Bengali Muslim in the context of "Sunnis"

Syed Sultan (c. 1550 – 1648) was a medieval Bengali Muslim poet and writer. He is best known for his magnum opus Nabibangsha, one of the earliest Bengali translations of the Qisas Al-Anbiya. His works are included in the curriculum for school and higher secondary Bengali literature in Bangladesh.

Kazi Nazrul Islam (24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) was a Bengali poet short story writer, journalist, lyricist and musician. He was later honored with the title of national poet of Bangladesh. Nazrul produced a large body of poetry, music, messages, novels, and stories with themes, that included equality, justice, anti-imperialism, humanity, rebellion against oppression and religious devotion. Nazrul Islam's activism for political and social justice as well as writing a poem titled as "Bidrohī", meaning "the rebel" in Bengali, earned him the title of "Bidrohī Kôbi" (Rebel Poet). His compositions form the avant-garde music genre of Nazrul Gīti (Music of Nazrul).

Born in the British Raj period into a Bengali Muslim Kazi family from Churulia in Asansol,then in Burdwan district in Bengal Presidency (now in West Bengal, India), Nazrul Islam received religious education and as a young man worked as a muezzin at a local mosque. He learned about poetry, drama, and literature while working with the rural theatrical group Leṭor Dôl, Leṭo being a folk song genre of West Bengal usually performed by the people from Muslim community of the region. He joined the British Indian Army in 1917 and was posted in Karachi. Nazrul Islam established himself as a journalist in Calcutta after the war ended. He criticised the British Raj and called for revolution through his famous poetic works, such as "Bidrohī" ('The Rebel') and "Bhangar Gan" ('The Song of Destruction'), as well as in his publication Dhūmketu ('The Comet'). His nationalist activism in Indian independence movement led to his frequent imprisonment by the colonial British authorities. While in prison, Nazrul Islam wrote the "Rajbôndīr Jôbanbôndī" ('Deposition of a Political Prisoner'). His writings greatly inspired Bengalis of East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman and activist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangladesh, he led the country as its president and prime minister from 1972 until his assassination in a coup d'état in 1975. His nationalist ideology, socio-political theories, and political doctrines are collectively known as Mujibism.

Born in an aristocratic Bengali Muslim family in Tungipara, Mujib emerged as a student activist in the province of Bengal during the final years of the British Raj. He was a member of the All-India Muslim League, supported Muslim nationalism, and advocated for the establishment of Pakistan in his early political career. In 1949, he became part of a liberal, secular and left-wing faction which later became the Awami League. In the 1950s, he was elected to Pakistan's parliament where he defended the rights of East Bengal. Mujib served 13 years in prison during the British Raj and Pakistani rule. By the 1960s, Mujib adopted Bengali nationalism and soon became the undisputed leader of East Pakistan. He became popular for opposing West Pakistan's political, ethnic and institutional discrimination against the Bengalis of East Pakistan; leading the six-point autonomy movement, he challenged the regime of Pakistan's President Ayub Khan. In 1970, he led the Awami League to win Pakistan's first general election. When the Pakistani military junta refused to transfer power, he gave the 7 March speech in 1971 where he vaguely called out for the independence movement. In the late hours of 25 March 1971, the Pakistan Army arrested Sheikh Mujib on charges of treason and carried out a genocide against the Bengali civilians of East Pakistan. In the early hours of the next day (26 March 1971), he issued the Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence, which was later broadcast by Bengali army officer Major (later Lieutenant General) Ziaur Rahman on behalf of Sheikh Mujib, which ultimately marked the outbreak of the Bangladesh Liberation War. Bengali nationalists declared him the head of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh, while he was confined in a jail in West Pakistan.

Islam is the largest and the state religion of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. According to the 2022 census, Bangladesh had a population of about 150 million Muslims, or 91.04% of its total population of 165 million. Muslims of Bangladesh are predominant native Bengali Muslims. The majority of Bangladeshis are Sunni, and follow the Hanafi school of thought and Fiqh. Bangladesh is a de facto secular country and state.

The Bengal region was a supreme power of the medieval Islamic East. In the late 7th century, Muslims from Arabia established commercial as well as religious connection within the Bengal region before the conquest, mainly through the coastal regions as traders and primarily via the ports of Chittagong. In the early 13th century, Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji conquered Western and part of Northern Bengal and established the first Muslim kingdom in Bengal. During the 13th century, Sufi missionaries, mystics and saints began to preach Islam in villages. The Islamic Bengal Sultanate was founded by Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah who united Bengal on an ethno-linguistic platform. Bengal reached in her golden age during Bengal Sultanate's prosperous ruling period. Subsequently, Bengal viceroy Muhammad Azam Shah assumed the imperial throne. Mughal Bengal became increasingly independent under the Nawabs of Bengal in the 18th century.

The Partition of Bengal in 1947, also known as the Second Partition of Bengal, part of the Partition of India, divided the British Indian Bengal Province along the Radcliffe Line between the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The Bengali Hindu-majority West Bengal became a state of India, and the Bengali Muslim-majority East Bengal (now Bangladesh) became a province of Pakistan.

On 20 June 1947, the Bengal Legislative Assembly met to decide the future of the Bengal Province, as between being a United Bengal within India or Pakistan or divided into West Bengal and East Bengal as the homelands for the Bengali Hindus and the Bengali Muslims, respectively. At the preliminary joint session, the assembly decided by 126–90 that if it remained united, it should join the new Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. Later, a separate meeting of legislators from West Bengal decided by 58–21 that the province should be partitioned and that West Bengal should join the existing Constituent Assembly of India. In another separate meeting of legislators from East Bengal, it was decided by 106–35 that the province should not be partitioned and by 107–34 that East Bengal should join Pakistan in the event of Partition.

Abul Kasem Fazlul Huq (26 October 1873 – 27 April 1962), popularly known as Sher-e-Bangla, was a Pakistani statesman, lawyer and politician who served as the first and longest-serving prime minister of Bengal during the British Raj. He presented the Lahore Resolution, the foundational document of the Pakistan Movement, for which he is regarded as one of the Founding Fathers of Pakistan.

Born in 1873 to a Bengali Muslim family in British Bengal, Huq held important political offices in the subcontinent, including president of the All India Muslim League (1916–1921), general secretary of the Indian National Congress (1916–1918), education minister of Bengal (1924), mayor of Calcutta (1935), prime minister of Bengal (1937–1943), advocate general of East Bengal (1947–1952), chief minister of East Bengal (1954), home minister of Pakistan (1955–1956) and Governor of East Pakistan (1956–1958). He was first elected to the Bengal Legislative Council from Dhaka in 1913; and served on the council for 21 years until 1934.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, members of the Pakistani military and Razakar paramilitary force raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bengali women and girls in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape. Some of these women died in captivity or committed suicide, while others moved from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to India.

Both Bengali Muslim and Bengali Hindu women were targeted for rape. West Pakistani men wanted to cleanse a nation corrupted by the presence of Hindus and believed that the sacrifice of Hindu women was needed; Bengali women were thus viewed as Hindu or Hindu-like. These rapes apparently caused thousands of pregnancies, births of war babies, abortions, infanticide, suicide, and ostracism of the victims. This is often asserted to be one of the severest occurrences of wartime sexual violence. The atrocities ended after the December 1971 surrender of the Pakistani military and supporting Razakar militias.