Islam is history, says Taslima Nasreen

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Islam is history because we live in the 21st century now, opined controversial exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen on Tuesday.

"The Islam religion and their scriptures are out of place and out of time. It still follows the 7th century laws and is hopeless. The need of the hour is not reformation but revolution," said Nasreen while interacting with reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.

The feminist author of "Lajja" is in Kerala in connection with the release of the Malayalam translation of four of her books, which would be released at Thrissur on Aug 24.

Nasreen said a secular state should have a uniform civil code and should be based on equality, existence and not on religion.

"The state can do a lot of things, and both the state and religion should be separate. The state should not encourage religion. Today religious education and madrassas (religious seminaries) are going up. Jehad is stupidity," said the writer.

She said she had been fighting religious fundamentalism for long.

"I don't go to the streets, instead I write and that is my way of protest. I was born in a Muslim family and Muslim women suffer under Islam. None told me to fight against oppression. It was inside me. Women are treated as slaves, sexual objects and childbearing machines," added Nasreen.

According to Nasreen, noted Kerala writer Kamala Surayya, who was Kamala Das before she converted to Islam, had now realised that she had made a mistake in converting to Islam. She had held a meeting with Surayya earlier.

"When I asked her if she regrets becoming a Muslim, she said 'yes'. She has realised that Islam does not give equality," said the writer.

She said she would love to return to her country, and if not allowed to then she would like to live in Kolkata because a writer likes to live in surroundings familiar to them.