The growing power of Islamic groups in Bangladesh poses a clear danger, one that could erase the hard-won democratic system. After Sheikh Hasina stepped down in August 2024, organizations like Jamaat-e-Islami have regained strength and are pushing for a sharia-based order, leaving no room for equal rights or personal freedoms.
These groups are exploiting the current instability to pull the country away from its secular roots, prioritizing only Muslim beliefs. Hasina had kept them in check for years, but her departure created a vacuum they are now filling, through assaults on minorities and spreading fear. This shift illustrates how an Islamic government undermines democracy, as Islam’s core ideas demand total obedience to divine laws rather than human will.
Let me remind you of the history of these militants. For over a decade in Bangladesh, Islamist extremists have launched waves of barbaric attacks targeting secularists, writers, publishers, religious minorities, foreigners, and LGBTQ activists. This stems from a twisted belief system that requires blind loyalty and punishes any opposition with death, much like Muhammad’s own ruthless campaigns against his critics. For instance, he ordered the killing of poet Ka’b bin Al-Ashraf for mocking Islam, as recorded in Sahih Bukhari 5:59:369, where it states, “Allah’s Messenger said, ‘Who is willing to kill Ka’b bin Al-Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?’”
From 2013 to 2025, this brutality claimed many lives, including 22 notable murders between 2013 and 2016, and at least eight more confirmed deaths from 2017 to 2025, along with widespread torture, vandalism, and communal violence. These actions draw from teachings like Quran 9:29, which commands, “Fight those who do not believe in Allah… until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled,” turning non-believers into perpetual targets. The 2013 Shahbag movement, demanding trials for 1971 war crimes and a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami, sparked the first bloodshed, such as the stabbing of blogger Asif Mohiuddin and the machete killing of free-thinker Ahmed Rajib Haider. Groups like Ansarullah Bangla Team proudly claimed responsibility, mirroring Islam’s historical intolerance.
In 2014, Professor Shafiul Islam was murdered for his support of Baul culture and falsely accused of banning burqas, while “Defenders of Islam” released a hit list of 84 secular figures, nine of whom were later killed, proving the endless cycle of terror from this religion’s rigid doctrines. The year 2015 saw blogger Avijit Roy hacked to death at a book fair, followed by the brutal slayings of Washiqur Rahman, Ananta Bijoy Das, Niloy Chatterjee, and publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan, with al-Qaeda and ISIS taking credit, echoing Quran 4:89, which urges, “Seize them and kill them wherever you find them” for those deemed apostates.
Attacks escalated in 2016 against minorities and activists, from Hindu priest Jogeshwar Roy to LGBTQ leaders Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy, Sufi Shahidullah, Buddhist monk Shue U Chak, and the massacre of 28 at Holey Artisan Bakery. Authorities arrested thousands but faced accusations of excessive force. From 2017 to 2021, suicide bombings at police camps and airports, IEDs, and petrol bombs occurred, with ISIS claiming them. In 2022, militants escaped after attacking a court, linked to new groups like Jama’atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya. After Hasina’s 2024 removal, over 230 people died in 205 attacks across 52 districts, aimed at driving out minorities, with Jamaat-e-Islami involved. Reports confirm 258 communal attacks in the first half of 2025 and 2,442 incidents from August 2024 to mid-2025.
In 2025, extremists banned girls’ football and harassed those without veils, signaling an imposition of sharia, similar to Muhammad’s conquest of Medina, which silenced opponents through fear and force. Right after Hasina left, Islamist groups united, even if temporarily, to seize power in upcoming elections. They had been waiting in the shadows and now emerge, launching more attacks on Hindus and other minorities who no longer feel safe at home.
This is not random violence but a calculated move to make the country more Islamist, ignoring democracy’s promise of equal treatment. Muhammad’s teachings, as seen in the Quran, view non-Muslims as second-class, forcing them to pay jizya or face war. For example, Quran 9:29 states, “Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture, until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.” This verse advocates control over others, clashing with democracy’s idea of equal voice for all.
Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s largest Islamic party, has a dark past that shows it cannot support true democracy. During the 1971 independence war, it sided with Pakistan, aiding massacres and opposing freedom. It sees democracy as a tool for gaining power, but once in control, aims to reshape it under Islamic rules. Its leaders openly state that sharia should rule, not man-made laws. The party was previously banned, but courts reinstated its license, opening the door for election participation and advancing its agenda. It’s striking how Muhammad’s examples of breaking treaties and forced conversions, like in Quran 9:3, which declares, “An announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage that Allah is disassociated from the disbelievers, and [so is] His Messenger,” justify such groups withdrawing from democratic agreements when convenient.
If an Islamic government takes power, it will end free speech and equal rights, as seen in other countries under Islamic rule. In Pakistan, Islamic parties’ influence keeps the nation unstable, with repeated military takeovers and attacks on minorities because religion mixes with politics. Democracy there is weak, with laws favoring Muslims and leaving others without real power. In Iran, it’s worse; after the 1979 revolution under Khomeini, religious leaders control everything, and elections are mere show. Women and non-Muslims suffer under strict rules, with no space for debate. Afghanistan under Taliban is a nightmare, where girls cannot attend school, and democracy is replaced by harsh hadith punishments, such as in Sahih Bukhari 4:52:261, where Muhammad says, “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.” Such thinking destroys any chance for an open society.
In Bangladesh, we see the same signs. Since Hasina’s fall, religious extremism has risen, with more intolerance from January to May 2025. Links to groups like Tehreek-e-Taliban are resurfacing, bringing further terror. Thinkers like Sayyid Qutb, who influenced many Islamic parties, argued that only Allah rules, not people, and freedom is less important than sharia morality. Khomeini went further, calling democracy Islam’s enemy and blaming freedom claims for all problems. These ideas fuel Bangladesh’s groups to reject democracy as un-Islamic.
Muhammad’s system, as in Quran 4:59, commands, “O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you,” limiting power to believers and giving non-Muslims no real role. This divided loyalty means Muslims in democracy will choose divine law over public vote, creating conflict. Tariq Ramadan admits Muslims use democracy in the West as a tool to defeat it, respecting only sharia. In Bangladesh, this means Islamic parties will exploit elections to end them.
Countries in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation show this pattern, mostly authoritarian with no full democracy, because Islamic rule does not allow true people’s power. Sufi Muhammad clearly stated that true Islam permits no elections or democracy. If Bangladesh falls into this, our freedoms and heritage will be lost.
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