There is Goodness within Everyone

Golam Robbani

There is Goodness within Everyone

Justice Mohammad Golam Rabbani is the Advisor of the Ekatturer Ghatok Dalal Nurmul Committee , Chairman of the Nagorik Commission on war criminals and distinguished Judge. He is the retired Justice of Supreme Court Appellate Division.

‘During the second world war, I saw an American soldier - armed and uniformed, obviously on his way to fight - carefully remove an ant from his way, so that he wouldn’t harm it.’ Justice Golam Rabbani said at the beginning of his speech on Quantum Open Discussion on February 27. ‘Another time, I rudely threw two taka at a beggar who was pestering me, but he received it with respect and care, saying Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim before he took it.’

‘These two incidents left deep imprints on my mind’, said Justice Rabbani. ‘They taught me that there is goodness within everyone, there is something to learn from everybody.’ If society and state were designed to nurture that goodness, he said, human beings would not do evil things. But unfortunately they are not.

Justice Rabbani’s speech was rich with insights and anecdotes from an eventful life. He discussed in detail about Government through Local Republics, as described in articles 59 and 60 of the Constitution. He said true democracy is not possible unless every individual can participate in the governing process, and this is only possible through local republics. The kind of government we have now excludes many people from the governing process, he said.

As an example, he talked about a proposed damn in Kurigram, which would displace about 600 families. These famileis say they can deal with the flood, but they cannot deal with losing their land. But they have no influence over the decisions that will drastically change their lives.

Justice Rabbani also talked about his experiences as a judge, in particular two judgments that generated a lot of interest in home and abroad. The first was a verdict that when a man divorces a woman, he is liable to give her maintenance allowance for as long as she needs (according to Islamic Law). The second was that only the state has the right to interpret verses of the Quran, and give judgment based on them: no individual has that right.

Even though his judgments were based on in-depth knowledge, understanding and common sense, he said, he faced a lot of hostility arising from ignorance and extremism in return.

In the concluding part of the speech, Justice Rabbani talked about the harmful effects of globalization, including excessive consumerism and harmful policies advocated by multilateral donor agencies.

As the audience went on a journey through his eventful life, they discovered a man who was curious, insightful, and never hesitated to do what he believed was right.