Drawing on my long-standing experiences in the world of writing and publishing, I have come to feel that in Bangladesh—particularly within the sphere of Islamic scholarship—interest in original, research-based, and theoretical works remains relatively limited.
This is not solely a matter of readers’ preferences; the realities of the publishing market also play a significant role. In recent years, readers’ interest in easily accessible, concise, catchy, and motivational books has grown. Naturally, publishers, taking market demand into account, have increasingly gravitated towards books that involve lower costs, can be published quickly, and offer a more predictable prospect of sales.
If an author has already gained popularity or gone “viral” on social media, publishers’ enthusiasm for bringing that author’s books to market tends to increase many times over.
This has created a significant paradox.
The kinds of original and theoretical research that can lay the long-term foundations of Islamic scholarship generally require considerable time, extensive labour, skilled editing, and substantial financial investment. Yet, within the prevailing structure of the publishing market, the commercial success of such works is far from guaranteed.
Consequently, publishers’ willingness to invest in extensive research volumes, multivolume projects, comprehensive dictionaries, encyclopaedias, subject-specific research series, and long-term translation projects naturally remains limited. In this way, the immediate demands of the market gradually begin to overshadow the long-term needs of scholarship.
The problem here is not merely one of publishers’ or readers’ preferences; it is directly connected to the institutional infrastructure of research. Large-scale research projects are extremely difficult to sustain for an extended period through individual initiative alone. They require adequate funding, research teams, research assistants, manuscript editing, data collection, libraries and digital resources, long-term planning, and, above all, stable institutional patronage.
Regrettably, strong and sustainable institutions of this kind have yet to emerge in the field of Islamic research in Bangladesh.
At the state level, the Islamic Foundation Bangladesh once played an important role in Islamic research, translation, editing, and publishing. Through dictionaries, encyclopaedias, original research works, translations, and various large-scale publishing projects, the institution contributed to the development of an important intellectual tradition in Islamic scholarship in Bangladesh.
These initiatives were particularly significant because they were not confined to publishing one or two books. Rather, they created the potential to build a long-term infrastructure for the production and dissemination of knowledge.
However, over roughly the past decade and a half, or even longer, this continuity has not been as evident as it once was. It would be inaccurate to say that publishing activities have ceased altogether. Nevertheless, there is ample reason to question the scale and continuity of original research, long-term research projects, and academic initiatives capable of competing at the international level. As a result, a substantial part of Islamic scholarship is increasingly dependent on individual efforts and fragmented initiatives.
# Jamaat: Institutional Potential and Weaknesses
Within Bangladesh’s Islamic political and social landscape, Jamaat-e-Islami is a large and influential organization. Alongside its political activities, it has considerable potential to play an important role in Islamic scholarship, research, and the development of an intellectual environment.
Indeed, this is important not merely for expanding its social influence but also for its own intellectual development, organizational growth, and long-term sustainability.
The reason is straightforward: the long-term sustainability of an Islamic movement does not depend solely on organizational efficiency, public engagement, or political activity.
It also requires a strong intellectual foundation, a coherent epistemological and conceptual framework, and sustained research and analysis of changing social, political, and global realities.
No matter how extensive an organizational structure a movement develops, if its intellectual foundations do not evolve over time and it fails to develop the capacity to provide knowledge-based answers to emerging realities and new questions, its vitality and relevance may gradually diminish in the long run.
This need is even more profound in the case of Islamic movements. To present Islamic thought and values effectively in contemporary society, it is necessary to combine the traditional corpus of Islamic knowledge with a deep understanding of the changing realities of modern society, the state, economics, law, philosophy, science, and culture.
For an Islamic movement, therefore, research and scholarship are not ancillary or secondary activities. Rather, they constitute fundamental pillars of intellectual renewal, policy formulation, leadership development, and the intellectual preparation of future generations.
In this light, there is considerable scope to expand the research and publishing activities of institutions associated with Jamaat and give them greater diversity and a stronger institutional foundation. Indeed, in view of today’s intellectual challenges, such expansion has become an urgent necessity.
Although the Bangladesh Islamic Centre and various publishing houses associated with the Jamaat-oriented intellectual tradition have been publishing Islamic books for many years, their activities remain comparatively limited in several areas: large-scale original research, multivolume academic projects, interdisciplinary research, and long-term research initiatives addressing major intellectual and ideological questions confronting the contemporary Muslim world.
