At various times he also was the president, vice-president and general secretary of the Jahangirnagar University Teachers' Association.
[6] In the early-1990s he took lien from Jahangirnagar for a research and teaching stint at Michigan State University in the US as a Fulbright scholar.
He then joined the Institute of Languages and Translation at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia, retiring from Jahangirnagar in 1998.
[10] Islam was married to Sauda Akthter, retired professor and Chairperson of Bengali Department at Jahangirnagar University.
[11] He died on November 22, 2017, and was laid to rest at his ancestral home in the village of Waruk in Shahrasti.