Shah Abdul Hannan: A Monumental Personality, an Institution (Part-4)

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As a political advocate

Shah Abdul Hannan’s political position was to seek a stronger position for Islam in the society and politics in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi media often depicted him as a “sympathizer” of Jamaat-i-Islam, the largest Islamic political party in Bangladesh. As a student he was actively involved with the student wing of this party. But after joining civil service it was not appropriate for him to be a member of a political party. However he always provided intellectual guidelines and suggestions to the leaders of this party. He also had many friends within the top leaderships of all other political parties in Bangladesh. This friendship together with his charismatic social influence enabled him to give candid advice to all political leaders of the country. He relentlessly carried out this responsibility for the benefit of the country and Islam yielding influence on many junctures in the nooks and corners of Bangladeshi the politics.

Shah Hannan regularly attended media programs on current affairs and politics  in the channels and media outlets like NTV, ATN Bangla, RTV, Islamic TV, and BBC Bangla.

As an intellectual, Islamic thinker and reformer

Shah Abdul Hannan was active in Islamic works from his student days. He undertook Arabic courses at the Islamic Foundation, Dhaka from 1972-74. He was an ardent student of Islamic studies and sciences and studied extensively on tafsir and hadith commentary, usul-al-fiqh, Islamic Law, Islamic economics and banking.  He authored many articles and books on these and different other issues. He also worked with a group of Islamic scholars to produce two big volumes on "Codified Islamic Law" in the Bangla language; together, the volumes have a thousand sections and cover all aspects of Islamic law. It was the outcome of  5 to 10 years of arduous effort of the editorial board.

During the early 1980s, the study circle was very common among left leaning political activists, while it was not common among Islamists. In Bangladesh, Shah Abdul Hannan was likely the first person to start study circles within the Islamic camp. His students were mostly from the top-ranked universities of Bangladesh. Shah Abdul Hannan was an extremely avid reader himself. One of his motto was to turn his students into a serious student of Islam. One of his students who is now a faculty member in a university in Malaysia writes:

“By virtue of being his student, I became familiar with the writings of many scholars, including Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss), Zaynab Al-Ghazali, Gazi Shamsur Rahman, Ismail Raji al-Faruqi, Said Ramadan, Yusuf Qaradawi, Hammudah Abdalati, Murad Wilfried Hofmann, Hassan Turabi, Khurshid Ahmad, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Umer Chapra, Taha Jabir al-Alwani, Abdul Hamid Abu Sulayman, Aisha Lemu (Bridget Honey), Mumtaz Ahmad, John Esposito, Akbar S Ahmed, Hashim Kamali and many more. That exposure to contemporary Islamic thought has proven immensely useful in my academic life. ...Previously, reading was a ritualistic exercise to me — I didn’t enjoy it much. That completely changed when I started borrowing books from him, one after another, and the list turned out to be very long and included periodicals such as The Economist, Newsweek and Impact International.”

It appears from the testimony that he loved his students very much. With his balanced and scholarly view of Islam, coupled with genuine love, he taught hundreds of students, who are now spread around the world. Many of his students are now holding high positions and are contributing to the society and Islam. His methodss proved to be quite effective in developing qualified and competent human beings capable of facing the current and the future challenges of Islam. Thus, he shifted the paradigm in the society by creating a generation of young scholars. 

One of Shah Abdul Hannan’s major areas of focus was to fight for women’s rights with Islam as the reference point. He authored many books and articles in this regard. In this area, he acted as a reformer and shifted the mindset of people in general and in the Islamic circle, in particular. Before Shah Abdul Hannan’s activitivism, there were hardly any woman who could intellectually deal with gender issues from the perspective of Islam. Now many of his female (as well as male) students are working on this important issue aptly.

Shah Abdul Hannan formed two different intellectual platforms: at first “the Witness” for his female students and then “the Pioneer” for his male students. Both of these platforms arrange regular islamic study circles and seminars and publish Islamic books. Later with his advice a different organization named the Witness-Pioneer International (WPI), was formed to conduct intellectual exercise and Islamic preaching activities through the internet.

