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After the August 5, 2024 ousting of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina following a student protest movement, Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) issued a statement saying the events were an opportunity for the rise of Islamic forces in the country and urging young Muslims to wage jihad. It also cautioned the Islamic religious forces in Bangladesh to learn a lesson from the failure of the Arab Spring uprisings, which did not result in real change.
The 12-page statement in Urdu, "Bangladesh – The Emerging Hope of Supporting Islam," was published by official AQIS media outlet Al-Sahab (Subcontinent).
"This is not an ordinary incident that the Muslims of Bengal have today risen up in the form of a storm of hate and anger against the faction that had become a symbol of atrocities and conflicts thrust upon [Bangladesh], that was exploiting the Muslims of Bangladesh by making them the slave of the polytheist Hindus, and by whose hands the followers of the religion [of Islam] endured crimes and subjugation," writes AQIS emir Usama Mahmood in the statement.
"Nobody cared for bullets or sticks [used by police], every obstacle was broken, and ultimately the statues of secularism and atheism were demolished and dragged in the dirt. It is Allah's blessing that this flood could not be prevented for long. And this way, the chieftain of the criminals [i.e., Sheikh Hasina] fled, and the government of crimes and oppression ended," he adds.
The AQIS emir says that this event is a declaration that Bangladesh has shed its shroud of fear and subjugation and that the war for law and justice has become a national war. Usma Mahmood also reminds Bangladeshi Muslims: "You are seeing the aggression continuing in Gaza by the 'Zionist-Hindutva' alliance against Islam and Islamic Ummah under the leadership of America. It is the truth that today the world of Islam is under the occupation of this alliance directly or indirectly. Under their crimes, the entire world of Islam is screaming with pain from Pakistan and India and Kashmir to Gaza and the Arab world."
The AQIS emir says that an international jihad will be successful when the pride of the leaders of unbelief are broken: "The atrocities that were committed in Bangladesh are part of the series of crimes by the same 'Zionist Hindutva' alliance. Jihad has the status of fard ai'yn [individually obligatory] on every Muslims against the leaders of unbelief and their servants. Jihad against them is the most important need of Ummah today.
"This jihad will be carried out on the international level. The interests of the leaders of unbelief will be targeted, then their pride will be broken, and only then it will become successful. And only then, the Muslims of Gaza too will breathe a sigh of relief; Al-Aqsa Mosque will be freed and paths will be opened for all Muslims of the Subcontinent [Bangladesh, India, Pakistan]. So, participate in this jihad at the practical level yourself and try to get the entire nation to join."
Usama Mahmood reminds Bangladeshi Muslims that their goal is distant and urges them to learn from the Arab Spring, during which millions of people protested and changed governments in elections, "but then what followed? Soon after some time, those leaders were either martyred or sent to prison while the corrupt and enemy camp even today is the ruler of Egypt without the participation of others. Not in a single Arab country did the revolution reach its destination. People are as deprived, oppressed, condemned as ever, while the enemies of the people and Islam are even today dominating," he adds.
A similar situation exists in Pakistan where, the AQIS emir says, "the real power has remained in the hands of the military generals, the enemy of the religion" and the governments installed through elections or otherwise never had real power.
"We did not learn a lesson from the long history of making revolutions in the world of Islam ineffective and unsuccessful," Usama Mahmood says, adding: "In such a situation, the biggest responsibility is upon the religious leadership and common religious followers. I say it without hesitation that this is the group with whose goals and movement are linked the successes or failures of the entire nation."
He urges religious Muslims in Bangladesh to understand that the armies trained by the imperialist forces remain in power and not to join a government installed by them. He says that the allies that joined in ousting Sheikh Hasina will become obstacles because they only seek power without considering issues of Islam and unbelief, and government in which religious forces join the taghut ("tyrant") cannot be called Islamic.
"Therefore, it is necessary that religious circles, instead of the joining the government... should employ the current change for the nusrah [aid] of the religion," the AQIS leader says, urging Islamic religious circles in Bangladesh to work to strengthen the religious forces in military, bureaucracy, and all spheres of this system.
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