Nabab Syed Shamsul Huda: His life and work

 

Syed Shamsul Huda KCIE (1862–1922) was a Muslim political leader and scholar in British India. He was born in the village of Gokarna, now known as Gokarna Nawab Bari Complex, in Nasirnagar Upazila, Brahmanbaria District, which was earlier integrated into the greater Comilla District, before Partition.  His father was Syed Riazat Ullah, the editor of The Doorbeen, a Persian-language weekly journal.

Syed Shamsul Huda's primary education—in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Bengali, and the science of Islam—was completed at home under his father. He was then admitted to Hooghly High Madrasah at Calcutta to complete a traditional education. After that, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from Presidency College in 1884, and a Bachelor of Law (BL) degree from Calcutta University in 1886. He received a Master of Arts (MA) degree, in Persian, privately from Presidency College in 1889. Huda was schooled in many fields of knowledge, and became one of the most eloquent, articulate, and educated Muslims of his generation. He had an important role as Muslim scholar, leader, and politician in British India at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Huda joined the Calcutta Madrasah in 1885 as a lecturer in Arabic and Persian. Two years later, he left the madrasah to practice law in the Calcutta High Court and gradually became involved in politics.

The Indian National Congress was established in 1885 by Calcutta's Hindu leaders. This political body was proposed to symbolize all the people of India, together with Hindu and Muslim population. Prominent Indian Muslim leaders including Sir Syed Ahmad Khan CSI, Nawab Abdul Latif and Syed Ameer Ali, firstly gave their full support to this political body. But later on, the Hindu Congress leaders began practicing partition. Muslim leaders called Second Annual Meeting of the Calcutta Union about the political attitude and future plan of the Congress in 1895. Syed Shamsul Huda attended and addressed to stop the issue on the title of "Indian Politics and the Mohammedans" and in this way he became the top of the political dialogue. In his speech, he highlighted the political rule of the Indian Muslim and suggested ways they could make the Congress more united and effective political body.

Huda's first role as a political leader was in opposing the budget for 1905, in which spending for colleges, hospitals, and other institutions was predominantly for those in districts near Calcutta. He proposed a policy of increased spending for such institutions for East Bengal as well, which was eventually established, and proved advantageous to the Muslims of Eastern Bengal, while being opposed by elite Hindus. As a man of education, political consciousness, and perception, Huda articulated the new situation. He wrote:

“I claim that after the creation of the new Province, East Bengal has received a great deal more of personal attention. Before the Partition the largest amount of money used to be spent in districts near Calcutta. The best of Colleges, Hospitals, and other institutions were founded in or near about the Capital of India. Bengal alone now reaps the benefit of those institutions towards which both the Provinces had contributed. We have inherited a heritage of the accumulated neglect of years and cannot be blamed if [we] require large sums to put our house in order.” Huda was a patron of the Muslim students of Bengal during a difficult period. He created student accommodations by founding the Carmichael Hostel for rural university-going Muslim students in Calcutta. For the establishment of the Elliot Madrasah Hostel in 1898, he obtained two-thirds of the funds from the government, with the remainder, a sum of Rs. 5,400, being contributed by the Nawab Abdul Latif Memorial Committee. Huda created the post of "assistant director for Muslim education" for each division.

He sanctioned the large sum of Rs. 900,000 from the Bengal government to purchase land to establish a government college for Muslims in Calcutta. Because of the First World War, the opening ceremony was postponed until 1926, when Abul Kasem Fazl-ul-Haq became Education Minister of the united province. In 1915, on his ancestral property, he founded Gokarna Syed Waliuallah High School, which was named after his same-aged uncle. It was the first government-aided school in Nasirnagar Upazila for Hindu and Muslim students.

The University of Dhaka was established in 1921 by Lawrence Ronaldshay, the Governor of Bengal, who served as chancellor and who designated Huda as a life member of the university. On Huda's recommendation, Lord Ronaldshay appointed Sir A. F. Rahman as a provost.

Huda financed the journals Sudhakar (1889), The Urdu Guide Press, and The Mohammedan Observer (1880). Religious constraints prevented women from gaining an education in Bengal. He supported and encouraged the Bengal Women's Education Project, founded by Begum Rokeya for women's education and development.

Syed Shamsul Huda lived at 211 Lawyer Circular Road, Calcutta. He died on 14 October 1922, at the age of 61, and was buried in Tiljola Municipal graveyard.

The writer is a columnist for
The Asian Age.