Hefazat-e-Islam Chief Shah Ahmed Shafi will continue to serve as the director general of Al-Jamiatul Ahlia Darul Ulum Moinul Islam, also known as Hathazari Madrasa, as decided by Majlis-e-Shura on Saturday.
The 96-year-old is the rector of Hathazari Madrasa, and chairman of Befaqul Madarisil Arabia Bangladesh, the largest Qawmi Madrasa board in the country.
The meeting of the highest policymaking body of Hathazari Madrasa was held on Saturday at the madrasa, which addressed media speculations that Shah Ahmed Shafi was likely to retire as the rector of Hathazari Madrasa, because of his health.
Shafi was flown to Dhaka on June 6, and admitted to the intensive care unit at Asgar Ali Hospital in Gendaria. Doctors there treated him for old age complications and released him from the hospital on July 10.
Press Secretary of the Hefazat chief, Munir Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune that members of the highest decision making body agreed unanimously that Shafi would continue serving as the rector of the madrasa until his death.
“No one will be appointed as the acting rector of the madrasa as long as Shafi is alive,” he said.
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Munir said that Junayed Babunagari was appointed the assistant director of the madrasa for working with the ailing cleric with his routine official activities.
The meeting also appointed Junayed Babunagari, secretary general of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh as the assistant director while Nur Ahmed was made education secretary of the qawmi madrasa.
Anas Madani, the son of Hefazat-e-Islam chief was made assistant education secretary of the madrasa.
Shafi, the supreme leader of radical group Hefazat that eyes Shariah law in the country, is widely criticised for his views towards atheists and secularists, women and various social issues. Militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team, an al-Qaeda affiliate, has killed nearly a dozen secular activists and war crimes trial campaigners since the Shahbagh movement in 2013, after Shafi advocated death for its organisers terming them atheists.
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