DHAKA, July 16 The Bangladeshi government has ordered mosques and libraries across the country to remove all books written by Syed Abul Ala Maududi, the founder of Jamaat-i-Islami.

According to BBC, the chief of the government-funded Islamic Foundation said the books by Maulana Maududi encouraged “militancy and terrorism”.

Books by Maulana Maududi, who died in 1979, are essential reading for supporters of the Jamaat-i-Islami.

Born in India, the Pakistani scholar is considered to be a prominent theorist of Islam in modern South Asian history. But Bangladeshi officials say his writings promote radicalism and his ideological goal was to capture power in the name of Islam.

“His writings are against the peaceful ideology of Islam. So, it is not correct to keep books of Mr Maududi in mosques,” Islamic Foundation director-general Shamim Mohammad Afjal told the BBC.

The government has now ordered nearly 24,000 libraries attached to mosques to remove his books immediately.