[1] Islam was born on 1 September 1918 in Noakhali District, East Bengal, British India.
[2] Islam joined the Soil Science Department of the University of Dhaka as senior lecturer after the completion of his PhD.
He served as the Director of East Pakistan Rice Research Institute till the Independence of Bangladesh in 1971.
He retired in 1979 from government service and started working as a free lance consultant.
He worked for Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific, Food and Agriculture Organization, North Carolina State University, and United Nations Development Programme.