Maulana Mohammad Akram Khan was a Bangladeshi

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

 journalist, politician and Islamic scholar. He is the founder of first Bengali newspaper The Azad

The Azad

The Daily Azad is a Bengali daily newspaper that was first published in Kolkata on October 31, 1936. The first editor of the daily was Maulana Mohammad Akram Khan. In the early days the daily was treated as the expresser of the Muslims of Bengal and Assam. In the 1940s the editor was Mohammad...

.

Early Life

Akram Khan was born in district of 24 Parganas of West Bengal in 1868. He did not have much institutional education. He entered to journalism at a very young age.

Career

At early stage he worked at newspapers the Ahl-i-Hadith and the Mohammadi Akhbar. Between 1908 to 1921, he worked as the editor of the Mohammadi and the Al-Islam. He published the Zamana and the Sebak between 1920-1922. Sebak was banned and Maulana Akram Khan was arrested for supporting the Non-cooperation and the Swadeshi Movements through his anti-government editorials.

The Azad

In October 1936, Maulana Akram published the revolutionary newspaper The Azad

The Azad

The Daily Azad is a Bengali daily newspaper that was first published in Kolkata on October 31, 1936. The first editor of the daily was Maulana Mohammad Akram Khan. In the early days the daily was treated as the expresser of the Muslims of Bengal and Assam. In the 1940s the editor was Mohammad...

, the only Bengali daily of that time which contributed greatly to generate support for the Muslim League

Muslim League

The All-India Muslim League,, was founded by the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference at Dhaka , in 1906, in the context of the circumstances that were generated over the partition of Bengal in 1905...

 in Bengal.

Political career

Maulana Akram was one of the founding of the Muslim League

Muslim League

The All-India Muslim League,, was founded by the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference at Dhaka , in 1906, in the context of the circumstances that were generated over the partition of Bengal in 1905...

 in 1906. He was involved in the Khilafat and Non-cooperation Movement

Non-cooperation movement

The non-cooperation movement was a significant phase of the Indian struggle for freedom from British rule which lasted for years. This movement, which lasted from September 1920 to February 1922 and was led by Mohandas Gandhi, and supported by the Indian National Congress. It aimed to resist...

 from 1918 to 1924. He was elected secretary of the All India Khilafat Committee at the conference held at Ahsan Manzil

Ahsan Manzil

Ahsan Manzil was the official residential palace and seat of the Dhaka Nawab Family. This magnificent building is situated at Kumartoli along the banks of the Buriganga River in Bangladesh. The construction of this palace was started in the year 1859 and was completed in 1869. It is constructed in...

 in Dhaka

Dhaka

Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...

 in 1920, which was attended by other eminent Khilafatist leaders like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Maniruzzaman Islamabadi and Maulana Mujibur Rahman. Akram was responsible for collecting funds for the Turkey Khilafat. During 1920-1923, he organised public meetings in different parts of Bengal to propagate the cause of the Khilafat and the Non-cooperation movements. As a believer in Hindu-Muslim amity, Akram Khan supported Chitta Ranjan Das's Swaraj Party in Kolkata in 1922, and also the bengal pact in 1923. 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 the Swaraj Party and Congress. From 1929 to 1935 he was deeply involved in Praja or peasant politics. However, he left peasant politics in 1936 and became an activist of the Muslim League

Muslim League

The All-India Muslim League,, was founded by the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference at Dhaka , in 1906, in the context of the circumstances that were generated over the partition of Bengal in 1905...

. He was a member of the central working committee of the League until 1947. After the partition of India

Partition of India

The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...

 (1947) he opted for East Bengal and settled in Dhaka.

Literary works

• Samasya O Samadhan
• Mostafa Charit
• Amparar Banganubad
• Muslim Banglar Samajik Itihas

Death

Maulana Mohammad Akram Khan died on 18 August 1969. He was buried at the Ahl-i-Hadith mosque at Bangshal in Dhaka

Dhaka

Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...

.

External links

• Akram Khan: Journalist and litterateur; The New Nation
• বৃহস্পতিবার মাওলানা মোহাম্মদ আকরম খাঁ’র ৪৩তম মৃত্যুবার্ষিকী; brahmanbaria24.com