After Hindus, Bangladesh Radicals Targeting Sufis: Shrines, Urs And Music Under Attack | Exclusive
After Hindus, Bangladesh Radicals Targeting Sufis: Shrines, Urs And Music Under Attack | Exclusive Reported By, Edited By Last Updated: July 13, 2026, 09:31 IST
After Hindus, Bangladesh Radicals Targeting Sufis: Shrines, Urs And Music Under Attack | Exclusive Reported By, Edited By Last Updated: July 13, 2026, 09:31 IST The most chilling incident took place in April in Kushtia, where Pir Abdur Rahman was killed inside his own mazar after a mob of nearly 300 people descended on the shrine. Rapid Read File Photo of an establishment of the Buchai Paglar Mazar after being vandalised. For decades, Bangladesh’s Islam carried a distinctly local flavour – shaped as much by Sufi saints, mazars and folk songs as by scripture and sermons. But that tradition is increasingly coming under pressure. After years of attacks on religious minorities, radical groups in Bangladesh now appear to be turning their attention towards sects and practices within Islam that they consider too liberal or un-Islamic. Sufi shrines, Urs festivals, devotional music and even folk traditions are emerging as new flashpoints in a country long seen as home to one of South Asia’s more syncretic versions of Islam. According to a fact-finding report by Dhaka-based Islamic Sufi organisation Maqam: Centre for Sufi Heritage, which is in possession of News18, at least six mazars across Bangladesh were targeted between January 1 and June 30 this year. The most chilling incident took place in April in Kushtia, where Pir Abdur Rahman was killed inside his own mazar after a mob of nearly 300 people descended on the shrine.
The mob scaled the mazar, vandalised it and set it on fire. Just a month earlier, in March, around 100 people attacked devotees gathered for the Urs festival at Hazrat Ibrahim Shah’s Mazar in Sylhet. Their objection was not to politics or a land dispute, but to music being played during the celebrations. Three people were seriously injured in the attack and the adjoining mosque was also damaged, according to the fact-finding report. The violence was not confined to Bangladesh’s districts. Even the capital saw tensions spill over. The report lists Dhaka’s Shah Ali Bagdadi Mazar in the Mirpur area among the sites that came under attack or intimidation during the first half of 2026. A video of the attack reviewed by News18 shows assailants repeatedly striking followers of Sufi Islam with green-coloured sticks. Local shopkeepers were not spared either. Kushtia’s Hazrat Shah Dargah Sharif, Barishal’s Habib Shah Darbar Sharif and Chattagram’s Hazrat Lal Mia Shah Mazar also figured on the list. To many in Bangladesh’s Sufi community, these are not isolated incidents. Sufism is a mystical tradition within Islam that emphasises spiritual devotion, a personal connection with God, and practices such as remembrance (zikr), music, poetry, and reverence for saints and shrines, or mazars. It has contributed to Bengal’s collective cultural identity for decades but is now increasingly being rejected by more puritanical strands of Islam.
The BriefWire