Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy | |
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| Born | 1832 |
| Died | 9 February 1885(1885-02-09) (aged 52–53) |
| Occupation | Professor |
| Alma mater | Calcutta Madrasa |
| Period | Bengal Renaissance |
| Notable works |
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| Notable awards | Bahrul Ulm |
| Children | 8, includingAbdullah Al-Mamun Suhrawardy,Hassan Suhrawardy,Amin Suhrawardy andKhujista Akhtar Banu |
| Relatives |
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Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy (Arabic:عبيد الله العبيدي السهروردي,Bengali:ওবায়দুল্লাহ আল ওবায়দী সোহরাওয়ার্দী; 1832 – 9 February 1885) was aBengaliIslamic scholar, educationist and writer fromMidnapore. He is regarded as the Father of modern Islamic education inBengal and was awarded with the title ofBahr ul Ulum, meaning: sea of knowledge by theBritish.
Suhrawardy was born in 1832, in the village of Chitwa inMidnapore district,Bengal Presidency. He belonged to the nobleBengali MuslimSuhrawardy family who had arrived toHussain ShahiSultanate of Bengal in the 15th century, and were bestowed with the Jaagirdaari of Ghoramara. Suhrawardy was a direct descendant of theSufi authorShihab al-Din 'Umar al-Suhrawardi, who was in turn a descendant ofAbu Bakr, the firstRashidun caliph.
Suhrawardy's father, Shah Aminuddin Suhrawardy,[1] was the finalPir of the Suhrawardy family and is buried in amazar inHooghly. Two of his brothers were lawyers and subordinate judges (the highest rank available under British rule at the time). His siblings were Ruhul Amin Suhrawardy, Maulvi Mubarak Ali Suhrawardy (alias Mohammad Ali), Abdul Ali Suhrawardy and Umme Kulsum Suhrawardy.[2]
Suhrawardy was homeschooled, and educated inIslamic studies,Arabic andPersian. He also learnt English. Suhrawardy graduated fromCalcutta Alia Madrasa in 1857 during theSepoy mutiny.[3]
Ubaidullah first job was working as an aide to Prince Jalaluddin, the grandson ofTipu Sultan of Mysore, in Kolkata. After which he worked as theScrivener at the Legislative Council, part of the office of the Viceroy of India. In 1865, he joined the Hooghly Mohsin College and taught Anglo-Arabic. One of his student wasSyed Ameer Ali. In 1874, he was appointed the first superintendent of Dhaka Madrassah.
Ubaidullah was a follower ofNawab Abdul Latif and SirSyed Ahmed Khan. He was affiliated with the Mohammedan Literary Society (1863), Central National Mohammedan Association (1877), Bengal Social Science Association and other organisations in Calcutta. He was also a member of the managing committee of theMuhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh (1875).[3] He founded, in Dacca, two reformist and community development associations: Samaj Sammilani Sabha in 1879, and Mussalman Suhrid Sammilani (Mohhamedan Friends Association) in 1883.[4]
Ubaidullah wrote books in Urdu, Arabic, Persian and English and translated many works. Noted among his works areGrammar of Arabic Language,Urdu Diwan (Urdu poems, 1880),Farsi Dewan (Persian poems, 1886),Dastar-e-Parsi Amuz (Persian grammar),Lubbul Arab (Arabic grammar),Miftahul Adab (Urdu grammar),Dabistan-i-Danish Amuz (Urdu, physics),Dastar-e-Farsi Amuz (Persian, rhythm and rhetorics),Dastan-i-Ibratbar (Persian, autobiography). With the assistance of Syed Amir Ali, he renderedMakhaz-ul-Ulm by Syed Keramat Ali into English as a Treatise on the Sciences (1867) and Rammohun Roy'sTuhfatul Muwahedin into English in 1884. HisMohammedan Education in Bengal (1867) is an original work on education. He editedGuide (Urdu) andDurbeen (Persian). A number of his manuscripts on philology, psychology, women's education, in Urdu, still remain unpublished. He also understood basic Latin and Greek.[3]
The Indian government awarded him the titleBahrul Ulm (Sea of knowledge)for his contribution to education in India. The University of Dhaka awards the Bahrul Ulm Ubaidi Suhrawardy medal, which was named after him. AcharyaHarinath De, as a tribute to him, created an oil painting of him.[3]
Ubaidullah died in Dhaka,Bengal Presidency, British India, on 9 February 1885.[3] His son,Hassan Suhrawardy, was a noted politician in British India and his granddaughter,Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah, was a notable academic and diplomat of Pakistan.[5] His daughter,Khujista Akhtar Banu, was a well-known writer and poet.[6]