Ibrahim Suhrawardy (1896-1971) was an Indian educationist, author and linguist from Balasore, Odisha. He is credited to have written the first English grammar books in

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

for the native students. He achieved high distinction in English studies in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and taught many generations of students and scholars how western languages could be pursued to great educational advantage. Ibrahim was also the first muslim from

Orissa province Orissa Province was a province of British India created in April 1936 by the partitioning of the Bihar and Orissa Province. Its territory corresponds with the modern-day State of Odisha. On 22 March 1912, both Bihar and Orissa divisions were s ...

to have qualified the prestigious Indian Civil Services Examinations in 1921. He was one of the active Satyagrahis during the Inchudi Satyagraha movement in 1930.

Family and education

Qazi Syed Ibrahim Khalil Ullah Alqadri Suhrawardy was born into the

Qadi A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...

family of Balasore to Qazi Syed Abdul Sattar Alqadri and his wife Muner un nisa Akhtar. From his father's side he was a direct descendant of the Persian theologian

Abdul Qadir Jilani ʿAbdul Qādir Gīlānī, ( ar, عبدالقادر الجيلاني, ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī; fa, ) known by admirers as Muḥyī l-Dīn Abū Muḥammad b. Abū Sāliḥ ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī al-Baḡdādī al-Ḥasanī al-Ḥusayn ...

. His father was the

Mukhtar A mukhtar ( ar, مختار, mukhtār, chosen one; el, μουχτάρης) is a village chief in the Levant: "an old institution that goes back to the time of the Ottoman rule". According to Amir S. Cheshin, Bill Hutman and Avi Melamed, the muk ...

Balasore Balasore or Baleswara is a city in the state of Odisha, about north of the state capital Bhubaneswar and from Kolkata, in eastern India. It is the largest town of northern Odisha and the administrative headquarters of Balasore district. It i ...

, while his mother, Begum Muner un nisa was the first cousin of

Abdullah Al-Mamun Suhrawardy Sir Abdullah al-Mamun Suhrawardy (31 May 1877 – 13 January 1935) was a Bengali Islamic scholar, barrister, and academic. He was the Tagore Law Lecturer in 1911 and involved in notable educational work. Abdullah was the first Indian to attain ...

and

Hassan Suhrawardy Lieutenant-Colonel Hassan Suhrawardy CStJ, FRCS (17 November 1884 – 18 September 1946) was a Bengali surgeon, military officer in the British Indian Army, politician, and a public official. He was the former chairman of the executive commi ...

. Ibrahim was brought up in his maternal home. He attended school at St. Xavier's Collegiate School in Calcutta and later finished his intermediate education from

Calcutta Madrasa Aliah University (AU; ur, جامعہ عالیہ) is a state government controlled autonomous university in New Town, West Bengal, India. Previously known as Mohammedan College of Calcutta, it was elevated to university in 2008. It offers und ...

. He then finally earned a graduation degree in from

Ravenshaw College Ravenshaw University, formerly known as Ravenshaw college, is a co-educational state university situated in Cuttack, Odisha on the eastern coast of India. Founded as Ravenshaw College in 1868, the institution became a university in 2006. The un ...

Career

Ibrahim joined as a teacher in

in the Anglo Persian department. He was then appointed as the headmaster of Beadaon Madrasa in 1919. Ibrahim became the first muslim from

to qualify the prestigious Indian Civil Services Examinations in 1921, after which he was posted in Derhadun as a sub-divisional magistrate. Ibrahim later resigned from his post in response to Gandhiji's call for boycotting the posts of British government during the

non-cooperation movement The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance.

. He served as the headmaster of George High School,

Sambalpur Sambalpur () is the fifth largest city in the Indian State of Odisha. It is located on the banks of river Mahanadi, with a population of 335,761 (as per 2011 census). Prehistoric settlements have been recorded there. It is the home of the Samb ...

from 1928 to 1934. Ibrahim later joined the nationalist movement and remained a close associate of Raja Baikuntha Nath Dey. He realised that the native Odia students faced a lot difficulties in understanding the nuances of English language as it was completely alien to them. Thus he wrote and published English grammar books in

in order to provide a better understanding of English language to the students. Both his books were included in the school curriculum of

Puri Zilla School Puri Zila School is a government high school and one of the oldest school in Odisha, India. It was established in 1853 in the holy city of Puri, located in Kundheibenta Sahi. The school moved to another building which later converted to Samant ...

. He was also a member of

Mohammedan Literary Society Mohammedan Literary Society was a historic literary society based in Kolkata for Muslims of South Asia. History Mohammedan Literary Society was founded by Nawab Abdul Latif in 1863 in Kolkata, Bengal Presidency, British Raj. The society was loca ...

. He had participated in the 1930 salt satyagraha at Inchudi led by

Gopabandhu Choudhury Gopabandhu Choudhuri (also spelled Gopabandhu Choudhury; 8 May 1895 – 29 April 1958) was an Indian activist, social worker and freedom fighter. He participated in the Non-cooperation Movement, Civil Disobedience movement. Early life Gopaba ...

and had extended a helping hand to the nationalist workers during the

civil disobedience movement The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mahatma Gandhi. The twenty-four day march lasted from 12 March to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

Notable students

*Manmath Nath Das, minister *

Nirmal Kumar Bose Nirmal Kumar Bose (22 January 1901 – 15 October 1972) was a leading Indian anthropologist, who played a formative role in "building an Indian Tradition in Anthropology". A humanist scholar with a broad range of interests, he was also a leadi ...

, anthropologist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suhrawardy, Ibrahim 1896 births 1972 deaths People from Balasore district Bengali writers Suhrawardy family Amin family