Thus Spoke Sher-e-Bangla
"BISMILLAH-IR-RAHMAN-IR-RAHIM"
LEARNED VICE-CHANCELLOR AND MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DACCA.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. I deem it a great privilege and pleasure to preside over this Convocation of the University of Dacca; and to join you in offering my blessings and good wishes for the success and prosperity of those graduates who have been admitted to various degrees today.
Mr. Vice-Chancellor you have kindly referred in your address to my humble services and my contribution to the development and progress of education in Bengal. It is not for me to say whether my efforts and services have been useful and valuable—impartial judges and posterity will give their verdict on them But I can say with justifiable pride that during the last five decades I have always been in the forefront in the struggles of Bengali and Indian Muslims to establish their rightful position in all spheres of life. The struggles were hard and bitter, and we faced many obstacles and experienced great hardships and disappointments during those fateful years. In the beginning of the present century Muslims in Bengal were very backward in the field of education. The number of Muslim students in Presidency College of Calcutta was negligible. In 1912, there were less than 80 Muslim students in the colleges of Dacca. The leaders of the Muslim community, men like the late Nawab Khwaja Salimullah and Nawab Nawab Ali Choudhury, realised that unless there was rapid development of education the Muslim community would remain backward and weak, and would continue to be exploited by more advanced communities.
To commemorate the 62nd death anniversary of Shere-e-Bangla A K Fazlul Huq, here we publish an excerpt from one of his notable speeches. Serving as the Governor of East Pakistan and Chancellor of the University of Dhaka, he delivered this address at the University's Annual Convocation on February 19, 1957.
The partition of Bengal had brought new hopes to the people of East Bengal where Muslims were in majority ; the annulment of the partition was a grievous wrong and it dashed all our hopes for the development of this country and the advancement of its people. The late Nawab Salimullah received a great shock from which he did not recover. The Government of India said that as an Imperial concession to the Muslims of East Bengal a university would be established at Dacca. Speaking about the scheme for the creation of a university of Dacca, the Calcutta University Commission Report says that " infinite pains" were spent on it. I was very closely and actively associated with all the plans and schemes and I know the difficulties which we Muslims had to face and the obstinate opposition we had to overcome at that time in pushing the scheme for the establishment of Dacca University.
In January 1912, we presented an address to Lord Hardinge, the then Viceroy, and submitted our proposals for the improvement of the condition of Muslims in East Bengal ; he said that the Government of India would take steps to establish a university at Dacca. This promise was officially confirmed in a communique published on 2nd February, 1912. A protest was made against this proposal, and on the 16th of February 1912, Sir Rash Behary Gosh led a deputation and told the viceroy that the creation of a separate university at Dacca would be an "internal partition."
In the same month Government appointed a committee under Mr. Nathan to frame the scheme for the proposed university. The late Maulana Mohammad Ali of revered memory was one of its members. The Nathan Committee's Report was the basis of the scheme of the new university of Dacca with its emphasis on Islamic studies. The outbreak of the First World War was made an excuse for delaying the implementation of the scheme and we Muslims of East Bengal instructed the late Nawab Nawab Ali Choudhury, who was then a member of the Imperial Legislative Courcil to move in the council that the Bill for the incorporation of the University of Dacca should be introduced "at an early date". This was in March 1917. The viceroy confirmed the intention of Government to establish Dacca University; and in its communique, dated 26th November 1917, the Government of Bengal assured the Muslim community that the university would be established after the Calcutta University Commission had given its "valuable advice regarding its constitution and management."
The Government of India built up a fund of Rs. 65 lakhs for capital expenditure on the University; this sum was transferred to the Government of Bengal, and Sir Provash Mitter, who was then in charge of education, merged this money with provincial funds and said that, Government would make grants to the University from time to time. I believe that University received about 9 lakhs, out of the fund of 65 lakhs, and invested it in Government securities. When the late Sir Mohammad Shafi was a member of the Government of India, I was in close association with him, moved about with him and used his help and influence for the advancement of higher education in Bengal.
The University of Dacca had to beg for money every year from the Government of Bengal; through the help of the late Sir Abdur Rahim I obtained from Government a statutory recurring grant of Rs 5½ lakhs for the University, l am referring to these matters, mot to sing my praises—I am now too old to care for praise or blame, and allow it to influence my judgement and actions—but to impress upon the younger generations the fact that the establishment of Dacca University was the result of tremendous and sustained struggle on the part of the Muslim leaders. That God granted me the courage and strength to take a prominent, if not the leading, part in this struggle, is a blessing for which I am ever thankful to HIM. The University of Dacca was established in July 1921; in the first meeting of the University Court, I moved the resolution recording the appreciation and gratefulness of the Muslims of East Bengal, to the late Nawab Salimullah who was a true lover of his country and people, and a courageous and unselfish fighter for their progress and prosperity.