Given the intellectual needs and potential of a large, well-organized Islamic movement, it is reasonable to expect a much broader scope of activity in these areas.
One point needs to be made particularly clear here.
These institutions may well be publishing a large number of popular books that enjoy considerable readership. However, the intellectual contribution of an institution cannot be adequately assessed solely by the number of books it publishes, their popularity in the marketplace, or the consistency of its publishing activities.
It is also necessary to examine how much the institution contributes to the production of new knowledge; the extent to which it encourages and supports original research; the kinds of institutional opportunities it creates for researchers; its capacity to undertake large-scale, long-term research projects; and, above all, its effectiveness in fostering an open, creative, and sustainable intellectual environment.
Judged by these criteria, major institutions within the Islamic political and social landscape still have a substantial field of work ahead of them.
In particular, the new questions, challenges, and debates emerging around Islamic thought and Muslim societies today require well-planned, long-term research projects rather than fragmented and short-lived publishing initiatives.
To this end, effective institutional measures have become an important priority. These include establishing research funds, appointing full-time and associate researchers, developing structures for research assistance and editorial work, encouraging interdisciplinary research, and ensuring sustained funding for major academic projects.
# The Publishing Culture of the Qawmi Sphere: A Different Experience
In this regard, several positive aspects of the Qawmi sphere deserve particular attention.
Even within relatively limited means, individuals and institutions in this sphere have established a number of publishing houses that produce substantial volumes, multivolume commentaries, research-oriented works, and continuing publication series.
Many of these publications are brought out without necessarily having access to a large commercial market. This reflects the commitment of both readers and institutions to preserving and advancing a particular intellectual tradition.
Recently, we had the opportunity to acquire for our department the 17-volume set of *Kifāyat al-Mughtadhī fī Sharḥ Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī*, authored by Shaykh Mawlānā ʿAbd al-Matīn (ḥafiẓahullāh). At first glance, seeing such an extensive publication led me to think that it might have been published abroad. Upon examining the books, however, I discovered that the work had been published right here in Bangladesh.
This is undoubtedly encouraging. Many other substantial works are also being published by various publishing houses within the Qawmi sphere.
These publishers are also notably active in producing continuing and series-based publications in tafsīr, ḥadīth, fiqh, Islamic history, and other disciplines.
Of course, the publishing culture of the Qawmi sphere has its own limitations. It cannot be claimed that every book published there meets the standards of original research. Nor does an extensive volume or a multivolume publication automatically guarantee high-quality scholarship.
Nevertheless, despite limited institutional capacity and the fact that many initiatives operate at the individual or small-scale level, the Qawmi sphere has developed an effective and sustained publishing culture in several respects: publishing substantial works, undertaking long-term textual projects, and preserving and disseminating its intellectual heritage through institutional publishing. This is undoubtedly a positive development.
By contrast, among publishing houses associated with Jamaat or operated by its followers, the publication of similarly substantial research works and continuing or series-based books in tafsīr, ḥadīth, fiqh, Islamic history, and other Islamic disciplines remains comparatively limited.
Their catalogues tend to contain a greater proportion of concise, accessible books for general readers, daʿwah-oriented literature, Islamic works addressing contemporary social and religious needs, and motivational writing.
Such publications undoubtedly have their own value, relevance, and readership. Easily accessible, daʿwah-oriented literature that addresses contemporary needs is also important for any active publishing house.
The problem arises, however, when popular publications of this kind become the defining feature of an institution’s publishing policy, while large-scale original research, theoretical works, and long-term academic publishing projects receive insufficient attention and support.
Over time, this may limit the development of the institution’s intellectual scope and its tradition of research-based publishing.
Another issue also deserves consideration. If institutions become excessively cautious or reluctant to publish the work of researchers and writers from outside a particular intellectual circle or organizational sphere, an increasingly insular knowledge environment may gradually emerge.
As a result, the same kinds of ideas, reading materials, and authors repeatedly come to the fore. New questions, alternative methodologies, researchers from outside the established circle, and intellectual contributions representing different perspectives are then denied adequate opportunities to enter the conversation.
In the long run, this can narrow an institution’s intellectual horizons rather than enrich its scholarship.