Bangladesh to Build 560 Model Mosques and an Islamic University

Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina has recently announced that her government is going to construct 560 model mosques and an Islamic university in Bangladesh with the help of Saudi Arabia. The move is seen as an attempt to woo hardline Islamists of the country, ahead of the parliamentary elections, which is scheduled for next month.

Sheikh Hasina made the announcement at a rally organized by Islamic Clerics in the capital, Dhaka. She also urged the clerics to understand and not to be agitated by the anti-Islam propaganda on social media, assuring that her government is going to enact tough laws to tackle such malicious campaign against the religion.

She said, “I know that a lot of propaganda spreads on social media, do not pay any heed to them”. She also informed that her government has introduced strict cybercrime laws to deal with such campaigns, “anyone who spreads such false information would be exposed to justice”. Hasina also informed that her government is being assisted by the Saudi government in the building of the mosques and the university.

Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League is considered as the secular party in Bangladesh whereas her rival Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is known for her hardliners' link. Therefore the move of Sheikh Hasina to build hundreds of mosques is seen as an attempt to woo Islamist voters ahead of general elections, who have been traditionally voting for Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh National Party and her ally Jamaat-e-Islami.

The rally in which Sheikh Hasina made the announcement is organized by Al-Hiyatul Ulya Lil-Zami’atil Qawmiya Bangladesh, which is the highest body of Islamic clerics in Bangladesh. The organizers also honored the Prime Minister because of her government recent decision to recognize and give certifications to the non-government madrasas to offer postgraduate degrees. Thousands of students and teachers of Qawmi madrasas attended the rally.

In the rally, the Qawmi leaders also expressed their wish to see the Prime Minister again in power for a third consecutive term. Qawmi leader Fazlul Karim said, “Since Sheikh Hasina has recognized (the top Qawmi madrasa degree) we want her to come to power again, so that she can fulfill the rest of our demands”.

In September this year, the Bangladesh Parliament has passed a bill in order to recognize the Dawra-e-Hadith degree offered by Madrasa, as equivalent to a post-graduate degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies. Every year a large number of students enroll themselves in Qawami madrasas in Muslim majority Bangladesh.