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Maniruzzaman Islamabadi, Maulana (1875-1950) Islamic thinker, nationalist activist and journalist. Born in Aralia, a village under Patiya
upazila of Chittagong district, Maulana Maniruzzaman was a colourful presence in Bengal Muslim politics of the first four decades of the twentieth century. Though a man with little modern education, he was a man of great perception and foresight. Like many others among his contemporaries he assumed the surname 'Islamabadi' because he came from Islamabad, the official name for Chittagong during the Muslim period. He taught in various traditional Madrasas. But his public reputation rested on his activities as a regenerator of Islam in the region. To serve his purpose he took to journalism and gave public speeches. He edited or managed Muslim reformist periodicals such as the soltan (1901), Hablul Matin (1912), and journals such as mohammadi (1903), kohinoor (1911), Basona (1904) and Al-Eslam (1913).
As a nationalist, Islamabadi supported the indian
national congress and took an active part in the movement for
the annulment of the partition
of bengal. He also participated actively in the non-cooperation
and khilafat
movements and was the President of the provincial Congress
Committee. He was one of the architects of the bengal
pact of 1923. He left Congress politics in the 1930s and joined
the krishak
praja party and was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly
in 1937 from this party. Maulana Islamabadi was one of the organisers
of the anjuman-i-ulamah-i-bangalah
(1913) which later came to be known as the Jamiat-i-Ulamah-i-Bangalah.
One of the objects of the Anjuman was popularising Bangla among the Muslim
middle class. He was one of the founders of the Jamiat-i-Ulamah-i-Hind
and organised literary conferences at Chittagong in 1922 and 1930 amidst
pomp and grandeur. He founded the Chittagong branch of the organisation
and himself became its president. Islamabadi worked hard to establish
an Islamic University in Chittagong but circumstances of the time did
not favour his efforts.
[M Inamul Hoque]
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