Munīruzzamān Khān Islāmābādī ( bn, মনিরুজ্জামান খাঁন ইসলামাবাদী; 1875-1950), also known by the

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

Biplobi Maulana ( bn, বিপ্লবী মাওলানা, , Revolutionary Maulana), was a Muslim philosopher, nationalist activist and journalist from Islamabad (now known as

Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...

) in

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

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 ...

(present-day

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

). He was among the founders of the

Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind or Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind () is one of the leading organizations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. It was founded in November 1919 by a group of Muslim scholars including Abdul Bari Fi ...

Early life

Maniruzzaman Khan Islamabadi was born into 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 Araliar Char village under Barama union in

Patiya Upazila Patiya ( bn, পটিয়া) is an upazila of Chattogram District in Chattogram Division, Bangladesh. History During the British rule, a police station(thana) was established in Patiya in 1845. It was upgraded to an ''upazila'' in 1984. Th ...

(present

Chandanaish Upazila Chandanaish ( bn, চন্দনাইশ) is an upazila of Chattogram District in Chattogram Division, Bangladesh. History Chandanaish is one of the first inhabitant of the early settlers of Chittagong. Muslim traders and preachers from the ...

) of

district. As he became older, he taught at various traditional

madrassas Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , Plural, pl. , ) is the Arabs, Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. T ...

Career

Journalism and writing

Islamabadi began his career as a journalist by editing or managing

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

reformist periodicals such as the ''Soltan'' (1901), ''Hablul Matin'' (1912), and journals such as ''Mohammadi'' (1903), ''

The Kohinoor The Kohinoor ( bn, কোহিনূর, Kohinūr, Mountain of light) was a Bengali language newspaper, first published in July 1898. Initially focusing on miscellaneous topics such as Islamic culture, its third relaunch was a pivot of Hindu-Mu ...

'' (1911), ''Basona'' (1904) and ''Al-Eslam'' (1913). He organised literary conferences at Chittagong in 1922 and 1930 amidst pomp and grandeur. One such conference under the banner of "Chittagong Literary Society" was chaired by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

Political activism

Islamabadi's activism started in 1904 with the "Islam Mission Samity" which had undertaken a course of action to preach awareness among

Bengali Muslims 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 ...

of their

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soci ...

. Referring to the uneducated

mullahs Mullah (; ) is an honorific title for Shia Islam, Shia and Sunni Muslim clergy or a Muslim mosque leader. The term is also sometimes used for a person who has higher education in Islamic theology and Sharia, sharia law. The title has also b ...

' reservation about learning

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

on the baseless ground that the subject was created by the "''Kafir English,''" Islamabadi wrote: Islamabadi supported the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

and took an active part in the movement for the annulment of the Partition of Bengal. He also participated actively in 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.

and

Khilafat Movement The Khilafat Movement (1919–24), also known as the Caliphate movement or the Indian Muslim movement, was a pan-Islamist political protest campaign launched by Muslims of British India led by Shaukat Ali, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Hakim Ajma ...

and was the President of the provincial Congress Committee. He, along with

Mohammad Akram Khan Mohammad Akram Khan ( bn, মোহাম্মদ আকরম খাঁ; 1868 – 18 August 1968) was a Bengali journalist, politician and Islamic scholar. He was the founder of Dhaka's first Bengali newspaper, ''The Azad''. He was among the ...

toured throughout Bengal and organised Khilafat meetings, particularly in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

and Chittagong. In an article titled ''Asahojogita-o-Amader Kartbya'', Islamabadi declared that to protect Khilafat and to acquire

Swaraj Swarāj ( sa, स्वराज, translit=Svarāja '' sva-'' "self", '' raj'' "rule") can mean generally self-governance or "self-rule". It was first used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to attain self rule from the Mughal Empire and the Adil ...

were the twin aims of the Khilafat movement. He was among the founders of the

, and was appointed a member of its first executive council. He was one of the architects of the Bengal Pact of 1923. He left Congress politics in the 1930s and joined the

Krishak Praja Party The Krishak Sramik Party ( bn, কৃষক শ্রমিক পার্টি, ''Farmer Labourer Party'') was a major anti-feudal political party in the British Indian province of Bengal and later in the Dominion of Pakistan's East Bengal and ...

and was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1937 from this party.

