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Thanks to Ramadan, the sales of
carbide-ripened fruits and coloured iftar specials have shot up in
Bangladesh. Colours, often toxic, are mixed in popular sweetmeats and
carbide is used to ripen green fruits like banana and papaya. "None of the
colours used in iftar foods are approved by the World Health Organisation.
They are mostly used in fabrics and many cause serious health hazards," said
professor Keramat Ali of Dhaka University.
Bangladesh:
Adulterated food floods Bangladeshi markets
Dhaka, Nov 22
Delicacies prepared commercially
for Ramadan may cause more harm than good to Bangladeshi devotees who eat
them, as adulterated foods are flooding the market because of lax laws,
reports Xinhua.
"We try to check the sale of
adulterated items. But the Food Act framed in 1959 is too lax to prevent
traders from selling these products," said an official of the Dhaka City
Corporation's (DCC) health department, responsible for taking legal action
against sellers of adulterated food.
"Most offenders can get away by
paying only fines. If we do not update the law, we would not be able to
check adulteration," the official said here.
Thanks to Ramadan, the sales of
carbide-ripened fruits and coloured iftar specials have shot up in
Bangladesh. Colours, often toxic, are mixed in popular sweetmeats and
carbide is used to ripen green fruits like banana and papaya.
"None of the colours used in
iftar foods are approved by the World Health Organisation. They are mostly
used in fabrics and many cause serious health hazards," said professor
Keramat Ali of Dhaka University.
"A few months back, we filed 22
cases against violators who mixed carbide powder with fruits. But they all
escaped, paying the fines," the DCC official said.
"We have almost stopped filing
cases against food adulterators. Now we are trying to motivate people not to
buy adulterated food. If the law is not amended, it will not be possible for
us to stop adulteration," he added.
"Artificially ripened fruits have
a deceptive look. Fruits matured with carbide are more attractive than
natural ones," he said.
"Each year, we raise our voice
against adulteration. We hold meetings with the government, but nothing
substantial has been done," said Quazi Salimullah, director of the Institute
of Nutrition and Food Services of Dhaka University.
Food containing carbide and
colours causes serious health hazards. "The number of people infected with
cancer is increasing because of adulteration," he said.
Activists of the Bangladesh
Paribesh Andolon (environment movement) at a rally this month protested the
sale of adulterated food at roadside outlets during Ramadan. They asked city
authorities to take steps to stop the practise.
Xinhua 22/11/2003
It wasn't a narcotics bust or one
of the government's widely publicized raids on suspected terrorists. This
was a sweep by the muttawas, or religious police, rounding up Muslim men --
Saudis and foreigners alike -- and forcing them to go to the mosque at
prayer time. "It's because of people like these that Saudi Arabia gets a bad
image outside. They have turned our beautiful religion upside down," he
said. Muttawas, armed with knowledge of Islam and sometimes with sticks or
camel-hide whips, roam in four-wheel-drive vehicles. Those who have run
afoul of the muttawas say they cannot be reasoned with or bribed, only
endured.
Religion cops
feared and endured in Saudi Arabia
By Adnan Malik / Associated
Press
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Word that
authorities were coming spread through Riyadh's rundown, busy Batha market.
Merchants hastily dropped their shutters. Shoppers hid, some ran, some were
caught.
It wasn't a narcotics bust or one
of the government's widely publicized raids on suspected terrorists. This
was a sweep by the muttawas, or religious police, rounding up Muslim men --
Saudis and foreigners alike -- and forcing them to go to the mosque at
prayer time.
The muttawas, backed by the Saudi
government, say they are simply working for Islam. But some see them as
symbols of intolerance that can breed extremism, and their methods and
philosophy are coming under scrutiny as Saudis confront terrorism at home.
Ghassan Ahmed, a 32-year-old
Saudi businessman, said the muttawas were "there to punish and not protect."
"It's because of people like
these that Saudi Arabia gets a bad image outside. They have turned our
beautiful religion upside down," he said.
Abdumohsin Addawood, a political
analyst at Riyadh's Imam Mohammed bin Saudi Islamic University, said
"interaction and dialogue" was needed to curb some overzealous muttawas. But
he said the entire system shouldn't be thrown out.
