Islam in Bangladesh Islam in Bangladesh Bangladesh is a Muslim majority nation and Islam is official religion of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. Islam is the largest religion of Bangladesh, the Muslim population is approximately 148.5 million, which is the third largest Muslim population in the world (after Indonesia and Pakistan), constituting 90% of the total population as of 2015. Religion has always been a strong part of identity, but this has varied at different times. Bangladesh although a developing country is one of the few secular Muslim majority countries in the world. Islam was introduced to Bengal in at least 7th-8th century
Muslim world according to the Sunnah should be selected based on ٍShura (consultation), as was done at the Saqifah which selected Abu Bakr, Muhammad's father-in-law, to be Muhammad's political but not his religious successor. Shia, on the other hand, believe that Muhammad designated his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib as his true political as well as religious successor. The overwhelming majority of Muslims in the world, between 87–90%, are Sunni. Shias and other groups make up the rest, about 10–13% of overall Muslim population. The countries with the highest concentration of Shia populations are: Iran – 96%, Azerbaijan – 85%, Iraq –