Syed A. B. Mahmud Hossain (19162 August 1981) was a Bangladeshi lawyer and jurist who served as the 2nd Chief Justice of Bangladesh during 1975–1978.

Early life and career

Hossain was born into a Bengali Muslim family of Syeds in Laskarpur Union in Habiganj district in 1916. He was a descendant of Syed Nasiruddin, a general of the Sultan Shamsuddin Firuz Shah who helped conquer

Sylhet Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of the Sylhet Division. Located on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal, Sylhet has a subtropical climate an ...

. He joined the Dhaka District Bar in 1940. He served as the principal of Darul Ulum Ahsania Madrasa, Dhaka. He joined the Dhaka High Court Bar in 1948. He served as the assistant government pleader from 1952 to 1956 in the High Court of

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

. He was the advocate general of East Pakistan in 1964. He was then elevated to the High Court Division on 18 January 1972. In the context of the retirement of Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem, the honorable President of Bangladesh appointed Syed A. B. Mahmud Hossain as Chief Justice and on 18 November 1975, he took the oath as Chief Justice. On 31 January 1978, he retired from the post after President

Ziaur Rahman Lt. General Ziaur Rahman (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981), was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981. He was assassinated on 30 May 1981 in Chittagong in an army coup d' ...

reduced the retirement age of judges from 65 to 62.

Personal life and death

Husain died on 2 August 1981 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 ...

. His son, Syed Md. Dastgir Husain, is a retired Judge of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. His daughter married the renowned eye surgeon from Phulbari, Sylhet, Prof. M. A. Rahim Choudhury, with whom he shared literary interests. Husain translated into Bengali and English the Diwan-e-Gausia, a collection of Persian poems attributed to Abdul Qadir Jilani.

References

1916 births 1981 deaths Bangladeshi jurists Supreme Court of Bangladesh justices Chief justices of Bangladesh People from Habiganj District Bangladeshi people of Arab descent 20th-century Bengalis {{Bangladesh-bio-stub