Bangladesh erupts after Jamaat-e-Islami chief brands women’s work outside home as ‘prostitution’ in X post

Jamaat insists its chief’s account was “hacked” before the post was published

Outrage has swept Bangladesh after a post from Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman’s X account, denounced as “misogynistic”, went viral on Saturday, igniting a fierce national debate over women’s place in politics and public life.

Students demonstrated at Dhaka University and other campuses on Sunday, sparking heated debate online.

Jamaat claims the account was hacked, but the controversy has already gripped the nation’s political and social discourse.

The contentious post drew protests from the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal in Dhaka, as well as at Rajshahi and Jahangirnagar universities.

The BNP described the remarks as deeply regrettable.

The post, first circulated on Saturday, criticised women’s leadership and professional participation, stating: “On the question of women, Jamaat’s position is neither confused nor apologetic—it is principled. We do not think, women should come in the leadership. In Jamaat, it is impossible. Allah did not permit this.

“We believe that when women are pushed out of the home in the name of modernity, they are exposed to exploitation, moral decay, and insecurity. It’s nothing but another form of prostitution,” it added.

After the screenshot circulated widely, Jamaat’s election committee member and former Islami Chhatra Shibir president Sirajul Islam filed a general diary with Hatirjheel Police late on Saturday, alleging that the post had been published via a hacked account.

A statement issued by Jamaat shortly after midnight said, “Using a highly coordinated method, hackers temporarily took control of [the Jamaat chief's] X account. However, through swift action and existing security measures, the party’s cyber team was able to regain control of the account within a short time.

“During this brief period, an unwanted post was published. The post falsely attributed statements to the Jamaat chief. We clearly state that this post or content does not reflect any statement, opinion or position of [Shafiqur]. It is entirely false and misleading.”

The post surfaced days after Shafiqur had told Al Jazeera that no woman could ever lead his party, asserting that “Allah did not create women to lead” and citing cultural realities for the absence of female nominees in the general elections.

Protests continued on Sunday, with female students at Dhaka University staging a broom march. Chhatra Dal leaders rallied from Madhur Canteen to TSC, shouting slogans such as: “Shafiq, do you know half the country’s strength is women?”, “Hackers misused ID, now apologise!”, “Shafiq, apologise; women are not prostitutes.”

Chhatra Dal Rakibul Islam Rakib demanded Shafiqur apologise to women, warning of “broader programmes” if he refused.

General Secretary Nasir Uddin Nasir questioned Jamaat’s hacking claim, pointing out that the post was published nearly nine hours before the party reported a hack.

Shafiqur, addressing a rally in Sherpur, defended himself, saying: “I respect my mothers, and 9 million mothers in Bangladesh can testify. My X account was hacked, and a very offensive post about mothers was published.

“The account was quickly restored, and I apologise to any mother who was hurt by it.”

Jamaat’s media chief Ahsanul Mahboob Zubair called the incident “a deep conspiracy”, claiming coordinated cyber attacks on multiple party accounts.

Engineers Sirajul Islam and Mahmudur Rahman detailed the timeline: the objectionable post appeared at 4:37pm on Saturday, the account was secured by 5:09pm, and the party filed a general diary at 3:30am Sunday.

Mahmudur added that a government email was allegedly used to attempt sabotage, and that multiple cyber attacks had targeted party pages in recent days. Jamaat plans to approach the Cyber Security Council to investigate the hacking attempts.

BNP election steering committee spokesman Mahdi Amin also questioned Jamaat’s hacking claim, noting it came around 1am, nearly nine hours after the post went up and only once backlash had intensified.

He pointed to Shafiqur’s recent Al Jazeera interview, where the Jamaat chief said no woman could ever lead his party because “Allah did not create women to lead”.

Mahdi, also an advisor to BNP chief Tarique Rahman, argued that a genuinely hacked verified account would alert the public immediately.

“Even then,” he said, “several posts were made from his Facebook account, but none warned that his X account had been hacked.”