Sheikh Reyazuddin Ahmed (

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 ...

: শেখ রিয়াজউদ্দিন আহমেদ; 1882 – 25 June 1972) was a Bengali author and social worker.

Early life

Sheikh Reyazuddin Ahmed was born into 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 of

Sheikhs Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning " elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim scholar. Though this title generally refers to men, there are also a small number of ...

in the village of Dalgram, Kaliganj,

Lalmonirhat Lalmonirhat () is a town and district headquarters of Lalmonirhat District in the Rangpur Division, division of Rangpur, Bangladesh. Demographics According to the 2022 Bangladeshi census, 2022 Bangladesh census, Lalmonirhat city had a populat ...

Rangpur Rangpur may refer to: Places In Bangladesh *Rangpur Division, one of the eight administrative divisions of Bangladesh. *Rangpur District, district of Bangladesh in Rangpur Division. *Rangpur, Bangladesh, metropolis and a major city in northern ...

. His father was Sheikh Zaynullah and his mother was Sheikh Ful Begum. His father initially had him pursue education at home, hiring Maulana Abdul Lateef to teach him the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

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 ...

languages, a tradition of old Muslim families of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

.{{Cite journal , last=Ali , first=Syed Murtaza , date=1971 , title=Muslim Education in Bengal 1837-1937 , url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20833032 , journal=Islamic Studies , volume=10 , issue=3 , pages=181–199 , issn=0578-8072 After this early stage of education, he studied at Kakina Mahimaranjan Primary School, and later went on to gain entrance at

Rangpur Zilla School Rangpur Zilla School (Rangpur District School) is a school in Rangpur City, Bangladesh. It is one of the earliest schools established in Bengal. History The school was established in 1832 as Rangpur Zamindar School, by the local Zaminders or l ...

. Unfortunately, Sheikh Reyazuddin Ahmed had become ill during the time of his

matriculation Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used no ...

, and could not sit for all the exams.

Career

In 1910, Reyazuddin Ahmed started his career as a teacher at Tushbander English Middle School. In 1918, he had become the '' Kazi'' i.e. the marriage registrar of his area, after that he had gone about participating in social activities in his region. He was the chairman of his union board for 12 years and was a member of the local board for 6 years. Sheikh Reyazuddin Ahmed had advocated for several social advancements in his region, he had established many educational institutions, charities, etc. He was also a skilled player of '' Lathi'', a stick fighting game.

Published works

Sheikh Reyazuddin Ahmed gathered fame after authoring ''Arab Jatir Itihas,'' a book about the history of the

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

in 3 volumes. The Bangla Academy republished the book in a single volume in 1964. He also authored other books such as ''Mahatma Sir Sayed'' (A book on Sayed Ahmed)'', Jib Hayater Korbani'' (A book on animal sacrifice), and ''Islam Procharer Itihas'' (A book on the spread of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

References

1882 births 1972 deaths 20th-century Bengalis 20th-century Bangladeshi writers Bengali writers People from Lalmonirhat District People from Rangpur Division