Shāh Muḥammad Ibrāhīm ʿAlī ( bn, শাহ মোহাম্মদ ইবরাহীম আলী; 1872 – 11 September 1931) was a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Islamic scholar In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...

, poet and activist of the Khilafat Movement. He wrote poetry in the

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

languages under the pen name of Tashna ( fa, ). His

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

'' Agnikuṇḍa'' is a compilation of his writings during his imprisonment.Laskar, Mahmud, ''Monthly Madina'', February 2009 (in Bengali)

Early life and family

Shah Muhammad Ibrahim Ali was born in 1872, to a

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...

family in the village of Batiail in

Kanaighat Kanaighat ( bn, কানাইঘাট) is an upazila of Sylhet Division of Bangladesh. It is the second-largest upazila (sub-district) of Sylhet District after Gowainghat Upazila. It is named after the town of Kanaighat, which is also the only ...

, Sylhet District. His father, Mawlana Shah Abdur Rahman Qadri, was a notable

mufti A Mufti (; ar, مفتي) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion (''fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatwas'' played an important role ...

by occupation. His elder brother was Ismail Alam. The family was descended from Shah Taqiuddin, a 14th-century Sufi missionary and companion of

Shah Jalal Jalāl Mujarrad Kunyāʾī (), popularly known as Shah Jalal, was a celebrated Sufi figure of Bengal. His name is often associated with the Conquest of Sylhet and the spread of Islam into the region, part of a long history of interactions betw ...

Education

Ali initially studied at home with his father before enrolling at the Ajiria Madrasa in Fulbari,

Golapganj Golapganj Upazila ( bn, গোলাপগঞ্জ), previously known as Gulabganj, is an upazila of Sylhet District in the Division of Sylhet, Bangladesh. Geography Golapganj Upazila (Sylhet District) area 278.34 km2, located in bet ...

. After completing his education there, he studied at the Darul Uloom Deoband in

North India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

. Ali spent nine years in Deoband, studying under the likes of Fazal Haq Deobandi, Muhammad Munir Nanautavi and

Hafiz Muhammad Ahmad Hafiz Muhammad Ahmad (also known as Muhammad Ahmad Nanautawi) (1862-1930) was an Indian Muslim scholar, who served as the Vice Chancellor of the Darul Uloom Deoband for thirty five years. He was the Grand Mufti of the Hyderabad State from 1922 t ...

. He was married to Asiya Khatun, and had several children including

Oliur Rahman Shah Oliur Rahman ( bn, শাহ ওলিউর রহমান, fa, ; 1916 — 2006) was a Bangladeshi Islamic scholar, writer, politician and female education activist. Early life and education Oliur Rahman was born in 1916 to a Bengali Mu ...

. Sylheter Dak, 16 January 2009, page 8

Career

Returning to his country, Ali began his career in the sector of

Islamic education Islamic education may refer to: *Islamic studies Islamic studies refers to the academic study of Islam, and generally to academic multidisciplinary "studies" programs—programs similar to others that focus on the history, texts and theolo ...

. In addition to the Imdadul Uloom Umarganj in

(est. 1899), Ali established multiple educational institutions such as Sarakerbazar Ahmadiyya Madrasa. At this time, the teaching of ''

tajwid In the context of the recitation of the Quran, ''tajwīd'' ( ar, تجويد ', , ' elocution') is a set of rules for the correct pronunciation of the letters with all their qualities and applying the various traditional methods of recitation (' ...

'' was not prevalent in the Jaintia plains, and so Ali began a ''tajwid'' initiative at his madrasa in Umarganj. In 1902, Ali set off towards

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

for second time, along with his students. He completed

Hadith studies Hadith studies ( ar, علم الحديث ''ʻilm al-ḥadīth'' "science of hadith", also science of hadith, or science of hadith criticism or hadith criticism) consists of several religious scholarly disciplines used by Muslim scholars in th ...

for two years under Nazir Ahmad Deobandi. His teacher noticed his thirst for seeking ''

ilm Ilm or ILM may refer to: Acronyms * Identity Lifecycle Manager, a Microsoft Server Product * '' I Love Money,'' a TV show on VH1 * Independent Loading Mechanism, a mounting system for CPU sockets * Industrial Light & Magic, an American motion ...

