Thousands of angry Islamist men marched Saturday across the streets of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, to protest against proposals guaranteeing equal rights for women in the Muslim-majority country.
“Men and women can never be equal: the Koran outlines specific codes of life for both genders,” protester Mohammad Shihab Uddin, 53, told AFP. He is leader of a women’s madrassa, a religious school.
“There is no way we can go beyond that.”
AP reports leaders of the Hefazat-e-Islam group said the proposed legal reforms – ensuring a range of freedoms for women – are contradictory to Sharia law and an affront to Islam.
More than 20,000 followers of the group rallied near the Dhaka University, some carrying banners and placards reading “Say no to Western laws on our women, rise up Bangladesh.”
Thousands of activists of Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam denounce proposed recommendations for equal rights for Muslim women, at a protest rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)
Protesters threatened to organize rallies on May 23 across the country if the government didn’t meet their demands, with the AP report stating:
Mamunul Haque, a leader of the group, demanded that the interim government’s reforms commission be abolished and its members punished for the proposed changes.
He said they hurt “the sentiments of the majority of the people of this country” by labeling the religious laws of inheritance as the main cause of inequality between men and women.
Protesters reportedly made clear their opposition to proposals that include equal inheritance rights for women, a ban on polygamy, and recognition of sex workers as laborers.
Islamists have also demanded an end to a swath of other activities in Bangladesh including cultural events deemed “anti-Islamic” — from music to theatre festivals, women’s football matches and kite-flying celebrations alongside public displays of joy and happiness.
Islam is the largest and the state religion of Bangladesh.
According to the 2022 census, the country had a population of about 150 million Muslims, or 91.04 percent of its total population of 165 million, making it the third largest Muslim country in the world following Indonesia and Pakistan
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