Md. Mahmudul Hasan

The writer co-edited A Feminist Foremother: Critical Essays on Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan, 2016) with Mohammad A. Quayum. He works at the Department of English Language and Literature, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.

Rokeya’s relevance to Palestinian feminism

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary (online), the first known use of the term ‘feminism’–

11m ago

On the Palestine Question: Roald Dahl, Harold Pinter, and others

On Saturday, February 15, 2003, I was part of a 15-coach convoy from Portsmouth to London, UK.

11m ago

Razia Khan Amin: A Bangladeshi writer in English

As an academic, I often share with students my writings that are related to the courses I teach. That was not the case with our educators when I was a student in the Department of English at Dhaka University. The reason was not because there were no writers among our teachers.

1y ago

Muslim women in the crucible of feminist theory

Writer and academic Elora Shehabuddin has lived in a number of countries and had a fair share of exposure to multicultural environments. Her lived experience must have proved helpful in bringing in a comprehensive perspective to the discussion in Sisters in the Mirror: A History of Muslim Women and the Global Politics of Feminism (University of California Press 2021; University Press Limited 2022).  

1y ago

Alice Beck Kehoe’s Girl Archaeologist and gender relations in US society

Alice Beck Kehoe (1934-) is a family friend, and I have her permission to use her first name in short for this essay. After reading Alice’s autobiography Girl Archaeologist: Sisterhood in a Sexist Profession (2022), Raudah, my wife, recommended the book to me with confidence that I would love it.

2y ago

Ali Riaz’s ‘More than Meets the Eye’ and a writer’s responsibility

Writers and intellectuals are obligated to stir moral indignation at gross injustices and the plight of the masses.

2y ago

Humayun Kabir, Men and Rivers, and Faridpur

Writer, statesman and educationalist Humayun Kabir (1906-69) was born in Komarpur near Faridpur town. The childhood of this cosmopolitan intellectual was spent in a rural culture.

2y ago

Rokeya Stands Tall

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s (1880-1932) ancestors came from Tabriz in Iran to settle down in this region. During her lifetime, Bangladesh as an independent country did not exist. We call her a Bangladeshi writer because she was born in Pairaband, Rangpur, in what is now Bangladesh. However, the site of her activism was Calcutta.

2y ago
December 23, 2023
December 23, 2023

Rokeya’s relevance to Palestinian feminism

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary (online), the first known use of the term ‘feminism’–

November 30, 2023
November 30, 2023

On the Palestine Question: Roald Dahl, Harold Pinter, and others

On Saturday, February 15, 2003, I was part of a 15-coach convoy from Portsmouth to London, UK.

December 31, 2022
December 31, 2022

Razia Khan Amin: A Bangladeshi writer in English

As an academic, I often share with students my writings that are related to the courses I teach. That was not the case with our educators when I was a student in the Department of English at Dhaka University. The reason was not because there were no writers among our teachers.

November 26, 2022
November 26, 2022

Muslim women in the crucible of feminist theory

Writer and academic Elora Shehabuddin has lived in a number of countries and had a fair share of exposure to multicultural environments. Her lived experience must have proved helpful in bringing in a comprehensive perspective to the discussion in Sisters in the Mirror: A History of Muslim Women and the Global Politics of Feminism (University of California Press 2021; University Press Limited 2022).  

October 8, 2022
October 8, 2022

Alice Beck Kehoe’s Girl Archaeologist and gender relations in US society

Alice Beck Kehoe (1934-) is a family friend, and I have her permission to use her first name in short for this essay. After reading Alice’s autobiography Girl Archaeologist: Sisterhood in a Sexist Profession (2022), Raudah, my wife, recommended the book to me with confidence that I would love it.

July 28, 2022
July 28, 2022

Ali Riaz’s ‘More than Meets the Eye’ and a writer’s responsibility

Writers and intellectuals are obligated to stir moral indignation at gross injustices and the plight of the masses.

April 23, 2022
April 23, 2022

Humayun Kabir, Men and Rivers, and Faridpur

Writer, statesman and educationalist Humayun Kabir (1906-69) was born in Komarpur near Faridpur town. The childhood of this cosmopolitan intellectual was spent in a rural culture.

December 25, 2021
December 25, 2021

Rokeya Stands Tall

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s (1880-1932) ancestors came from Tabriz in Iran to settle down in this region. During her lifetime, Bangladesh as an independent country did not exist. We call her a Bangladeshi writer because she was born in Pairaband, Rangpur, in what is now Bangladesh. However, the site of her activism was Calcutta.

July 4, 2021
July 4, 2021

Remembering my teacher Shah Abdul Hannan

Sometime in October 2001, I attended a discussion programme at Markfield Conference Centre in Leicestershire, UK. There was a lively debate on Islamic banking over lunch, involving Murad Wilfried Hofmann (1931-2020) and Shah Abdul Hannan (1939-2021).

May 22, 2021
May 22, 2021

Minnat Ali’s Kafoner Lekha and the biography of an autobiography

After savouring English and world literature for quite a while, I developed an interest in South Asian literature. This led me to study writers of this literary tradition.