"If we go to the roots of Islam,
there should be people trying to remind others of the virtue of doing right,
because people tend to be lazy and forget," Addawood said. "The role of the
muttawas is to advise or remind and not to force, but unfortunately some are
overdoing it."
Muttawas are easy to spot with
their untrimmed beards and calf-length robes adopted from the times of the
7th century Muslim prophet, Muhammad. Officially, they are agents of the
Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, whose chief
has Cabinet rank. Officials of the committee could not be reached for
comment, despite repeated calls from The Associated Press.
The influence of the muttawas is
rooted in the special relationship between the Saudi royal family and the
religious establishment. An alliance between the Saudi dynasty and Sheik
Mohammad Abdul-Wahab, the 18th century founder of the country's strict
Islamic doctrine, helped bring the Al Sauds to power.
"There is nothing wrong in
guiding and showing people the right path," said Mohammed, a 22-year-old
Saudi who is studying religion in hopes of becoming a muttawa. He gave only
his first name, for fear speaking publicly about the muttawas would ruin his
chances of becoming one.
That path, according to the Saudi
version of Islam, is a narrow one.
Men must go to the mosque to pray
five times a day. Alcohol is banned in Saudi Arabia, which has no movie
theaters. Women -- Muslim and non-Muslim -- have to cover themselves from
head to toe in public. Unrelated men and women are not allowed to mingle in
shops, restaurants or on the streets. Women cannot drive, and can only be
driven by a relative or a professional driver. The sexes are segregated in
government establishments like schools and workplaces.
Muttawas, armed with knowledge of
Islam and sometimes with sticks or camel-hide whips, roam in
four-wheel-drive vehicles. Those who have run afoul of the muttawas say they
cannot be reasoned with or bribed, only endured.
"Every time I see them I just
make a run for it," said Farid, a 27-year-old electronics salesman from
Bangladesh who has a shop in Batha market.
Farid, a Muslim, remembers the
time he got caught. The muttawas frog-marched him to the mosque, where he
had to sit through an hour-long lecture on religion. Repeat violators can be
jailed or deported.
"If someone wants to pray he
will, but no one has the right to impose religion" on others, said Farid,
who gave only his first name.
Batha market is a popular hunting
ground for the muttawa. Thousands of Saudis and foreigners -- mostly Asians
from the Indian subcontinent or the Far East -- converge every day on the
busy network of shopping centers stretcjomg several miles in all directions.
Under Saudi law, all citizens
must be Muslim. Non-Muslim foreigners sometimes get caught up in the muttawa
sweeps.
The kingdom forbids non-Muslim
public worship among the country's estimated 7 million expatriate workers,
around half a million of whom are Christian. The kingdom also prohibits
non-Muslim religious literature and public display of the symbols of other
religions.
Larry, 39, a computer programmer
from the Philippines who gave only his first name, said he had been jailed
for a day on three different occasions, including once for possessing a
Bible.
"I told them that Christianity is
my parents' gift to me and they let me go" after confiscating his Bible,
Larry said.
In January, at least half a dozen
Christian Filipinos were deported, after the muttawas found them holding
religious gatherings, a diplomat in the kingdom said on condition of
anonymity. Several others reportedly were arrested and deported in sweeps in
1998 and 1999 for similar reasons, including distributing Christian
literature in Arabic.
Some Saudis are questioning
whether the Islam enforced by the muttawa feeds militancy. Most of the
suicide hijackers who committed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United
States were Saudi, and such violence came home with a series of May 12
suicide bombings in the Saudi capital. Despite a crackdown since May that
has seen some 600 arrests, suicide bombers struck again in Riyadh on Nov. 8.
The Sept. 11 attacks and the
Riyadh suicide bombings all have been blamed on al-Qaida, the terror network
that has declared the Saudi ruling family too close to the United States and
insufficiently Islamic.
As rulers of the birthplace of
Islam and guardian of the faith's two holiest shrines, the Saudi royal
family cannot afford to have its Islamic credentials questioned.
Detroit Religion 21/11/2003
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