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Kazi Abdul Wadud\'s 48th death anniversary

Published : Wednesday, 23 May, 2018 at 12:00 AM  Count : 716
Iftikhar Hossen
Kazi Abdul Wadud's 48th death anniversary
Kazi Abdul Wadud (1894-1970) educationist, litterateur and thinker, was born on April 27 in 1894 at in Faridpur district. His father was Kazi Syed Husain, who worked in the railway as a station master. His mother was Khodeja Khatun.
Kazi Abdul Wadud did his Entrance in 1913 from Dhaka Collegiate School, Intermediate of Arts from Kolkata Presidency College (1915) and BA in 1917. He did his MA in Political Economy from Kolkata University in 1919. In 1920, Wadud joined Dhaka Intermediate College as Lecturer in Bengali and continued to teach there till April 1940. In the same year he was appointed Secretary to the Provincial Textbook Committee and Reader at Kolkata University. In 1947 the West Bengal Government added the post of Registrar of Publications to his post. Kazi Abdul Wadud served in this important post for 11 years before retiring in July 1951.
While still a college student, Kazi Abdul Wadud engaged himself in literary work and published two books - Meer Paribar (1918), a collection of short stories, and novel Nadibokse (1919). After doing his MA, he stayed for some time in the residential building of the Bangiya Musalman Sahitya Samiti on the College Street in Calcutta. Here he came in contact with Kazi Nazrul Islam. A group of litterateurs used to regularly assemble in the office of the samiti. The presence of war-veteran Nazrul used to enliven their gossips. It was in the association of these poets and litterateurs that the foundation of Kazi Abdul Wadud's literary career was built. But his thought process gained maturity through his association with the Muslim Sahitya-Samaj of Dhaka (1926). He actively joined hands with Abul Husain in producing every issue of the Samaj's mouthpiece Shikha.
Kazi Abdul Wadud is primarily known as an intellectual writer and for the contemporary Muslim literary society he was a trend setter. He began his literary career through fiction writing. His first book Meer Paribar is a collection of five short stories. Later, he wrote three more short stories.
Kazi Abdul Wadud thought that the 19th century had brought about a renaissance in Bengal with a major message that there was nothing wrong with patriotism if it did not obstruct one's global outlook. This perception greatly inspired him to talk about his Bengal's uplift and write his book Banglar Jagoran. In his view, the efforts for intellectual freedom from Rammohan to the Muslim Sahitya-Samaj in Dhaka were the product of this inspiration. The same inspiration also runs through his book on Goethe. He thought the transparency and boldness of Goethe's freedom of thinking would help the people of this country attain a greater sense of responsibility for life, higher merit, a more transparent perception about religion, patriotism and about the past, present and future as well as a wider field of communication. He was inspired by Goethe's perception of life based on truth and his message and example of world outlook.
Kazi Abdul Wadud found a unique combination of patriotism and internationalism in the life of Rabindranath Tagore. He was a keen reader and reviewer of Tagore's writings and activities. His Kaviguru Rabindranath is a book that indicates his deep understanding of literature and wider horizon of intellectualism. Hazrat Muhammad O Islam is a work of his mature age. In this book he has portrayed Muhammad as a human being and a great man needed at a critical juncture of history. Hazrat Muhammad, according to him had laid great emphasis on equality of outlook and seeking of knowledge as a way to free the human race. Kazi Abdul Wadud took care to stress this aspect of the Prophet's life in his book.
Kazi Abdul Wadud's prose is based mainly on logic, moderation and self-confidence. The history of Bangla prose does not show many examples of writing with all three values. From this point of view he can be regarded as a distinctive prose writer in Bangla literature. He died in Kolkata on May 19 in 1970.
May 19 marked the 48th death anniversary of Kazi Abdul Wadud.
The writer is a freelance contributor.


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