Syed Muhammed Taifoor (; 3 June 1885 – 25 February 1972) was a

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( ) are the citizens and nationals of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the Bay of Bengal, eponymous bay. Bangladeshi nationality law, Bangladeshi citizenship was fo ...

historian, antiquarian and writer.

Early life

Taifoor was born on 3 June 1885, to a

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work./ref> are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ...

family in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

. His father, Syed Abdul Aziz, was a

zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...

in nearby

Sonargaon Sonargaon (; ; Literary translation, lit. ''Golden Hamlet (place), Hamlet'') is a historic city in central Bangladesh. It corresponds to the Sonargaon Upazila of Narayanganj District in Dhaka Division. Sonargaon is one of the old capitals of ...

. Through his paternal grandfather Mir Ghulam Mustafa Al-Husayni, he was a descendant of 16th-century Islamic scholar and zamindar Syed Ibrahim Danishmand. Taifoor was educated in

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

s in the cities of Dhaka and

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, and gained fluency in

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 ...

, English,

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

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 ...

Career

Taifoor joined the government service in 1909 as a sub-registrar. He was awarded the title ''Khan Shaheb'' by the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

in 1941. He retired in 1942 as Registrar of Kolkata. During the anti-British movement in India, he renounced his title, Khan Shaheb, in 1947. He served as the director of

Eden Mohila College Eden Mohila College (known as Eden College), is a women's college in Azimpur, Dhaka, Azimpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was established in 1873 in the Farashganj area of Dhaka. In 1878 the school was named after Ashley Eden, Lieutenant Governor of Be ...

and

Jagannath College Jagannath University (JnU) () is a public university located in Sadarghat, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Founded as ''Dhaka Brahma School'' in 1858 and renamed ''Jagannath School'' in 1872, and later renamed ''Jagannath College'' in 1884, the institution w ...

. He was a member of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka. He was a member of Dhaka Improvement Trust and Dhaka museum's Trustee Board. He donated over 200 artifacts to Dhaka Museum. He donated rare books and manuscripts to

Asiatic Society of Pakistan The Asiatic Society of Bangladesh is a non political and non profit research organisation registered under both Society Act of 1864 and NGO Affairs Bureau, Government of Bangladesh. The Asiatic Society of Bangladesh was established as the Asiati ...

(Today

Asiatic Society of Bangladesh The Asiatic Society of Bangladesh is a non political and non profit research organisation registered under both Society Act of 1864 and NGO Affairs Bureau, Government of Bangladesh. The Asiatic Society of Bangladesh was established as the Asiati ...

). He supported changing the spelling of Dacca to Dhaka. He published "Glimpses of Old Dhaka", on the historical evolution of the city, in 1952.

Personal life

Taifoor was married to Sara Taifoor. They had three daughters, Leila Arjumand Banu, Lulu Bilquis Banu, and Malka Perveen Banu.

Death

Taifoor died on 25 February 1972 in Dhaka.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taifoor, Syed Muhammed 1885 births 1972 deaths Writers from Dhaka Bangladeshi historians Academic staff of Eden Mohila College Bangladeshi people of Arab descent 20th-century Bengalis