Part 1

“MohaGuru” Aroj Ali Matubbar was a truly homegrown philosopher of Bangladesh without any formal academic training- he had not, in fact, attended any institution of academic learning. Yet, after his death in 1985, Aroj Ali Matubbar came to be regarded as one of the most brilliant rationalists the country has ever produced, and an iconoclast who was not afraid to speak out against entrenched belief and superstitions which easily lead to religious fanaticism.  

Aroj Ali Matubbar’s “Shotter Shondhaney” (Quest for Truth) is a great contribution to world’s philosophy. The questions which he uttered in his book in a native tongue Bangla was very well-received and Matubbar, in the last phase of his life, was regarded as a high priest of freethinking, and a votary of science. MohaGuru was seeking answers to the questions that had exercised the mind of the people for ages. Some of these questions may well appear narrowly local, also temporal. But this objection can be met by reminding ourselves the circumstances of his life and his social milieu. Matubbar’s was a relentless quest for truth. But he knew that in order to reach the goal he must first remove the garbage of superstitious beliefs piled on the way. In a backward and predominantly unlettered community, with a half-literate class of guardians of faith holding sway, with conformity enjoying a high premium in society and dissidence frowned upon, and often silenced through force, MohaGuru’s first job was to disabuse his reader’s mind of the false beliefs, and then proceed to knowledge. The procedure is akin to Socrates’, only the form is different. MohaGuru was arrested and taken to the police custody for his “Quest for Truth”. Throughout his entire life he was subjected to harassment and threat for his writings - much of which rattled religious institutions and religious fanatics. But to a large number of his readers like us, his writings were - to use a cliché - a breath of fresh air in the stifling atmosphere of bigotry, zealotry and religious intolerance.

MohaGuru was born in the Bangla year 1307 (1900 A.D.) in a poor farming family in the village Lamchori in Charbaria Union, about 11 k.m. from Barishal town of Bangladesh. He died on 1st Chaitra of Bangla year 1392 (1985 A.D.). MohaGuru was among those pioneer humanists of Bangladesh who donated his eyes and body for organ-transplantation after death.

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The Iconoclast, New York, September 1982 compared Aroj Ali, the insurrectionist with great Greek philosopher Socrates who initiated a question-and-answer method of teaching as a means of achieving self-knowledge. The following paragraph is taken from The First Book of Ethics, Algernon D. Black, Ethica Press, New York:

" A teacher was killed in the year 399 B.C. by the people of ancient city of Athens."

Why did they kill him?

-          They killed him for a crime.

What was the crime?

-          He was accused of corrupting the young people of the city.

How did he do so?

-          He asked questions.

Why would that hurt anybody?

-          By his questions he made them think.

What’s wrong with that?

-          He made them think about thinks they believed.

How could that do any harm?

-          When people ask questions and think about things they believe, they may not believe the same after that.

And people of Athens killed him for doing that?

-          Yes, they did.

Why did he make people think?

-          Because he loved truth and he wanted to find truth.

Who was this teacher?

-          He was a stonecutter. He earned his living by cutting marble for the buildings and statues of the city. But in his free time he was a teacher.

What was his name?

-          His name was Socrates.

In his book “The Quest for Truth”, Aroj Ali reveled the basic premise of his secular philosophy. He expressed that to know the unknown is an eternal desire of man. With the first utterance of words, a child starts asking questions - what is this? What is that? As he grows up, similar questions continue at school, college and place of work - What is this? What is that? Why is it like this? Why isn’t like that? In this manner, making inquires about the whys and wherefores, the man has built up the massive structure of science today. The questioner always wants to know the answer to the question, i.e. what is truth? In fact there will be no further questions once the truth is known.

Aroj Ali logically explained that an object or incident couldn’t be true in two different (opposite) ways. When an incident described in two different ways then perhaps one of them is true and other is false or both are equally false. Both of them cannot be true simultaneously - the truth perhaps remains unknown. Suppose a man calls a metal gold and another man calls it brass. In this case is it true that the metal is gold as well as brass? If one says about a particular event that it took place at 12 noon on 15 April and another says it took place at 3 p.m. on 16 March, are both speakers telling the truth? In this circumstance, the audience may not believe either of them. It is probable that somebody would believe one of them and similarly somebody else would believe the other one. Thus what one accepts as true another rejects as false. Thereby differences of opinion occur between man and man in determining the truth of the matter. And like this differences of opinion regarding particular subjects, there are conflicting views among people on matters social and political from time immemorial. The consequence of it is communal riots and nations at war, which we see today before our very eyes.

