Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa (1910-1997) was a Roman Catholic nun, who devoted her life to serving the poor and destitute around the world. She spent many years in Calcutta, India where she founded the Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation devoted to helping those in great need. In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and has become a symbol of charitable selfless work. She was canonised a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 2016.

“It is not how much we do,
but how much love we put in the doing.
It is not how much we give,
but how much love we put in the giving.”

– Mother Teresa

Short Biography Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was born, 1910, in Skopje, capital of the Republic of Macedonia. Little is known about her early life, but at a young age she felt a calling to be a nun and serve through helping the poor. At the age of 18 she was given permission to join a group of nuns in Ireland. After a few months of training, with the Sisters of Loreto, she was then given permission to travel to India. She took her formal religious vows in 1931, and chose to be named after St Therese of Lisieux – the patron saint of missionaries.

On her arrival in India, she began by working as a teacher, however the widespread poverty of Calcutta made a deep impression on her; and this led to her starting a new order called “The Missionaries of Charity”. The primary objective of this mission was to look after people, who nobody else was prepared to look after. Mother Teresa felt that serving others was a key principle of the teachings of Jesus Christ. She often mentioned the saying of Jesus,

“Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me.”

As Mother Teresa said herself:

“Love cannot remain by itself — it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service .” – Mother Teresa

She experienced two particularly traumatic periods in Calcutta. The first was the Bengal famine of 1943 and the second was the Hindu/Muslim violence in 1946 – before the partition of India. In 1948, she left the convent to live full time among the poorest of Calcutta. She chose to wear a white Indian Sari, with blue trimmings – out of respect for the traditional Indian dress. For many years, Mother Teresa and a small band of fellow nuns survived on minimal income and food, often having to beg for funds. But, slowly her efforts with the poorest were noted and appreciated by the local community and Indian politicians.

In 1952, she opened her first home for the dying, which allowed people to die with dignity. Mother Teresa often spent time with those who were dying. Some have criticised the lack of proper medical attention, and refusal to give painkillers. But, others say that it afforded many neglected people the opportunity to die knowing someone cared.

Over time the work grew. Missions were started overseas, and by 2013, there are 700 missions operating in over 130 countries. The scope of their work also expanded to include orphanages, and hospices for those with terminal illness.

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

—- Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa never sought to convert those of an another faith. Those in her dying homes were given the religious rites appropriate to their faith. However, she had a very firm Catholic faith and took a strict line on abortion, the death penalty and divorce – even if her position was unpopular. Her whole life was influenced by her faith and religion, even though at times she confessed she didn’t feel the presence of God.

The Missionaries of Charity now has branches throughout the world including branches in the developed world where they work with the homeless and people affected with AIDS. In 1965, the Society became an International Religious Family by a decree of Pope Paul VI.

In the 1960s, the life of Mother Teresa was first brought to a wider public attention by Malcolm Muggeridge who wrote a book and produced a documentary called “Something Beautiful for God”.

In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace.” She didn’t attend the ceremonial banquet, but asked that the $192,000 fund be given to the poor.

In later years, she was more active in western developed countries. She commented that though the west was materially prosperous, there was often a spiritual poverty.

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”

-— Mother Teresa

When she was asked how to promote world peace, she replied.

“Go home and love your family”

Over the last two decades of her life, Mother Teresa suffered various health problems but nothing could dissuade her from fulfilling her mission of serving the poor and needy. Until her very last illness she was active in travelling around the world to the different branches of “The Missionaries of Charity” During her last few years, she met Princess Diana in the Bronx, New York. The two died within a week of each other.

Following Mother Teresa’s death the Vatican began the process of beatification, which is the second step on the way to canonisation and sainthood. Mother Teresa was formally beatified in October 2003 by Pope John Paul II. In September 2015, Pope Francis declared:

“Mother Teresa, in all aspects of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defense of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded,”

“She bowed down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity. She made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so that they might recognize their guilt for the crime of poverty they created.”

