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Sydur Rahman: a voice for secular thought
The death anniversary of eminent philosopher and educationist Professor Sydur Rahman passed on 28 August. He was an uncompromising voice for secular thought. He was among the vanguard of those who espoused freedom of thought in the hard communal ambience of the Pakistani days. Through the golden period of life he struggled with his sharp pen to establish secular and progressive ideas in this country as well as in the erstwhile Indian subcontinent. Despite being born in an ordinary peasant family of Rasullahbad, a remote village in Brahmanbaria district, on 15 May 1909, Sydur Rahman obtained excellent positions of merit in every sphere of his educational career. In 1931 and 1932 he passed BA (Hons) and MA with first class in philosophy from Dhaka University. In his vibrant professional life Rahman served as a professor at Dhaka College, Eden College, Sylhet MC College, Chittagong College and Jagannath College. He was also professor of philosophy at Dhaka University. As an educationist and social worker he closely observed the Second World War, the famine of 1943, the agonizing communal riots of Kolkata in 1946, the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the 1952 language movement, and the founding of independent Bangladesh in 1971. These historical events strongly influenced his psychology and thinking and finally drove him towards secularism and socialism. But he recited the Holy Quran from his childhood and had even served as an imam in a mosque in Dhaka for a few days. And yet he was condemned as an atheist and communist by some because of his progressive ideas. Today secularism is being trifled with in the nation's constitution and Islam continues as the state religion. The fifteenth amendment to the constitution has undermined the ideal of secularism. If Professor Sydur Rahman were alive today, he would again write and speak against this distortion of the spirit of our great Liberation War. As an activist for a secular Bangladesh, he had been harassed by the state of Pakistan. He was even forced to resign from the chair of principal of Jagannath College due to political differences with the despotic East Pakistan governor and Ayub loyalist Monem Khan. In Bangladesh, religious extremism has emerged as an immense danger for the nation. The serial bomb blasts of 17 August 2005 and other acts of sabotage in recent times have revealed the cruel face of religious extremism. At such times we feel more the need of people like Prof Sydur Rahman, who never compromised in his struggle against the forces of darkness. Professor Sydur Rahman was a prominent scholar from the Muslim community who explained the nature of religions in their secular and humanitarian underpinnings. His writings always included the concept of modern science and logic. His reputed work, 'An Introduction to Islamic Philosophy', has widely been known to society. A thoroughly modern man, he felt pain observing the backwardness of our society and especially in the case of the Muslim community. He wrote, "In many cases Muslims have not changed their 'old value' following, have not adopted modern science and the inherent query of philosophy, have not awakened the questions sleeping deep in their hearts. So they become blind, irrational and reactionary. In many countries of the world they are under the spell of superstitions, poverty, idleness, anti-development and undemocratic conditions. For this reason they often turn themselves into a people without hope." He wrote further, "We should not push our society a thousand years back." His remarks were justified. And when religious extremism is striking at the very existence of our civilisation with renewed ferocity, his writings become more relevant today as we try to combat this danger. Professor Sydur Rahman was in constant touch with many of our national leaders, among whom were Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Comrade Moni Singh and Professor Muzaffar Ahmed. They all esteemed him for his intelligence, for the scholar in him. Twenty-four years after his passing, we deeply feel his absence, especially at this point of time. We believe his memory will remain our inspiration as we move into the future. Hasan Tarique Chowdhury is Secretary, Bangladesh Peace Council. Email: htarique@gmail.com
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