Ambition

Ambition is bad enough when your country is independent; but when it's a colony, as Bangladesh is, ambition appears as a contract with the devil.

If not for ambition, Dr. Mozaffer Ahmed wouldn't be grovelling before the DFID, screaming "Corruption! Corruption!" for a bit of attention. He is proud of his background at the University of Chicago, and he does his best to hide his Muslim faith: he never speaks out against Israel because that would put the nails into the coffin of his career.

If not for ambition, Dr. Kamal Hossain wouldn't be kowtowing to every American ambassador: he was sold to the devil when he entered the University of Notre Dame.

If not for ambition, Rehman Sobhan wouldn't be clinging to the coat-tails of Amartya Sen....

If not for ambition, Fazle Abed wouldn't be taking prizes from the mass murderer Bill Clinton....

If not for ambition, Yunus wouldn't have buttered up Bill and his buddies to get his paws on the Nobel Peace Prize....

If not for ambition, Mahfuz Anam wouldn't be giving copies of his daughter's novel to the American ambassador....

We don't read the Persian writers anymore: had we read Sheikh Sa'adi, we would have been impressed by his insistence on the frivolity and vanity of this world. Better to stay away from ambition and lead a humble life, he has said again and again.

Every person I have mentioned above claims to be Muslim and yet they are all busy ingratiating themselves with the killers of Muslim children. There is a hadith that says that the mosques will be full before the day of judgment, and that the truly pious will be unable to live among fellow Muslims....

Why do Muslims fight Muslims? Because some Muslims see that Muslims collaborate with mass murderers and seek fame in a civilisation that is against Muslims.

What is the use of a career that means betraying your people, and your God?

We are trained since childhood by the likes of Mozaffer and Sobhan - and even our own parents - to be munafiq, hypocrites. Nowadays, when I see a pious young person, I say to myself, "He or she will surely go to America". For the most devout among us find prestige and fortune in the Land of the Damned. "God damn America," said a pious, good American. He must be the only one there.

We tell our children, "Look, there is Yunus, he has won a western award! Surely he is a great man. Try to be like him - a flatterer, a dupe, a conscienceless Muslim."

We point to Rehman Sobhan and Mozaffar Ahmed and say, "See, these men helped to create Bangladesh and backed a man called Sheikh Mujib....They are learned people, honoured by the whole of society. Try to lie and deceive like them."

What do you say? You do not wish to be like them but to spend your days unknown, earning an honest income and seeking happiness in family life? You are a fool!