Course: HIS 101: Bangladesh History and Culture

December 4, FALL 2022

 The history of Bengal in the 19th century is characterized
by Muslim reformist movement in the area of religion,
society and thought.
 As a result of the defeat of Nawab Sirajuddaula by the
British at the battle of Palashi in 1757, and the victory of
the latter at Buxar in 1764 over the combined forces of the
Mughal Emperor, Nawab of Audh and Mir Qasim, the
political power of the Muslims began declining.

 Gradually their economic prosperity and solvency

vanished and they were absolutely ruined.
•
 Education and culture suffered a reverse and their social
life headed towards an deep hole.
• Under the British Divide & Rule policy, as compared to
Hindus, Muslims suffered most in every sphere of life.
• Muslims could not accept the British rule & their cultural
penetration for a long time, but the Hindus gradually
adjusted with the emerging situation.
• In a century long struggle, the Muslim reformers tried to
bring unity among the community people under the banner
of Islam.
• By their collective efforts, they attempted for launching
‘jihad’ against the ‘infidels’ or ‘enemies of Islam.’
• Awakening the Muslims community in the spirit & to
uphold the identity of Islam was their key mission.
• The traditionalist movements -Faraizi, Wahabi,
Tariqah-I-Muhammadiyah, AhleHadith, Tayuni,
including Seerat Conference, etc.-continued in
different parts of Bengal until the Revolt of 1857.

• Some of the traditionalist movements sustained

until the late-19thcentury in northern India &
modern Pakistani territories for reviving the
former influence of the Muslims.
• The traditionalists leaders during the early 19th century
were concerned about the influence of alien culture after
the advent of British colonial power & their pursuance of
Divide & Rule policy in a partisan manner.
• They attempted to oust the colonial power & purify the
Muslim society from the debased customs & cultural
penetrations from the long-time association, especially
with the Hindu society.
• Nevertheless, contemporary reformist movements in the
Hindu society influenced the educated Muslims to awake
their community people with a revised mission following
the setback of the Revolt of 1857.
• In Bengal the Muslim reform movements began with Haji Shariatullah
(1781-1840). He was born in 1781 in a petty Talukdar family at the
village Shamail under the then Madaripur sub-division of greater
Faridpur district. The district of Shariatpur is named after him.
• Haji Shariatullah launched the Faraizi movement asking Muslims to
follow faraz prescribed in Quran& Hadiths.
• He called upon Muslims to transform British India from Dar-ul-Harb
(state of the infidels) into Dar-ul-Islam (Islamic state) through
reformation & Jihad.
• Haji Shariatullah wanted revitalizing Islamic faith, social order & freeing
Islam from all kinds of superstitions.
• He denounced carrying Tazia procession during Muharram, customs
linked with Hindu marriage ceremonies, like performing Puja, dance,
music & taking liquor etc.
• Syed Mir Nisar Ali ‘Titumir’ (1782-1831) started Tariqah-I-
Mohammadia movement against Hindu Zamindar for imposing
(abwab) beard tax on Muslim peasants in West Bengal.
• The movement was momentary, but his bamboo fortress became
a role model in anti-colonial struggles.
• With his followers, who were predominantly farmers, he valiantly
fought & sacrificed his life at the end.
• Titumir advocated Muslims to return to the faith of Quran &
Hadith & give up customs transmitted from Hindus.

