Mohammad Akram Khan | |
|---|---|
মোহাম্মদ আকরম খাঁ | |
 Khan (before 1947) | |
| President ofBangla Academy | |
| In office 1961–1961 | |
| Succeeded by | Mohammad Barkatullah |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1868 |
| Died | 18 August 1968(1968-08-18) (aged 99–100) Dacca,East Pakistan, Pakistan |
| Alma mater | Calcutta Madrasah (now known asAliah University) |
Mohammad Akram Khan (Bengali:মোহাম্মদ আকরম খাঁ; 1868 – 18 August 1968) was a Bengali journalist, politician and Islamic scholar. He was the founder of Dhaka's first Bengali newspaper,The Azad.[1][2][3] He was among the founders ofJamiat Ulama-e-Hind.
Khan was born in 1868, to aBengali Muslim family in Hakimpur,24 Parganas district ofBengal Presidency,British India (in present-dayWest Bengal). His father, Alhaj Mawlana Ghazi Abdul Bari Khan, was a disciple ofSayyid Ahmad Shahid and participated in theBattle of Balakot. His mother's name was Rabeya Khatun.[4] He did not have a British education but studied at Calcutta Madrasah (nowAliah University).[1] He entered the journalism profession at a very young age before becoming involved in politics.
Early in his career, he worked at newspapersAhl-i-Hadith andMohammadi Akhbar. Between 1908 and 1921, he worked as the editor oftheMohammadi and theAl-Islam. He published theZamana and theSebak between 1920 and 1922. Sebak was banned and Akram Khan was arrested on the basis that his anti-government editorials supported theNon-cooperation Movement and theSwadeshi movement.
From October 1936, Akram Khan began publishing the newspaperThe Azad, which generated support for theMuslim League inBengal.[5]
Akram Khan's participated during the formation of All India Muslim League in 1906. As a member of theAnjuman-i-Ulama-i-Bangala, he was involved in the Khilafat and Non-cooperation Movement from 1918 to 1924. He was elected secretary of theAll India Khilafat Committee at the conference held atAhsan Manzil inDhaka in 1920, which was attended by other eminentKhilafat Movement leaders likeAbul Kalam Azad,Maniruzzaman Islamabadi and Mujibur Rahman.[1] Akram was responsible for collecting funds for theOttoman caliphate. During 1920–1923, he organised public meetings in different parts of Bengal to propagate the cause of the Khilafat and the Non-cooperation Movement. As a believer in Hindu-Muslim amity, Akram Khan supportedChitta Ranjan Das's Swaraj Party in Kolkata in 1922, and also the Bengal pact in 1923.[1] But due to the communal riots of 1926–1927 and other contemporary political developments, Akram Khan lost his faith in Indian nationalist politics and left both theSwaraj Party and Congress.[1] He co-founded theJamiat Ulama-e-Hind, and became a member of its first executive council.[6]
From 1929 to 1935, Khan was deeply involved in theKrishak Praja Party. However, he left peasant politics in 1936 and became an activist for the Muslim League. He was a member of the central working committee of the League until 1947. After thepartition of India in 1947, he opted forEast Bengal and settled in Dhaka. He was the President of Muslim League (East Pakistan) until he retired from politics in 1960.[1]
Akram Khan was also involved in theBengali Language Movement of 1952.[7] He was also a founding member of Pakistan'sCouncil of Islamic Ideology, a constitutional body formed in 1962.[8]
Khan died on 18 August 1968.[1] He was buried at the Ahl-i-Hadith Bangshal mosque atOld Dhaka.
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