Mother Teresa was a living saint who offered a great example and inspiration to the world.

Awards Mother Teresa

• The first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. (1971)
• Kennedy Prize (1971)
• The Nehru Prize –“for promotion of international peace and understanding”(1972)
• Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975),
• The Nobel Peace Prize (1979)
• States Presidential Medal of Freedom (1985)
• Congressional Gold Medal (1994)
• U Thant Peace Award 1994
• Honorary citizenship of the United States (November 16, 1996),

http://www.biographyonline.net/nobelprize/mother_teresa.html

Kazi Nazrul Islam

Kazi Nazrul Islam (কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম) (25 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) was a Bangladeshi poet, writer, musician, and revolutionary, and is the national poet of Bangladesh. Popularly known as Nazrul, he produced a large body of poetry and music that included themes of Islamic renaissance and spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression.Nazrul's activism for political and social justice earned him the title of the "Rebel Poet" (বিদ্রোহী কবি; Bidrohi Kobi).His compositions form the avant-garde genre of Nazrul Sangeet (Music of Nazrul). In addition to being revered in Bangladesh, he is also commemorated and revered in India, especially in West Bengal and Tripura.

Born into a Bengali Muslim Quazi (Kazi) family, Nazrul received religious education and as a young man worked as a muezzin at a local mosque. He learned about poetry, drama, and literature while working with the rural theatrical group Letor Dal. After serving in the British Indian Army in the Middle East during World War I, Nazrul established himself as a journalist in Calcutta. He assailed the British Raj in India and preached revolution through his poetic works, such as Bidrohi (The Rebel) and Bhangar Gaan (The Song of Destruction), as well as his publication Dhumketu (The Comet). His nationalist activism in the Indian independence movement often led to his imprisonment by British authorities. While in prison, Nazrul wrote the Rajbandir Jabanbandi (Deposition of a Political Prisoner). Exploring the life and conditions of the downtrodden masses of the Indian subcontinent, Nazrul worked for their emancipation. His writings greatly inspired the Bengalis during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Nazrul's writings explore themes such as love, freedom, and revolution; he opposed all bigotry, including religious and gender-based. Throughout his career, Nazrul wrote short stories, novels, and essays but is best known for his songs and poems, in which he pioneered new forms such as Bengali ghazals. Nazrul wrote and composed music for his nearly 4,000 songs (many recorded on gramophone records),[8] collectively known as Nazrul geeti (Songs of Nazrul), which are widely popular today. In 1942 at the age of 43 he began suffering from an unknown disease, losing his voice and memory. It was rumoured that the reason was slow poisoning by the British Government, but later a medical team in Vienna diagnosed the disease as Morbus Pick,[9] a rare incurable neurodegenerative disease. It caused Nazrul's health to decline steadily and forced him to live in isolation for many years. At the invitation of the Government of Bangladesh, Nazrul and his family moved to Dhaka in 1972. He died four years later, on 29 August 1976.

Early life

Kazi Nazrul Islam was born in the village of Churulia in the Asansol subdivision, Burdwan District of the Bengal Presidency (now in West Bengal, India) on 24 May 1899. He was born into a Muslim Taluqdar family and was the second of three sons and a daughter. Nazrul's father Kazi Faqeer Ahmed was the imam and caretaker of the local mosque and mausoleum. Nazrul's mother was Zahida Khatun. Nazrul had two brothers, Kazi Saahibjaan and Kazi Ali Hussain, and a sister, Umme Kulsum. He was nicknamed Dukhu Miañ (দুখু মিঞা literally, "the one with grief", or "Mr. Sad Man"). Nazrul studied at a maktab and madrasa run by a mosque and a dargah, respectively, where he studied the Quran, Hadith, Islamic philosophy, and theology. His family was devastated by the death of his father in 1908. At the young age of ten, Nazrul took his father's place as a caretaker of the mosque to support his family, as well as assisting teachers in school. He later had to work as the muezzin at the mosque.

