in his sermon that if a Muslim woman walks by a group of men and the men experience lust because she is improperly dressed, it is the woman’s fault and she is the one who has sinned! The Quran mandates that each one of us use our faculties for critical thinking. Letting the clergy do our thinking for us is against the spirit of Islam. The way out is to revive the practice of Ijtihad, an Arabic word that means to think independently, and to reinterpret sacred text in the context of the times.

Second, we must shun religious chauvinism.

I come across Muslim-Americans who are condescending toward followers of other faiths and are eager to proselytize, convinced that those who are not like them are destined for hell. They are a minority but because of their strident nature, play a disproportionate role in shaping the Muslim discourse in America. The Quran insists on respect for people of all faiths. A verse states, “O mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may know each other.” Diversity of faith, culture and language are a human condition. If we all followed the same faith, wore the same clothes and ate the same food, we would go mad with boredom. Religious chauvinism leads to arrogance and is at the root of terrorist organizations like the Taliban, al-Qaida and ISIS.

While many Muslim-Americans condemn religious chauvinism in the privacy of their homes, such condemnations are becoming more frequent in our places of worship as well. In mosques around the Bay Area, including the Evergreen Islamic Center that I attend, we are required to speak about other faiths with respect and humility. A contributing factor is our increasing alliances with interfaith groups that are guided by the principles of pluralism, democracy, freedom of religion and secular governance. Still, much remains to be done.

Finally, we must reject the culture of victimhood and embrace the culture of self-assurance.

In the past, particularly before 9/11, Muslim-Americans were focused mostly on rights and not much on responsibilities. Islamophobia is a serious, and sometimes deadly, threat for us. We have to speak out for our constitutional rights, as when Muslim passengers are forced to get off planes only because they happen to be Muslims.

Yet we cannot allow Islamophobia, and its attendant culture of victimhood, define us. As we demand our rights, so we must also act on our responsibilities, one of which is to engage with the broader community, particularly with our neighbors, in helping the needy, feeding the hungry and opposing injustice of any kind against any group. If victimhood is the foundation of our identity, we will remain weak, objects of pity and prone to conspiracy theories. We are mostly middle class, mainstream and moderate. It does not suit us to be grievance collectors. We must have the self-assurance to legally secure our rights while working with Americans from all walks of life to help ours become a just and generous nation.

Trump and Our Darker Side

Donald Trump’s meteoric rise as the Republican nominee for the highest office in the land continues to stun, baffle and frustrate many Americans. Who could have anticipated that a crude and clueless bully with a reckless disregard for truth and reason would be where he is now?

It’s more complicated than that, of course. Ignoring Trump’s appeal to his acolytes, that also include some of the very people he considers pariahs, only serves to boost his candidacy. What needs to be understood is why Trump is winning and what collective raw nerve he has touched that reflects on us as individuals and as a nation.

Trump supporters assert that Americans are fed up with the status quo and with career politicians whose milquetoast ways are no match for today’s tough challenges. They want someone who tells it like it is and whose kick-ass attitude is proof enough that he has the guts to back up his words with action, with the military might of the United States if necessary. They are looking for a candidate who will close America’s borders to undesirable hordes and remove the afflictions of the working stiffs, particularly white working stiffs, with financial wizardry. Trump, to them, is the fearless cowboy to today’s toadies, the Rambo to the confused ‘to be or not to be’ appeasers.

But how to separate myth from reality, or can it be done at all? Consider a few of Trump’s policy proposals.

On defeating ISIS: Since ISIS and Syrian dictator Bashar Assad are mortal enemies, why not let ISIS finish off Assad and then go in and take out ISIS? If that doesn’t pan out, let Russia get rid of ISIS. “What the hell do we care?”

In other words, if Trump’s hero Vladimir Putin can deliver the goods, why worry about ISIS at all?

On keeping America safe from barbarians, that is, Mexicans (‘criminals and rapists’) and Muslims (each a potential terrorist): Build a 1,200-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and ensure that the Mexican government foots the $10 billion bill. Ban Muslims from entering America and open a registry for those already in so they can be tracked. Round up all undocumented immigrants and deport them. "If I win,” said Trump during a campaign rally in New Hampshire, “they (the Syrian refugees the U.S. may accept after rigorous vetting) are going back."

