The Muslim Heritage of Bengal: The Lives, Thoughts and Achievements of Great Muslim Scholars, Writers and Reformers of Bangladesh and West Bengal by Muhammad Mojlum Khan

Author:Muhammad Mojlum Khan [Khan, Muhammad Mojlum]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History
ISBN: 9781847740625
Google: -2s9BAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 17675340
Publisher: Kube Publishing Ltd
Published: 2013-10-21T01:44:33+00:00

1859–1931

SHAYKH ABDUR RAHIM OF BASIRHAT

WHEN THE BRITISH TRADERS first came to Bengal during the beginning of the seventeenth century, they found the region to be economically prosperous but politically very weak. Keen to expand their economic interests across that region, the East India Company was established in the year 1600 in London in order to increase Britain’s political and economic influence in Bengal. The defeat of Nawab Siraj al-Dawlah in 1757 at the hands of Robert Clive confirmed that real power was firmly in the hands of the East India Company and its senior officials. As expected, this led to considerable politicoeconomic changes across Bengal, which, in turn, precipitated much socio-cultural transformation in that region.

Following the establishment of British hegemony in India and Bengal in particular, the European Christian missionaries also came to that region to disseminate their religion. The intensification of missionary activities in Bengal led to the conversion of many Hindus and Muslims to Christianity, which prompted a number of Muslim scholars and reformers to emerge in order to challenge the missionaries. Led by Munshi Muhammad Meherullah and Munshi Shaykh Muhammad Zamiruddin, the battle for the hearts and minds of the Muslims of Bengal reached its climax during the later part of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. Munshi Meherullah and Munshi Zamiruddin’s success against the missionaries not only raised awareness and understanding of Islam in Bengal’s Muslim society, it also inspired a new generation of Muslim scholars, writers and journalists to emerge who, in turn, became champions of Islamic thought, scholarship and journalism in Bengal. Munshi Shaykh Abdur Rahim was one such individual, who by way of his character and personality became a leading Muslim scholar, writer and journalist of his generation.

Shaykh Abdur Rahim was born into an educated and respected Muslim family of village Muhammadpur in Basirhat (in the present-day Indian state of West Bengal). His father, Munshi Shaykh Ghulam Yahya, was a notable educationalist and teacher who hailed from a prominent local family. As such, he provided his son with a thorough education in traditional Islamic sciences as well as modern education. Unfortunately he passed away when Abdur Rahim was young. Accordingly, he was brought up by Radhamadhav Basu, a government official and landholder of Taki, who ensured that the youngster received a good education. As a talented student, Abdur Rahim pursued his early education with considerable devotion and dedication, and this enabled him to complete his early education with success. Thereafter, with the full support and backing of Radhamadhav Basu, he moved to Calcutta in order to pursue his secondary education. Although Basu continued to provide him some financial support, during this period he was forced to endure considerable personal hardship.1 These difficulties aside, Abdur Rahim was determined to complete his secondary education. However, in 1875—when he was only 14—he had smallpox, and although he later made a full recovery, he was not able to resume his formal education. Disappointed but undeterred, Abdur Rahim continued his studies privately and he not only acquired

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