It all started in late September, when Bangladesh’s Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Abdul Latif Siddique criticized the hajj and the Islamic supremacist group Tablighi Jamaat: “Latif Siddique says he is ‘dead against’ hajj, Tabligh,” New Age, September 30, 2014 (thanks to Jamal Hasan):
Posts, telecommunications and Information technology minister Abdul Latif Siddique on Sunday made derogatory remarks on hajj, a main pillar of Islam, and said he was dead against hajj and Tabligh Jamaat….
For that, Latif Siddique was fired from the Bangladeshi government. But the controversy didn’t end there. In Bangladesh, Muslims by the thousands demonstrated in the streets, demanding his death. And a group of Muslim leaders called for Latif Siddique to be hanged. They made this call in…Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
News Bangla, a Bengali daily based in Virginia, published an account of the meeting. Here is an English translation of their story (again courtesy Jamal Hasan):
In Philadelphia protest meeting, Latif Siddique’s exemplary punishment demanded
Philadelphia (12 October, 2014): Batil Firqa and materialism are enemies of iman, deen and humanity. The believers staged a strong protest rally countering the Satan Minister’s insult to the Prophet and his bad words about the fourth pillar of Islam — the Holy Hajj.
The meeting was presided over by Alhaj Sheikh Mohammad Khorshan and was held at the local Taxi Alliance Hall. The speakers at the meeting said that the former Posts and Telecommunications Minister of Bangladesh, the apostate Latif Siddique, made tasteless statements about Islam and the Great Prophet of the religion. They also said that by hurting the feelings and faith of the Muslims of Bangladesh and the whole world, Mr. Siddique committed a despicable crime. They demanded exemplary punishment of the former Bangladeshi Minister.
The speaker said, Our faith demands we have to love the Prophet above everything of the world. Otherwise, we can not remain faithful. They said, A handful of apostates made bad comments about the Prophet before, and we saw their punishment in this world. We had witnessed Golam Mohammad Kadiani’s tragic death in the toilet. They demanded the arrest of the apostate Latif Siddique and his public hanging.
The meeting was addressed among others by Imam Sheikh Abu Hateb Mohsin (Egypt), Imam Hafez Omar (African), Imam Maulana Kazi Ilyas, Imam Maulana Abdul Awal, Professor Imad Rushdi, Ahmed Mudi (Palestine), Haji Abdur Rahman Chowdhury, Mahbubur Rahman, Mahamdur Rashid (Selim), Abdur Shuqqur, Mohammad Hares Mansur, Mir Hussain, Mohammad Shahjahan Chowdhury, Shaha Farid, Mohammad Nahid, Freedom fighter Abu Taher, Mohammad Enam Chowdhury, Shah Alam, Mohammad Belal, et al.
In his presidential speech, Sheikh Khorshan thanked all the Bangladeshi, Arab and African brothers for making the meeting a success. He called for unity to get out of the clutches of atheist evil forces who had insulted the Great Prophet of Islam. The meeting was conducted by Mohammad Shahadat Hussain, who has a lilting voice. The program concluded with a prayer asking for the peace and prosperity of world’s Muslims.