Steven Emerson in his testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation has listed seven charitable organizations, International Islamic Relief Organization, Wafa Humanitarian Organization, Rabita Trusts, Qatar Charitable Society, Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLFRD) and Al-Aqsa Educational Fund, as having links with terrorist organizations in different countries. Of these, all except HLFRD and Al-Aqsa have links with al Qaeda, which is accused of supporting Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), banned by the Bangladesh Government. Where does HUJI get its funds? Can a connection between the Muslim Aid Bangladesh and terrorist funding in Bangladesh be established? Muslim Aid is a prominent aid agency in Britain and Muslim Aid Bangladesh is its branch. The Muslim Aid's goal is to collect Zakat, which is a religious obligation cast upon Muslims to give part of their earnings for charity. However Muslim Aid has been accused of spending this money to fuel extremism and terrorism in different parts of the world. 

Chris Blackburn in his report "Terrorism in Bangladesh: The Region and Beyond" and Shabbir Ahmad in his article "Who patronizes the extremists in Bangladesh?" have tried to establish the link which Muslim Aid Bangladesh is alleged to have with terrorist organizations in Bangladesh. The content of these writings is disputable, raising urgency to examine the role of Islamic charitable institutions and their relationship with terrorism.

Muslim Aid Bangladesh is registered with and supervised by the NGO Bureau of the Government of Bangladesh. Despite these accusations the government has not started any inquiry into the matter. Of course, there was a strong reaction from the Muslim Aid regarding the authenticity of these writings, but the government preferred to ignore them. In a 2005 joint report of National Security Intelligence (NSI) and Defence Force Intelligence (DFI) of Bangladesh it was confirmed that 10 Islamic charities and NGOs were promoting and financing militancy in Bangladesh. Surprisingly Maulana Abdus Sobhan of the Muslim Aid Bangladesh was also named who was a MP belonging to the Jamaat-i-Islami.

Muslim Aid Bangladesh is run by individuals who are closely associated with the Islamic Foundation in UK, which is allegedly supporting the establishment of militant or radical Islam. Jamaat-i-Islami also seeks to establish sharia rule in Bangladesh. Considering that Muslim Aid Bangladesh, the Islamic Foundation UK and Jammat-i-Islami have similar goals and share close ties, one can infer the flow of funds between these organizations for supporting Islamic militancy. In fact, a close link between Muslim Aid branches in different countries and terrorist funding has come to light. Muslim Aid Australia gave money to KOMPAK, a radical charity which finances jihadi propaganda. Later, Muslim Aid Australia released press statements where it accepted that it had made a mistake by giving money to KOMPAK as they had no knowledge of its links with terrorism or Jammat-i-Islami. Muslim Aid Pakistan is believed to have links with Hijbul Muzahideen. Keeping these links in mind, one cannot ignore the linkages between Muslim Aid Bangladesh and terrorism.

This linkage between charity and funding to terrorism is not new. International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) which is also considered to be the operating arm of the Muslim World League (MWL), Wafa Humanitarian Organization, Rabita Trusts, Qatar Charitable Society, Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLFRD) and Al-Aqsa Educational Fund are known to be funding terrorism. The Canadian Security and Intelligence Service has stated that LTTE had raised funds worth US$8.4 million a year in North America through charity. In this situation Muslim Aid's role in funding terrorism needs detailed inquiry.

The caretaker government has announced that the elections would to be held in end January next year and there are possibilities that the BNP will utilize the fundamentalists to win elections. Hence one cannot expect very much from the government to track the links between charitable institutions like the Muslim Aid and their connections with terrorists.

It is true that it is difficult to trace such links, but it is not impossible. In March 2006, two US visiting fellows of the Treasury Department???s Financial Central Enforcement Network (FinCEN), senior research analyst Mary Jo Melancon and senior research specialist Christen J King illustrated before a select group of police, judicial, customs and central bank officials how FinCEN operates to prevent the US financial system from being abused by crimes like terrorist financing and money laundering. After the arrest of Bangla Bhai and Rehman of JMB the Bangladesh Bank (BB) ordered a probe into their banking accounts operations. In Bangladesh the Money Laundering Prevention Act has come into force on 5 April 2005. So, it has the resource which can be tested for tracing the links between Muslim Aid and its support to terrorists.