Remembrance
Sydur Rahman's secular spirit
The 26th death anniversary of eminent philosopher and educationist Professor Sydur Rahaman was observed on 28 August. He was an uncompromising voice for secular thought. He strongly opposed all types of religious extremism and promoted the ideals of modern science and logic during the tough Pakistani days. He was among the vanguard that showed the way to freedom of thought in the difficult, communalism-driven times of Pakistan in our part of the world. He spent the golden period of his life struggling with his sharp pen to establish secular and progressive ideas in this country as well as in neighboring countries of this region.
Born in an ordinary peasant family of Rasullahbad, a village in the interior of Brahmanbaria district, on 15 May 1909, Sydur Rahman attained 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 he 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 tragic communal riots of Kolkata, creation of Pakistan, 1952 language movement and the emergence of independent Bangladesh following a great liberation war. These historical events strongly influenced his psychology and thinking and drove him towards secularism and socialism. He recited the holy Quran in his childhood and wrote an extraordinary book on Islamic philosophy. His tremendous contributions to the Islamic Foundation in the country has been remarkable. Even so, he has been criticised as an 'atheist' and 'communist' by some critics for nurturing progressive ideas.
At present, secularism has practically become a farcical phenomenon in national politics, with religious extremism rearing its head all over the place. If Professor Sydur Rahman were alive today, he would again write and speak against this distortion of the spirit of our great Liberation War of 1971. As an activist in building a secular Bangladesh in pre-1971 times, he was harassed by the Pakistani government. He was even forced to resign from the position of principal of Jagannath College due to political differences with the despotic East Pakistan governor Monem Khan. In Bangladesh, religious extremism and fundamentalism have emerged as big dangers for the nation. The serial bomb blasts of 17 August 2005 and other instances of sabotage in recent times have exposed the cruel and ugly face of religious extremism. At such time we feel more the need of people like Prof Sydur Rahman even more, for men like Sydur Rahman were relentless in their campaign against the forces of darkness.
Professor Sydur Rahman's writings always included the concept of modern science and logic. His famous book, 'An Introduction to Islamic Philosophy', is widely known to society. Being a thoroughly modern man, he felt pain about the backwardness of our society and especially in relation to the Muslim community. He has written thus, "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 asleep deep in the heart. So they become blind, irrational and reactionary. In many countries of the world they are under the spell of superstition, poverty, idleness, anti-development and undemocratic conditions. For this reason they often create for themselves a nation without hope." He adds, "We should not push our society a thousand years back." His remarks have turned out to be justified. And when religious extremism is threatening the existence of our civilisation in a renewed way, his writings could be more relevant as we try to combat this danger.
Professor Sydur Rahman was in constant touch with many of our national leaders. They are Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Comrade Moni Singh and Professor Muzaffar Ahmed. They all respected him for his intelligence.
Twenty six years after his passing, we deeply feel his absence, especially at this point of time. We believe his memory will be our inspiration, now and always.
Hasan Tarique Chowdhury is International Secretary, Democratic Lawyers Association of Bangladesh.
Email: htarique@gmail.com
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