Muhammad Shahidullah

Doctor
Muhammad Shahidullah
Native name মুহম্মদ শহীদুল্লাহ
Born 10 July 1885
Peyara, 24 Pargana, West Bengal, British India (now in India)
Died 13 July 1969 (aged 84)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Ethnicity Bengali
Education PhD
Alma mater Sorbonne University
University of Calcutta
Occupation Educationist, writer, philologist and linguist
Religion Sunni Islam
Awards Chevalier De L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1967)
Independence Day Award (1980)

Muhammad Shahidullah (July 10, 1885 – July 13, 1969) [1] was a Bangladeshi educationist, writer, philologist and linguist.[2][3] He is acknowledged as one of the greatest Bengalis of all time.[4]

Early life and education

Young Muhammad Shahidullah

Shahidullah was born in Peyara village, 24 Pargana, West Bengal (now in India). His father, Mafizuddin Ahmed, was a warden of a shrine. Shahidullah passed his school final Entrance exam in 1904 from Howrah Zila School. In 1906 he passed the FA exam from Presidency College in Kolkata. He received the Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors in Sanskrit in 1910 from City College, Kolkata, and Master of Arts in 1912 in Comparative Philology from the University of Calcutta. He earned his PhD degree from Sorbonne University in 1928 for his research on the dialects of the Charyapada.[1] He was the first Indian Muslim to receive this doctorate degree.

Career

Shahidullah began teaching in Jessore Zila School in 1908. After working as the Headmaster of Sitakunda High School for some time in 1914, he started to practice law at Bashirhat in 24 Parganas. He was elected Vice-Chairman of the town’s municipality. Later, he worked as Sharatchandra Lahiri Research Fellow (1919–21) under Dinesh Chandra Sen at the University of Calcutta and joined the University of Dhaka as a Lecturer in 1921 in Sanskrit and Bangla.

During his period at the University of Dhaka he did research on the origins of the Bengali language. In 1925, he presented his thesis that Bangla as a language originated from Gaudi or Magadhi Prakrit.

Family and legacy

Shahidullah had seven sons and two daughters. His third son A.K.M. Zakiyullah established a school named Dr. Shahidullah Gyanpith in Old Dhaka and a research library named Dr. Shahidullah Memorial Library and Language Research Center in Mirpur, Dhaka. One of his son, Abul Bayan M. Naqiyyullah, studied in George Washington University in Washington, DC. Another son Murtaja Baseer is a painter. A dormitory in University of Dhaka, Shahidullah Hall, was named after him.

Awards

Shaidullah received the award of Pride of Performance by the Pakistan government. He was also awarded Chevalier De L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 1967 for his research on language and literature.[1]

Shahidullah's tomb in Dhaka University campus

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Badiuzzaman (2012). "Shahidullah, Muhammad". In Sirajul Islam and Ahmed A. Jamal. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  2. ↑ University of Rajshahi
  3. ↑ "Remembering a luminary: Bangla Academy celebrates Shahidullah's birth anniversary". The Daily Star. July 2014.
  4. ↑ http://www2.hawaii.edu/~reecej/Jones%202008%20National%20Identities.pdf