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Khulna Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah

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 Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah
খান বাহাদুর আহ্‌
ছানউল্লাহ

Born 27 December 1873 Nalta Sharif, Satkhira,

Bengal Presidency,British India .

Died 9 February 1965 (aged 91) Nalta

Sharif,Satkhira Satkhira, East Pakistan .

Other Sultanul Aaulia Kutubul Aktab Gause

names Jaman Aref Billah Hazrat Shah-Sufi
Aalhaaj Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah
Warsi .

Occupation Educator .

Known For Founder of Nalta Central Ahsania

Mission, Dhaka Ahsania Mission
Dhaka Ahsania Mission and Co-
Founder of University of Dhaka .

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 Life-sketch

Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.), an Assistant Director of the Department of Education in

undivided Bengal and Assam, a renowned academician and social reformer, a reputed
philanthropist, a famed literary figure and Sufi thinker of the country, was the pride of
the Muslims in Bengal and one of the most enlightened personalities of his time. He
was blessed with a long life and spent all his years for the advancement of a largely
backward Muslims in the British-governed India by rejuvenating their thoughts and
values and by lifting them from an all-consuming process of social degeneration. The
goal of bringing a positive change both in the lives and the psyche of the Muslims that
he had set himself to was fully accomplished through his works and deeds. As a result,
Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) became an institution by himself. The name of this vast,
prodigious personality, who lived long enough to drench him in the sunlight for an entire
millennium, will be pronounced again and again generations after generations. This
nation and its people will continue to be indebted to him in many ways. Khan Bahadur
Ahsanullah (R.) was born on Saturday in December 1873, in a village called Nalta,
previously under Khulna and now under Satkhira district of Bangladesh. His father,
Munshi Mohammad Mofijiuddin was a pious, wealthy and a generous man. His
grandfather, Munshi Mohammad Danesh, was also a religious and affluent person.

Childhood and Education

Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was born on Saturday in December 1873, in a village
called Nalta, previously under Khulna and now under Satkhira district of Bangladesh.
His father, Munshi Mohammad Mofijiuddin was a pious, wealthy and a generous man.
His grandfather, Munshi Mohammad Danesh, was also a religious and affluent person.
Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was his grandfather's only son's eldest issue. Therefore,
from his very childhood, both his father and grandfather were very keen on providing
him with a good education. He started studying before he crossed the age of five. After
completion of education in the elementary school, he was admitted to the Middle
English School at Nalta.
After a while, he was admitted in class IV (present equivalent of class VII) at the Takee
Government High School, West Bengal. In the annual examination of Class III
(presently, Class VIII) at this school, he stood first and was promoted to class II (now
Class IX). At the end of the year, he got himself admitted to the LMS Institution (London

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Missionary School) in Calcutta in Class II. In 1890, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.)
passed the Entrance (now the S.S.C) examination with distinction and was awarded a
scholarship. He passed F.A (now H.S.C) from Hoogli College in 1892 and the B.A
examination from the Presidency College in Calcutta in 1894. He obtained Master of
Arts (M.A) degree in Philosophy from Calcutta University in 1895.

Service Life

In 1896, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) joined the government service. At the
beginning of his career, he was appointed the Supernumerary Teacher at the Rajshahi
Collegiate School for a brief period of time. During this time, A.W Croft was the Director
of the Department of Education. After a few months, with a raise in salary, Khan
Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was appointed Additional Deputy Inspector of Faridpur.
After having had some experience in working as the Additional Deputy Inspector, he
served as the Sub-inspector of Schools for six months. During this period, he had to
inspect many schools.
On April 1, 1898, he gave up the job of the temporary Sub-inspector and joined the
service permanently as Deputy Inspector. After that, he was posted as the Deputy
Inspector in the relatively larger district of Bakherganj. He was appointed to the post by
Director Martin. His office was in Barisal.
Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) spent the next seven years of his service life working in
the post of Deputy Inspector. At this time, Director Martin recommended the names of
12 officials to the Government of Bengal for being absorbed from the Subordinate
Education Service. The name of Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was also among them
and he was considered eligible by the Director. As a result he was appointed the Head
Master of Rajshahi Collegiate School in 1904. During his working tenure there, he
created a congenial atmosphere for the education of Muslim Students and removed
the age-old hurdles that impaired their growth.
Rajshahi did not have a good madrasah or religious school for the Muslim students.
The classes of the madrasah were held in a number of rooms of the college where light
was very insufficient. Through acquisition of a vast area of land, Khan Bahadur
Ahsanullah (R.) made provisions for the madrasha.
During one of his inspections to the Rajshahi Collegiate School, the then Director of the
Department of Education for East Bengal and Assam, H Sharp expressed his total
satisfaction at the work carried out by Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.). As recognition of
his accomplishment, in 1907, he was appointed the Divisional Inspector for the