Attracted to folk theatre, Nazrul joined a leto (travelling theatrical group) run by his uncle Fazle Karim. He worked and travelled with them, learning to act, as well as writing songs and poems for the plays and musicals.[10] Through his work and experiences, Nazrul began learning Bengali and Sanskrit literature, as well as Hindu scriptures such as the Puranas. Nazrul composed many folk plays for his group, which included Chāshār Shōng ("the drama of a peasant"), and plays about characters from the Mahabharata including Shokunībōdh ("the Killing of Shakuni,"), Rājā Judhisthirer Shōng ("the drama of King Yudhishthira" ), Dātā Kōrno ("the philanthropic Karna"), Ākbōr Bādshāh ("Akbar the emperor"), Kobi Kālidās ("poet Kalidas"), Bidyan Hutum ("the learned owl"), and Rājputrer Shōng ("the prince's sorrow").
1927

In 1910 Nazrul left the troupe and enrolled at the Searsole Raj High School in Raniganj. Here he was influenced by his teacher, revolutionary and Jugantar activist Nibaran Chandra Ghatak, and initiated a lifelong friendship with fellow author Sailajananda Mukhopadhyay, who was his classmate. He later transferred to the Mathrun High English School, studying under the headmaster and poet Kumudranjan Mallik. Unable to continue paying his school fees, Nazrul left the school and joined a group of kaviyals. Later he took jobs as a cook at Wahid's, a well-known bakery of the region, and at a tea stall in the town of Asansol. In 1914 Nazrul studied in the Darirampur School (now Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University) in Trishal, Mymensingh District. Amongst other subjects, Nazrul studied Bengali, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian literature and Hindustani classical music under teachers who were impressed by his dedication and skill.

Nazrul studied up to grade 10 but did not appear for the matriculation pre-test examination; instead, he enlisted in the British Indian Army in 1917 at the age of eighteen. He had two primary motivations for joining the British Indian Army: first, a youthful desire for adventure and, second, an interest in the politics of the time.[14] Attached to the 49th Bengal Regiment, he was posted to the cantonment in Karachi, where he wrote his first prose and poetry. Although he never saw active fighting, he rose in rank from corporal to havildar (sergeant), and served as quartermaster for his battalion.

During this period, Nazrul read extensively and was deeply influenced by Rabindranath Tagore and Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, as well as the Persian poets Hafez, Rumi and Omar Khayyam. He learnt Persian poetry from the regiment's Punjabi moulvi, practiced music, and pursued his literary interests. His first prose work, "Baunduler Atmakahini" ("Life of a Vagabond"), was published in May 1919. His poem "Mukti" "মুক্তি" ("Freedom") was published by the "Bengali Muslim Literary Journal" ("বাংলা মুসলিম সাহিত্য পত্রিকা") in July 1919.

Later life and illness

In 1930 his book Pralayshikha was banned and he faced charges of sedition. He was sent to jail and released after the 1931, Gandhi–Irwin Pact was signed. In 1933 Nazrul published a collection of essays titled "Modern World Literature", in which he analyses different styles and themes of literature. Between 1928 and 1935 he published 10 volumes containing 800 songs, of which more than 600 were based on classical ragas. Almost 100 were folk tunes after kirtans, and some 30 were patriotic songs. From the time of his return to Kolkata until he fell ill in 1941, Nazrul composed more than 2,600 songs, many of which have been lost. His songs based on baul, jhumur, Santhali folksongs, jhanpan or the folk songs of snake charmers, bhatiali, and bhaoaia consist of tunes of folk-songs on the one hand and a refined lyric with poetic beauty on the other. Nazrul also wrote and published poems for children.

