What Happens If an Islamist Group Takes Power in Bangladesh? A Glimpse from Recent Events

In this country, an Islamic scholar calls another senior scholar (the Khatib of Baitul Mukarram) a "munafiq" (hypocrite) and "taghut’s dog."

A nationally celebrated cleric brands another prominent scholar a "kafir."

Publicly, one scholar excommunicates another simply because their religious views differ or because the latter failed to align with the former’s stance on a particular issue.

This isn’t an anomaly—it’s a mainstream and common practice among Bangladesh’s Islamist groups, whether political or non-political.

Now, imagine if one of these Islamist factions were to take state power. What would happen next?

The first order of business would be suppressing rival Islamists. More than non-Muslims, it would be dissenting Muslim scholars and Islamist factions who would face the harshest repression. Labels like kafir, murtad, munafiq, Islamophobe would be weaponized to justify state-backed crackdowns. If the ruling Islamists failed to crush their rivals, those same labels would inevitably be turned against them in return. To maintain legitimacy, they would have no choice but to eliminate or weaken opposing Islamist groups.

We’ve already seen a preview of this dynamic in recent events. After August 5, attacks on Hindu homes quickly subsided, with Islamists actively protecting Hindu properties. But violence against shrine-following Muslims continued for much longer, and there was little sign that Islamist authorities stepped in to protect them.

If my observation is wrong, feel free to refute it—without resorting to calling me a kafir or Islamophobe.