“In a country where merit is not valued, no person of merit can be born.” The words are those of the celebrated Bangladeshi scholar Dr Muhammad Shahidullah. He was a famous linguist not only of Bangladesh but of the whole of the Indian subcontinent. Dr Muhammad Shahidullah was a polyglot and a man of many-sided talent — a linguist and a researcher. He was born on 10 July 1885, in the village of Peyara in 24 Parganas in West Bengal, India.
Shahidullah was discerning and gifted from childhood. As a boy he learned Arabic and Persian at home. For his formal education he was first admitted to the Howrah English School. He won a silver medal in the annual examination in 1899.
He passed the Entrance examination successfully in 1904. He then enrolled at the famous Presidency College in Kolkata. He passed the FA successfully in 1906. He then taught at Jashore Zilla School in Bangladesh in 1908-09. He went on to pass the BA with honours in Sanskrit from Kolkata City College in the 1909-10 session. Dr Muhammad Shahidullah passed his MA in comparative philology from the University of Calcutta in 1912.
Dr Muhammad Shahidullah practised law at Basirhat from 1915 to 1919. He earned a considerable reputation in the legal profession as well. When the University of Dhaka was established in 1921 he joined the Bengali department as a lecturer. In 1924 he also served as a part-time professor in the University of Dhaka’s law department.
Dr Muhammad Shahidullah went to Paris in France in 1928 to obtain a doctorate. He earned his PhD with research in ancient Vedic, Persian and Tibetan. After receiving his doctorate, Muhammad Shahidullah rejoined the University of Dhaka. In 1937 he became chairman of the Bengali department at the University of Dhaka. He held various posts at the University of Dhaka until 1955.
In that same year, 1955, Dr Muhammad Shahidullah took charge as chairman of the Bengali department at the University of Rajshahi. From 1961 to 1964 he served as acting editor of the Islamic Encyclopaedia project. Dr Muhammad Shahidullah wrote a number of research works on the Bengali language. They are “Bangala Byakaran,” “Bhasha O Sahitya,” “Bangala Bhashar Itibritta” and “Ancholik Bhashar Obhidhan.” His other books include “Rokomari,” “Padmabati” and “Prachin Dharmagranthe Shesh Nabi.” He translated the “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” and the “Diwan-e-Hafiz.” In recognition of his work he received the Pride of Performance medal.
Dr Muhammad Shahidullah could speak Bengali, English, Persian, Arabic, Tibetan, Odia, Assamese and Urdu fluently. The famous linguist died in Dhaka on 13 July 1969. Dr Muhammad Shahidullah’s grave is on the western side of the Musa Khan mosque in the University of Dhaka compound.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report