Bangladesh doesn't seem religious

[King]

Unlike Pakistan these blokes don't seem religious. I can't see one player or a person in the crowd sporting big beard or the ladies wearing the veil over the head. Bangladesh looks a pretty relaxed country with not much religious influence???

[Anakin]

True to some extent. Problem is as usual there are many extremists as well.

[Gaurav]

Bangladesh looks a pretty relaxed country with not much religious influence???

Taslima Nasrin would tell you different. BD is a mini Pakistan mate! Although the team looks relatively relaxed.

[King]

There are exteremists everywhere but Bangladesh looks a bit laid back on religious count I thought.

[Dhondy]

They are unable to grow beards, Ravi. Not for want of trying.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[King]

They are unable to grow beards' date=' Ravi. Not for want of trying.[/quote']

[Gambit]

Even Pak cricketers didn't do this before Anwar's ephiphany post his daughter's death. Wasim,Imran used to revel in their bad boy image.

[Cricketics]

the right thing to say is, they don't bring their religion in between cricket..

[Guest dada_rocks]

Good observation but in my opinion that's confined to elite upepr middle class only and incidentally those are the ones who could afford a ticket for cricket match. Reason for this liberal character are many. Influence of bengali culture being most prominent among them. Unlike pakistani a bangadeshi doesn't suffer from this inherent need to belittle their pre-islamic past which is closely tied to India/hindu culture. You will more often than not find a pakistani who is at pains somehow tying himself with turkish/arab/persian blood. Hindi/sanskrit becomes something to be identified with hindu/india hence worthy to be sidelined. Some even go to the extent of belittling urdu language for the same Hindi influence. Every now and then mehndi rasm bears the brunt of mullah, kite-flying too gets the hammer. OTOH bangladeshi don't feel this need to underline themselves alogn with arab. Even in langauge they are proud bengali speaking people. Now why this happened may be bengali culture is too strong to be overcome by islamic influence or better still , since bangaldesh has no contiguus border with any arab nation hence any attempt of culture engineering on their part might sound vacuuous. For pakistanis it's relatively easier due to geographical proximity to arab countries. Reminds me of the V S Naipaul's tour diary viz a viz advent of islam and arab cultural invasion. I have attended one bangladeshi wedding and was pleasantly surprised to find bindi donning women folks, Bride wearing yellow sari. Everywhere there was strong imprint of bengali culture. Sadly with the general rank and file hardcore islamic/arab influence is rampant even there.

[King]

You got to be proud of your culture and what you inherit. There is no second thought about it. If Pakistan were playing the camera would focus on an elderly Pakistani supporter clad in green with a long beard. That kind of sets the standard. Also when camera pans across the ground you will notice a lot of people with the beard and a little jewish like cap. I'm not saying that is bad but that gives an impression of Pakistan being driven by religion in general. As for Bangladesh I haven't seen one like that in the crowd. Don't know if it's a compliment or not but given the recent events due to religion I would say it's good. They value their culture more than religion.

[MundaPakistani]

They value their culture more than religion.

i don't think you can seperate religion and culute because religion itself is a main part of many cultures.

[King]

Are you sure MP? Isn't it the other way around. Cultures influence religions. Religions won't influence cultures does it? Take Bangladesh for instance, the culture seems to dominate religion there.

[Anakin]

As DR pointed out, Bangladeshis do share a very rich bengali culture, but last time I heard the hardcore peaceful people have been trying to belittle and destroy that every day. And why not, I'm sure most educated peaceful people have already said the religion is the most important thing, culture and tradition can go to hell.

[Guest dada_rocks]

Are you sure MP? Isn't it the other way around. Cultures influence religions. Religions won't influence cultures does it? Take Bangladesh for instance' date=' the culture seems to dominate religion there.[/quote'] religion keeps changing under sword or otherwise and culture takes this happy/sad experience of change, assimilates and makes it its own.. so in a way culture too evolves but u are less likely to hear complaints from culture-custodians against this change but the moment religion gets injected with cultural mores cry of thekedaar's of religion reverberates from everywhere; and if the subject under the hammer of culture influence happens to be islam then reverebations go beyond mere shouts......... Then again if u look closely religions particularly those who insist on coverign every details of ur life how to eat how to dress how to entertain urself, u know the kind with claims of holistic way of life basically is an attempt of exporting culture to alien land. Islam for instance dictates u to steep into arab culture by dictating ur food habits to ur dress to everything, ur whole world changes. U can convert to chrstinaity and yet enjoy ur own culture but islam doesn't accord you this freedom. This is where I find upto large extent bangladeh an exception and bengali culture does seem to have trumpedthe attempt of arab culture import to bangaldesh in guise of religion. Although it did have a soft target of island nation, with no physical proximity to the arab world, to defend rom arab cultural on-slaught but it has succeeded where many have failed.

[CC1981]

i don't think you can seperate religion and culute because religion itself is a main part of many cultures.

Those who have religion as a main ingredient to their culture are actually cultures lacking any cultural depth or broadness. Culture is to arts, mannerisms, etc etc. Something that is distinctly ordinary in the Islamic world, no offence ( save Turks,Moroccans and Iranians,who have a cultural identity too). Otherwise cultures that do have a deep cultural root and breadth to the culture can differentiate between culture and religion..such as India, China, Japan, France,Uk,Italy,etc.

[Miraz]

Majority Bangladeshis don't mix religion with sports. Bangladesh is a moderate muslim country which have its own culture, and is also eager to protect its own heritage. Unlike India or Pakistan, Bangladeshis are much more tolerant about religion, and that's why we don't have any record of riot or similar mishaps in our history.

[Guest dada_rocks]

Majority Bangladeshis don't mix religion with sports. Bangladesh is a moderate muslim country which have its own culture' date=' and is also eager to protect its own heritage. Unlike India or Pakistan, Bangladeshis are much more tolerant about religion, and that's why we don't have any record of riot or similar mishaps in our history.[/quote'] Just a cursory look at steep decline of hindu population in bangladesh would puncture ur balloonous lofty pride..

[Miraz]

Just a cursory look at steep decline of hindu population in bangladesh would puncture ur balloonous lofty pride..

I don't know where from you got the information about steep decline in hindu population. According to census conducted in 2001, the % hindu population remained same over the last 30 years.

[Guest dada_rocks]

Arabs do have culture yes it's regressive culture but culture nonetheless.. And another defining point about islam is its cultural colonialist ideology other than being religion. They demand u to become arabic in culture in guise of following the sunnah.