• He is regarded as a symbol of resistance against oppression, as it

happended in the Liberation War of 1971.
• In line with the Bengal Renaissance taking place
within the Hindu society some upper & middle class
Muslims, who could receive modem education, took
initiatives for negotiating with the British for lifting
their community people towards modernity following
the setback of the Revolt of 1857.
• The leaders were:
• –Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan (1817-’98) in UP
• –Sayed Ameer Ali (1849-1928) in Bengal
• –Nawab Abdul Latif(1828-’93) in Bengal
• Rising from UP, Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan (1817-’98) is regarded as
the ‘Father of Muslim Renaissance’, the way Raja Ram Mohan Roy
is portrayed as the Father of Bengal Renaissance.
• Similar to Roy, Sir Ahmed started his career as Sarestader of the
British administration in 1836 & perceived the Revolt of 1857 as a
wrong attempt, as the Muslims were not ready for leadership.
• Instead of taking a part in the Revolt, when revolutionary forces
were in a dire need of a leadership, Sir Ahmed sheltered to some
Englishmen.
• Thus, being in British good book, he became the Member of the
Imperial Legislative Council in 1878, & then again in 1881.
• To plead for faithful interactions between the British & the
Muslims, Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan wrote Causes of the Indian
Revolt.
• To free the Muslim society of their traditional anti-British
mindset & militant attitude, he expressed his opinions in the
monthly periodical Tahjib-ul-Akhlaq.
• Promotion of English education amongst the Indian Muslims &
adoption of the positive attributes of the Western culture &
civilization were his prime objectives.
• His views were initially criticized by conservative segments in the
Muslim society, but his thinking ultimately triumphed & became
a source of inspiration for Bengal Muslim Renaissance
subsequently.
• For facilitating English education among the Muslims
students, Sir Khan founded in 1875 Anglo-Oriental
College that became Aligarh Muslim University in
1920.
• As some of the leading universities had great
intellectual influence in European Renaissance,
Aligarh Muslim University extended similar support
to the Muslim society.
• Besides undertaking educational measures, Sir Ahmed
became the early exponent of the Two-Nation theory upon
which Jinnah led the Pakistan creation movement in 1947.
• In 1882, he addressed in Ludhiana that ‘Remember you have
to live & die by Islam & it is by keeping up Islam that our
nation is a nation’.
• In 1884, he expressed his political concerns again in Meerat
‘Which ever mode of election is adopted, the number of
Hindus will be four times that of Muslims & the Muslims will
be in a miserable number’.
• He encouraged Muslims to join The National Mohammedan
Association instead of joining Indian National Congress
Party.
• In line with the Aligarh Movement, Bengal Muslim
Renaissance started subsequently to bring about
educational & cultural reformation in the region during
the late-19th & early 20th centuries.
• It was Nawab Abdul Latif who initiated the Bengal Muslim
Renaissance for the awakening of the Bengali Muslims in
particular.
• As the contemporary Renaissance in the Hindu society
failed to integrate the Bengali Muslims in the pretext of
their religious coloring, a separate movement became
almost imminent for the Muslims in Bengal for their
political survival & economic advancement.
• Born in Faridpur, Nawab Abdul Latif Khan (1828-’93) was one
of the 19th century torch-bearers of Muslim education &
social reformation in united Bengal.
• As the architect of the Muslim Renaissance, Nawab Khan
appeared as an emancipator of the backward, unorganized &
demoralized community under colonial rule.
• In 1863, Nawab Abdul Latif founded the Mohammedan
Literary Society that gave a remarkable impetus to the cause of
Muslim advancement in education throughout India.
• Being a Professor at Kolkata Madrasah, he was one of the first
Muslims to embrace the idea of modernization in 19th
century.
• Nawab Latif was among the first generation Bengali Muslims to
comprehend that young Bengali Muslims should receive modern
education to upgrade their community life by abandoning their
prejudices against modern education.
• His major achievements include help transforming the Hindu
College into Presidency College that allowed many Bengali
Muslim students to receive higher education & contribute for
the intellectual pursuit of their society subsequently.
• To facilitate Muslim education, furthermore, he founded many
educational institutions, including the Rajshahi Madrasa.
• For his positive role to the community higher education, he
accorded the Nawab title from British government in 1880.
• Born in Orissa & having ancestral connectivity in Oudh, Syed
Ameer Ali (1849-1928) studied & taught in Kolkata University.
• As a brilliant student, Ameer Ali was influenced by the thought to
accept British raj for material benefits both at the personal &
community levels.
• Combining his Islamic learning & Western knowledge, Ameer Ali
became the first generation Anglo-Mohammedan to come
forward for taking care of his community people.
• He became Judge of the Bengal High Court in 1890, founded the
British Red Crescent Society in 1897, facilitated the foundation of
the All India Muslim League in 1906 & became the first Indian to
be a Member of the Privy Council in 1909.
• Syed Ameer Ali was appointed as the Member of the Bengal
Legislative Council in 1878 & remained vocal against the high
handedness of Hindu Zamindars towards the Muslim ryots.
• In his numerous publications he interpreted Islam matching with
Western ideas of liberalism, rationalism & progress.
• His important publications included: A Critical Examination of the
Life & Teaching of Mohammed(1873), The Spirit of Islam(1891),
The Personal Law of Muhammedans(1880), Ethics of Islam(1893),
A Short History of Saracens(1899), The Legal Position of Women in
Islam(1912)
• Numerous socio-political platforms emerged under the direct
initiative of Syed Ameer Ali, including the Central National
Mohammedan Association of Calcutta in 1877.
• Aligarh movement led by Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan in UP
became a role model for the Bengali Muslim reformers to
take a similar drive by expediting modern education
among the people.
• The Bengali modernist Muslim reformers primarily aimed
at emancipating the toiling masses who became worst
sufferers of British colonial rule & the Hindu Zamindars
after 1793.
• In their pragmatic, humanistic & progressive outlook,
Muslim reformers attempted to combine Islamic ideals
with scientific approach for attaining material progress of
the fellow people.
• Thus, the Bengal Muslim Renaissance contributed to the
emergence of an educated elite class from locally-
converted Muslims in the second half of the 19th century.
• The establishment of Dhaka University in 1921 was a big
leap forward for advancing the Bengal Muslim
Renaissance, the way some leading universities ushered
Renaissance in Europe.
• By establishing educational institutions, with the aid of
British government, they help facilitated in the expansion
of secular education among the middle class people in
East Bengal.
• Consequently, the number of Muslim students in Bengal
increased by 74% between 1882-1883 & 1912-1913.
• The Bengal Renaissance took place after 500 years of the
Western Renaissance in different socio-economic & political
contexts & performed differently in case of freedom of
thought, technological advancement.
• Pursuance of prolonged colonial divide & rule policy &
exploitations, both Hindus & Muslims perceived Renaissance
within their cultural domain, rather than embracing
humanism, liberalism & secularism as common spirits.
• Nevertheless, the Bengal Muslim Renaissance largely
contributed in the eventual creation of secular Bangladesh in
1971, after the execution of ‘Two Nation Theory’ by
Mohammad Ali Jinnah for the creation of a Muslim state
Pakistan in 1947.
THANK YOU