Dewan Mohammad Azraf

Dewan Mohammad Azraf (Bengali: দেওয়ান মোহাম্মদ আজরফ) (1908—1999) was a teacher, author, politician, journalist, philosopher and advocate of women's progress in East Bengal. In 1993, he was honored as a National Professor in Bangladesh. He was also a supporter of the Bengali Language Movement. For his support of the movement he was dismissed form the post of the principal of Sunamganj College in 1954, the same year he was promoted to the post. His support was particularly influential when he edited the Nao Belal in 1948.He was actively involved with Kaikobad Sahitya Majlish(1972–99).

After his dismissal from Sunamganj College, he taught at various colleges, eventually becoming the principal of Abujar Gifari College in Dhaka, where he served from 1967 to 1980. He taught part time at the departments of Philosophy and Islamic Studies of the University of Dhaka from 1973 to 1990. A supporter of Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, he joined the Muslim League in 1946 in protest of the treatment against Muslim immigrants in Assam, and was elected to the Assam Provincial Committee. He also served 10 months of prison sentence for violation of Section 144.

In 1936 he organized the Kendriya Muslim Sahitya Sangsad (Central Muslim Literary Association) in Sylhet and served as its president from 1940 to 1943. He was a member, as well as a treasurer for some time, of the Pakistan Philosophical Congress. From 1984 to 1989, he served as the president of the Bangladesh Philosophical Association.

The awards he received include the Independence Day Award, International Muslim Solidarity Prize, Ekushey Padak, Islamic Foundation Prize, Srijnan Atish Dipankar Prize and Bangladesh Muslim Mission Prize. He wrote about sixty books on various subjects including Tamadduner Bikash, Islam O Manavatavad, Marami Kavi Hasan Raja, and Dharma O Darshan.

Descendants: Dewan Nuruj Zaman Dewan Abu Mujjafor Sharon Zaman Dewan Said-uj Zaman Dewan Azad-uj Zaman Rowshan Sidika Sadia Chowdhury Dewan Asad Dewan Abujar Giffari Dewan Abujar Juberi

References

• Pradip Kumar Roy, Dewan Mohammad Azraf, Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh

Persondata
Name	Azraf, Dewan Mohammad
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1908
Place of birth
Date of death	1999
Place of death