On boosting the economy: Given that 44% of Americans say the economy is their number one concern, Trump modestly declared in his speech for candidacy for the president in June last year that “I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.” Although short on details, Trump’s proposals include massive tariffs on China and Mexico so that jobs from these and other countries will return to America, keeping the minimum wage fixed at $7.25 per hour, getting Wall Street professionals to run the economy and, of course, repealing Obamacare.

According to former treasury secretary Larry Summers, Trump’s proposals are likely to “introduce great uncertainty at home and abroad. The resulting increase in risk premiums might well be enough to tip a fragile US economy into recession.”

Trump’s ideas to ‘Make America Great Again’ just don’t add up, be it in foreign policy, in keeping Americans safe, or in creating well-paying jobs for Americans who need them the most.

So what accounts for his victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, Louisiana, Kentucky, and in undoubtedly more states to come?

When we feel besieged, playing to our worst fears work, and often work spectacularly well. This is the phenomenon we are observing as Trump continues to triumph in state after state. Although this is particularly true for mostly middle-class white Republicans, who have seen their fortunes decline as African-Americans and Hispanics have made gains at what would appear to be at their expense, it is a part of human nature, and Trump is exploiting it for all it is worth.

Many Americans are also in awe of wealth. They see in Trump a fabulously successful businessman and are given to vicariously enjoying his private jet and soaring towers, his name emblazoned in gold across his holdings, a brand almost as well-known (at least to them) as Apple and Google. This weakness for wealth is far more common than we think. It doesn’t matter that Trump got a huge head-start by inheriting millions from his father, or that he had filed his businesses for bankruptcy four times since 1991. ‘All that glitters is not gold’ may be true for others, but to those who worship wealth, Trump is both glitter and gold. And that’s reason enough to vote for him.

If there is a silver lining to Donald Trump’s run for president, it is that he has revealed our darker sides to ourselves, our propensity for overlooking the fatal flaws of the wealthy, (like the careless people in The Great Gatsby ‘who smash things up and then retreat back into their money or their vast carelessness’), our tendency to confuse demagogues with saviors, and our misplaced confidence in people who can seduce us with false hopes. Only by confronting these weaknesses in our character can we ever hope to defeat them.

Historic War Cemetery of Chittagong, Bangladesh

Seven hundred and fifty-five soldiers are buried in Chittagong's historic War Cemetery. The 'War' refers to the Second World War and the graves belong to soldiers of the sub-continent, England and Africa who perished while taking Burma back from the Japanese after years of fierce fighting.

The Burma War lasted from 1941-1945. It began when the Japanese seized the Tenessarim airfields in mid-December 1941, causing the closure of the strategic Burma Road to Allied forces. Rangoon fell to the Japanese on March 7, 1942, compelling the Allied forces to withdraw up the Irrawady and Sittang Valleys to Mandalay and then to India.

It's worth noting that only one hundred thousand Japanese soldiers conquered Burma in 1942 from the more numerous British and Indian troops. When they marched on Rangoon, the Japanese walked for 45 minutes and slept for 15, such was their steely discipline. When they slept, they made sure their feet pointed toward Rangoon so they didn’t march in the wrong direction when they woke up!

However, in 1943, new airfields constructed in India allowed the British to regain air supremacy, proving a turning point in the war. Supply to China, whose soldiers were fighting alongside allied forces, was resumed from airfields in Assam. In December, the 15th Corps attacked on the Arakan Front. A Japanese counterattack in February 1944 was decisively defeated.

There was now no stopping the allies who launched an offensive on three fronts. The American-Chinese forces attacked from the north. The Arakan 15th Corps captured the airfields at Akyak and Ramree while the 4th and the 33rd Corps captured Meiktila and Mandalay and pursued the fleeing Japanese army southward to Pegu on 1 May, 1945. Five days later, these two Corps linked up with the 15th Corps that had entered Rangoon on May 3 after an unopposed landing. Japan had lost Burma to the Allied forces and a formal cease-fire in August, 1945 merely cemented the fact.

A staggering number of 45,000 Commonwealth soldiers lost their lives in the Burma War, of whom 27,000 came from what is now Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. They are commemorated in headstones and cremation memorials in nine cemeteries in Bangladesh, Assam and Burma. The 755 soldiers buried in the Chittagong War Cemetery came from the Chittagong General Hospital in Ander Killa (Inner fort) where they succumbed to their injuries sustained in the Burma War.

As you walk along rows and rows of headstones, you read the names of soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend freedom from fascism decades ago, and you experience a sense of the sacred and the profound.

Muhammad Bahadur of the Indian Pioneer Corps, dead on 13 June, 1945, at age 30.

