M. Harunur Rashid | |
---|---|
মোহাম্মদ হারুন-উর-রশিদ | |
Director General of Bangla Academy | |
In office 6 February 1991 –19 March 1995 | |
Preceded by | Mahmud Shah Qureshi [1] |
Succeeded by | Abul Mansur Muhammad Abu Musa |
Personal details | |
Born | Tinsukia,Assam Province,British Raj | 28 December 1939
Nationality | Bangladeshi |
Education | MA in English literature |
Occupation | Teacher,translator,essayist,critic,columnist |
M Harunur Rashid (born 28 December 1939) is a professor,educational administrator,editor,and translator. [2] [3] He is a noted writer of Sufism and Sufi literature [4] and a commentator of social,political,and literary texts. [5]
Rashid was born on 28 December 1939,to a Bengali Muslim family in Tinsukia district,Assam Province in British Raj. [5] On the eve of the Second World War,his father Rahimuddin Ahmed,an employee of the Assam Bengal Railway,was transferred to Chittagong. He spent his early childhood in the idyllic environment of the Pahartali and Chittagong hills. When the Japanese bombed Chittagong,his father sent them to his village home in Nabinagar,Brahmanbaria.
His family moved to Pahartali and he read in the Pahartali Railway High School in 1947. Next year the family moved to Chittagong and he got himself admitted to Chittagong Collegiate School. [6] Here he read up to class nine and on his father's retirement moved to Brahmanbaria town. He passed his matriculation examination from Annada Model High School in 1955. He got himself admitted to Brahmanbaria Government College,and passed his Intermediate in Arts examination (1957) under Dhaka University standing 5th in the merit list.
He did his BA honours (1960) and MA (1961) from Dhaka University. He later went to University of Cambridge (Fitzwilliam College),UK and obtained his B A honours (1966) and M A (1970).
During the interregnum of Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed he was appointed Director General of Bangla Academy [7] on 7 February 1991. [8] His appointment as the director general of the Bangla Academy [9] is a landmark in his career as an educational administrator. He insisted on its research activities –chiefly the dictionaries which needed editing and branding. [10] He published the Bangla Academy English–Bengali Dictionary (ed Z R Siddiqui) [11] and devised such marketing policies as made it an instant best seller. The cover design was made by artist and painter Qayyum Chowdhury and all the dictionaries had the same design with change of colour. He commissioned three dictionaries during his tenure and published them. He himself edited one pocket dictionary. The other thing he emphasized was the publication of complete works of literary celebrities including Dr Muhammad Shahidullah,Kaykobad,Farrukh Ahmed and most importantly the complete works of Kazi Nazrul Islam. [12] [13]
After a stint of four years he went back to Jahangirnagar University. He went on voluntary retirement in 1998. He took a break from teaching and became the chief editor of Dhaka Courier ,a national English-language newsweekly. But his journalistic career was short-lived and he joined North South University [14] as an adjunct professor of English. He taught there for 8 years and terminated his contract in December 2008. He then joined Darul Ihsan University as an adviser and professor of English. He taught at International Islamic University Chittagong at its Dhaka branch until 28 February 2015.
He was elected president of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh in 1998 for two years. In February 2007,he was made the president of Bangla Academy for two years. [15] [16] He was unanimously elected Chairman of Wild Team (Wild Life Trust of Bangladesh) on 5 August 2015. [17]
Rashid married his cousin Murshida Begum when he was 24. He had two sons and a daughter by her. Murshida died of cancer in 1985. He married Shireen Yasmin Khan in the following year. He has no children by her.
A significant event in his life was his meeting a Sufi saint,Syed Rashid Ahmed Jaunpuri,the maternal grandson of Karamat Ali Jaunpuri, [18] who preached Islam in Bengal and Assam in the 19th century. [19] He accepted him as his murshid . [20] and followed him taking notes of his lectures. He learnt the principles of Sufism sitting at his feet [21] and practiced the basics of Ma'refat without which,the Guru emphasized,Islam could not be seen its wholeness,beauty and excellence. Later the notes came in handy in writing about his teachings. He wrote a total of five books on his lectures which were published during his lifetime. He was with him for 13 years until his passing away in 2001. He published his collected lectures under the title Sanglap Samagra (2003). [22] Nearly 12 years after his Shaykh's death he published a magnum opus Syed Rashid Ahmed Jaunpuri (RA) Smarak Grantha (2013). [23]
The Bangla Academy is the official regulatory body of the Bengali language in Bangladesh. It is an autonomous institution funded by the Government of Bangladesh that fosters the Bengali language,literature and culture,works to develop and implement national language policy and conducts original research in Bengali. Established in 1955,it is located in the Burdwan House in Shahbagh,Dhaka,within the grounds of the University of Dhaka and Suhrawardy Udyan. The Bangla Academy hosts the annual Ekushey Book Fair.