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Chittagong region. For long 17 years, he stayed in Chittagong and made considerable
improvements in the field of education in this division.
In 1912, the Delhi darbar or conference was held. In this conference, the King annulled
the partition of East and West Bengal. As a result, for the next few years, he was
appointed the Additional Inspector of Presidency. So, he left the Chittagong for
Calcutta. Dr. Donne, who became the Director Later, was the Inspector during this
period.
When Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was serving in the Chittagong division, he was
absorbed into the Indian Education Service (IES). After that, he was appointed the
Assistant Director of Muslim Education in Bengal. He continued his service as
Assistant Director for the next five years.
In the undivided Bengal, no Indian had hitherto been appointed Assistant Director. And
after his retirement, the post was filled by a British by the name of Mr. Botmali as no
Indian after him was considered eligible for the post. In those days, two Assistant
Directors were appointed to help the Director. But both had the same official status and
remuneration ceilings. When the Division of Bengal was called off, the post of the
Assistant Director was transferred to Calcutta. So, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) also
moved to Calcutta. For some time, he even held the current charge of the Director of
the Department of Education in undivided Bengal. In 1929, at the age of 55, he retired
from the government service. It also needs mentioning that he accomplished the Holy
Hajj in 1920.

Educational Reforms

The entire service life of Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was spent in the Department of
Education. During the culmination phase of his service life, when he was promoted to
the higher ranks, he put the experiences derived from years of dedication and hard
work to the best use. During his time, many commendable reforms took place in
education field, with particular reference to education of the Muslim students, due to
his personal initiative. Below are some of the educational reform programmes
undertaken during his time:
1. During that time, there was the tradition of writing the names of the students in
the examination papers. Many people believed that this open-identity went
against the interests of a section of the students (due to communal reasons).
For this reason, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) went all out to introduce the

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 system of writing the roll numbers of students instead of their names. This was
first applied in the Honours and Masters examinations and later also followed in
the Intermediate and Bachelors degree examinations of the time.

2. He elevated the standard of education in both the higher madrasah and

secondary madrasah classes and created congenial atmosphere for the
students to enter colleges and universities after completing the madrasah
education.

3. During that time, he created posts for maulavis or Muslim religious teachers in
all schools and colleges and eliminated the wage disparity between the Hindu
pundits or priests and Muslim maulvis.

4. Urdu, during those days was not considered among the "classical languages".
This created problems for the Urdu-speaking students in West Bengal. It was
through his initiative that Urdu occupied the place of Sanskrit.

5. It was dint of his active initiative that the proposal for establishing a separate
college exclusively for the Muslim students in Calcutta was approved. This gave
birth to the Islamia College. The principal of Calcutta Madrasah Mr. Hurley was
appointed the first Principal of the college.

6. He was instrumental in establishing many muktabs or elementary religious

schools, madrasahs, Muslim high schools and it was for him that many Muslim
teachers got their appointments. The Baker Hostel, Taylor Hostel, Karmichael
Hostel, Moslem Institute etc., situated at the heart of Calcutta, hold evidence to
his contribution.

7. In the schools and colleges, he readjusted the ration of stipends for the Muslim
students and made provisions so that increasing number of poor but
meritorious students could study free of cost. He also removed the hurdles
faced by the Muslim students in receiving government fellowships to for higher
learning in foreign countries.

8. He also had active contributions in the formation of Dhaka University. A major

hue and cry was raised when the draft bill on Dhaka University was placed
before the Senate and a special committee was formed later on to recommend
on the issue. As an outstanding member of the committee, highlighting the need
for such an institution, he recommended that the bill be passed.