Perhaps it is not strictly correct to say that the old conception of the university as the seat of learning and culture, and its true function of pursuing knowledge for its own sake and the advancement of learning, have changed. It would, indeed, arrest all intellectual progress if the basic conception of the University were to change under the stress of modern conditions and demands. Universities have always occupied the most important place in the educational and cultural life of all countries in every period and age, and have been the symbol and source of all moral and intellectual development. Scholars of the universities dedicated themselves to the pursuit of knowledge and truth, but they were not aloof from the world since they moulded the minds and characters of the leaders of the country and placed before them ideals and goals which the nation and its leaders tried to follow and achieve.
The universities were microcosms of the universe—miniature worlds—in themselves, as the term "University" signifies. The true university develops with equal interest, care and enthusiasm all fields of knowledge - in fact, it is concerned with KNOWLEDGE, or to use the better and more expressive Quranic term "Ilm". As God gives more enlightenment to His servants, and the bounds of knowledge are enlarged, the scholars in the universities have perforce to restrict their individual fields of study. Western Humanists prided themsleves on their liberal attitude and asserted that they studied with equal enthusiasm and attention all aspects of human life and activity; their minds were liberal and their intellectual horizon was unbounded; they were seekers of knowledge and truth in the widest sense of the term. This Western Humanistic ideal is based on the Islamic ideal which embraces Truth, the whole Truth. Modern Western scholars like Miguel Asín Palacios and others have shown how deep was the debt of Europe to Muslim thought when Europe was stepped in ignorance and superstition. The Holy Quran and Hadis are full of injunctions to Muslims to study God's Universe as a whole with reverence, and understand its message and meaning.
For instance, in Surah BAQR, God says —
"Verily, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, and in the ship that runneth in the sea with that which profits man, and in what water God sends down from heaven and quickens there with the earth after its death, and spreads abroad therein all kinds of cattle, and in the shifting of the winds, and in the clouds that are pressed into service betwixt heaven and earth, are signs to people who understand".
In many other verses of the Holy Quran and many authentic Hadis Muslims are enjoined to use all their faculties and acquire strength and power by studying God's universe, which is balanced and perfect in every way. Our Great Prophet ( PBUH ) stands between the ancient and modern world. "In so far as the source of his revelation is concerned he belongs to the ancient world; in so far as the spirit of his revelation is concerned he belongs to the modern world". "In him" ( says Allama Iqbal) "life discovers other sources of knowledge suitable to its new direction. The birth of Islam... is the birth of the inductive intellect."
Islam turns away from abstract thinking, the splitting of the hair, the metaphysical labyrinths in which ancient thinkers loved to lose themselves. "The Quran emphasizes 'deed' rather than "idea"; the Islamic attitude is opposed to the Greek attitude and concentrates on the concrete, and adopts the method of observation and experiment, Islam "overcame serial time and pure vacuity of perpetual space" by revealing that God is the "limit". So, all thought, all search for truth in fields material, metaphysical and spritual have their source and finality in God, the Supreme Creator.
The universities have always faced a challenge—the challenge of changing life conditions, and they met that challenge and fulfilled the needs of their times. The world of God must change from day to day, and one order must be replaced by another—the Holy Quoran makes this quite clear. Our universities have to face a changed world, new ideals, new problems and new demands. They have to face modern realities and adjust their methods and procedure accordingly, in order to satisfy and fulfill modern national and international needs.
This adjustment does not mean that the basic conceptions of our universities have to be changed The pursuit of Knowledge and Truth today is the same as it was in the past.If I may be permitted to use a metaphor, the Tree of Knowledge is the same; some old branches have withered away and have been replaced by new ones. Our scholars and scientists have to readjust their instruments and apparatus; but the mental, moral and spiritual attitude and values of our scholars cannot change.
I hope and pray that the fear expressed by the Vice-Chancellor that the ulilitarian view of education may become so dominant that it may destroy the basic character of the university as the seat of learning and culture may prove to be groundless. Our universities must keep in close touch with life at all levels and in all fields.
I am the living history of Bengal and East Pakistan of the last sixty years. I am the last survivor of that band of unselfish and courageous Muslims who fought fearlessly against terrific odds in order to secure the rights and prestige of Muslims in this part of the world.
As the lovely-minded Plato has pointed out in his Republic—
"Philosophical minds always love knowledge of a sort which shows them the eternal nature not varying from generation to generation".