'' and thus gave him the epithet of Tashna, meaning thirsty in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. It is from this period that he became recognised as Ibrahim Ali Tashna. Tashna played a significant role in popularising Islamic gatherings (''jalsa'') in the erstwhile Sylhet district. His first mass gathering event in northern Sylhet took place in 1906, and had tens of thousands of attendees. A popular folk saying emerged as result of the popularity of Tashna and his accomplice's religious gatherings:

Imprisonment and activism

Under the instructions of

Mahmud Hasan Deobandi Mahmud Hasan Deobandi (also known as Shaykh al-Hind; 1851–1920) was an Indian Muslim scholar and an activist of the Indian independence movement, who co-founded the Jamia Millia Islamia university and launched the Silk Letter Movement for t ...

, Tashna became actively involved with the Khilafat Movement which sought to restore the

Ottoman Caliphate The Caliphate of the Ottoman Empire ( ota, خلافت مقامى, hilâfet makamı, office of the caliphate) was the claim of the heads of the Turkish Ottoman dynasty to be the caliphs of Islam in the late medieval and the early modern era. ...

. Tashna used to give public speeches in Bengali and Urdu, and gained this skill through giving ''

khutbahs ''Khutbah'' ( ar, خطبة ''khuṭbah'', tr, hutbe) serves as the primary formal occasion for public preaching in the Islamic tradition. Such sermons occur regularly, as prescribed by the teachings of all legal schools. The Islamic tradition ...

'' (Friday sermons) at the

Jama Masjid A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.* * * * * * * ...

. As a result of his association with this movement, the colonial authorities imprisoned Tashna. On 23 March 1922, the Kanaighat Islamia Madrasa set to host their annual

jalsa ''Jalsa'' () is a 2008 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas and produced by Allu Aravind, under the Geetha Arts banner starring Pawan Kalyan, Ileana, Parvati Melton, Kamalinee Mukerji, Mukesh R ...

(presided by Tashna) but the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

had outlawed it and declared

Section 144 Unlawful assembly is a legal term to describe a group of people with the mutual intent of deliberate disturbance of the peace. If the group is about to start an act of disturbance, it is termed a rout; if the disturbance is commenced, it is then ter ...

throughout Kanaighat. Tashna and his committee were not fussed by the ban and subsequently violated Section 144 by continuing the jalsa. J. E. Webster, the Commissioner of Surma Valley, sent a police force to the jalsa at 12pm, who began shooting at the masses. The armed British were able to conduct a swift victory, by shooting down six people dead and injuring 38 others.

Works

Tashna wrote several books in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Usul ash-Shashi''. He is described as a natural poet, and has written many poems and ''

qasida The qaṣīda (also spelled ''qaṣīdah''; is originally an Arabic word , plural ''qaṣā’id'', ; that was passed to some other languages such as fa, قصیده or , ''chakameh'', and tr, kaside) is an ancient Arabic word and form of writin ...

''s in Urdu and

, which gained him repute in

. His writings were regularly published in various periodicals published from North India at that time, and Akbar Allahabadi was among his fans. It was the period after his imprisonment in which he left the political field to live a more spiritual and secluded life. During this time, Tashna began to write a lot of mysyic poetry in his mother-tongue, Bengali. The ''Nurer Jhangkar'' magazine was published by his son from 1934. '' Agnikuṇḍa'' was a compilation of songs relating to the longing and love of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

, and is regarded as Tashna's

Death

Tashna died in his own home at

at the age of 61, on 11 September 1931. He left behind four sons and one daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tashna, Ibrahim Ali Urdu-language poets Persian-language poets 1872 births 1931 deaths People from Kanaighat Upazila 20th-century Bengali poets 19th-century Bengalis Darul Uloom Deoband alumni Deobandi Sufis Sunni Sufis Bengali Muslim scholars of Islam