Mearajuddin Ahmad () was a 19th-century

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 ...

academic, writer, and Islamic scholar.

Early life

Ahmad was born in

Satkhira District Satkhira District (; ) is a district in southwestern Bangladesh and is part of Khulna Division. It lies along the border with West Bengal, India. It is on the bank of the Arpangachhia River. The largest city and headquarter of this district is Satk ...

Khulna Division Khulna Division () is the second largest of the eight divisions of Bangladesh. It has an area of and a population of 17,416,645 at the 2022 Bangladesh census (preliminary returns). Its headquarters and largest city is Khulna city in Khulna Dist ...

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 ...

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 ...

. He was fluent in Bengali and

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 ...

languages.

Career

Ahmad translated Urdu-language articles into Bengali for the Sudhakar magazine. In 1885 he wrote Tuhfatul Moslemin with

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 ...

. He was a professor of Arabic and Persian languages at

St Xavier's College in Kolkata St. Xavier's College is a private, Catholic, autonomous college in Kolkata, India. It is run by the Calcutta Province of the Society of Jesus. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1860 and named after St. Francis Xavier, a Jesuit saint of the 16t ...

. In 1890 he wrote Dharmayuddha Ba Jihad O Samaj Samskar, about Jihad and social welfare, in collaboration with

Sheikh Abdur Rahim Sheikh Abdur Rahim (1859 – 14 July 1931) was a Bengali writer and journalist. Early life Sheikh Abdur Rahim was born into a Bengali Muslim family of Sheikhs in 1859 in Muhammadpur, Basirhat, 24-Parganas, in the then British India. His fath ...

. In the book he wrote that the Muslims of India should not revolt against the British colonial government because they protected the freedom of religion of the Muslims. The

Dhaka Mussalman Suhrid Sammilani Dhaka Mussalman Suhrid Sammilani () was a reformist organization of Muslims based in Dhaka during the late 19th century. History Dhaka Mussalman Suhrid Sammilani was established in 1883 by Muslim students of Dhaka College. Himmat Ali was the foundi ...

, a pro-women's education movement, asked him to write a book for young girls. He wrote ''Tuhfatul Moslemin'' for them. He also taught

Persian language Persian ( ), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision ...

at the Doveton College, Calcutta.

Legacy

Ahmad was an influential figure in the Muslim literary society of Kolkata. In 1890, Mohammad Mozammel Huq, the poet, dedicated his book, ''Ferdousi Charita'', to Ahmad.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad, Mearajuddin 19th-century Muslim scholars of Islam Bengali Muslim scholars of Islam People from Satkhira District 19th-century Bengalis