Ataullah Bogdan Kopański
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Ataullah Bogdan Kopański (born in 1948) is a Polish historian of
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and Eastern Europe, especially of
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 in this region, today based in Malaysia.


Personal life

He was born in the family of ethnic Silesian background. He converted to
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 ...
when on a student exchange in Turkey in 1974. He added to his birth name the Arabic first name Ataullah, which is the literal translation of his
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
- Slavic name
Bogdan Bogdan or Bohdan (Cyrillic: Богдан) is a Slavic masculine name that appears in all Slavic countries as well as Romania and Moldova. It is derived from the Slavic words '' Bog/Boh'' (Cyrillic: Бог), meaning "god", and ''dan'' (Cyrillic: ...
, which stands for 'God's gift.'Bogdan Ataullah Kopański. My Journey to Islam. http://www.islamicity.com/Mosque/Myjourney/list.htm Ataullah Bogdan Kopański married Mariam bint Abd ur-Rahman, whom he met in Syria, and has four children with her, Khalid, Tareq, Summaya and Saleheddin.


Political activities

In 1962, when only 14, he was fascinated by the success of the Arab national and anti-colonial forces that defeated the
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...
armies in the
Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
, gaining independence for their country. When attending a military college in Kętrzyn (Ger. Rastenburg) in 1966-1969, he actively opposed the Polish communist regime during the
1968 Polish political crisis The Polish 1968 political crisis, also known in Poland as March 1968, Students' March, or March events ( pl, Marzec 1968; studencki Marzec; wydarzenia marcowe), was a series of major student, intellectual and other protests against the ruling Poli ...
, and as a result was expelled from the Officer School, and became a political prisoner for the first time. He continued his studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice, and after graduation was employed there as a lecturer, adjunct and researcher. In 1980-81, when Poland was swept by a wave of anti-communist strikes, and around ten million joined the
anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
Solidarity trade union, Kopański co-founded a branch of this broad
grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...
social movement A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and may ...
at the University of Silesia. On the introduction of martial law in Poland on December 13, 1981, the leadership and activists of Solidarity were summarily rounded up by the military junta presided by General Wojciech Jaruzelski. Kopański was one of the interned, he became a political prisoner for the second time in his life. Between 1981 and 1982 he was detained in Strzelce Opolskie,
Uherce Mineralne Uherce Mineralne is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Olszanica, within Lesko County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It lies approximately east of Lesko Lesko (or ''Lisko'' until 1926; ua, Ліськ ...
, and Rzeszów. Upon his release together with his family, he left for the United States in 1983. Following the end of communism in Poland (1989), Kopański joined the
Silesian Autonomy Movement The Silesian Autonomy Movement ( szl, Ruch Autōnōmije Ślōnska, pl, Ruch Autonomii Śląska, german: Bewegung für die Autonomie Schlesiens), abbreviated as RAŚ, is a movement officially declaring its support for the autonomy of Silesia as pa ...
and the Związek Ludności Narodowości Śląskiej (Union of the People of the Silesian Nationality) ( pl).


Education and academic career

In 1975 Kopański graduated with an MA in History from the University of Silesia, where he was also granted a PhD in Humanities five years later. His work at the university was cut short by his detention in late 1981. After the release he continued his academic career at universities and Islamic research institutes in the United States, Syria, India, Pakistan,
Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
and South Africa, before becoming Head of the Department of the Eurasian Studies, Da'Wah Academy, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan. In 1995 he became a professor of history in the Department of History and Civilization, Kuliyyah (Faculty) of Islamic
Revealed Reveal or Revealed may refer to: People * Reveal (rapper) (born 1983), member of the British hip hop group Poisonous Poets * James L. Reveal (1941–2015), American botanist Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Revealed'', a 2013 novel ...
Knowledge and Human Sciences at the International Islamic University Malaysia in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia, located in the north-east of Greater Kuala Lumpur.


Research

Hajji Kopański's research initially focused on the relations between Poland–Lithuania the Osmanli Sultanate, and the Crimean Khanate , before moving to the history of Muslims and Islam in Eurasia. Nowadays, he is completing three monographs on the colonial war crimes against Muslims, the Mediterranean Islamic-Christian Frontiers during the Saeculum Obscurum ("Dark Age" of early medieval Europe) and the early ages of the Islamic civilization in the Malay Archipelago. His other project is to construct a multimedia ''imago mundi'' for his students and colleagues, which he is compiling from photographs, films and audio material gathered during his extensive annual research trips across the Mediterranean, the Western, Central and Southeast Asia].cf Ethnic Cleansing and Soviet Crimes Against Humanity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tW3oylnBd8; and http://www.iium.edu.my/staff-details?id=1906


Books

* * * * * ''Islamic manuscripts in Polish, Czech and Slovakian public libraries, archives and private collections''. 2008. Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) and World Congress of Muslim Librarians & Information Scientists (wCOMLIS). http://dspace.unimap.edu.my/dspace/handle/123456789/8038. * *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kopanski, Attaulah Bogdan 1948 births Living people 21st-century Malaysian historians Polish Muslims People from Katowice People from Silesia Solidarity (Polish trade union) activists Polish anti-communists Polish emigrants to the United States University of Silesia in Katowice alumni Academic staff of the International Islamic University, Islamabad Academic staff of the International Islamic University Malaysia Polish expatriates in Pakistan Polish expatriates in Turkey Polish expatriates in Syria Converts to Islam Polish dissidents 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Historians of Islam