Biography

He belongs to a Bengali Muslim family; his father, Muhammad Habibullah, was himself an Islamic scholar. Early schooling began at Babunagar Government Primary School. Between 1969 and 1971 he studied at Al Jamia Al Islamia Patiya, completed Alim in 1971, and took a first-class Fazil degree in 1973 from Satkania Mahmudul Uloom Alia Madrasa.

Hadith studies followed at Chittagong Chandanpura Darul Uloom (1973–1975), with a Kamil degree from the Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board in 1975. He read Sahih al-Bukhari with Muhammad Amin, a disciple of Ashraf Ali Thanwi; Sahih Muslim with Matiur Rahman Nizami of Mirsharai; Sunan al-Tirmidhi with Ismail Arakani Qasemi; and Sunan Abi Dawud with Nawab Hasan Qasemi.

At the University of Chittagong he earned a B.A. (Honours) in Islamic History and Culture in 1982 and an M.A. in 1983. His Ph.D., awarded in 2006, examined The Sermons of the Prophet Muhammad: A Socio-cultural Study. Among his teachers was Abdul Halim Bukhari; in tasawwuf he became a disciple of Jamir Uddin Nanupuri, Shah Ahmad Shafi, and Zulfiqar Ahmad Naqshbandi.

He began teaching in 1987 as a lecturer in Arabic language and literature at Satkania Alia Mahmudul Uloom Fazil Madrasa. From 1992 until January 2019 he served as professor and head of the Department of Islamic History and Culture at Omargani M.E.S. College. He has taught at Al Jamia Al Islamia Patiya, Jamia Darul Ma’arif Al-Islamia, and Al Jamiyatul Arbiyatul Islamia Ziri, and has been an adjunct professor at the Asian University of Bangladesh.

Since 2007 he has edited the monthly At-Tawheed, published by Al Jamia Al Islamia Patiya, and served as assistant editor of the Arabic journal Balagh al-Sharq. In July 2023 he was appointed visiting professor in the Department of Qur’anic Sciences and Islamic Studies at the International Islamic University Chittagong. He writes as a columnist for four national newspapers and has authored more than two hundred research articles, including work in The Muslim World League Journal.

For the Islamic Foundation Bangladesh he was a principal editor of volumes 3 to 9 of the second edition of Islami Bishwakosh and of the Sirat Encyclopedia. His books and translations include the 1989 study of Maulana Siddique Ahmad, renderings of Maslak-e Ulama-e-Deoband, Muslims in India, and Karwan-e-Zindagi (volume 3), and the 2025 volume Islamic Regulations.

After the political change of August 2024, he was appointed Adviser for Religious Affairs in the interim government led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, taking oath on 8 August 2024. It was the first time an Islamic scholar had held that advisory office in Bangladesh.

The tenure ran until 17 February 2026 — nearly two years — and covered the ordinary business of the ministry together with public questions of madrasa education, religious instruction, and the dignity of ulama in national life. He argued that the Alia tradition should keep its own identity rather than be dissolved in the name of modernisation, and he spoke against mob justice as a threat to the rule of law.

This archive records that period as part of a longer scholarly life, not as its only chapter. Teaching, editing, and writing remain the centre of the work gathered here.