Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh.

The origin of the party can be traced back to the original faction founded by Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi in 1941. The predecessor of Jamaat which is known as Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, allegedly opposed the independence of Bangladesh and the dismemberment of Pakistan.

Following the independence of Bangladesh, the party was banned along with all other religion-based parties in 1972 by the regime. The ban was lifted in 1976 by the Sayem administration and its leaders were allowed to participate in political activities after 1979, and the current Bangladeshi faction of Jamaat-e-Islami was formed after the ban on religion-based parties was lifted by Ziaur Rahman. It actively participated in the pro-democratic mass uprising against the government of Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1990. Following the 1991 Bangladeshi general election, leaders of the party became MPs in the BNP government. Following the 2001 Bangladeshi general election, the party formed a coalition government with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and two of its leaders received ministerial positions in the government.

From 2010, the Awami League government began to prosecute Jamaat leaders for the war crimes committed during the 1971 war under the International Crimes Tribunal. By 2012, eight leaders from Jamaat were charged and three were convicted of war crimes. In August 2013, the Bangladesh Supreme Court cancelled the registration of the party. In early-August 2024, with the surge of July Revolution, the party was again banned by the Awami League government. However, after the fall of the government, the decision was reversed by the newly-established interim government in late-August of that year, and in 1 June 2025, the ban on the party was officially lifted and its registration was reinstated by the Appeliate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.