This belief is the firm foundation on which the intellectual structure of the universities must be erected. I beg to be excused for differing with you, Mr. ViceChancellor, and not accepting the distinction which you have drawn between "training in citizenship" and "the training of the individual". This distinction is not real, because the true purpose of education is to develop and train all the faculties of an individual and thereby enable him to become an efficient man and a good citizen. "A complete and generous education" (says Milton ), "fits a man to perform justly, skilfully and magnanimously all the offices of peace and war".
It is the task of the wise educator to ensure that in his system of education there is no gap between learning and life. In the words of Sir Richard Livingstone.
"The most important task of education is to bring home to the student the greatest of all problems—the problem of living—and to give him some guidance in it".
May I draw your attention to the report of the Radhakrishnan University Education Commission from which the following extract is taken :
"If education is to guide the individual towards the comprehension of the art of life, it must energise his whole being and give him ideas of nature, society and values— Education has among others this double aim of preparing for a particular vocation and also for citizenship in a democratic community. These two ends are not exclusive of each other. If knowledge is power all education is both pure and professional.
The real, definite and decisive reason why I do not accept the distinction between education of the individual and of the citizen is the all important fact that this distinction runs counter to the fundamental principal of Islam; The glory of our great religion is—and this distinguishes it from all the other religions of the world—that Islam gives true and safe guidance in all matters and all spheres of human activity; the words "Shariat" and "Mazhab" denote a road or path along which the individual has to travel to reach his ultimate goal, which is GOD.
A true and good Muslim views life as a whole and does not separate it in water-tight compartments. A merchant, a warrior, a scholar, a householder, a leader or ruler of peoples and countries, a servant, an artisan or a saint— everyone finds his place in an organic, closely—integrated and inter-connected scheme of LIFE.
The real cause for the backwardness of Muslims in all fields and in all countries at the present time, and for our ineffectiveness and lack of prestige and power, is the unfortunate fact that our life-activities have been separated in narrow ruts and grooves. If we return to the broad and comprehensive Islamic Shariat or Way of Life, then there will be a revolutionary change, and we shall advance rapidly in all directions. The greatest defect of our system of education is that it lacks a firm basis. We are in practice worshipping new "Idols" which have taken the shape of various "Isms" donated to us by the West ; we have forgotten and ignored the vital and fundamental fact that God is the source of all knowledge and power. In East Pakistan rivers play a very important part in hour life and economy. May I be permitted to use a metaphor which is familiar to all of us?
We are drifting dangerously on the mighty, shifting and treacherous river of Life; our boat has no ballast, rudder, sail or anchor; we are at the mercy of every breath of wind and every ripple of the river. Can we reach our destination without being wrecked and drowned ? The supreme and the most urgent duty of our learned educationists is to instil and strengthen in the minds of their students Faith in God, and make them realise that all their life-activities ( and education is the most important of them ) must be in harmony with and based on the eternal, immutable truth that God is the source of all power and knowledge, and man has to organise his whole life in order to fulfil and glorify the purpose of his Creator,
The question of the academic freedom of universities has been discussed threadbare in this Hall all and elsewhere. This topic may be regarded as the "hardy annual" which must find a place in all the addresses of Vice Chancellors. I yield to none in my respect for the Universities, and I believe sincerely and strongly that they must be free from all direct or indirect pressure or influence. Politics must be kept out of the Universities if they are to achieve their noble ideals. A University is a sacred national trust, and it must be saved from all disruptive forces whether inside the University or outside. Teachers and students must have freedom, encouragement, help and respect without which the Universities will do more harm than good. Whatever may be the difficulties, obstacles and dangers you must keep aloft the flag of your University and maintain its traditions, honour and prestige. If you are determined and strong you will have academic freedom, for you are the moulders and leaders of public opinion.
I have spoken more than I had intended. I am grateful to this learned assembly for listening to me. My only excuse is that I am an old man, and old men are proverbially garrulous. I am the living history of Bengal and East Pakistan of the last sixty years. I am the last survivor of that band of unselfish and courageous Muslims who fought fearlessly against terrific odds in order to secure the rights and prestige of Muslims in this part of the world. I am now in the evening of my life and I am licking the wounds which I received in the long fight during the last six decades. I am getting old physically; but my heart is young and my optimism is un-impaired. I believe firmly that God will in his infinite Mercy enable the present and coming generations in this country to raise the prestige of this country, and work for peace, harmony and love in the world. The flower fades, but its fragrance remains. Men come and go but the memory of their deeds and achievements never dies. I have faith in my country and its people. Insha-allah they will achieve glory after glory which I hope I shall live to see. I again invoke the blessing and mercy of Allah upon the Members of the University of Dacca.
(Rabbana Atena Fid Dunya Hasanatun wa fit Akhirat Hasanatun wa Qina Azab an Nar )
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