In Bangladesh, Intra-Muslim Conflict Results In Death And Destroyed Shrines
DHAKA, Bangladesh — The shrine of Nura Pagla, once crowded day and night with devotees, now stands eerily deserted. For more than a month, it has remained sealed as a crime scene after a mob attack on Sept. 5 left one of his followers dead and dozens injured in Bangladesh’s Rajbari district.
The attackers, who identified themselves as Touhidi Janata — meaning “Believers in the Oneness of God” — beat to death Russel Molla, 32, a van driver, when he and about 200 other devotees tried to resist a mob assault on the shrine.
The assault on Nura Pagla’s shrine is part of a wider wave of attacks on Muslim Sufi shrines and followers across Bangladesh. Since August 2024 — when the country’s longest-serving government, the secular-leaning Awami League, was toppled by a student-led uprising — more than 100 shrines have been attacked or vandalized, according to rights groups.
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The mob, after Friday’s Jumma prayer, exhumed and burned the body of Nura Pagla, the revered Sufi saint who had been buried just two weeks earlier at age 85. Video footage of the desecration went viral, sparking national and international outrage.
With permission from senior officers, this reporter entered the shrine complex. There were burnt clothes, shoes, furniture, and scattered belongings surrounding the empty grave of Nura Pagla — a haunting reminder of the violence that unfolded there.
What was once a sacred space filled with the fragrance of incense and the hum of devotion is now guarded by a platoon of police officers.
Surge of intra-Muslim conflicts
Similar mobs also targeted Hindu homes, temples, and businesses, many of the incidents appearing politically motivated and driven by the same extremist groups.
The assaults mark a dangerous escalation in an intra-Muslim conflict that has long simmered between Sufi adherents and puritanical movements inspired by Salafism and Wahhabism. Once confined to verbal disputes and social media vitriol, the tension has now turned deadly, leaving Sufi devotees fearful and silent.
“Islam came to Bengal through the Sufis, who preached love, equality, and spiritual discipline,” said Dr. Mahmuda Khanam, professor of Islamic History and Culture at Jagannath University.
“The Sufi saints converted local Hindus mostly and other believers through spirituality, humanity, and compassion — not by the sword, as happened elsewhere,” she said.
“What we see today is not only a theological conflict but a cultural one — driven by politics and money.”
Dr. Khanam said Sufism once shaped the region’s social fabric, attracting Muslims and non-Muslims alike to its inclusive practices.
“But after the 1980s, when thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers returned from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, Wahhabi and Salafi ideologies began replacing traditional Sufi values,” she added. “Khankahs — spiritual and cultural centers — were replaced by mosques emphasizing rigid orthodoxy.”
Why violence escalated
Following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government, law and order sharply deteriorated. The interim administration, despite its non-partisan mandate, has struggled to curb extremist violence, said Jyotirmoy Barua, Supreme Court lawyer and indigenous rights activist.
“Whatever the reason or political context, these are clear violations of the constitutional right to freedom of belief,” he said.
Barua and others argue that the transitional government — composed of non-political figures but backed by various political parties and Islamist-leaning groups — has inadvertently emboldened fundamentalists.
“Religion-centric parties inspired by Wahhabism and Salafism now have influence within the interim setup, giving hardliners the confidence to act with impunity,” he added.
At the Sureswar Darbar Sharif, spiritual leader Shah Noore Hasan said sermons, musical gatherings, and weekly devotional events have been suspended at many mazars and khankahs due to fears of attack.
“The persecution continues,” he said. “This is about ideology and influence. The Wahhabi movement is growing stronger while the government remains a silent observer.”
The interim administration, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, has pledged justice for victims. Yet human rights defenders say security forces have failed to protect vulnerable Sufi communities.
Government data released in January acknowledged 40 shrine attacks, though rights monitors estimate the figure exceeds 100.
In September, at least three Sufi complexes were attacked across the country, even after the government’s announcement of “zero tolerance” on the attackers.
‘An Attack on Heritage’
“This is not only an attack on faith — it is an attack on heritage,” said Dr. Khanam. “Many shrines are centuries old. Destroying them erases the history of Bengal’s spiritual pluralism.”
Bangladesh, home to over 150 million Muslims, has around 12,000 Sufi shrines and nearly 20 million followers. While not all are strict adherents, Sufi practices — from music and poetry to the veneration of saints — have long been intertwined with the nation’s cultural identity.
That identity, many fear, is now under siege.
Across the country, Thursday night musical sessions once synonymous with Sufi devotion have been canceled. At the Shah Ali Baghdadi shrine in Dhaka, a caretaker said most devotees now stay away. “We are afraid,” he whispered.
The three-day Lalon Festival, scheduled in Kushtia, a western district in Bangladesh, to commemorate the 135th death anniversary of mystic saint and philosopher Lalon Shah, has been allowed to proceed — but under restrictions. Local officials imposed multiple conditions to “prevent untoward incidents,” reflecting the prevailing climate of fear.
For the first time in history, the government is celebrating the anniversary on October 17 across the country.
In Sylhet, at the ancient Shah Poran shrine, where songs and chants once filled the courtyards, silence now reigns.
Bangladesh’s Sufi saints once bridged divides of faith and culture. Today, their resting places — once symbols of unity — have become battlegrounds in a struggle over the soul of the nation’s Islam.
Poet and Sufi practitioner Syed Tarik said that qawwali performances — a centuries-old form of devotional music rooted in Sufi Islam — have been stopped at many places of worship and shrines. “Music and poetry are integral to our worship,” he said. “But extremists call it bid’ah (innovation) and threaten violence if we continue.”
Additionally, several Sufi fakirs — itinerant mystics identifiable by their long hair and distinct attire — have reported being forcibly shaved and humiliated by Islamist mobs.
In recent weeks, incidents were documented in Rajbari, Gopalganj, and Mymensingh, where followers of local pirs were detained by self-proclaimed “moral enforcers,” who cut their hair and beards — symbols of spiritual identity — accusing them of spreading “false Islam.”
Rights groups condemned the acts as religious persecution, warning they reveal “a growing intolerance toward Sufism.”
“In the name of social reform, they are invading people’s personal space,” said Jyotirmoy Barua. “Who gave them that authority?”
Human rights lawyer Syeda Jahida Sultana Ratnaze has filed a legal notice demanding BDT 5.1 billion ($43 million) in compensation for 113 shrines allegedly vandalized over the past 14 months. “The government has not responded,” she said. “I will petition the High Court to ensure accountability.”
When this reporter revisited the Nura Pagla shrine in mid-October, several frightened devotees quietly offered prayers.
“Our [spiritual guide] never claimed to be Imam Mahdi,” said Bakkar Shikder, 60, who had traveled 25 miles to pay his respects. “He only taught compassion and humility — never to harm anyone.”
Nearby, Amena Begum, the mother of the slain disciple, held back tears. “Why was my son killed for his faith?” she asked softly. “He hurt no one. I just want justice.”