''Malaun'' () is an derogatory Islamic religious term, derived from the Arabic "ملعون" (maleun), meaning "accursed" or "deprived of Allah's Mercy", directed at the Hindus from West Bengal , who are often persecuted by Islamists and Razakar in Bangladesh and have been subjected to numerous genocides.

Etymology

The Arabic word "ملعون" (mal'un), literally meaning 'cursed' is derived from the root "لعنة" (la'nat) meaning "curse". In

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

parlance, it means 'deprived of Allah's mercy'. The word has been loaned into languages of non-Arabic Islamic countries like Malay and Indonesian. The dictionary published by the Bangla Academy gives the meaning of the Bengali word "মালাউন" as someone cursed or deprived of Allah's mercy or forcefully evicted or a Kafir. It mentions that the word is used as a slur by the Muslims against the non-Muslims.

Usage

Nirmal Kumar Bose noted the usage of the term as early as 1946 in

Noakhali Noakhali District (), historically known as Bhulua (), is a Districts of Bangladesh, district in southeastern Bangladesh, located in Chattogram Division. It was established as a district in 1821, and officially named Noakhali in 1868. The distr ...

. During the

1971 Bangladesh Genocide The Bangladesh genocide was the ethnic cleansing of Bengalis residing in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during the Bangladesh Liberation War, perpetrated by the Pakistan Army and the Razakar (Pakistan), Razakars. It began on 25 March 1971, as ...

, the Pakistani officers addressed Dr. Govinda Chandra Dev as malaun before executing him. According to eyewitness, AKM Yusuf had addressed a gathering of Peace Committee at Rampal in Khulna district on 19 April. At the gathering he addressed the Hindus as malauns and the Hindu women as spoils of war and exhorted the audience to kill them and loot their women. Hussain Muhammad Ershad, while serving as the President, had referred to the Hindus as malaun at a rally in Chhatak. He apologized for his remark after protests from the Hindus. In December 2013, Ganajagaran Mancha presented a deputation to the

Home Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a Ministry (government department), government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law e ...

complaining about police torture. The deputation alleged that on 19 December 2013 the police abused a Hindu woman activist as malaun because she had put sindur. In December 2014, Nasiruddin Pintu, a convicted BNP politician, abused a Bengali Hindu police officer by calling him a malaun when he attempted to stop his lawyers and supporters from meeting Pintu illegally. Pintu threatened the officer with loss of job and called him son of a pig. In January 2015,

Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

workers Shahnawaz abused fellow Awami League worker Sushanta Dasgupta at a party function in London. In the Internet, a

Jamaat-e-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami is an Islamist fundamentalist movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamist author and theorist Syed Abul Ala Maududi, who was inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood. It is considered one of the most influential Isla ...

run social media handle named Basher Kella has given the call for killing all the malauns and turning Bangladesh into a country where only the Muslims will live.

References

{{Religious slurs Ethnic and religious slurs Anti–South Asian slurs Anti-Hindu sentiment Persecution of Bengali Hindus Hate speech Curses Islamism in Bangladesh Racism in Bangladesh

Etymology

Usage

See also

References