Nazrul's success soon brought him into Indian theatre and the then-nascent film industry. His first film as a director was Dhruva Bhakta, which made him the first Muslim director of a Bengali film. The film Vidyapati (Master of Knowledge) was produced based on his recorded play in 1936, and Nazrul served as the music director for the film adaptation of Tagore's novel Gora. Nazrul wrote songs and directed music for Sachin Sengupta's biographical epic play based on the life of Siraj-ud-Daula. He worked on the plays "Jahangir” and “Annyapurna” by Monilal Gangopadhyay. In 1939 Nazrul began working for Calcutta Radio, supervising the production and broadcasting of the station's musical programs. He produced critical and analytic documentaries on music, such as "Haramoni" and "Navaraga-malika". Nazrul also wrote a large variety of songs inspired by the raga Bhairav.

Nazrul's wife Pramila Devi fell seriously ill in 1939 and was paralysed from the waist down. To provide for his wife's medical treatment, he resorted to mortgaging the royalties of his gramophone records and literary works for 400 rupees. He returned to journalism in 1940 by working as chief editor for the daily newspaper Nabayug (New Age), founded by the eminent Bengali politician A. K. Fazlul Huq.
He is buried on the grounds of the Central Mosque of Dhaka University

Nazrul also was shaken by the death of Rabindranath Tagore on 8 August 1941. He spontaneously composed two poems in Tagore's memory, one of which, "Rabihara" (loss of Rabi, or without Rabi) was broadcast on the All India Radio. Within months, Nazrul himself fell seriously ill and gradually began losing his power of speech. His behaviour became erratic, and spending recklessly, he fell into financial difficulties. In spite of her own illness, his wife constantly cared for her husband. However, Nazrul's health seriously deteriorated and he grew increasingly depressed. He underwent medical treatment under homeopathy as well as Ayurveda, but little progress was achieved before mental dysfunction intensified and he was admitted to a mental asylum in 1942. Spending four months there without making progress, Nazrul and his family began living a quite life in India. In 1952 he was transferred to a mental hospital in Ranchi. With the efforts of a large group of admirers who called themselves the "Nazrul Treatment Society" as well as individuals such as the Indian politician Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the treatment society sent Nazrul and Promila to London, then to Vienna for treatment. The examining doctors said he had received poor care, and Dr. Hans Hoff, a leading neurosurgeon in Vienna, diagnosed that Nazrul was suffering from Pick's disease. His condition judged to be incurable, Nazrul returned to Calcutta on 15 December 1953. On 30 June 1962 his wife Pramila died,and Nazrul remained in intensive medical care.

On 24 May 1972, the newly independent nation of Bangladesh brought Nazrul to live in Dhaka with the consent of the Government of India. In January 1976, he was accorded the citizenship of Bangladesh. Despite receiving treatment and attention, Nazrul's physical and mental health did not improve. In 1974 his youngest son, Kazi Aniruddha, a guitarist, died, and Nazrul soon succumbed to his long-standing ailments on 29 August 1976. In accordance with a wish he had expressed in one of his poems, he was buried beside a mosque on the campus of the University of Dhaka. Tens of thousands of people attended his funeral; Bangladesh observed two days of national mourning, and the parliament of India observed a minute of silence in his honour.

Wikipedia

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান)

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান)  (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975) was the founding leader of Bangladesh. He served twice as the country's President and was its strongman premier between 1972 and 1975. Rahman was the leader of the Awami League. He is popularly known as the Bangabandhu (Friend of Bengal). His daughter Sheikh Hasina Wajed is the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. He is credited as the central figure in Bangladesh's liberation movement and has been compared with many populist founding fathers of the 20th century.

