Aroj Ali Matubbar: Difference between revisions

| name = Aroj Ali Matubbar

| image = Aroj Ali Matubbar by Rahat.jpg

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1900|12|17|df=y}}

| birth_place = [[Charbaria Lamchari]], [[Barisal District]], [[Bengal Presidency|Bangladesh]]

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1985|3|15|1900|12|17|df=y}}

| death_place = [[Barisal]], Bangladesh

| years_active =

| occupation = [[Rationalist]], self-taught [[philosopher]] and [[apostate]], and writer

| nationality = Bangladeshi

| citizenship = [[Bangladesh]]

| language = [[Bengali language|Bengali]]

| education = No formal institutional degree

| period =

| websiteportaldisp =

Matubbar was born in the village of [[Charbaria Lamchari]], about {{convert|11|km}} from the city of [[Barisal]] town in [[British India]], currently innow Bangladesh,<ref name=":0" />, to a poor farmingpeasant family. His original name was Aroj Ali; he acquiredlater adopted the name Matubbar (meaning "local landlordlandowner") later in life. He studied for only a few months at the village [[maqtab]], where his studieshe centeredfocused on the [[Quran|Qur'an]] and [[Islamic studies]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2016}}

Matubbar lost his father at ana earlyyoung age. When he was 12 years old, his inherited propertyplot of {{convert|2|acre|m2}} of land was auctioned off because, as a minor, he was unablecould tonot pay land tax.taxes Later,as a localminor. usurperHe calledwas himlater outevicted offrom his ancestral homestead by a local usurper. Matubbar survived bythrough charity and by working as a farm laborer.

He could not afford to attend school and relied on the free maqtab religious educationinstruction provided byat a local [[mosque]]. He did not accept the rigid methods of learning theremethods, and therefore left itthe mosque. A benefactor helped him finish the Bengali primers. Matubbar continued to read extensively beyondafter that. Philosophy was the subject that interested him the most. A philosophy teacher of philosophy at the [[B M College]], Kazi Ghulam Quadir helped him borrow books from the college library.

Matubbar died on 15 March 1985 (1st [[Chaitra]] of the [[Bengali year]] 1392) in [[Barisal]], Bangladesh. HeAfter his death, he donated his eyes for transplantation after his death.<ref name=":0" /> He donated his body which was received by the Anatomy Department of [[Sher-e-Bangla Medical College]] and used for dissection by the medical students for dissection. After his death in 1985, Aroj Ali Matubbar came to be regarded as one of the most prolific thinkers that rural Bangladesh ever produced, and an iconoclast who was not afraid of speaking out against entrenched beliefs and superstitions.<ref name="The Quest for Truth">{{cite web |title=The Quest for Truth |url=http://avijit.humanists.net/aroj_ali/quest_for_truth_1.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723144846/http://avijit.humanists.net/aroj_ali/quest_for_truth_1.html |archivedate=23 July 2010 |work=avijit.humanists.net}}{{self-published source|date=October 2016}}</ref>

== ''Satyer SandhaneSandhan'' ==

Matubbar drew the cover of his first book, which was written in 1952 and published twenty -one years later, in 1973, under the title ''Satyer Sandhane''Sandhan. In the preface he wrote:

Matubbar was considered an unusual type of writer.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/sirajul_islam_chy/aroj1.htm |title=5 years of Mukto-Mona |website=Mukto Mona |language=bn}}</ref> In Bangladesh, his writings were censored because they allegedly causedled societalto social corruption and disharmony in the community.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kabir |first=Md Anwarul |date=26 November 2004 |title=Letters to Editor: Freedom of speech |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/11/26/d41126110379.htm |newspaper=The Daily Star}}</ref> FollowingThe following are his writings:<ref name="Books">{{Cite web |title=Books |url=https://arojali.com/en/books/ |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=Aroj Ali Matubbar |language=en}}</ref>

* ''ShotterSatyer ShondhaneySandhan'' (The Quest for Truth) (1973)

* ''Sristir RahasyaSristirahasya'' (The Mystery of Creation) (1977)

Several of his unpublished manuscripts were later published posthumously under the title of ''Aroj Ali Matubbar Rachanabali''. Some of his writings have beenwere translated into English and compiled in a volume published by [[Pathak Samabesh]].<ref>{{Cite web |titlename="Books |url=https:"//arojali.com/en/books/ |access-date=2022-10-02 |website=Aroj Ali Matubbar |language=en}}</ref>

Matubbar was not well known toamong the elite educated societyelite of the country during his lifetime. It iswas only in the finallast years of his life that he came to bebecame known toamong the academics of the country. His writings were collected and published. The general public startedbegan to take an interest in his books, which, although not ratifiedvalidated by formal trainingeducation, posedraised a number of novelnew philosophical questions. HeAfter soonhis rosedeath toin renown1985, afterhe hissoon deathbecame inwidely 1985known.

* Awarded [[Humayun Kabir (Bengal politician)|Humayun Kabir Smriti Puraskar]] (Humayun Kabir Memorial Prize) in 1978 by the [[Bangladesh Lekhak Shibir]];

{{Reflist}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}

[[Category:20th-century Bangladeshi philosophersmale writers]]