Muhammad Shahidullah
Muhammad Shahidullah | |
|---|---|
মুহম্মদ শহীদুল্লাহ | |
Shahidullah in a literary conference in Curzon Hall, Dhaka (April 1954) | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 10 July 1885 |
| Died | 13 July 1969 (aged 84) Dacca, East Pakistan, Pakistan |
| Spouse | Marguba Khatun |
| Children | 9, including Muhammad Takiullah and Murtaja Baseer |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation |
|
| Honours | Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1967) |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Sunni |
| Jurisprudence | Hanafi |
| Creed | Maturidi |
| Muslim leader | |
| Disciple of | Mohammad Abu Bakr Siddique |
| Awards | Independence Day Award (1980) |
Muhammad Shahidullah (Bengali: মুহম্মদ শহীদুল্লাহ; 10 July 1885 – 13 July 1969) was a Bengali linguist, philologist, educationist, and writer. He played a vital role in Bangladesh's Language movement of 1952. He is primarily credited for being the one to justify why Bengali should be the state language of Pakistan over Urdu.
In 2004, he was ranked number 16 in the BBC's opinion poll Greatest Bengali of all time. According to linguist Pabitra Sarkar, Shahidullah is one of the best scholars of linguistics that South Asia ever produced. A residential hall at Dhaka University has been named after him since 1969.