Muhammad Shahidullah
| Doctor Muhammad Shahidullah |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Native name | মুহম্মদ শহীদুল্লাহ |
| Born | 10 July 1885 Peyara, 24 Pargana, West Bengal, British India (now in India) |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| Ethnicity | Bengali |
| Education | PhD |
| Alma mater | Sorbonne University University of Calcutta |
| Occupation | Educationist, writer, philologist and linguist |
| 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
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. One of his son-in-law, Serajul Huq, eventually became a Professor Emeritus at University of Dhaka.
Awards
Shahidullah 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]
See also
References
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- ↑ University of Rajshahi
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- ↑ http://www2.hawaii.edu/~reecej/Jones%202008%20National%20Identities.pdf
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- 1885 births
- 1969 deaths
- Presidency University, Kolkata alumni
- Translators of Omar Khayyám
- Linguists from Bengal
- Indian linguists
- Bangladeshi linguists
- Pakistani linguists
- University of Dhaka faculty
- University of Calcutta alumni
- University of Paris alumni
- Recipients of the Pride of Performance
- City College, Kolkata alumni
- Recipients of the Independence Day Award
- Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