Aroj Ali concluded that in the world of religion there are certain codes and prohibitions, rituals and ceremonies together with an account of certain incredible incidents, which have no logical explanation for the understanding of the common man. Consequently, a few questions always rise in the mind and for want of satisfactory answers men begin to develop doubt and disbelief regarding religious injunctions. This results in laxity and slackness in obeying them. Most of the priests don’t like to provide any reasonable explanations for these quires. On the contrary they call the inquirers blasphemous and take them to task without delay, and they dont hesitate to persecute in a body those people who neglect to observe the religious rituals and ceremonies in accordance with their instructions. They are unscrupulous enough to indulge in anti-religious activities in the name of religion. They pay no heed to the words of Holy Quran, which says, “There is no coercion in religion”. Furthermore, they never fail to exert their power to the utmost extent short of defying government ordinances and state laws. In addition to these, they are dreaming of capturing power in order to establish the reign of fanaticism in the name of religion.

I will now present to the readers Aroj Ali Matubbar’s some of the famous questions, which arose in his mind, and the way of his explaining the reasons why these questions crop up.

Am I free? #

I am a living entity with a mind and soul encased in a human body. I am alive by the virtue of vitality. The desire to do something or the other springs in my mind and I accomplish it with the help of my body.

My physical and mental powers are seen in my work. But here the question arises whether I am a free agent or not. If I am a free agent, that is, if God has no control over my doings what justification can there be for calling Him the Almighty? On the other hand, if I am not really a free agent how can I be held responsible for the sinful or virtuous consequences of my actions?

Will the bodiless soul have knowledge? #

Men acquire knowledge through five senses. For want of any one of these five senses, the knowledge, which could have been acquired through it, cannot be acquired. He who is deaf or blind is unable to learn anything by means of sound or light. In other words, want of the senses results in want of knowledge. Death causes the loss of the body and along with it the loss of the senses. Now, The question is will the soul without the body and the senses after death retain any knowledge? If it will, by what means will it do so?

What is the appearance/form of Allah?

Almost all the religions of the world admit that God is unique, formless and immanent. These words are very plain and simple. But in Hinduism we find that God is sometimes conceived as having a form and that for the purpose of looking after the creation. He appears in this world as an ‘Avatar’ (incarnation), demonstrating divine dalliance. In Christianity we find that the Godhead or Divinity stands for the Trinity which is the Union of God the Father, God the son and God the Holly Ghost in the Divine Being. Then again, we hear from Muslim priests that Allah sitting on his throne in heaven manages the Heavenly affairs (Home Ministry) with the help of an Angel called Rezwan while Angel Malek, the governor of hell helps Him in managing the internal affairs. Angel Zibrail acts as the Information Minister and angel Mikhail is given the portfolio of Food Distribution and Weather. When we hear these things, we become puzzled and our brains become confused. Questions start cropping up- why does formless, omnipotent God need incarnation for the maintenance of His creation? What need is there for the Trinity to express the glory of the unique God? And what need is there for the assistance of angels in managing the affaires of the world?

Is God manlike?

When we are told that Allah sees, hears and speaks we naturally wonder if Allah has eyes, ears and a mouth? Some people say yes, He has, though not quite like ours. They are supernatural and somewhat miraculous. But these people don’t explain to us what exactly is meant by ‘supernatural’ and ‘miraculous’. Again when we are told that sight of injustice makes Allah angry, that He hates the sinners, that he is pleased with certain works and displeased with certain others we tend to ask, has Allah a mind like that of man? And is His mentality similar to man’s? The answer to this query is also equivocal; man has not the to comprehend it. Then again, we may be curious enough to ask, why does Allah rule the world like an Emperor and why has He a big surplus of deputies, secretaries and orderlies? The reply we get is, He is an Emperor, and He is the Emperor of all Emperors, second to none, exercising absolute power, which has no limits. This reply may be intelligible to men of extra-ordinary genius but can the man in the street make sense of it?