Hakim Habibur Rahman

Hakim Habibur Rahman

Hakim Habibur Rahman in his youth (circa 1920s)Hakim Habibur Rahman (Bengali: হাকিম হাবিবুর রহমান) (23 March 1881 - 23 February 1947) was an Unani physician, litterateur, journalist, politician and chronicler in early 20th-century Dhaka, Bangladesh. He was a close associate of Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah of the Dhaka Nawab Family. His two chronicles of Dhaka, Asudegan-e-Dhaka and Dhaka Panchas Baras Pahle, remain important primary source material for researchers working on Dhaka. His wide collection of manuscripts, coins, weapons and artifacts is preserved at the Dhaka University Library as the Hakim Habibur Rahman Collection.[1] The Hakim Habibur Rahman Lane carries his name near his birthplace, the Choto Katra, a landmark in the old part of Dhaka.[2]

Contents

1 Medical career

2 Social and political work

3 Literary work

4 Hakim Habibur Rahman Foundation

5 Sources

6 Notes

[edit] Medical career

Habibur Rahman trained for 11 years in tibb (tradional medical practice) and the Unani system of medicine at Kanpur, Lucknow, Delhi and Agra after completing his studies at Dhaka Madrasah.[3] He established his own practice in 1904. In 1939 he was awarded the title of Saiful Mulk for his contribution to the files of medicine by the British government.[1]

[edit] Social and political work

Habibur Rahman was a prominent leader of the Khilafat Movement in East Bengal.[4] In the 1920s and '30s he performed as a major arbitrator for the Sardar community of Dhaka, who were the tradional leaders of the Panchayet system of local government of Dhaka.[5] He edited Al Mushriq, an Urdu monthly journal, in 1906, and launched another Urdu monthly, Jadu, together with Khwaja Adel in 1924. He founded the Tibbia Habibia College in Dhaka in 1930. Apart from his general support to the Dhaka Museum, he donated 231 old coins, some of gold and silver, to the museum in 1936.[6]

[edit] Literary work

A major Urdu journalist and writer in turn of the century Dhaka, Habibur Rahman wrote extensively, often under the takhallus (pen name) of Ahsan (meaning "mercy"). Apart from the celebrated Asudegan-e-Dhaka (1946) and Dhaka Panchas Baras Pahle (1949), his other major works include Al-Fariq (1904), Socrates' biography Hayat-e-Sukrat (1904), Tazkiratul-Fujala and Masajid-e-Dhaka.[3] He collected all the Arabic, Persian and