The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought

Bangladesh

Long considered the backwoods of Indian Islam, Bangladesh has become one of the largest Muslim countries in the world. Concentrated in an area approximately the size of Wisconsin, its total population as of 2010 exceeds 150 million, 87 percent of whom are Sunnis. Part of a larger political-linguistic entity called Bengal, the region was divided into two halves in 1947 when the British left India and handed over the eastern half (then known as East Bengal), with an overwhelming Muslim majority, to Pakistan and the other half (called West Bengal), with a Hindu majority, to India, even though both halves shared a common ethnic and linguistic tradition and history. East Bengal, renamed East Pakistan in 1947, soon came into conflict with the dominant Pakistani landowning military and bureaucratic elite based in West Pakistan, principally over the sharing of resources but also on the question of autonomy for the province and the status of the Bengali language.

The Language Movement of 1952, which demanded recognition of Bengali as one of the state languages, was the first political manifestation of this discontent. The killing of several university students on February 21 by police dramatically transformed the language issue into a resistance movement against the policies of the central government and brought it to the center of political and cultural discourse in Bangladesh. Widely celebrated as the Martyrs’ Day through annual marches, cultural events, songs, and literature, the incident galvanized increasing popular support during the next few years. By 1969, this support developed into a mass movement for greater autonomy and finally, by 1970, into a full-fledged war of liberation, resulting in the creation of Bangladesh on March 26, 1971, under the leadership of Shaykh Mujibur Rahman (d. 1975).

The region came under Muslim political control gradually under the Delhi Sultanate starting in the 13th century. Through a long process of Sufi propagation, acculturation, land reclamation, and immigration from outside Bengal, a greater part of the area ultimately became Muslim. However, the religious tradition that developed there was a unique mix of orthodoxy and Sufism, which, coupled with accretions from local popular cultural symbols and rituals, was unique to Bangladesh. Since the 19th century, a powerful purist trend initiated by a series of Islamic reform movements, notably the Faraizi and the Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya, seriously challenged the older traditions. This tension, manifested through conflicting ideologies and symbols, led to continued violence and dissension. The fundamentalist group Jama‘at-i Islami, which opposed the Bangladesh Liberation War and collaborated with the Pakistani regime, became one of the most divisive forces in the country. Several other underground extremist Islamist organizations, such as the Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami and the Jama‘atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, kept the tension alive. Corruption at all levels of government, the lack of political will and determination, the politicization of the police force, and the growing ambition of the armed forces further complicated the situation.

Notwithstanding the tension, Bangladesh has made great strides in alleviating poverty in recent years under the leadership of several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), notably the Grameen Bank, initiated by Muhammad Yunus in 1983. Designed to address the problems of those in extreme poverty, especially women, through a unique microcredit system, Yunus and his bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. The initiative made Bangladesh a leader in empowering the poor despite being one of the poorest countries in the world.