An advocate of socialism, Rahman rose with the ranks of the Awami League and East Pakistani politics as a charismatic and forceful orator. He became popular for his opposition to the ethnic and institutional discrimination of Bengalis in Pakistan, who compromised the majority of the state's population. At the heightening of sectional tensions, he outlined a 6-point autonomy plan and was jailed by the regime of Field Marshal Ayub Khan for treason. Rahman led the Awami League to win the first democratic election of Pakistan in 1970. Despite gaining a majority, the League was not invited by the ruling military junta to form a government. As civil disobedience erupted across East Pakistan, Rahman announced the Bangladeshi struggle for independence during a landmark speech on 7 March 1971. On 26 March 1971, the Pakistan Army responded to the mass protests with Operation Searchlight, in which Prime Minister-elect Rahman was arrested and flown to solitary confinement in West Pakistan,[1] while Bengali civilians, students, intellectuals, politicians and military defectors were murdered as part of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. After Bangladesh's liberation, Rahman was released from Pakistani custody and returned to Dhaka in January 1972.

Rahman became the Prime Minister of Bangladesh under a parliamentary system adopted by the new country. His government enacted a constitution proclaiming socialism and secular democracy. The Awami League won a huge mandate in the country's first general election in 1973. However, Rahman faced challenges of rampant unemployment, poverty and corruption. A famine took place in 1974. The government was criticized for denying constitutional recognition to indigenous minorities and human rights violations by security forces, notably the National Defense Force paramilitia. Amid rising political agitation, Rahman initiated one party socialist rule in January 1975. Six months later, he and most of his family were assassinated by renegade army officers during a coup. A martial law government was subsequently established.

In a 2004 BBC Bengali opinion poll, Rahman was voted as the "Greatest Bengali of All Time".

Early life

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born in Tungipara, a village in Gopalganj District in the province of Bengal in British India,[3] to Sheikh Lutfur Rahman, a serestadar, an officer responsible for record-keeping at the Gopalganj civil court. He was born into a native Bengali family as the third child in a family of four daughters and two sons. In 1929, Mujib entered into class three at Gopalganj Public School, and two years later, class four at Madaripur Islamia High School.[4] However, Mujib withdrew from school in 1934 to undergo eye surgery, and returned to school only after four years, owing to the severity of the surgery and slow recovery.[citation needed] At the age of eighteen, Mujib married Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib. Together they had two daughters—Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana—and three sons—Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal, and Sheikh Rasel

Mujib became politically active when he joined the All India Muslim Students Federation in 1940.[5] He enrolled at the Islamia College (now Maulana Azad College), a well-respected college affiliated to the University of Calcutta to study law, and entered student politics there.

He joined the Bengal Muslim League in 1943. During this period, Mujib worked actively for the League's cause of a separate Muslim state of Pakistan, and in 1946 he went on to become general secretary of the Islamia College Students Union. M. Bhaskaran Nair describes that Rahman "emerged as the most powerful man in the party" because of his proximity to Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.

After obtaining his degree in 1947, Mujib was one of the Muslim politicians working under Suhrawardy during the communal violence that broke out in Calcutta, in 1946, just before the partition of India.

After the Partition of India, Rahman chose to stay in the newly created Pakistan. On his return to what became known as East Pakistan, he enrolled in the University of Dhaka to study law and founded the East Pakistan Muslim Students' League. He became one of the most prominent student political leaders in the province. During these years, Mujib developed an affinity for socialism as the solution to mass poverty, unemployment and poor living conditions.[citation needed] On 26 January 1949 the government announced that Urdu would be the only official state language of Pakistan, although Bengali was the majority language in East Pakistan. Though still in jail, Mujib encouraged fellow activist groups to launch strikes and protests; he undertook a hunger strike for 13 days.[citation needed]

Following the declaration of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the province chief minister Khwaja Nazimuddin in 1948 that the people of East Bengal would have to adopt Urdu as the state language, protests broke out amongst the population. Mujib led the Muslim Students' League in organising strikes and protests, and was arrested along with Khaleque Nawaz Khan and Shamsul Haque by police on 11 March. The sustained protest from students and political activists led to the immediate release of Mujib and the others. Mujib was expelled from the university and arrested again in 1949 for attempting to organise the menial and clerical staff in an agitation over workers' rights.