Muhammad Aziz, a sepoy of the Royal Indian Army Service Corps, on 22nd June, 1944, at 25.

Lance Naik S.M. Dada Bai of Indian Engineers, in June ’45, age 18!

Flying Officer M.T.W Pain, with the Royal Australian Air Force, in August ’44, age 21.
“Loved son of Rev. & Mrs. W. K. Pain, of Wahroonga, N.S. Wales”

Sergeant C.C. Young, Wireless Operator/ Air Gunner with the Royal Air Force, in March ’45, age 21 “He was so young, his heart so brave. In the midst of life God called him away.”

Flying Officer W.R. Thomson, a pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force, in February ’45, age 21 “In loving memory of our dear Bill”

Pilot Officer E.C. Dowling, Pilot with the Royal Air Force, in August ’43, age 27 “In loving memory of my dear husband Eric. Your wife and son.”

Craftsman Muhammad Ishaq, Indian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, in October ’45, age 19.

Driver Audu Salamu, West African Army Services Corps, in June ’45.

Sepoy Sadiq Mian, Indian Army Medical Corps, in March ’44, age 24.

Sepoy Roshan Zamir, 12^th Frontier Force Regiment, in February ’44, age 17!

Sepoy Gul Rahman, Infantry, in March ’45, age 16!

And on and on …

In one corner of the cemetery lie buried  19 Japanese soldiers in unmarked graves, 18 of whose names are recorded in a plaque, "with one of their comrades whose name is unknown."

At the entrance of the cemetery is a Memorial Register, 1939-1945, containing “the names of 6500 sailors and merchant seamen who died in the service of their motherland and have no graves but the sea.”

Bangladesh's port city of Chittagong is home to 8 million people. It is a tragedy that the War Cemetery, constructed and meticulously maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, is one of the very few spots that offer Chittagoneans a refuge from the maddening traffic and the impossible gridlocks of a bustling yet utterly unplanned and unkempt city. Students, young lovers and couples of all ages stroll by the bougainvillea hedges or lean against the Champa trees, whispering sweet nothings.

But something else has taken over the visitors that I had not anticipated since I brought my wife here 35 years ago and photographed her in this pristine setting, before migrating to America. The Cemetery seems to have become the Selfie capital of the world! Everywhere you look, girls and boys are busy capturing themselves on their smartphones. I have not seen such selfie-frenzy even at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, or at the scenic Carmel-by-the-Sea in Northern California.

So I busy myself reading the headstones as a mark of respect for the dead. As daylight fades and crows gather on the Krishnachura trees, I look around at the laughing couples and playful kids and realize that those who are commemorated here have not given their lives in vain. In a sense, this laughter, this peace, this sanctuary in a troubled world is their fitting legacy.

Epilogue: Abdul Barek has been a gardener at the cemetery for 37 years and Abul Bashar for 12. They have been tending to the roses, the noyontaras, the lantanas, the gardenias, the lilies, and hundred more varieties year after year. They helped me identify the plants that thrive in the cemetery through their care, even though living on meager wages. I offer them some money. Both refuse. "We are well cared for," says Bashar. "We are happy doing what we do. What can beat that?"

American Muslims Must Reclaim Their Faith from Terrorists

Who could have imagined that American Muslims would produce their own Bonnie and Clyde?

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow robbed banks and killed 13 people between 1932 and 1934, during the height of the Great Depression, in Central United States before dying in a hail of bullets by police in Louisiana.

Now we have Tashfeen and Rizwan, assailants at a potluck party at a county health department in San Bernardino, killing 14 people in the span of a few minutes before dying few hours later in a shootout with the police in a quiet residential street nearby.

Tafsheen Malik, 29, born in Pakistan but raised in Saudi Arabia, came to the United States on a fiancé visa in 2014, the wife of Chicago-born Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, of Pakistani parents. Their victims ranged in age from 26 to 60. It was the deadliest mass-shooting in the U.S. since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012.

Unlike Bonnie and Clyde who early showed psychopathic signs, there is as yet no consistent explanation for the depravity, the utter inhumanity that motivated a reclusive Muslim couple to consign their 6-month-old daughter to orphanhood- even an animal would not abandon its baby with such callous cruelty as this couple did - and murder 14 innocent people enjoying a quintessential American holiday tradition. (It is not unreasonable to suggest that this monster became a mother only to conceal her terrorist identity.)

All we know is that the trajectory of their seemingly normal life hit a shocking singularity on December 2, raising a million questions and unleashing a tidal wave of rage and sorrow.

