FREEDOM OF RELIGION, FAITH AND RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE IN BANGLADESH: A CASE STUDY ON THE ISLAMIC MYSTICISM / Bangladeş’te Din Özürlüğü, İnanç ve Dinî Hoşgörü: İslâm Tasavvufu Üzerine Örnek Bir Araştırma

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A common concept in Bangladesh is that religious communities live together in peaceful coexistence, and this culture has come from ancient times. Generally, Bangladesh is a Muslim country with a majority in Islam. But, according to the constitution of Bangladesh, all citizens have equal rights regardless of religion. There are 169 million people in Bangladesh. There is about 90 percent of Bangladesh's population is Muslim, 9.5 percent of the people depend on Hindu religion, 0.6 percent of people belong to Buddhists religion, 0.3 percent are Christians.  It has less than one percent is Ahmadi Muslims and Shi’ite as well.  Every religion of People gets vacations for their celebrating on national holidays according to the constitution of Bangladesh. There is evidence of celebrating various religious ceremonies and festivals. There is all public participation in religious programs and festivals like Eid Ul Fitr and Eid Ul Azha for Muslims, Durga Puja for Hindus, Buddha Purnima for Buddhists and Christmas for Christians. It is a significant achievement in the country of such a religious majority. In similar circumstances, there is no such kind of behavior in Bangladesh with respect to religious diversity in other parts of the world. The common masses of Bangladesh deserve praise for this achievement.  In the country's constitution, there has been an assurance of all religions, which serves as a protector against intolerance. Bangladesh is recognized as a tolerant society for all these reasons. Religious intolerance and extremism are not yet common in Bangladesh society. Unfortunately, this is not the case in other parts of the world. The worlds advanced continents like America and Europe, religious intolerance exists as well as there is widespread discrimination against Muslim men and women. To prevent Muslims from praying in the mosque, Muslim women were prevented from wearing the hijab and scarf as well. Even Muslims are not given vacation on the day of Eid festivals every year. Thus, the countries which were considered the ideal of tolerance could not be endurable like Bangladesh. The Religious communities in Bangladesh are the main reason for peaceful coexistence and religious tolerance: the great influence of Islamic Mysticism, Bengali Unity, and Bengali language as well. However, Islamic Mysticism in Bangladesh depends directly on the beliefs, history, and culture of the Bangladeshi Muslims. Islamic Mysticism contributed to reducing the religious hatred, fanaticism, and fundamentalism among the people of Bangladesh. Therefore, the result of my study shows that how to Islamic Mysticism is establishing status equality, love, and brotherhood among the masses and taught people to respect each other's religion, emotions, and practices in Bangladesh. The research tries to highlight that the influence of Islamic Mysticism was investigated to promote religious cohesion and tolerance in Bangladesh from the 11^th to the 21^st century.