Abstract

The subject of this dissertation is the origin and evolution of a rational humanist movement by a group of Bengali-speaking and Bengali-writing Muslim intelligentsia in the 1920s and 1930s. The motto of this movement was: Jnan jekhane simabaddha, buddhi sekhane arashta, mukti sekhane asambhab or "Where knowledge is restricted, there the intellect is inert, there freedom is impossible." This motto is examined in this dissertation primarily in the thought of two Bengali Muslim intellectuals in several ways: an examination of the rational humanist Muslims' ideals of unfettered freedom, intellect and creativity, that were inspired especially by two distinguished Bengali sources, Raja Rammohun Roy and Rabindranath Tagore; examination of the rational humanist Muslims' application of the ideal of unfettered freedom in the origin, structure, composition and deliberations of an organization, the Muslim Sahitya Samaj or Muslim Literary Society of Dhaka and the publication of their Bengali journal, Shikha; rational humanist Muslims' application of their ideals to understanding certain doctrines and practices of Islam in Bengali Muslim society; their application of these ideals to understanding British rule in India and Indian nationalism. ;Chapter One examines English language scholarship on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Muslim modernism on north India and Pakistan, and Bengali- and English-language scholarship on the intellectual history of Bengali Muslims. Chapter Two examines the prime movers of the freedom of intellect movement, with life sketches of its leader, Kazi Abdul Wadud, and his associate, Abul Hussain, and the intellectual orientation of and influences upon Kazi Abdul Wadud. Chapter Three describes the origin, composition, structure and objectives of Muslim Sahitya Samaj. Chapter Four describes the rational humanists' interpretation and evaluation of some Islamic doctrines, practices, trends, debates in the deliberations of Muslim Sahitya Samaj at Dhaka. Chapter Five describes, srishti dharma or 'religion of creativity' that Wadud proposed for accommodation of Muslims with Hindus in India. Chapter Six concludes the thesis and points to possible continuing influence of buddhir mukti ideals among Muslims in Bengal