Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh

Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh
হেফাজতে ইসলাম বাংলাদেশ

Predecessor	Shah Ahmad Shafi
Formation	January 2010 (2010-01)
Type	Islamist advocacy group
Headquarters	Al-Jamiatul Islamiah Azizul Uloom Babunagar
Region served	Bangladesh
Official language	Bengali
Amir	Muhibbullah Babunagari
Secretary General	Sajidur Rahman
Key people	Shah Ahmad Shafi, Junaid Babunagari,Muhibbullah Babunagari, Mamunul Haque

Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh (Bengali: হেফাজতে ইসলাম বাংলাদেশ Hēphājatē Islāma Bānlādēśa हेफाजते इस्लाम बांलादेश ), A far-right, Anti-Hindu,conservative Islamic group in Bangladesh, is made up of radical Islamic religious teachers and students. Most of its members are from Islamic schools called qawmi madrasas. In 2013, the group gave the Bangladesh government a list of 13 demands, which included the enactment of a law to punish blasphemers, those who criticise, mock, or point out fanaticism in Islam.

History

Hefazat-e-Islam was formed in 2010 as a group of madrasa teachers in Chittagong, Bangladesh, who wanted to put pressure on the government. The reason behind its formation was the government's draft policy for women's development in 2009. In February 2010, the group wanted to organize a big protest at Laldighi Maidan in Chittagong against the government's plans to ban politics based on religion, cancel a part of the Constitution, and introduce a new education policy that would have affected madrasa education. But the police did not allow the protest and injured 19 protestors. Some madrasa students were arrested and later set free. In 2011, Hefazat-e-Islam again spoke out against some parts of the proposed policy for women's development.

According to The Economist, Hefazat is financed by doctrinaire Islamists in Saudi Arabia.