Bangladesh: Muslim leader whose group spreads Hindu hate becomes part of interim government, wants Sharia state

This is the point to which this was always tending. Since hatred of non-Muslims and the supremacy of Islam are intrinsic to Islamic theology and law, there are always movements in Muslim countries toward Sharia and the persecution of religious minorities.

“Bangladesh: Hefazat-e-Islam leader AFM Khalid Hossain becomes part of interim govt, read how the group spreads Hindu hate, wants to turn country into Sharia-run Taliban state,” OpIndia, August 9, 2024:

On Thursday, 8th August, Prof Muhammad Yunus assumed the office of Bangladesh forming the interim government after the country’s PM Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post amid the ‘student protests’. PM Modi extended good wishes to the newly formed interim government and asked it to ensure the safety of the Hindu community and minorities in Bangladesh which are under attack after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government.

Notably, the newly formed interim government consists of 17 members including Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed; Brigadier General (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain, the former election commissioner of Bangladesh; Dr. Md Nazrul Islam, a law professor; Adilur Rahman Khan, a human rights activist; AF Hassan Ariff, a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh; Syeda Rizwana Hasan, the Chief Executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association among others.

However, one of the shocking names that have been included in the list of interim ministers is that of Islamist Abul Fayez Muhammad Khalid Hossain, popularly known as Dr AFM Khalid Hossain. Hossain has been the vice president of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh and is currently associated with the Bangladeshi Deobandi Islamic organization. The Hefazat-e-Islami is a hardline Islamist organization, whose members have been accused of persecuting Hindus in the past.

As per the local reports, Dr AFM Khalid Hossain is a Bangladeshi Deobandi Islamic scholar and an international Islamic speaker. He along with several other leaders of Hefazat-e-Islam has a history of influencing the Muslims against the Sheikh Hasina-led government and its ties with India.

He is a former vice-president of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, an editor of the periodical At-Tawheed, and assistant editor of Balagh al-Sharq. He served as the professor and chairman of the Department of Islamic History and Culture at Omargani MES College, as well as the central president of the Islami Chhatra Samaj, the Nizam-e-Islam Party’s student branch.

Hefazat-e-Islam and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh

Hefazat-e-Islam was founded in Chittagong in January 2010 by Islamist Ahmad Shafi aiming to ‘safeguard’ Islam from claimed anti-Islamic initiatives. The Islamist group also aimed at abolishing secularism and propagating hard-core Islamic beliefs. The group’s formation was prompted by the 2009 Women Development Policy draft, which suggested equal inheritance rights for women.

The group is composed of up of Sunni Islamists, their madrassa network, and supporters and its leaders have always publicly advocated for political and legal reform. The group publicly attacked the secular court system and called for the establishment of an Islamic state in Bangladesh under Sharia law.

In 2013, Hefazat-e-Islam proposed a 13-point program that included gender segregation and the release of imprisoned Islamic scholars in Bangladesh. They condemned secular action, including calls for the execution of Jamaat-e-Islami officials.

The group has aimed to make Bangladesh an Islamic nation and voiced its opinions against the Sheikh Hasina-led government. The group forced the government to take action against secular activists who were allegedly engaged in anti-Islamic activities. They also forced the authorities to remove 17 stories and poetry written by secular or non-Muslim writers from Bengali textbooks. This probably has been just to propagate Islam and oppose non-Muslims in the country….

After the massive violence reported in 2021, several Hefazat-e-Islam leaders were arrested who confessed to wanting to turn Bangladesh into a Taliban state like Afghanistan if they came to power. Mamunul Haque, an influential leader of the same Islamist group confessed that he and many other Islamists associated with ideological allies had planned to dethrone the government in power and establish a Taliban state….

It is important to note that several leaders associated with Hafazat-e-Islam are at present also spreading hatred against the Hindus amid the ongoing Bangladesh political crisis. Islamist hate preacher of Hefazat-e-Islam, Rafiqul Islam Madani, who was arrested in the year 2021 for inciting violence and making objectionable remarks against the government uploaded a video on Facebook and attempted to spread lies and incite hate by claiming that Senior Jail Superintendent Subrata Kumar Bala of the Kashimpur High-Security Central Jail in Gazipur had open-fired at the prisoners. He, however, failed to provide any evidence to support his claims….

Photo By Ebadbinsiddik – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=151318607