While details are emerging daily about the couple, Malik pledged fealty to ISIS on the day of the attack, for instance, the central fact is clear: Malik and Farook planned the terror attack centered on their own malevolent ideas, the seeds of which may have been sown abroad, nurtured by social media and facilitated by the absurdly easy access to guns in America. The last-minute allegiance to ISIS was more likely a desperate attempt at notoriety by the wife desperate to hitch her wagon to an infamous organization.

Beyond that, who can comprehend what Faustian bargain this couple made and why.

So what now?

The average American is angry at, and suspicious of, his or her Muslim neighbor and co-worker. This does not include xenophobic bigots like Donald Trump and Ben Carson and their followers, whose numbers naturally spiked following the killing, as did the sale of guns and ammunitions.

No, I am talking about Americans who are not bigots and who are not hostile toward Muslims by instinct. But they are undoubtedly worried and rightly so. A Muslim friend, who has a college-going son, told me that his neighbor, whom he has known for years, asked him this troubling question a day after the San Bernardino shooting: “Does your son own a gun?”

We Muslims must have the self-assurance, the integrity and the honesty, to acknowledge that these Americans are not suffering from Islamophobia. They cannot be categorized as Islamophobes. They have raised an existential question and the least we can do, we must do, is to address it truthfully and practically.

The first step is to engage our neighbors and co-workers in frank discussions, not just in the wake of a shooting, but on a regular basis, about our faith, our rejection of violence, and our loyalty to America. Too many Americans are beginning to think these aspects of our lives are mutually exclusive. We must dispel this notion. Inviting Americans to visit local mosques can help but that is too limiting. It is the open and personal interactions at the neighborhood and the office levels that we urgently need, and not just in liberal coastal cities but in America’s hinterland.

But talk can go only so far. We need to become a more integral part of what makes America, America. This can include opening small soup kitchens, Muslim doctors holding weekly or monthly medical clinics, creating a shelter for abused women, promoting the gift of reading, tutoring neighborhood kids, organizing community evenings to look at stars and constellations, and so on. Many Muslims communities are already engaged in these activities but the number needs to increase.

The second step is to be alert for signs of extremism in our midst. For an Imam of any mosque to say that “I saw no signs of extremism in this or that Muslim” is becoming increasingly indefensible. If a seemingly moderate Muslim suddenly stops coming to a mosque, the Imam and one or more congregants need to become proactive and try to determine what may be brewing. It could very well be that this particular Muslim had become fed up with mosque politics and decided to pray at home. But it could be something sinister as well. If a Muslim suddenly starts sprouting strident piety, that should raise a red flag. If someone begins to show an inordinate fondness for guns, that too should ring an alarm bell.

The point is, almost always, there are signs. We just have to become more vigilant. Consider the statistics. Published reports indicate that there are currently 900 American Muslims under investigation by the FBI for possible ties to ISIS. Given that there are about 3 million Muslims in America, it translates to 3 Muslims per 10,000. Let’s say two of these three Muslims are proven to have no ties to terrorism. That leaves 1 out of 10,000, which is still 1 too many! A single psychopath, or a couple for that matter, can create carnage in a community in the blink of an eye, as we saw in San Bernardino.

Finally, we need to increase the quality of engagement with the youth in our mosques. Many Imams in America, particularly those born abroad, cannot speak meaningfully with the youth. (For that matter, many have not even mastered English, even though they have lived in the U.S. for decades.) Many youth are alienated by the obscure and irrelevant discourses they are forced to sit through in mosques and conferences. Inevitably, they turn to the Internet to figure out for themselves what Islam means and how they can practice their faith. In such a vacuum, these vulnerable, impressionable youth fall prey to the seductive, ‘purpose-driven’ language of social-media savvy terrorist organizations like ISIS. The process of selecting an Imam for any mosque in America needs to become more rigorous, and preference should be given to U.S.-born Imams who can relate to young Muslims as a kind and friendly teacher, rather than as an authoritarian figure.

American Muslims are at a crossroads. If we only pay lip service to our faith, not engaged in any meaningful way with the society at large, the terrorists will define our faith for us and we will lose. On the other hand, if we make it a priority that we will define our faith through action that will influence our society for the better, while remaining alert for any misguided and malcontent Muslim capable of giving us a collective black eye, we will have lived up to our highest calling, a state in which everyone is safe from our hands, and our neighbors are secure with us around them.