Abdullah, Muhammad

Abdullah, Muhammad (1932-2008) professor at Dhaka University and researcher, was born on 1 April, 1932 at Bangakhan village under Lakshmipur district. He is the son of Mawlana Mukhlesur Rahman. He passed Alim and Fajil examinations in 1943 and 1945 respectively from Noakhali Karamatia Madrasa. He bagged Mumtazul Muhaddisin title from Kolkata alia madrasa in 1947 and passed Higher Secondary examinations in 1949 from Chittagong haji muhammad mohsin college, BA (Hons) and MA in Urdu from the university of dhaka in 1952 and 1953 respectively. He also obtained MA in Islamic Studies and Arabic from the same university in 1972 and 1973 respectively. The University conferred Professor Abdullah Mphil and PhD in Arabic in 1981 and 1983 respectively.

Muhammad Abdullah joined Sylhet Government Madrasa in 1955. Later he joined the University of Dhaka as an Assistant Professor of Urdu and Arabic departments on 1 September 1972. He became Associate Professor in 1978 and Professor in 1985. After getting retirement on 30 June 1992 he worked as a Supernumerary Professor in the Department of Urdu and Persian for a period of ten years. Muhammad Abdullah was fluent in Arabic, Persian, Bangla, Urdu and English. He wrote many books and articles. The articles were published in Bangladesh Encyclopedia, Islamic Encyclopedia and Journals of both home and abroad. He also conducted eleven research projects of university grants commission (ugc) successfully.

The Editorial Board of Saiyara magazine of Lahore awarded him 'Nishan-e-Urdu' title in 1966 and the University of Dhaka honoured him with Ibrahim Khan Gold Medal in 1992 recognizing his contribution in Urdu language and literature. He died on 21 October 2008. [ABM Saiful Islam Siddiqui]