Maulana Bhashani and the transition to secular politics in East Bengal

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8960908
AutoresPeter Custers (Formerly Associated Fellow of the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden University, autor correspondente)
Ano2010
Volume47
Fascículo2
Páginas231-259
Data de publicação2010-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Indian Economic & Social History Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0019-4646 • E-ISSN: 0973-0893
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/001946461004700204
OpenAlexW2060657314
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas13

During the decade of the 1950s, East Bengal, then a province of Pakistan, saw the emergence of a mass movement in support of the demand for national self–determination of the Bengali people. This movement was primarily led by the politician–preacher maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, who had emerged as the leader of marginalised Bengali peasants in Assam before the Partition of the subcontinent. Though Bhashani initially positioned himself as a Muslim League leader, he actually openly opposed the orientation of other Muslim League politicians. This article discusses the significance of Bhashani’s politics against the background of his training as a theologian and against the background of his ideology of Rabubiyat. It argues that although Bhashani’s was an Islamic world outlook, he vigorously advocated the need for a separation between state rule and people’s religious faiths. Moreover, Bhashani did not just take a stance in favor of secularism, the evidence collected by historians brings out that he personally led the transition to secular politics in the decades that preceded the formation of Bangladesh in 1971

Ancient history · BENGAL · Bengali · Ideology · Islam · League · Partition (number theory · Political science · Politics · Secularism · Sociology · Gender Studies · History · Indian History and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Political theory and Gramsci · Religious studies