Muhammad Shahidullah

Muhammad Ibrahim was born on 10 July 1885 in the village of Peyara in the erstwhile Bengal Presidency's 24 Parganas district. His mother, Harunnesa, later changed his name to Muhammad Shahidullah. His father, Mafizuddin Ahmed, was a warden of the shrine of Pir Gorachand. ==Career==

Shahidullah began his career by teaching at Jessore Zila School in 1908. After working as the headmaster of Sitakunda High School for some time in 1914, he practiced law at Bashirhat in 24 Parganas. In 1915, he was elected as vice-chairman of the town's municipality. At the invitation of Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, he joined the University of Calcutta as Sharatchandra Lahiri Research Fellow (1919–21) under Dinesh Chandra Sen. In 1920, he published "one of his most important papers titled “Outlines of an Historical Grammar of the Bengali Language” in the Journal of the Department of Letters of the University of Calcutta." He served as an editor for the Islami Bishwakosh project for a while. Muhammad Shahidullah's mastery of different languages was widely regarded as impressive and outstanding. He was fluent in 24 languages and had working knowledge of 18 languages. Some of the notable languages are Bengali, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, English, French, Assamese, Oriya, Maithili, Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kashmiri, Nepali, Sinhala, Tibetan, Sindhi, Sanskrit, Pali, etc. ==Noteworthy books==

• Sindabad Saodagarer Galpa (The Stories of the Merchant Sindbad, 1922) • Bhasa O Sahitya (Language and Literature, essays, 1931) • Bangala Byakaran (Bangla Grammar, 1936) • Diwan-i-Hafiz (Poems of Hafiz, translation, 1938) • Shikwah O Jawab-i-Shikwah (Questions and Their Answers, translation from Iqbal, 1942) • Rubaiyat-i-Omar Khaiyam (Quatrains of Omar Khayyam, translation, 1942) • Essays on Islam (1945) • Amader Samasya (Our Problems, essays, 1949) • Padmavati (Volume I editor, 1950) • Bangla Sahityer Katha (History of Bangla Literature, Volume I in 1953, Volume II in 1965) • Vidyapati Shatak (Collection of Vidyapati's Songs, text analysis, 1954) • Bangla Adab Ki Tarikh (History of Bangla Literature, essays, in Urdu, 1957) • Bangla Sahityer Itihas (History of Bangla Literature, 1957) • Bangala Bhasar Itibritta (History of Bangla Language, 1959) • Amarkabya (Unforgettable Poetical Works, 1963) • Sekaler Rupkatha (Fairy Tales of Ancient Time), 1965 • Les Chants Mystiques de Kanha et de Saraha [The Mystic Songs], 1928, Adrien Maisonneuve. ==Family==

Shahidullah had seven sons and two daughters - Mohammad Raziullah, Mohammad Safiyullah, Mohammad Waliullah, A K Mohammad Zakiyullah, Mohammad Taqiullah, Mohammad Naqiullah, Mohammad Bashirullah, Mohzuza Haque (), Masrura Haque (). Zakiyullah, established a school named Dr. Shahidullah Gyanpith in Old Dhaka and a research library named Dr. Shahidullah Memorial Library and Language Research Center in Senpara Parbata, Mirpur, Dhaka. Naqiyyullah studied at George Washington University in the United States, and settled in Cairo, Egypt, after serving as a pathologist in Saudi Arabia. Bashirullah, known popularly as Murtaja Baseer, is an Independence Award winning painter. ==Awards and honors==

campus Shahidullah was made professor emeritus by the University of Dhaka (1967) for his lifetime contribution to research on language and literature. He was also awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 1967 for his academic contribution to language and literature. In 1980, the government of Bangladesh awarded him the Independence Award posthumously. ==Eponyms==

• Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah Hall • Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah Academic Building, Rajshahi University • Chandraketugarh Sahidullah Smriti Mahavidyalaya ==References==