He understood one of the major problems of ummah is the intellectual one and in particular, the lack of understanding of the framework of Islamic knowledge. He was convinced that Usul-al-Fiqh provides that necessary framework.  He studied on Usul-al-fiqh for more than twenty years and taught about it for another 15 years. Probably one of the earliest online courses on Usul in English was designed and conducted by him and his students who were involved with WPI. His book on Usul-al-fiqh is the first complete Bangla book on this subject which is easy and accessible.  He relentlessly conducted Islamic preaching activities through the internet when many people of his age in this country did not know what the internet was. He understood its importance and used it to disseminate balanced and authentic materials on Islam. 

Shah Abdul Hannan cultivated connections with internationally renowned scholars, as well as with international organizations. He collaborated and worked closely with organizations such as IIIT, AMWAB, AMAN, WAMY and IOS India. In Bangladesh, Shah Abdul Hannan took the art of Islamic preaching to a different level. Wherever he went he used to distribute Islamic materials such as books or articles, which he always kept with him for circulation. From his autobiography it is revealed that once he invited the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina to try to accommodate more Islamic tenants into her traditionally secular party.  

Shah Abdul Hannan was instrumental in the establishment of many Islamic research institutes and think tanks. He held the position of Chairman of Bangladesh Institute of Islamic Thought (BIIT), a foundation which was involved in research into different social disciplines. He was the Chairman of the Bangladesh Islamic Law Research and Legal Aid Centre. He was the First President of the Council For Interfaith Harmony during the years from 2006-2008. 

Some Books written by Shah Abdul Hannan are as follows: 

• Islami Ortthonitite Shorker er Vumika (1985) [The role of government in Islamic Economics]·
•  Islami Orthoniti: Dorshon O Kormokoushol (2002)· [Islamic Economics: philosophy and strategy]
•  Nari Shomossa o Islam (1988) [women problem and Islam]
•   Nari O Bastobota (2002) [Women and reality]
• Social Laws of Islam (1995)·
•  Desh Shomaj O Rajniti (2003) [naition, society and politics]
• Bishoy Chinta· [Thoughts on issues]
•  Soviet Union e Islam (1976) [Islami in Soviet Union]
• Usul-al-Fiqh (2000)· 
• Law Economics and history (2003)· 
• Islam and Gender: The Bangladesh Perspective (2016)·
• Muslim Ummah: Contemporary Issues and Challenges (2018)

Some Mentionable Articles by Shah Abdul Hannan are:

1. Social Laws of Islam
2. World is in the grip of immorality how to change this
3. Dr Qaradawi on Poverty Alleviation–From His Book Poverty; How Islam Removes It
4. Need for truthful reporting in Media
5. Muslim Ummah: Contemporary Issues and Challenges
6. Broad Outlines of Six Subject Course for Preparing Well qualified and Competent Persons
7. Zakah: Some Relevant Issues
8. Women’s Dignity, Rights and Empowerment in Islam
9. The Main Problem of Humanity is Forgetting Allah- The Creator
10. Khilafat in Islam Dimensions
11. Democracy and Islam
12. Classification of States from an Islamic Perspective
13. Building up Strong Muslim Ummah
14. Clarification about State Ideology and State Religion
15. Islam and Gender- The Bangladesh Perspective
16. Kanna Santan-er-Uttaradikar (The inheritance rights of daughter)
17. My Essays on Socio Political and Islamic Issues
18. The Necessity and Process of Imparting Knowledge of the Life of Prophet Muhammad (s
19. Important Points of Work for Islamic Workers
20. A Shortlist of Islamic Books for International Use
21. Priority Activities of Muslim Organizations around the World

Shah Abdul Hannan’s life was an example of the true teachings of Islam. He was balanced in every aspect of his life. He is an inspiration to thousands of people. He was an embodiment of humility, honesty, integrity, selfless service, dedication, good conduct, consistency and hard work. He was an epitome of teaching, preaching and vigorous love for humanity and intellectual activism for Islam.

On the morning of June 2, Shah Abdul Hannan died at the age of 82. Let us pray to Allah SWT to forgive all his sins and to grant him Jannatul Ferdous.