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 Literary Achievements

During both his service and retired life, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) relentlessly tried
his hand on literature and creative writings. He wrote many books on Muslim traditions,
thoughts on Islam and the principles of Islam to bring about a renaissance in the lives
of a decaying Muslim population of the time. In his writings, he provided his readers
with new information and theories regarding the various aspects of Islam.
Some of his outstanding publications included:
● » Teachers' Manual (1952)
● » Bangabhasha-O-Muslim Shahitya or Bengali language and Muslim literature
(1918)
● » History of the Muslim world (1931)
● » Islam - O- Adarsha Mahapurush or Islam and the Ideal Great Man (1926)
● » Tariqat Shiksha or Learning the rules of spiritual attainment (1940)
● » Shikshakhetre Bongio Mussalman or Muslims of Bengal in education (1931)
● » Quran -O- Hadiser Adeshaboli or the instructions of the holy Quran and Hadis
(1931)
● » Sufi (1947)
● » Shristitatta or the origins of creation (1949)
● » Islamer Mahaty Shiksha or the invaluable teachings of Islam (1949)
● » Mahapurushder Amiyoubani or the eternal messages of the great men (1950)
● » Islamer Bano-O-Paramhangsher Ukti or the message of Islam and the sayings
of Paramhangsha (1956) and
● » Bibhinna Dharmer Upadeshaboli or the preaching of various religions (1965),
etc.

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 Ahsania Mission

After retiring from government service, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.), on March 15,
1935, founded a religious and service-oriented organization - Ahsania Mission - with
the twin objectives of enlightenment of the soul and social service for the masses.
Ahsania Mission is the outward manifestation of Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.)'s faith,
ideals and mirrors the inherent beauty of his being. It was he who set the aims and
objectives of the Mission: Praying for the grace of the Creator and serving those
created by Him. Selfless service was one of the most distinct features of his life. He
wrote in his autobiography on this: "I have set my life's goal to serve people living far
away from the cities. The pleasure that offering of service gives, cannot be found in
personal aggrandizement. Boundless love will not come unless the element of 'self' is
negated. If there is no love for the creation, there cannot be any love for the Creator.
The only aims of my life are to extend brotherhood. Fraternity and spread the message
of peace".

Spiritual Life

Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was an extremely pious man. In his spiritual quest, he
received a good measure of attainment. In 1909, he received his spiritual bayat in the
hands of the famous Hazrat Shah Gafur (r) of Patna and became a member of the
Quaderia -Waresia Selsela. Today, he is revered by all as a very successful peer or saint.
However, for the novelty of his perceptions, thoughts and religious beliefs, he could not
be put in the same league with the other peers of the time. Rather than communication
with his followers from the elevated position of a saint, he always emerged before
them as a friend.
He gave his admirers, followers and well-wishers the status of friends. His natural
humility and spiritual radiance gave many people a new direction for leading a worthy
and beautiful life. The remark of Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) stated below on the
mutual relation between the saint and his followers, bears testimony to the clarity,
wiseness and humbleness of his character:
"The responsibility of the peer or the saint is to flourish and nurture the spiritual power
of his followers. No saint can create spiritual power. He can only bring to surface, the
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power already bestowed on one by the Almighty. As friction on any iron substances
could create fire, the Almighty has given all human beings a secret source of His own
power. That power has to be attained through love and prayers. And, for this reason,
there is the need for good teachers".

Honors and Awards

The entire life of Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was an

exemplary one. He carried out the duties of his service life with utmost honesty and
dedication. He was an honest, pious, sincere and responsible officer. For this, his works
were always praised by the higher authorities. As a reward for his sincerity and honesty,
he received quick promotions several times during his career and was placed in higher
salary grades, overtaking the middle salary grades. For his contribution for the
development of the Department of Education and as a recognition for his sincere and
praiseworthy initiatives, he was conferred the "Khan Bahadur '' title by the then
government.
He was also elected Senate and a Syndicate Member of the Calcutta University. No
Muslim before him was bestowed these honorable posts. He also had a direct link with
the literary circles and the literary movements of the time. During the years 1917-1918,
he was the vice-president of the Literary Association of the Muslims in Bengal.
"For his excellence in social work, his contribution in social and cultural fields, and
especially, for his remarkable contribution in championing the cause of religion, the
Islamic Foundation - Bangladesh award was bestowed on his posthumously in 1405
Hijri of the Arabic calendar". Bangla Academy also awarded him an honorary fellowship
for his "unique and versatile contribution in the field of Bengali literature".

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