Dewan Mohammad Azraf

Dewan Mohammad Azraf (1908 – 1999) was a teacher, author, politician, journalist, philosopher and advocate of women's progress born in Sunamganj, Bangladesh. In 1993, he was honored as a National Professor in Bangladesh. He was also a supporter of the Bengali Language Movement. For his support of the movement, he was dismissed from the post of the principal of Sunamganj College in 1954, the same year he was promoted to the post. His support was particularly influential when he edited the Nao Belal in 1948. He was actively involved with Kaikobad Sahitya Majlish (1972–99). ^[1]

Education and career

Azraf passed BA with distinction from Murari Chand College, Sylhet in 1930 and received MA in Philosophy from the University of Dhaka in 1932. He joined Sunamganj College as a teacher in 1948. After his dismissal from Sunamganj College, he taught at various colleges, eventually becoming the principal of Abujar Gifari College in Dhaka, where he served from 1967 to 1980. He taught part-time at the departments of Philosophy and Islamic Studies of the University of Dhaka from 1973 to 1990. A supporter of Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, he joined the Muslim League in 1946 in protest of the treatment of Muslim immigrants in Assam, and afterward was elected to the Assam Provincial Committee. He also served 10 months of a prison sentence for violation of Section 144.

He was a member, as well as a treasurer for some time, of the Pakistan Philosophical Congress. From 1984 to 1989, he served as the president of the Bangladesh Philosophical Association.

Awards

• Independence Day Award
• Ekushey Padak (1992)
• International Muslim Solidarity Prize
• Islamic Foundation Prize
• Srijnan Atish Dipankar Prize

References