Freedom of Intellect Movement ( Buddhir Mukti Andolan) in Bengali Muslim Thought, 1926-1938

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Pages:484
ISBN:0-7734-5423-3
978-0-7734-5423-1
Price:$279.95 + shipping
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This book offers an original examination of the origin and development of a rational humanist movement, the Freedom of Intellect Movement (Buddhir Mukti Andolan), which arose among a group of Bengali-speaking and -writing Muslim intelligentsia in the 1920s and 1930s.

Reviews

“Dr. Khan’s study of the Freedom of Intellect Movement (buddhir mukti andolan) in the nineteen-twenties and - thirties in Bengal is an in-depth account of a type of Muslim mentality infrequently encountered in modern South Asia ... [this] is the first book-length account in English of this fascinating and significant phenomenon of Muslim rational humanists in Bengal and it is a good one ... The present book thus brings us face to face with a host of serious issues in the general area of faith and reason, religion and secular life, tolerance and communal solidarity.” - Dr. Joseph T. O’Connell, Professor Emeritus in the Study of Religion, University of Toronto

“Dr. Khan’s work is both stimulating and original in articulating Bengali Muslims’ reformist strategies through their writings, speeches and debates in Bengali. Most assuredly, Dr. Khan’s thesis will result in scholarly rethinking of the demanding role of Muslim reformers in the Indian subcontinent, not just in Bengal.” - Dr. N.K. Wagle, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Toronto

“Dr. Shahadat H. Khan’s argument ... breaks significantly new grounds in the study of Bengali Muslim intellectual movements in the twentieth century. His attempt is particularly commendable for the light that he sheds on the rationalist trends in Bengali Muslim thought as opposed to the traditional historiographical approach emphasizing the classical content of elitist Islam.” - Dr. Raffiuddin Ahmed, Matsumiya Professor of Asian Studies, Elmira College, and Adjunct Professor of History, Cornell University

Table of Contents

Foreword by Joseph T. O’Connell, Professor Emeritus
Acknowledgements
Note on Transliteration
1 Introduction
2 Prime Movers of the Freedom of Intellect Movement (Buddhir Mukti Andolan): Life Sketches of Leader, Kazi Abdul Wadud, and His Associate, Abul Hussain; Intellectual Orientation of and Influences on Kazi Abdul Wadud
3 The Muslim Sahitya Samaj of Dhaka: Origin, Composition and Structure
4 Deliberations of the Muslim Sahitya Samaj of Dhaka
5 Kazi Abdul Wadud’s and Abdul Hussain’s Views of the “Religion of Creativity” (Shrishti Dharma): The Basis for Non-Communal Indian Nationalism
6 Concluding Review and Epilogue
Appendices
Bibliography
Index

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