Muhammad Wakkas (15 January 1952 – 31 March 2021) was a Bangladeshi Islamic scholar, teacher, former Member of Parliament and State Minister. He was the founder of Jamia Imdadia Madaninagar Madrasa, the largest

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 ...

in South Bengal, accommodating roughly 2000 students.

Early life and education

Muhammad Wakkas was born on 15 January 1952, 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 the village of Bijayrampur in

Manirampur Manirampur is a census town in Chanditala I CD Block in Srirampore subdivision of Hooghly district in the state of West Bengal, India. Geography Location Manirampur is located at: Gangadharpur, Manirampur, Masat, Hooghly, Masat, Jangalpar ...

Jessore District Jessore District, List of renamed places in Bangladesh, officially Jashore District (; ), is a Districts of Bangladesh, district in southwestern Bangladesh. It is bordered by India to the west, Khulna District, Khulna and Satkhira District, Satk ...

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

. He was the youngest child of Muhammad Ismail and Nurjahan Begum. His education began at his local primary school, where he achieved the top position in the final exams. This impressed his mother, who then enrolled him at the Lauri Ramnagar Kamil Madrasa, a noted institution of South Bengal. He memorised the entire

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

off by heart in three months and was the highest scorer for the Alim exam of his board in 1967. He studied for his Kamil degree at the Bahadurpur Shariatia Alia Madrasa in

Madaripur Madaripur is a town in Dhaka division in south-central Bangladesh. It is the headquarters of Madaripur District. It is named for Shah Madar, a Sufi saint who spread Islam in the region. Demographics According to the 2022 Bangladesh census ...

and was the highest scorer for his exam board for that too, in 1971. In 1972, he completed his

Higher Secondary School Certificate Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC), Higher Secondary School Certificate, Higher Secondary Education Certificate (HSEC) or Intermediate Examination is a secondary education qualification in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. It is equivalent to the f ...

at the Manirampur College. Tajammul Ali, his teacher and also the

khalifa ''Khalifa'' or ''Khalifah'' (; commonly "caliph" in English) is a name or title which means "successor", "ruler" or "leader". It most commonly refers to the leader of a Caliphate, but is also used as a title among various Islamic religious groups ...

Hussain Ahmad Madani Hussain Ahmad Madani (; 6 October 1879 – 5 December 1957) was an Indian Islamic scholar, serving as the principal of Darul Uloom Deoband. He was among the first recipients of the civilian honour of Padma Bhushan in 1954. ...

, advised him to study at the

Darul Uloom Deoband Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic university and seminary ( darul uloom) in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh, India, at which the Sunni Deobandi Islamic movement began. Established in 1866 by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, Fazlur Rahman Usmani, Sayy ...

North India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...

. He remained in Deoband for four years, topped the exams for Mawquf Alayhi (1973), Takmil-e-Ulum-e-Diniyat (1975) and Ifta (1976), and gained the title of

Mufti A mufti (; , ) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion ('' fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatāwa'' have played an important role thro ...

Career

Political career

Wakkas was involved in politics during his time as a student, where his teacher often took him to

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (, abbreviated as JUI, translated as Assembly of Islamic Clergy) is a Deobandi Sunni Muslim organization that was founded on 26 October 1945 by Shabbir Ahmad Usmani as a pro-Pakistan offshoot of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH ...

programmes. Whilst studying for his Kamil degree at Bahadurpur, Wakkas was elected as the vice-president of the Bahadurpur branch of Jamiat-e-Talaba-e-Arabia. After the

independence of Bangladesh The independence of Bangladesh was Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence, declared from Pakistan on 26 March 1971, which is now celebrated as Independence Day (Bangladesh), Independence Day. The Bangladesh Liberation War started on 26 March ...

, he became the

Nazim Subahdar, also known as Nazim, was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province), Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Mamluk dynasty, Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, and the Mughal era who ...

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh () is a Bangladeshi Islamic Party registered with Bangladesh Election Commission. It is the successor to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh was a member of the 20-Party alliance. It was a ...

