Bangladesh Retains Islam as State Religion

ON ISLAM: DHAKA – Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced her support for retaining Islam as the state religion in the Bengali constitution, relinquishing articles in 1972 constitution about the secular nature of the state, Indo Asian News Service (IANS) reported on Tuesday, May 31.

The government would like “Bismillah Rahman-ur-Rahim; meaning ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate’,” retained, Sheikh Hasina told a special parliamentary committee formed to study changes in the constitution in the light of Supreme Court verdicts on Monday.

Hasina’s aids explained that the decision was issued as the ethos of the majority of the population could not be ignored.

Bangladesh is the world's third-largest Muslim majority nation with a population of some 148 million.

The country has a secular legal system but in matters related to inheritance and marriage Muslims follow Sharia'h. » | OnIslam & News Agencies | Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Extremism: Egypt Charges 13 with Promoting Shiism
YNET NEWS: Prosecutors accusing Shiite cleric, 12 others group of receiving funds from Iran to promote 'extremist ideas to sow unrest in Egypt'

An Egyptian official says a Shiite cleric and 12 others have been accused of receiving funds from Iran to promoting "extremist" Shiite doctrine in Sunni-dominated Egypt.

Shiites form a small minority in Egypt, where Sunni Islam is the official state religion.

The official said Thursday that prosecutors are accusing the group of insulting Sunni Islam and promoting extremist ideas to sow unrest in Egypt. >>> Associated Press | Thursday, September 03, 2009