The walls of the shrine in Hiyajuri village are broken open. Exposed bricks frame the gaps where sections of masonry once stood. Inside, a woman sits on the tiled floor, her hands raised in prayer. A grave covered with cloth lies a few feet away.
The room bears the marks of an attack that took place more than two years ago. Its damaged walls have not been fully repaired. To the family that tends the shrine, the destruction is only part of what happened that morning.
Roshan Ara Begum remembers the men breaking through the gate of her family home. They were looking for her son, Golam Moinuddin Tipu, who looked after the family's Sufi shrines.
When they could not find him, she said, they turned on the family.
The attackers locked them inside a room. Then, according to Roshan Ara, they seized her young grandson and attempted to mutilate his genitals with a sharp weapon.
“They thought he was Tipu’s son and threatened to wipe out the family lineage,” she recalled. “I begged them to spare him and explained that he was my daughter’s son.”
The child was not Tipu's son. The attackers had mistaken him for one of Tipu's children, she said.
Tipu and his family were in Dhaka that morning and escaped the violence.
“They broke down our gate and came inside, shouting, ‘Where is Tipu? Where is that fraud Tipu?’” Roshan Ara told Daily Waadaa.
The men ransacked the house, taking jewellery, cash and other belongings, she alleged. Outside, other members of the crowd were attacking the family's shrines.
The assault occurred on September 9, 2024, barely a month after Sheikh Hasina's government collapsed. It was part of a series of attacks on Sufi shrines in Nangalkot upazila of Cumilla, where religious disputes and local grievances had intensified amid the political upheaval.
A report by Maqam: Center for Sufi Heritage, which documents attacks on Sufi sites, records damage to several shrines in the area. It names two local religious figures, Maulana Jasim Uddin and Maulana Sulaiman, as alleged leaders of the mob and describes some attackers as followers of Charmonai, associated with Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB).
Both men deny involvement. They identify themselves as local leaders of Hefazat-e-Islam and say the allegations are an attempt to implicate them in a longstanding dispute with Tipu.
None of the allegations has been tested in court. The victims did not file police cases.
Some said they feared reprisals. Others said they did not want to provoke another confrontation.
Nangalkot police station chief Shahinul Islam told Waadaa that he had joined the station three months earlier and had not come across any cases concerning the attacks.
Waadaa sought comments from senior Hefazat and IAB leaders about the allegations against people said to be associated with their organisations. Neither responded.
The attacks form part of a wider pattern of violence against Sufi shrines in Bangladesh, often attributed to groups operating under the banner of Tawhidi Janata, or people committed to Islamic monotheism.
In Hiyajuri, the accounts of witnesses and victims offer a closer picture of how the violence unfolded, who was accused of organising it and why the families have struggled to obtain accountability.
The attackers arrived shortly after Fajr, the dawn prayer.
It was September 9, 2024. Floods had recently devastated Feni and surrounding areas. In parts of Nangalkot, displaced residents had taken shelter in schools. Roads and villages were still recovering from the inundation.
Roshan Ara estimated that about 500 people gathered near her family's property that morning. Some carried sticks, hammers and other weapons.
“Some people entered our house, while others attacked the shrines,” she said.
The family maintained three shrines: those of Syed Abul Kashem Maizbhandari Hiyajuri, Subedar Abdur Rahim Hiyajuri and Syed Nizam Uddin Hiyajuri.
The graves belong to Roshan Ara's husband, her late son and her father-in-law. The family home is known locally as Tipu's Astana, after her son, a follower of the Maizbhandari Sufi order who oversees the shrines.
As the crowd moved through the property, Roshan Ara said, neighbours remained inside their homes.
“They had surrounded the whole area. They were carrying weapons, and nobody had the courage to come and help us,” she said.
“Had they found my son, they would have killed him.” The violence extended beyond the family's property.
At the Abdul Gani Shah Hiyajuri Mazar in the same village, local resident Mainuddin recalled hearing a commotion early that morning.
Two motorcycles arrived first, he said. The riders asked whether the building was a shrine. Mainuddin confirmed that it was and asked them to remove their shoes before entering.
Instead, he said, they pushed him and ordered him to remain silent. More motorcycles followed. Then came a larger crowd.
“There must have been 400 to 500 people,” Mainuddin said. He described men wearing traditional panjabis and religious caps.
Ali Akkas, another resident, recalled hearing the crowd chant “Allahu Akbar” as men began breaking parts of the shrine.