Anjuman-i-Ulama-i-Bangala

In 1913, Moniruzzaman Islamabadi along with

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin Ahmed bin Khairuddin Al-Hussaini Azad (; 11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958) was an Indian independence activist, Islamic theologian, writer and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress. Following Ind ...

, Maulana Abdullahil Baqi and Dr

Muhammad Shahidullah Muhammad Shahidullah ( bn, মুহম্মদ শহীদুল্লাহ; 10 July 1885 – 13 July 1969) was a Bengali linguist, philologist, educationist, and writer. In 2004, he was ranked number 16 in BBC's poll of the Greatest Bengal ...

led the organising of the ''Anjuman-i-Ulama-i-Bangala'' with headquarters in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. One of the objectives of this organisation was popularising

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 ...

language among the Muslim middle class. When the ''Anjuman-i-Ulama-i-Bangala'' merged into

Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind or Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind () is one of the leading organizations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. It was founded in November 1919 by a group of Muslim scholars including Abdul Bari F ...

, in 1921, he became the founder of its branch in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

, the ''Jamiat-i-Ulama-i-Bangalah''. He founded the Chittagong branch of the organisation and himself became its president. Through the Anjuman, Islamabadi addressed social ills that plagued the Muslim society like

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

, excessive

mahr In Islam, a mahr (in ar, مهر; fa, مهريه; tr, mehir; sw, mahari; also transliterated ''mehr'', ''meher'', ''mehrieh'', or ''mahriyeh'') is the obligation, in the form of money or possessions paid by the groom, to the bride at the time ...

and young

child marriage Child marriage is a marriage or similar union, formal or informal, between a child under a certain age – typically 18 years – and an adult or another child. * * * * The vast majority of child marriages are between a female child and a ma ...

, without registering the age of consent. Due to its involvement Islamabadi's involvement with the Krishak Praja Party, the ''Anjuman'' viewed the

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...

as repugnant, lacking religiosity and "not being true Muslims." However, by the 1930s the organisation became too innocent of the reality of a "dissociation of modernity and democracy" and many of its members, including Mohammad Akram Khan abandoned the organisation and joined the Muslim League. This made Islamabadi a lonely voice, and he suffered from depression.

Death and legacy

He was a critic of the

Pakistan movement The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the pe ...

and lived his life at

after the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

, where he died. Islamabadi was a preacher who wanted to give Bengali Muslims a new identity by purifying the modern and invoking universal morality. He wanted to establish an Islamic university in Chittagong but the lack of funds and circumstances of the time did not favour his efforts.

Works

Islamabadi's main objective to project the past glory of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, its contributions to the progress of human civilisation and thus inspiring the Bengali Muslims to change their conditions manifested in publications such as: * ''Bhugol Shastre Musalman (Muslim contributions in geographical science)'' * ''Khagol Shastre Musalman (Muslim contributions in astronomy)'' * '' Korane Swadhinatar Bani (Messages of freedom in the Qur’an)'' * ''Bharate Islam Prachar (Spreading of Islam in India)'' * '' Musalman Amale Hindur Adhikar (Rights of the Hindus in Muslim Rule)'' * ''Muslim Birangana (Heroic Muslim women)'' * ''Turashker Sultan (Sultan of Turkey)'' * ''Aurangzeb'' * ''Nizamuddin Aulia''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Islamabadi, Maulana Maniruzzaman Bengali Muslim scholars of Islam 1875 births 1950 deaths Bengali politicians Bengali-language writers 20th-century Bengalis Bengali writers Krishak Sramik Party politicians People from Chittagong Founders of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind Bengal MLAs 1937–1945 Journalists from West Bengal