Md. Nurul Haque

A tide does not knock on the door before it floods the shore. It comes silently, swelling beneath the surface, until one morning, fishermen find their nets washed away, and rulers find their thrones shaking. Bangladesh stands before such a tide—the Islamic tide —today. Long mocked, maligned, and massacred, Islamist politics, particularly Jamaat-e-Islami, has resurfaced with a force that the secular establishment neither foresaw nor can easily contain. The crescent moon, which was once eclipsed, has begun to glow again.

Why the Tide Is Rising

The growth of Islamic sentiment in Bangladesh is neither an accident nor a sudden meteor shower. It is the product of years of silent sowing. While the so-called secular forces were busy feathering their nests with corruption, extortion, and servility to foreign masters, Jamaat worked underground with discipline, patience, and the patience of a farmer waiting for rain. Their sacrifices—leaders hanged in midnight trials that history will one day call judicial killings, cadres jailed without cause, families ostracized—did not extinguish their flame. Rather, each grave became a seedbed.

International Islamic media—from Turkey’s TRT to Qatar’s Al Jazeera—fed a narrative that resonated with the Bangladeshi heart: dignity, self-reliance, and God-centric governance. For a nation wounded by decades of authoritarianism and kleptocracy, this message rings like the azan in a desert.

And, of course, oppression begets resistance. Sheikh Hasina’s long reign, with its fascist undertones, nurtured anti-Islamic policies—banning burqa in educational institutions, sidelining madrasa students from civil service, criminalizing Islamic expression as if piety were terrorism. When you try to silence faith, it returns louder than drums. The attempt to erase Islam from public life instead produced a backlash: Islam has returned as a banner of justice, identity, and resistance.

The People’s Pulse

Walk through the bazaars of Bogura or the tea stalls of Sylhet, and you will hear a new murmur. Common people—rickshaw pullers, garment workers, small traders—speak of Islam not only as religion but as refuge. After years of price hikes, corruption in banks, and looting in state enterprises, they crave honesty, discipline, and divine accountability.

What is striking is Jamaat’s evolving image. Far from the caricature of extremists, the party has shown generous attitudes toward ethnic and religious minorities. Unlike the hypocrisy of secular elites, Jamaat’s organizational principles stress justice for all. The message is clear: under God’s law, no Hindu, Buddhist, or Christian is to be cheated, persecuted, or deprived. In fact, their treatment of minorities stands in contrast to the violence unleashed by supposedly liberal governments. This inclusivity, grounded in faith rather than politics, explains their growing resonance among ordinary Bangladeshis.

Can Jamaat Govern?

The real question now is not whether Jamaat can mobilize crowds—they already do—but whether they can govern a 21st-century nation. If they form a government, several challenges and opportunities await.

Ruling Strategy: Islamic parties elsewhere offer examples. Turkey’s AKP, under Erdoğan, married religious rhetoric with pragmatic governance—highways, hospitals, digital progress. Pakistan’s experiments show pitfalls: populist promises collapsing under debt and factionalism. Bangladesh’s Jamaat must walk a tightrope: combine principle with pragmatism, faith with functionality.

Foreign Policy: India will remain the elephant in the room. Jamaat’s past suspicion of Indian hegemony is well-known, but in realpolitik, hostility cannot feed the hungry. They will likely adopt cautious engagement—friendly in trade, firm in sovereignty. Relations with Muslim nations—Turkey, Malaysia, the Gulf—may deepen, creating alternative corridors of finance and labor migration.

Employment & Economy: Jamaat promises an economy free from usury, corruption, and cronyism. If implemented, Islamic finance could attract billions from Gulf investors. Employment generation must prioritize youth, who are now restless between call centers and migration boats. Discipline, not disorder, will be their watchword.

Role of Women: Critics scoff that Islamists will push women behind veils and walls. History tells another story. Under Islamic governance in the subcontinent, women held land, managed estates, and made significant contributions to scholarship. The Jamaat must reinterpret this legacy by encouraging women’s education and participation in health, technology, and social welfare, while respecting modesty. Here lies their greatest test—whether they can harmonize principle with the reality of modern labor markets.

History’s Lessons

History is neither a museum piece nor a teacher’s chalkboard—it is a mirror. When Islam ruled Bengal under the Mughals, the land witnessed flourishing trade, cultural synthesis, and relative communal harmony. Even critics concede that Islamic governance often provided more stability than colonial plunder or post-colonial kleptocracy. The British Raj’s divide-and-rule, followed by the secular post-1971 elite’s misrule, has left scars that Islamists now promise to heal.

Yet history also warns. Overzealous puritanism or political rigidity can fracture societies. Jamaat must remember: Islam is not a whip, but a compass. To lead, they must inspire, not intimidate.

Are They Ready?

So, are Jamaat and the broader Islamic movement ready to lead Bangladesh? Readiness is not measured in manifestos or rallies. It is measured in the ability to balance ideals with bread, scripture with shelter, prayer with policy. The masses will not accept sermons in place of salaries, nor charity instead of structural reform.

If the Jamaat remains disciplined, avoids the arrogance of power, and truly embodies the Quranic injunction of adl—justice—they may well transform from opposition pariahs to pragmatic governing authorities. But if they succumb to factionalism or try to impose without dialogue, the tide that lifted them could just as quickly wash them away.

The Final Word

The resurgence of Islamic influence in Bangladesh is neither a myth nor a mirage. It is a reality forged by sacrifice, oppression, and a yearning for justice. The crescent has returned to the sky, but whether it guides or blinds depends on the navigators. As history whispers, “Power is a trust, not a throne,” Jamaat’s challenge will be to prove that Islam in politics is not a slogan of the street but a system of the state.

Bangladesh today does not need new slogans; it needs new honesty. If Jamaat can deliver that, then the tide may not only flood the shore—it may irrigate the barren fields of this long-suffering nation.

The writer is an Assistant Professor of English at IUBAT and a PhD candidate at UPM, Malaysia.