Post-Islamism in Bangladesh: From Jamaat-e-Islami to Amar Bangladesh Party

Abstract

Despite being a vibrant Muslim-majority state, Bangladesh has rarely been placed in a conversation with the post-Islamism thesis. This study is an attempt at bringing Bangladeshi politics in conversation with post-Islamism by focusing on the case of Amar Bangladesh Party (ABP) that emerged out of the country’s largest and oldest Islamist body, Jamaat-e-Islami. By charting the Bangladeshi Jamaat’s experience with secular and Muslim nationalist politics during the British colonial era, postcolonial Pakistan era, and post-civil-war Bangladesh era, this study shows how reform initiatives undertaken from within Jamaat morphed into a fully-fledged political party called ABP. The historical experience of the Bangladeshi Jamaat is then brought into conversation to ABP’s project to explore how post-Islamism is similar to or different from secularism and Muslim nationalism. Through this exploration of the Jamaat reform initiatives knowingly or not pregnant with the idea and possibility of ABP and its subsequent emergence, I investigate the utility of post-Islamism as an analytical category, whether ABP can be categorized as a post-Islamist entity, and the challenges for post-Islamism’s success. The findings of this investigation reveal that while ABP’s classification as post-Islamism is justified, the utility of post-Islamism as an analytical category is still uncertain. It remains unclear how post-Islamism can be neatly separated from Muslim nationalism or even secularism. Furthermore, the challenges of post-Islamism, thanks in no less part to the observation highlighted in the previous part, are not insignificant either. There are serious theoretical as well as practical challenges that make it difficult for ABP’s post-Islamism to succeed. 

Date of Award	2025
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	HBKU College of Islamic Studies