Fazlul Karim (academician)

Sardar Fazlul Karim (Bengali: সরদার ফজলুল করিম; 1 May 1925 – 15 June 2014) was a scholar, academic, philosopher and essayist in Bangladesh.[1][2]

Sardar Fazlul Karim
সরদার ফজলুল করিম
Born(1925-05-01)1 May 1925
Barisal, East Bengal (now Bangladesh)
Died15 June 2014(2014-06-15) (aged 89)
OccupationAcademic, philosopher, translator, political activist, essayist
NationalityBangladeshi
Genreessay, translation
Notable worksদর্শনকোষ (Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
রিপাবলিক (Republic by Plato)
সোশ্যাল কন্ট্রাক্ট (Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
Notable awards

Biography

Born in a lower-middle-class family of Barisal in 1925, Sardar stood second at IA examination (Intermediate in Arts) but topped the first class in both his BA Honours and MA examinations in Philosophy from Dhaka University; he became a lecturer in 1946 at the age of 21. Involved in progressive politics as a student, he was an "enemy" of the then Pakistan government and in four phases spent almost the full twenty-four years of Pakistani rule in jail. Ayub Khan and Monem Khan ensured that he could never return to his teaching job during the Pakistan period. He participated in the 58-day hunger strike of political prisoners demanding humane treatment. He was elected a member of Constituent Assembly of Pakistan while in prison. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and National Professor Abdur Razzak brought him back to the Dhaka University immediately after the independence of Bangladesh in 1972.[1]

Sardar Fazlul Karim has written scholarly books on philosophy, among them being his দর্শনকোষ (Bengali Encyclopedia of Philosophy). He has translated Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau and Engels.

When Sardar was a high school student, Saratchandra Chatterjee's novel Pather Dabi (Demand for a Pathway) inspired him to dream of a revolution for the first time; his friend Mozammel Haq had given him the book. Young Mozammel, a political activist and journalist, died in 1965 Cairo plane crash. The book greatly influenced the teenaged Sardar. Years later he learnt that the same book had inspired Jyoti Basu to be a revolutionary. Sardar Fazlul Karim was always an obedient child and even helped his father in agricultural work.

Sardar Fazlul Karim came to Dhaka to study Intermediate in Arts (IA). He got admitted to the Government Intermediate College. Progressive students looked him up. Sardar was more a nationalist than a communist then. He brought out wallpapers and had a good personal library. Friends used to borrow books from him. Pearl Buck's The Good Earth also influenced him. Sardar Fazlul Karim became a student of Dhaka University in 1942; he studied English for a few days but shifted to Philosophy because Haridas Bhattacharya's class lectures had attracted him.[2] He passed his BA Honours in 1945 when the Second World War ended. The 1943's Bengal famine influenced him a lot. The communists were very active during the Bengal famine. Sardar left Socrates, Plato and Hegel in his room and travelled to remote villages with relief for the hungry!

Published work

Bengali Translation:

*প্লেটোর রিপাবলিকPlator Republic(Republic by Plato)-
*প্লেটোর সংলাপPlator Republic(Plato's Dialogues)-
*এরিস্টোটল-এর পলিটিক্সAristotler Politics(Politics by Aristotle)-
*এঙ্গেলস্‌-এর এ্যান্টি ডুরিংEngelser Anti-Dühring (Anti-Dühring by Friedrich Engels)-
*রুশোর- সোশ্যাল কন্ট্রাক্টRousseaur Social Contract(Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau)-
*রুশোর- দি কনফেশনসRousseaur The Confessions(The Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau)-
Memoirs, essays and others:
* দর্শনকোষDarshankosh(Bengali Encyclopedia of Philosophy)-
* শহীদ জ্যোতির্ময় গুহঠাকুরতা স্মারকগ্রন্থ-(-)-
* সেই সে কাল:কিছু স্মৃতি কিছু কথা-(-)-
* ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় ও পূর্ববঙ্গীয় সমাজঃ অধ্যাপক আব্দুর রাজ্জাকের আলাপচারিতা-(-)-
* চল্লিশের দশকের ঢাকা-(-)-
* নানা কথা-(-)-
* নানা কথার পরের কথা-(-)-
* নূহের কিশতী ও অন্যান্য প্রবন্ধ-(-)-
* রুমীর আম্মা ও অন্যান্য প্রবন্ধ-(-)-
* গল্পের গল্প-(-)-
*পাঠ-প্রসঙ্গPaath Proshanga(On Reading)-
* আরেক যুগে যুগোস্লাভিয়ায়-(-)-
gollark: Is this interface (see corner) remotely intuitive? Probably not!
gollark: Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatch!
gollark: ~~technically, it is if you lock yourself with, say, brimstones~~
gollark: ~~they're quite common~~ (well, uncommon)
gollark: Hello of the Whyfulness!

References
  1. "Sardar Fazlul Karim's 86th birthday today". The Daily Star. 1 May 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  2. Haque, Junaidul (6 October 2007). "The life of a man of commitment". The Daily Star. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
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