Khulna Khulna (, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of the Khulna District and the Khulna Division. It is the divisional centre of 10 districts of the division. Khulna is also the seco ...

branch. On Jamiat's decision, Wakkas briefly joined the

Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan () is an Islamist political party in Bangladesh, founded by Hafezzi Huzur after the 1981 Bangladeshi presidential election. Hafezzi Huzur had been a presidential candidate in 1981. He came third, scoring 387,215 vote ...

, founded by Hafezzi Huzur in 1981, but later left it to return to Jamiat. Wakkas was advised by Shamsuddin Qasimi to participate in the

1986 Bangladeshi general election General elections were held in Bangladesh on 7 May 1986. A total of 1,527 candidates contested the elections. The result was a victory for the Jatiya Party, which won 153 of the 300 directly elected seats. Voter turnout was 61%. Bangladesh Nati ...

as a Jatiya Party candidate. In this election, he successfully gained a seat at the Jessore-5 constituency. He kept this seat after the

1988 Bangladeshi general election General elections were held in Bangladesh on 3 March 1988. They were boycotted by several major parties, including the Bangladesh Awami League, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the Communist Party of Bangladesh, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, the B ...

. During his first term as a Member of Parliament, Wakkas also served as the country's Minister of Religious Affairs. He also later served as the

whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

. After the fall of Ershad's Jatiya Party, Wakkas stood for the

1991 Bangladeshi general election General elections were held in Bangladesh on 27 February 1991. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) emerged as the largest party in parliament, winning 140 of the 300 directly elected seats. The BNP formed a government with the support of Jamaa ...

s as a candidate under the

Islami Oikya Jote The Islami Oikya Jote (, ''Islami Oikko Joţ'', "Islamic Unity Front") is a political party in Bangladesh and allied with the former Four Party Alliance. History During the legislative elections of 1 October 2001, the party won 2 out of 30 ...

alliance. He was unsuccessful in gaining a seat in this election, losing to Khan Tipu Sultan of the

Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

. It was also in this year that the

had appointed him as secretary-general during their National Council at Arzabad Madrasa. At the

June 1996 Bangladeshi general election Snap general elections were held in Bangladesh on 12 June 1996. They were called following the controversial February 1996 elections, which were boycotted by the opposition and saw a turnout of just 21%. The result of the snap elections was a v ...

, he stood up once more as Jatiya Party candidate but failed to defeat Khan Tipu Sultan. He later joined the

Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (), popularly abbreviated as BNP (), is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. It was founded on 1 September 1978 by President of Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman, wit ...

, and was elected to parliament following the

2001 Bangladeshi general election General elections were held in Bangladesh on 1 October 2001. The 300 seats of the Jatiya Sangsad were contested by 1,935 candidates representing 54 parties and 484 independents. The elections were the second to be held under the caretaker govern ...

, where he received 20,000 more votes than his rival Khan Tipu Sultan. However, Sultan managed to defeat Wakkas in the

2008 Bangladeshi general election General elections were held in Bangladesh on 29 December 2008. The two main parties in the election were the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Khaleda Zia, and the Bangladesh Awami League Party, led by Sheikh Hasina. The Bangladesh Awam ...

Educational career

In 1982, Wakkas established the Jamia Imdadia Madaninagar Madrasa in

. 7 years later, he founded a female branch of the madrasa. The faculty of

Hadith studies Hadith studies is the academic study of hadith, a literature typically thought in Islamic religion to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval of the Muhammad as transmitted through chains of narrators. A major area of inter ...

began in 1995, and for females in 2003. In 2009, the institution became the largest madrasa in South Bengal after the opening of its

Ifta Ifta is a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Al ...

department. He was a member of

Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh () is a Deobandi Islamist advocacy group consisting mostly of religious teachers (''Ulama'') and students in Bangladesh. The group is mainly based on qawmi madrasas in Bangladesh. In 2013, they submitted a 13-point ch ...

Death and legacy

Wakkas died on 31 March 2021 at a hospital 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 ...

References