Sudhakar 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 ...

weekly magazine established by

Reazuddin Ahmad Mashadi Reazuddin Ahmad Mashadi was a Bengali Muslim writer and philosopher. Early life Mashadi was born in 1859 in Charan, Ratanganj, Tangail District, Bengal Presidency, British Raj. He learned Bengali, English, Sanskrit, and Urdu. Career Mashadi joine ...

and

Sheikh Abdur Rahim Sheikh Abdur Rahim (1859 – 14 July 1931) was a Bengali writer and journalist. Early life Rahim was born in 1859 in Muhammadpur, Basirhat, 24-Parganas in the then British India. His mother died at a young age and he was subsequently raised by ...

. It began publication on 8 November 1889 (23 Kartik 1296 of the

Bangla calendar The Bengali Calendar or Bangla Calendar ( bn, বঙ্গাব্দ , , Baṅgābda), colloquially ( bn, বাংলা সন, Baṅgla Śon), is a solar calendar used in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent. A revised version of t ...

) from

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 ...

Background

It was first edited by Sheikh Abdur Rahim or

Muhammad Reazuddin Ahmad Muhammad Reazuddin Ahmad (1861–1933) was a Bengali Muslim writer, journalist, and thinker. Early life Ahmad was born in 1861 in the village of Kaunia in Barisal District, Bengal Presidency, British Raj. His father died when he was eight. He was ...

according to other accounts. The magazine primary aim was preaching

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 ...

. At some point, the magazine changed its name to ''Mihir O Sudhakar''. The magazine printed polemics on religious issues against another ''Khristiya Bandhab'' (Friends of Christians), a magazine published by

Christian missionaries A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...

Ideological stance

According to Nurul Kabir, its objectives were defending Islam from orientalist's criticisms and the vilification of the

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 ...

s by the local communalist Hindu intellectuals, enlightening the Bengali Muslims with Islamic principles and prevent conversions to Christianity. When

Mir Mosharraf Hossain Mir Mosharraf Hossain ( bn, মীর মশাররফ হোসেন; 1847–1912) was a Bengali writer, novelist, playwright and essayist. He is considered to be the first major writer to emerge from the Muslim society of Bengal, and one ...

supported the ban on cow-slaughtering, the ''Sudhakar'' endorsed

Tangail Tangail ( bn, টাঙ্গাইল, ), is a major city within the Dhaka Division in central Bangladesh. It sits on the bank of the Louhajang River, north-west of Dhaka, the nation's capital. It is considered to be the main urban area of ...

's Maulvi Naimuddin protest of the ban. Regular contributors included Munshi Mohammad Meherullah and

Closure

''Sudhakar'' continued being published up to 1910.

Legacy

Nurul Kabir writes of ''The Sudhakar's'' influence on the development of the identity of

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 ...

"(The Sudhakar) infused a sense of confidence in the Muslim society of
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 ...
about the inherent strength of Islam, enlightening the
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 ...
about the great contributions that Islam has made in the development of human civilisation and inspiring them to create their own literature in their own mother tongue - Bangla.

He also compares its influence on contemporary

Islamic culture Islamic culture and Muslim culture refer to cultural practices which are common to historically Islamic people. The early forms of Muslim culture, from the Rashidun Caliphate to the early Umayyad period and the early Abbasid period, were predomi ...

equivalent to that the

Tattwabodhini Patrika ''Tattwabodhini Patrika'' ( bn, তত্ত্ববোধিনী পত্রিকা, ''Tattwabodhini'' "truth-searching" ''Patrika'' "newspaper") was established by Debendranath Tagore on 16 August 1843, as a journal of the Tattwabodhini ...

on the contemporary Bengali Hindu society. The periodical is also credited for popularizing the use of

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and

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 ...

loanwords A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because the ...

in the

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second m ...

and

Bengali literature Bengali literature ( bn, বাংলা সাহিত্য, Bangla Sahityô) denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time ...

among

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sudhakar, The 1889 establishments in India Defunct magazines published in India Islamic magazines Magazines established in 1889 Magazines disestablished in 1910 Religious magazines Mass media in Kolkata Weekly magazines published in India Bengali-language magazines