Momtazuddin Ahmad

Mawlana Momtazuddin Ahmad (Bengali: মমতাজুদ্দীন আহমদ; 1889–1974) was a Bengali Islamic scholar, author and teacher. He is the father of former Prime Minister Moudud Ahmed.

Early life and education

Momtazuddin Ahmad was born in 1889 to a Bengali Muslim family of Bhuiyans in the village of Manikpur in Noakhali District, Bengal Presidency. His father, Muhammad Jalees Bhuiyan, was a sheikh.

After finishing primary school, Ahmad moved to Calcutta and became a student at its Alia Madrasa in 1907. He passed from Jamaat-i-Suwam in 1910 and Jamaat-i-Ula in 1913. In 1916, he graduated in Hadith studies from the madrasa and awarded Fakhr al-Muhadditheen (Glory of the Hadith scholars). His Hadith teachers were Ishaq Burdwani and Nazir Hasan Deobandi. His other teachers included Lutfur Rahman Burdwani, Abdul Haq Haqqani and Fazl-e-Haq Rampuri. Ahmad passed his matriculation from the University of Calcutta Board in 1918.

Career

Ahmad remained in Calcutta after completing his education, teaching Hadith studies at the Calcutta Alia Madrasa from 1919. He also briefly served as a lecturer of Arabic at the Presidency College in 1921. He relocated to the Government Madrasah-e-Alia, Dacca in 1953, six years after the Partition of Bengal. Among his notable students are Amimul Ehsan Barkati.

Personal life

Ahmad married Begum Ambia Khatun. His fourth son, Moudud Ahmed, served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1988 to 1989.

Works

Ahmad primarily wrote in Arabic, Bengali and Urdu. Among his published works are:

• Ḥall al-ʿUqdah fī Sharḥ Sabʿ Muʿallaqah
• Sahl al-Maʿālī fī Sharḥ Maqāmāt Badīʿ az-Zāmān al-Hamadhānī
• Niʿmah al-Munʿim fī Sharḥ Muqaddimah Sahih Muslim
• Al-Kawkab ad-Durrī fī Sharḥ Muqaddimah Mishkat al-Masabih
• Kashf al-Maʿānī fī Sharḥ Maqāmāt al-Ḥarīrī
• Nabī Parichay
• Qurān Parichiti
• Paribāgher Shāh Sāheber Jībanī

Death

Ahmad died in 1974.