Villagers attempted to intervene. “They did not listen to us,” he told Waadaa. The attack lasted between 30 and 40 minutes, according to Ali. The crowd then moved away.
Mohammad Ahsan Ullah, a relative of the shrine's founder, did not witness the assault and could not identify the attackers. But he has seen the damage left behind.
The family approached the government for help rebuilding the shrine. None came, he said. “We are rebuilding it with help from people in the local community.”
The family did not file a police complaint. Ahsan Ullah said they did not want to antagonise those responsible.
At Roshan Shah Mazar, another shrine in the area, Mohammad Hedayetullah Sharif described a similar attack on the same day.
Hundreds of people arrived, he said. Many had covered their faces with masks. They vandalised the shrine before leaving.
Police subsequently called the family to the station and asked whether they wanted to lodge a complaint. “We chose not to take the matter any further,” Hedayetullah told Waadaa.
The shrine remains a place of devotion. Visitors still arrive to pay their respects. But the family has curtailed the religious gatherings once held there.
“People still come here to pay their respects, but we can no longer organise the urs as we used to,” he said, referring to the annual gathering commemorating a Sufi saint.
Abdullah Kahaf, a local school student, saw the damage after the attack. He said he also recognised what appeared to be students from Qawmi madrasahs among the crowd.
Who assembled the crowd and directed it towards Hiyajuri remains disputed.
Maqam's investigation identifies alleged connections between some of the attackers and Charmonai, the religious movement associated with Islami Andolan Bangladesh.
One of its witnesses, Mohammad Robiul Hossain, a teacher at a local hifz madrasa in Ashuganj Bazar, described a procession approaching Hiyajuri from Nangalkot Bazar.
“Most of the attackers were outsiders and followers of Charmonai,” he told Maqam.
According to Robiul, the procession travelled approximately six to 10 kilometres. The participants moved in groups, walking two abreast. Motorcycles and other vehicles accompanied them.
“They carried hammers, sticks and other equipment used in the attacks,” he said.
Robiul said followers of IAB had an established presence in the area through madrasahs and religious gatherings.
He also alleged that some local residents joined the procession because of earlier disputes and personal grievances.
Waadaa could not independently verify his account or establish whether those described as Charmonai followers were acting under instructions from IAB leaders.
Maqam's report identifies Maulana Jasim Uddin of Gotrasha village and Maulana Sulaiman of Naogoda village as alleged leaders of the attacks.
Tipu independently named the two men in an interview with Waadaa. He also accused several others of involvement, alleging that followers of different religious groups had acted together.
He claimed that video footage existed that could help identify some of the attackers. He did not provide the footage to Waadaa, leaving the claim unverified.
Jasim and Sulaiman rejected the allegations when contacted.
Both introduced themselves as local Hefazat leaders. They said they did not know who had attacked the shrines and denied organising or participating in the violence.
Sulaiman pointed to an earlier dispute with Tipu.
“We have a previous case against Tipu for his un-Islamic activities in the shrines. We have no interest in vandalising his place. He is trying to frame us,” he said.
Jasim offered a similar account. Other individuals named by Tipu and contacted by Waadaa also denied involvement.
The dispute surrounding Tipu predates the attacks.
Maqam's report describes several sources of resentment against him, including a video showing him playing drums at his younger brother's funeral, remarks concerning Sufism and allegations of drug-related activity at the shrine.
The report also refers to grievances over Tipu's conduct during the Awami League government's rule.
In Hiyajuri, the damaged buildings remain part of everyday village life.At the Abdul Gani Shah shrine, sections of broken masonry expose the interior.
The green paint has faded in places. Cracks and missing sections of wall mark the points where the structure was struck.
Residents have begun repairs using money and assistance collected locally.
At another shrine, the graves are covered with cloth. Devotees stand nearby with their hands raised in prayer. The gatherings continue, but on a smaller scale.
At Roshan Shah Mazar, the family has repaired gravestones. Visitors still come. The annual urs, once an important occasion for devotees, has not returned to its previous form.
The changes are not limited to the buildings.
Roshan Ara said she remains afraid to visit her family's shrines, particularly in the early morning and evening. “We are afraid when we come to the shrine in the morning or evening,” she said.
“We want to be able to hold our religious gatherings safely and live without fear,” she added.
She also said if they have done anything unlawful, “let the authorities investigate and take action.”
“But let us live in peace.”
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