Bangladesh Racing Toward a Caliphate
In an unprecedented escalation of Islamist persecution, Jamaat-e-Islami — the Bangladeshi ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) — has begun imposing the jizya tax on Hindus and other non-Muslims, openly declaring its intent to replace the country's secular democratic framework with Islamic sharia law.
Backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, and linked to global jihadist networks, including Al Qaeda, Jamaat-e-Islami's move comes just months after a coup that brought Muhammad Yunus to power, triggering a rapid rise in radical Islamic influence. This development threatens not only Bangladesh's fragile democracy but also poses a strategic security risk to South Asia and the wider free world.
In the United States, Jamaat-e-Islami maintains deep ties with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). According to the Observer Research Foundation, these organizations have succeeded in securing funding from U.S. federal agencies — particularly USAID, the Department of Agriculture, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
In 2020, Sam Westrop documented in the Middle East Quarterly that millions of federal taxpayer dollars have flowed to US-based Islamist groups with alleged terror connections — a trend that continued even during the first Trump administration: "A variety of other dangerous Islamist groups continue to enjoy government approval and partnership. USAID openly urges Americans to donate to terror-linked charities such as LIFE for Relief and Development..."
Under interim head of government Muhammad Yunus, radical Islamist groups have grown emboldened, openly pushing for the transformation of the country into a theocratic state.
This vacuum has allowed ISIS and Al-Qaeda to expand their regional presence. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, seeing a "golden opportunity", has intensified its subversive operations in both Bangladesh and other neighboring countries.
This development is not just a domestic issue — it is a warning to the world about the resurgence of militant Islamism in South Asia.
In an unprecedented escalation of Islamist persecution, Jamaat-e-Islami — the Bangladeshi ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) — has begun imposing the jizya tax on Hindus and other non-Muslims, openly declaring its intent to replace the country's secular democratic framework with Islamic sharia law.
Backed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, and linked to global jihadist networks, including Al Qaeda, Jamaat-e-Islami's move comes just months after a coup that brought Muhammad Yunus to power, triggering a rapid rise in radical Islamic influence. This development threatens not only Bangladesh's fragile democracy but also poses a strategic security risk to South Asia and the wider free world.
On July 25, 2025, local media reported that Dr. Shafiqur Rahman, president of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, publicly declared that Hindus and other non-Muslims must pay the jizya tax. According to one report from July 31:
"Non-Muslims living in Bangladesh should be made to pay the 'Jizya tax'. Since Muslims pay 'Zakat' (A portion of their wealth donated for religious purposes), if equal rights are desired, then Hindus should pay the Jizya. This is what is correct as per Sharia law, said a leader of the political party Jamaat-e-Islami in a public gathering."
The jizya is a tax historically imposed on non-Muslims in Islamic states and empires, as a symbol of subjugation and second-class status. Its collection in present-day Bangladesh marks a dangerous shift from the country's secular founding principles toward a theocratic order.
Global context: Muslim Brotherhood under scrutiny
On July 16, US Senator Ted Cruz introduced the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025, aimed at designating the MB as a foreign terrorist organization. This move, if passed, would have major implications for groups tied to the MB worldwide, including Jamaat-e-Islami.
However, security experts caution that such a designation, while significant, would not automatically halt the MB's global expansion. The organization has proven adept at using political, financial and social fronts to continue its influence covertly.
Jamaat-e-Islami's troubled past and international ties
Jamaat-e-Islami sided with Pakistan in Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence, the organization actively collaborating with the Pakistani military during the genocide of Bengali civilians. Today, the organization enjoys continued patronage from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, as well as various Islamist and jihadist organizations.
In the United States, Jamaat-e-Islami maintains deep ties with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). According to the Observer Research Foundation, these organizations have succeeded in securing funding from U.S. federal agencies — particularly USAID, the Department of Agriculture, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
In 2020, Sam Westrop documented in the Middle East Quarterly that millions of federal taxpayer dollars have flowed to US-based Islamist groups with alleged terror connections — a trend that continued even during the first Trump administration:
"A variety of other dangerous Islamist groups continue to enjoy government approval and partnership. USAID openly urges Americans to donate to terror-linked charities such as LIFE for Relief and Development, the target of multiple federal terror finance investigations, which led to several convictions of its officials. USAID also encourages donations to the Zakat Foundation of America, a charity that funds groups in Gaza linked to Hamas and is closely tiedto the Islamist Turkish regime and to Islamic Relief, the flagship financial institution of the global Muslim Brotherhood.
"Islamic Relief is the largest Muslim charity in the Western world. Yet it has been banned in the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and regions of Bangladesh where Rohingya refugees live because of its reported radicalization efforts. It has also been named a leading Islamist institution by German and Swedish officials. Yet Islamic Relief still enjoys a close relationship with various components of the U.S. government. Both the Department of Agriculture and the Federal Emergency Management Agency list it as a partner. In May, USAID hosted Islamic Relief for an iftar meal. And in 2018, Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore agreed to be the guest of honor at an Islamic Relief reception on Capitol Hill.
Other endorsements of Islamist groups announced by federal bodies include the terror-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which was established as part of a Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas network in the United States, and the Islamic Circle of North America, which is linked to the violent South Asian Islamist movement Jamaat-e-Islami. In addition, officials at one of CAIR's most extreme branches, CAIR-Florida, have been meeting Department of Justice and DHS officials."
Bangladesh's dangerous turn toward theocracy
Since last year's regime change coup, Bangladesh's secular political foundations have been eroding rapidly. Under interim head of government Muhammad Yunus, radical Islamist groups have grown emboldened, openly pushing for the transformation of the country into a theocratic state.
This vacuum has allowed ISIS and Al-Qaeda to expand their regional presence. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, seeing a "golden opportunity", has intensified its subversive operations in both Bangladesh and other neighboring countries.
In recent months, Al-Qaeda operatives and other Islamist extremists have increased their activities in Bangladesh. Last week, Ziaul Huq Zia — a notorious Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist and one of the US State Department's most wanted fugitives — openly called for establishing offices of terrorist movements from Manipur, Khalistan, and Kashmir inside Bangladesh.
Zia, believed to have secretly returned to Bangladesh after last year's jihadist-backed coup, made his statement in a Facebook post. Strangely, shortly after his post was publicized, the US State Department's website quietly removed its announcement of a $5 million bounty on him.
The alarming implications
The imposition of the jizya tax by Jamaat-e-Islami is not an isolated incident. It is a clear signal that Bangladesh's religious minorities are being systematically targeted under a creeping Sharia-based agenda. This action not only violates the secular principles enshrined in Bangladesh's 1972 Constitution, but also undermines international human rights norms.
The silence of Bangladesh's current interim government on this matter raises troubling questions: Is this the beginning of state-sanctioned religious persecution in Bangladesh? And if so, how far will it go before the international community intervenes?
If the jizya tax collection is allowed to continue unchecked, Bangladesh risks sliding into a medieval-style religious apartheid, where Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and other non-Muslim minorities are reduced to second-class citizens in their own country. This development is not just a domestic issue — it is a warning to the world about the resurgence of militant Islamism in South Asia. The international community, particularly democratic nations that value religious freedom, must act decisively before Bangladesh becomes yet another cautionary tale of a secular state devoured by theocratic extremism.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is an award-winning journalist, writer, and Editor of the newspaper Blitz. He specializes in counterterrorism and regional geopolitics. Follow him on X @Salah_Shoaib
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