Munshi Azimuddin Hanafi (1838–1922) was a Bengali Islamic scholar, social reformer, orator, poet and author.[1]
Munshi Azimuddin al-Hanafi | |
|---|---|
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1838 |
| Died | 1922 (aged 83–84) |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| Jurisprudence | Hanafi |
| Movement | Taiyuni |
| Muslim leader | |
| Disciple of | Karamat Ali Jaunpuri |
Early life and family
editMunshi Azimuddin was born in 1838 to a Bengali Muslim family of Munshis in the village of Gozadia in the Mymensingh District of the Bengal Presidency (present-day Kishoreganj District, Bangladesh).[2] His father, Munshi Borhanullah, was a bibliophile. The family was descended from one of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's ministers that were based in Jahangir Nagar, who later settled in Gozadia, which was under the jurisdiction of the Zamindars of Jangalbari.[3]
Education
editAzimuddin studied at the local maktab up until the age of eleven years. He then pursued further Islamic studies in Calcutta and Bombay. He became a disciple of Karamat Ali Jaunpuri, founder of the Taiyuni movement, and associated himself with the Hanafi school of jurisprudence.[1]
Career
editMunshi Azimuddin Hanafi rose to prominence as he engaged in literary and physical debates with Faraizi scholars, particular regarding Friday prayers. He performed the Hajj pilgrimage twice, travelling to Mecca by foot on both occasions. Azimuddin also supported the idea that British India was not a territory of war.[4]
He wrote most of his books in Bengali in the puthi format and covered a variety of topics such as Islamic theology, history and women's rights.[5] A small number of his works were written in Arabic and Urdu, and he was also proficient in Persian. Azimuddin has a large body of work titled Asrār as-Ṣalāh. His most notable work in Urdu was Resāla-e-Azīmuddīn Hanafī (1895) which challenged critics of the Hanafi school of thought.[6] This work was published from the Ahmadi Press in Calcutta and began with a qasida written in Urdu.[7] Azimuddin Hanafi translated the Futūḥ al-Shām by Al-Waqidi into Bengali for the first time. Some of his other Bengali works include:[1]
- Āsaknāmā (1865)
- Qāzīnāmā (1865)
- Nājātul Islām (1870)
- Aqalnāmā (1893)
- Ġazabnāmā (1897)[8]
- Bangla Bāra Salār Māne
- Kôlir Dhôrmô
- Mawlānā Abdul Hai O Azimuddiner Bahas
- Rasūler Kursīnāmā
- Desher Shobha (1881)
- Dukkher Sagôr (1913)
Death and legacy
editMunshi Azimuddin Hanafi died in Bengal in 1922. His works are preserved at the library of the India Office in London.[1] In 2005, Muhammad Abdur Rashid Bhuiyan published a research paper on Azimuddin's life titled Munshi Azimuddin Nama.[9][10]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Ashraful Islam, Muhammad (2012). "Hanafi, Munshi Azimuddin". In Sirajul Islam; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir (eds.). Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. OL 30677644M. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ Nizam, A. T. Muhammad (6 August 2021). "কিশোরগঞ্জের সাহিত্য" [Literature of Kishoreganj]. Jugantor (in Bengali).
- ^ Ashraful Islam, Muhammad (2012), "হানাফি, মুনশি আজিমুদ্দিন", in Sirajul Islam and Ahmed A. Jamal (ed.), Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (in Bengali) (Second ed.), Asiatic Society of Bangladesh
- ^ Muhammad Mojlum Khan (21 October 2013). "Mawlana Karamat Ali Jaunpuri". The Muslim Heritage of Bengal: The Lives, Thoughts and Achievements of Great Muslim Scholars, Writers and Reformers of Bangladesh and West Bengal. Kube Publishing. p. 100.
- ^ Akhtaruzzaman, Mohammad (11 March 2022). "পূর্ববঙ্গে বই প্রকাশনার ক্রমবিবর্তন". Amar Sangbad (in Bengali).
- ^ Sadrulhaq, Muhammad (1981). انکشافات (in Urdu). Dabistān-i Jadīd. p. 102.
- ^ Khan, Muhiuddin (1969). পূর্ব পাকিস্তানে উর্দু [Urdu in East Pakistan] (in Bengali). Pakistan Publications. p. 38.
- ^ Mamoon, Muntassir (1991). ঢাকার সাংস্কৃতিক ইতিহাসের উপাদান. Pallab Publishers. p. 63, 132.
- ^ Sadi, Aminul Haq (31 October 2019). "খেই হারিয়ে ফেলেছেন কিশোরগঞ্জের লেখক মো.আ. রশিদ ভুইয়া". FNS 24 (in Bengali).
- ^ "করোনায় আক্রান্ত হয়ে মারা গেলেন কলামিস্ট আব্দুর রাশিদ ভূইয়া". Dhaka Times (in Bengali). 1 July 2021.