Early political career

Mujib left the Muslim League to join Suhrawardy, Maulana Bhashani and Yar Mohammad Khan in the formation of the Awami Muslim League, the predecessor of the Awami League. He was elected joint secretary of its East Bengal unit in 1949. While Suhrawardy worked to build a larger coalition of East Bengali and socialist parties, Mujib focused on expanding the grassroots organisation.[citation needed] In 1953, he was made the party's general secretary, and elected to the East Bengal Legislative Assembly on a United Front coalition ticket in 1954.[citation needed] Serving briefly as the minister for agriculture during A. K. Fazlul Huq's government, Mujib was briefly arrested for organising a protest of the central government's decision to dismiss the United Front ministry.

He was elected to the second Constituent Assembly of Pakistan and served from 1955 to 1958.[3] The government proposed to dissolve the provinces in favour of an amalgamation of the western provinces of the Dominion of Pakistan in a plan called One Unit; at the same time the central government would be strengthened. Under One Unit, the western provinces were merged as West Pakistan during the creation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1956. That year East Bengal was renamed as East Pakistan as part of One Unit at the same time. Mujib demanded that the Bengali people's ethnic identity be respected and that a popular verdict should decide the question of naming and of official language:

Sir [President of the Constituent Assembly], you will see that they want to place the word "East Pakistan" instead of "East Bengal." We had demanded so many times that you should use Bengal instead of Pakistan. The word "Bengal" has a history, has a tradition of its own. You can change it only after the people have been consulted. So far as the question of One Unit is concerned it can come in the constitution. Why do you want it to be taken up just now? What about the state language, Bengali? We will be prepared to consider one-unit with all these things. So I appeal to my friends on that side to allow the people to give their verdict in any way, in the form of referendum or in the form of plebiscite.[10]

In 1956, Mujib entered a second coalition government as minister of industries, commerce, labour, anti-corruption and village aid. He resigned in 1957 to work full-time for the party organisation.[citation needed]

In 1958 General Ayub Khan suspended the constitution and imposed martial law. Mujib was arrested for organising resistance and imprisoned till 1961.[3] After his release from prison, Mujib started organising an underground political body called the Swadhin Bangal Biplobi Parishad (Free Bangla Revolutionary Council), comprising student leaders, to oppose the regime of Ayub Khan. They worked for increased political power for Bengalis and the independence of East Pakistan. He was briefly arrested again in 1962 for organising protests.

Wikipedia

Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani (1880–1976)

A Little details about him.
Bhashani was a leader Muslim advocate of Bengali independence. He was a committed socialist becoming popular amongst the poorest sections of society. His boycott of the 1970 election was instrumental in fermenting the Bangladesh independence movement. He played a very critical role[specify] in the 1969 movement which eventually led to the collapse of the Ayub regime and the release of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and other co-accused in the Agartala conspiracy case against Pakistan. His decision to boycott the 1970 Pakistan general elections due to his mistrust of the West Pakistani leaders, effectively led to the electoral sweep by erstwhile opponent Mujibur Rahman. The Awami League without any viable opposition in East Pakistan won 160 of the 162 seats in the province and thus gained the majority in the Pakistan national assembly.

In 1880 Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani was born in Dhangara village in Sirajganj, Bengal Presidency. He was the son of Sharafat Ali Khan. Between 1907 and 1909 he received religious education at the Deoband Madrasah. The association of Mahmudul Hasan (known as Shaikhul Hind) and other progressive Islamic thinkers inspired Bhasani against British imperialism. In 1909 he started teaching in a primary school at Kagmaree, Tangail. From 1909 to 1913 he worked with political extremists.[vague] In 1914 he revolted against the Christian missionaries in the Netrakona and Sherpur areas of East Bengal. Because of his educational background he received the title Maulana.

He died on 17 November 1976 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, aged 96, and was buried at Santosh, Tangail.