[11][12][13] One of the earliest mosques in South Asia is under excavation in northern Bangladesh, indicating the presence of Muslims in the area around the lifetime of Muhammad.

Additional evidence of these early Arab traders includes inscriptions found near the Meghna River close to Sandwip on the Bay of Bengal.

During this period, the Arab geographer Al-Masudi visited the region and documented a thriving Muslim community in his work The Meadows of Gold.

[8] In addition to trade, Islam was also being introduced to the people of Bengal through the migration of Sufi missionaries prior to conquests.

Rumi settled in present-day Netrokona, Mymensingh where he influenced the local ruler and population to embrace Islam.

Sultan Balkhi and Shah Makhdum Rupos settled in the present-day Rajshahi Division in northern Bengal, preaching to the communities there.

During the reign of the Sultan of Lakhnauti Shamsuddin Firuz Shah, much of present-day Satgaon, Sonargaon and Mymensingh came under Muslim dominion.

A community of 13 Muslim families headed by Burhanuddin resided in the northeastern city of Srihatta (Sylhet), claiming their descendants to have arrived from Chittagong.

[19] The establishment of a single united Bengal Sultanate in 1352 by Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah finally gave rise to a "Bengali" socio-linguistic and cultural identity.

Usman Serajuddin, also known as Akhi Siraj Bengali, was a native of Gaur in western Bengal and became the Sultanate's court scholar during Ilyas Shah's reign.

The sovereign Sunni Muslim nation-state also enabled the language of the Bengali people to gain patronage and support, contrary to previous states which exclusively favoured Sanskrit, Pali and Persian.

The converted Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah funded the construction of Islamic seminaries as far as Mecca and Madina in the Middle East.

A network of Mint Towns - provincial capitals which produced the Sultan's sovereign currency called the taka - was established across Bengal.

These immigrants included Turks from northern India who were originally recruited in Central Asia; as well as Abyssinians imported via East Africa into the Bengali port of Chittagong.

A distinct style of Bengali mihrabs, minbars, terracotta arabesque, and do-chala roofs developed; this influence also spread to other regions.

They were in turn replaced by the Pashtun rulers of the Suri dynasty, who first acted as regional governors before restoring Bengali independence.

Most of the Zamindars in the modern Barisal division, for instance, were upper caste Hindus who subcontracted actual jungle clearance work to a Muslim pir.

[24] Due to high colonial taxation, Bengali commerce shrank by 50% within 40 years, while at the same time British imports flooded the market.

The East India Company forced opium and indigo cultivation and the permanent settlement dismantled centuries of joint Muslim-Hindu political, military and feudal cooperation.

Rural eastern Bengal witnessed the earliest rebellions against British rule, including the Faraizi movement led by Haji Shariatullah and the activities of Titumir and Karamat Ali Jaunpuri.

The First Partition of Bengal incubated the broader anti-colonial struggle and in 1906 the All India Muslim League was formed during the Muhammadan Education Conference in Dhaka.

Islamic sentiments powered the definition of nationhood in the 1940s, when Bengali people united with Muslims in other parts of the subcontinent to form Pakistan.

[4][44] Socio-Economic and Demographic Survey 2023 Report of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics estimates the Muslim share 91.58% of the population.

[47] On 28 September 2018, at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said there are 1.1-1.3 million Rohingya refugees now in Bangladesh.

[36] When in June 1988 an "Islamic way of life" was proclaimed for Bangladesh by constitutional amendment, very little attention was paid outside the intellectual class to the meaning and impact of such an important national commitment.

Lalbagh Fort-1664 In Bangladesh, where a modified Anglo-Indian civil and criminal legal system operates, there are no official sharia courts.

[56][58] Article 2 proclaims: "any custom or usage to the contrary, in all questions (save questions relating to agricultural land) regarding intestate succession, special property of females, including personal property inherited or obtained under contract or gift or any other provision of Personal Law, marriage, dissolution of marriage, including talaq, ila, zihar, lian, khula and mubaraat, maintenance, dower, guardianship, gifts, trusts and trust properties, and waqfs (other than charities and charitable institutions and charitable and religious endowments) the rule of decision in cases where the parties are Muslims shall be the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat).

[36] Some 18,000 imams were scheduled for training once the government completed establishment of a national network of Islamic cultural centers and mosque libraries.

[36] Another step toward further government involvement in religious life was taken in 1984 when the semi-official Zakat Fund Committee was established under the chairmanship of the president of Bangladesh.

Despite all Bangladeshis saying that religion is an important part of their daily lives, Bangladesh's Awami League won a landslide victory in 2008 on a platform of secularism, reform, and a suppression of radical Islamist groups.