Jamaat-e-Islami's one of the top leaders, Mir Quasem Ali, pioneered several institutions, including Islamic Bank, Ibn Sina Trust, Diganta Media, and Keari Limited. Other leaders of the party also founded many such institutions. The party's leaders played a crucial role in establishing educational institutions such as International Islamic University Chittagong and Manarat International University, among others. At one time, these institutions were considered symbols of the party's economic and institutional power. However, following the arrest of Mir Quasem Ali and several other key leaders of the party in 2012 and the subsequent execution of many of them based on court verdicts, the situation began to change. Over the past decade, Jamaat leaders have lost control of several important institutions, including the Islami Bank.
A change in the scenario began to emerge again after the popular uprising on August 5, which led to the fall of the Awami League government. To regain control of the institutions they had lost, Jamaat-e-Islami leaders have become active once again. They are working in various ways to strengthen their positions on the relevant universities' boards and rebuild their lost economic and institutional power.
Jamaat-e-Islami's Secretary General, Mia Golam Parwar, expressed the expectation that the institutions lost by the party's leaders would soon return to the hands of their founders. He told Bonik Barta, "The Awami fascists had seized and destroyed these institutions out of jealousy and malice. Now that the era of fascism has ended, we hope these institutions will be freed from occupation and return to their founders. However, we urge the relevant authorities to ensure this return happens through the laws governing various trusts, societies, and foundations. They are also making efforts in this regard. Many of the founders of these institutions have passed away, having been unjustly murdered. Now, those who follow the ideals of these founders are trying to rebuild the institutions while preserving those ideals. Once freed from occupation, the institutions will return to the original directors and founders."
However, he clarified that institutions like the Islami Bank, Ibn Sina Trust, and various educational institutions are not directly managed through the Jamaat-e-Islami organization. He stated, "Our party identity or efforts do not run these institutions. However, it is true that many leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, alongside their party activities, have been involved in various welfare works such as economy, healthcare, and education. They have always been engaged in such endeavors. They believed in Islamic ideals and tried to build a welfare state based on those principles. For instance, they dreamed of creating a model for how healthcare could be structured based on Islamic principles, how an interest-free bank could operate based on Islamic economics, and how ideal educational institutions could be established to shape ideal human beings. These were the aspirations of our leaders. As a result, they individually succeeded in establishing various institutions. Essentially, they dreamt of building a society and nation based on the ideals they believed in, and they tried to create a model for that in different sectors. Examples include their efforts to establish Islamic Bank, Ibn Sina, Manarat, and other educational institutions in Dhaka and beyond."
The largest institution established by Jamaat-e-Islami leaders is Ibn Sina Trust. Under this trust, several profitable healthcare-related institutions exist. Notable among them are Ibn Sina Hospital, Ibn Sina Pharmaceuticals, Ibn Sina Diagnostic and Consultation Center, and Ibn Sina Medical College. Several subsidiary companies have also been established under Ibn Sina Pharmaceuticals. These include The Ibn Sina API Industry, The Ibn Sina Natural Medicine, The Ibn Sina Polymer Industry, and Ibn Sina Consumer Products Limited.
Islamic Bank was founded in 1983 under the leadership of Mir Quasem Ali. Although 13 Middle Eastern companies held 63 percent ownership of Islami Bank, the bank also had 5 percent ownership from the Government of Bangladesh. Among the local stakeholders were institutions with Jamaat-affiliated backgrounds, such as Ibn Sina Trust, Bangladesh Islamic Center, Islamic Research Bureau, and Baitush Sharaf Foundation. Mir Quasem Ali and other Jamaat supporters would serve as chairman and directors of the Islami Bank as representatives of Ibn Sina Trust. An Islami Bank Hospital was also established under the bank's ownership.
In 2016, with the government's support, the Chattogram-based S. Alam Group took control of Islamic Bank. The bank's board of directors was restructured. Since then, until the fall of the Awami League government, no representative with Jamaat-e-Islami ideology was present on the bank's board of directors.
Following the political shift after the uprising, Bangladesh Bank removed the control of the S. Alam Group from the Islami Bank in August and formed a new board. Five independent directors were appointed to the bank, and Md Obayed Ullah Al Masud was made the new chairman.
In addition to Islami Bank, Mir Quasem Ali founded the Keari Group, which owns at least 10 companies. These companies began to weaken starting in 2012. According to those involved, the business situation of Carey Group's companies has become highly limited in recent years. Furthermore, funds from various multinational charitable organizations and NGOs, such as the Fouad Al-Khateeb Foundation and Rabeta al-Alam al-Islami, would come to Bangladesh through Mir Quasem Ali. These funds were used for Jamaat-e-Islami's political and social activities. After Mir Quasem Ali's death sentence, the activities of these NGOs also became stagnant.
Mir Quasem Ali was also the chairman of Diganta Media Corporation Limited (Diganta TV). On May 5, 2013, the private satellite channel was banned from broadcasting following the Hefazat-e-Islam movement's program. However, within a week of the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, the temporary ban on Diganta TV was lifted. As a result, the channel is returning to the airwaves after an 11-year hiatus.
Like the Islami Bank, the trustee board of Manarat International University in the capital was restructured by the Awami League government. The former mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation, Atiqul Islam, was made the chairman of the university's trustee board. All the previous trustees were removed from the restructured board. In addition, in 2021, the International Islamic University Chittagong trustee board was restructured by the then government, removing Jamaat leaders from the founding trustees. At that time, Abu Reza Muhammad Nizamuddin Nadwi, a ruling party MP from Chattogram-15, was chairman of the university's trustee board.
Jamaat-e-Islami leaders argue that the Sheikh Hasina government took control of these institutions to weaken the position of Jamaat leaders. They claim that under the direct and indirect intervention of the government and government-supported individuals, the financial condition of many institutions deteriorated. In some cases, the institutions were lost entirely.
Professor Mohammad Abdur Rab was the Vice Chancellor of Manarat International University. After the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government, he took over as the acting Vice Chancellor of the university. He is a former chairman of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and a former head of the Department of Geography and Environment at Dhaka University. The Vice Chancellor of the International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC) was also changed. Professor KM Golam Mohiuddin, a professor in the Department of Accounting at Chittagong University, joined IIUC as the new Vice-Chancellor.
Bangladesh Publications Limited has many businesses, from newspaper publishing to real estate. The Daily Sangram, published through this organization, is well-known as the mouthpiece of Jamaat-e-Islami. In 2020, this newspaper's media affiliation was canceled. In 2019, the newspaper's office was vandalized, and the editor was taken into police custody. After the change of government, it has recently been re-listed in the media registry.