A vanguard of secularism
Despite being born in an ordinary peasant family of Rasullahbad, an interior village of Brahmanbaria district, on May 15, 1909, he marked excellent position in merit in every sphere of his educational career. In 1931 and 1932 he passed BA (Hons) and MA respectfully with first class in philosophy from Dhaka University.
In his vibrant professional life he served as a professor in Dhaka College, Eden College, Sylhet MC College, Chittagong College, and Jagannath College. He was also professor of philosophy, Dhaka University.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. As an educationist and social worker he closely observed the 2nd World War, the famine of 1945, the brutal communal riot of Kolkata, creation of Pakistan, the Language Movement, and founding of independent Bangladesh following a great liberation war. These historical events strongly influenced his psychology and thinking from the beginning and finally drove him towards secularism and socialism.
But he recited the Holy Quran from his childhood. Nevertheless he had been criticised as an "atheist" and "communist" by some critics for nurturing progressive ideas.
As an activist for building secular Bangladesh he was harassed by the Pakistani government. He was even forced to resign from the chair of principal of Jagannath College due to political differences with the despotic East Pakistan governor Monaem Khan.
Recently in Bangladesh, religious extremism and fundamentalism has emerged as an immense danger to the nation. The bomb blasts and other sabotages over the recent period have shown the cruel face of religious extremism. At such time we feel more the need of people like Prof Sydur Rahaman.
Prof Sydur Rahaman was a prominent scholar from the not so progressive Muslim community. He explained religions with their secular and humanitarian facades. His writings always included the concept of modern science and logic. His famous book "An Introduction to Islamic Philosophy" has become widely known to the society.
Being a thoroughly modern man, he felt pain for the backwardness of our society. He wrote: "Progressive evolution is the natural rule of earth, societies also evolve in the same way. Religion also followed the same path like philosophy and science. In modern days, religion has been replaced by philosophy and science. Within the journey towards social progress, human beings are now able to resolve their own problems without the support of miracles."
Addressing the younger generation he wrote: "The object to explain the life and nature is to change and modify of its goal, not to stuck with any utopia." He also wrote in this regard: "We should not push our society 1,000 years back."
When religious extremism is hitting at the existence of our civilisation in renewed way, his writings could be more relevant to combat this danger. On the occasion of his 19th death anniversary we deeply felt his absence, specially at this point of time. We believe his memory will be our inspiration.