Brahmanbaria is a district in eastern Bangladesh located in the Chittagong Division. Geographically,it is mostly farmland and is topographically part of the Gangetic Plain. It is bounded by the districts of Kishoreganj and Habiganj to the north,Narsingdi District and Narayanganj to the west,Comilla to the south,and the Indian state of Tripura to the east. It was a part of Comilla District until 15 February 1984.
Syed Ali Ahsan was a Bangladeshi poet,writer and university academic. He was awarded Ekushey Padak (1982) and Independence Day Award (1987) by the Government of Bangladesh. In 1987,he was selected as the National Professor of Bangladesh. He was credited as the official English translator of the National Anthem of Bangladesh.
Abu Jafar Shamsuddin was a Bangladeshi writer. He was the recipient of Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1968 and Ekushey Padak in 1983.
Rashid Hossain Choudhury was a Bangladeshi second generation artist,sculptor,writer and professor. He played a major part in the art movements and improvement in the art-related educational institutions of Bangladesh. He has received numerous awards and recognition for creative contribution and innovative influence. During the 1950s,he had been a significant pioneer in the modern art movement in Bandladesh.
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Abdul Latif Chowdhury,widely known as Saheb Qiblah Fultali,was a late-twentieth century Bangladeshi Islamic scholar,mufassir,qāriʾ,poet and orator. As a prolific author,he completed several works in Arabic,Bengali and Urdu including Muntakhab as-Siyār and Anwar as-Sālikīn. His books are part of syllabic studies under the Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board. Fultali was the leading figure of the Islamic Arabic University movement and the demand for fazil and kamil qualifications to be recognised as bachelor's and master's degrees. He is the founder of several influential organisations and institutions in Bangladesh and the United Kingdom such as Anjumane Al Islah,Hazrat Shahjalal Darussunnah Yaqubia Kamil Madrasa and Madrasah-e-Darul Qirat Majidiah.
Syed Rashid Ahmed Jaunpuri was a Sufi saint,author,scholar of Hadith and Quran,and Muslim missionary in Bangladesh. He was influenced by Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi and his Barelvi movement.
Abdul Quadir was a Bangladeshi poet,essayist,and journalist. He was the recipient of Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1963 and Ekushey Padak in 1976.
Mawlana Muhammad Ishaq was a Bengali Islamic scholar,Sufi,author and philanthropist.
Moḥammad AbūBakr Ṣiddīque al-Qurayshī was a Bengali Islamic scholar and the inaugural Pir of Furfura Sharif in West Bengal. He is regarded by his followers,who are scattered across eastern India and Bangladesh,as a mujaddid (reviver) of Islam in the region,due to his significant contributions in religious propagation via the establishment of mosques and madrasas,publication of newspapers and education development in neglected areas. He was the founding president of the sociopolitical Anjuman-i-Wazin-i-Bangla organisation,which advocated for causes such as the Khilafat Movement and Pakistan Movement. Siddique died in 1943,and his shrine is greatly venerated as one of West Bengal's most prominent Sufi centres.
Karāmat ʿAlīJaunpūrī,born as Muḥammad ʿAlīJaunpūrī,was a nineteenth-century Indian Muslim social reformer and founder of the Taiyuni movement. He played a major role in propagating to the masses of Bengal and Assam via public sermons,and has written over forty books. Syed Ameer Ali is among one of his notable students.
ḤāfiẓAḥmad Jaunpūrī was an Indian Muslim scholar,religious preacher and social worker. As the son and successor of Karamat Ali Jaunpuri,he led the Taiyuni reformist movement in Bengal.
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ʿAbd al-Awwal Jaunpūrī was an Indian Muslim scholar,religious preacher,educationist,poet and author. Described by Muhammad Mojlum Khan as one of the "most gifted and outstanding" of Karamat Ali Jaunpuri's many children,he displayed an important role leading his father's founded Taiyuni reformist movement in Bengal.
ʿAbd ar-Rabb Jaunpūrī was an Indian Muslim scholar,author and teacher. He was associated with Taiyuni reformist movement,founded by his grandfather Karamat Ali Jaunpuri,and succeeded his uncle Hafiz Ahmad Jaunpuri as the leader of the movement in 1899.
AbūNaṣr Muḥammad Waḥīd,or simply Abu Nasr Waheed,was a Bangladeshi Islamic scholar,educationist,author and politician. He is best known for his reformations to Islamic education in Bengal,and development of Arabic language education among Bengali Muslims. Wahid also served as the Education Minister of British Assam and a member of the Assam Legislative Assembly.
ʿAbd al-Bāṭin Jaunpūrī,also known as Abdul Baten Siddiqi,was an Indian Muslim scholar,religious preacher,educationist. He authored many of the biographies of the leaders of the Taiyuni movement centred in Bengal. He led a peasant movement in Gafargaon,Mymensingh,which eventually led to the establishment of Batinia Madrasa.