Islam worked in the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy (later amalgamated to
Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge) from 1967 until 1971. Later he worked as a researcher in
California Institute of Technology and
University of Washington. During 1973–1974, he served as the faculty of Applied Mathematics of
King's College London. In 1978, he then joined the faculty of
City University London until he returned to
Chittagong in 1984. In 2006, he was made
Professor Emeritus at the University of Chittagong. His research areas included
applied mathematics,
theoretical physics,
mathematical physics, the theories of
gravitation,
general relativity,
mathematical cosmology, and
quantum field theory. Islam authored, coauthored or edited more than 50 scientific articles, books and some popular articles published in various scientific journals. Besides this he has also written books in
Bengali. Particularly noteworthy are
Black Hole, published by the
Bangla Academy, "The Mother Tongue, Scientific Research and other Articles" and "Art, Literature and Society". The latter two are compilations. In 1997, Islam was invited to the International Symposium on Mathematical Physics in memory of
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar with a special session on Abdus Salam arranged by Calcutta Mathematical Society in Kolkata-India. Professor Narayan Chandra Ghosh, a mathematician of India, was director of the noted symposium. ==Fellowships==