Abney Golam Samad

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Abney Golam Samad
Abney Golam Samad by porag.jpg Abney Golam Samad by porag.jpg Abney Golam Samad in 2016
Native name	এবনে গোলাম সামাদ
Born	(1929-12-29)29 December 1929 Rajshahi, Bengal Presidency, British India
💀Died	15 August 2021(2021-08-15) (aged 91) Rajshahi Medical College, Bangladesh15 August 2021(2021-08-15) (aged 91)
🏫 Education	Bishnupur Shiksha Sangha Rajshahi College Tejgaon Agricultural Institute
💼 Occupation	Academic, writer, columnist
📆 Years active	1965–1995
👔 Employer	University of Rajshahi
Known for	Writing and columnism
👴 👵 Parents	Mohammad Yasin (father) Neshiran Nesa (mother)
🌐 Website	agsamad.com
Signature

Abney Golam Samad (29 December 1929 – 15 August 2021) () was a Bangladeshi academic, scholar, writer, columnist and public intellectual. His writings and speeches contained deep analyses of national and international society, politics, culture and literature. He was also a professor in the Department of Botany at the University of Rajshahi.

Education

In 1948, Samad completed his B. Course from Shiksha Sangha Bishnupur in West Bengal, which was equivalent to secondary education at the time. He then completed his higher secondary education from Rajshahi College in 1949. After graduating in agriculture from Tejgaon Agricultural Institute, he went abroad to research plant pathology. He spent four years researching plant viruses in France and earned a PhD from the University of Poitiers.

Career

Samad returned to Bangladesh in 1963 and joined the University of Rajshahi as a faculty member on 11 November 1965. During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, he moved to Kolkata, where he edited the newspaper The Jai Bangla, which served as the mouthpiece of the provisional government of Bangladesh. After independence, he returned to Bangladesh in February 1972 and rejoined the University of Rajshahi. He retired from teaching in 1995.

Personal life

Samad's father, Mohammad Yasin, was a station master. His mother was Neshiran Nesa. His elder sister was Daulatunnesa Khatun, a prominent Bangladeshi writer and social worker.

Samad married twice. While in France, he married Francine Dourdain, with whom he had two sons and one daughter. He brought her to Bangladesh, but she returned to France before 1971 and later died there. His children from this marriage do not reside in Bangladesh. His second wife, Jahanara Samad, lived with their two sons—Shahriar Samad and Al Fattah Samad—and one daughter, Ayesha Samad, at their residence in Rajshahi until his death.

Writing

"When examining history, it is evident that Pakistan was established in South Asia on the basis of Muslim nationalism. It emerged during a specific political situation under British rule. The Pakistan movement was led by the Muslim League, which was founded in December 1906 in Dhaka under the initiative of Nawab Salimullah, with significant contributions from the Muslim community of Bengal at that time. The idea of the two-nation theory—that Hindus and Muslims constitute two separate nations—originated during the British period. It was not directly associated with Pan-Islamic ideology (universal Muslim brotherhood). The Pakistan movement was specifically limited to the Muslims of this subcontinent, with Islam serving as a component rather than the sole factor. Herbert Henry Asquith, the famous British Prime Minister, stated in the House of Commons in 1909 that the Hindu-Muslim difference in India was not merely a religious difference; they are distinct in terms of tradition and social customs as well. It is erroneous to explain the Hindu-Muslim problem in India solely through religious conflict. The Morley-Minto reforms of 1909 recognized Indian Muslims as a distinct nation, granting them the political right of separate electorates, with extra seats allocated to Muslims. Under this policy, Muslims had the right to compete in general constituencies in the Bengal Legislative Council, and five special Muslim seats were designated based on separate electorates, providing the right to elect Muslim members through Muslim votes only."

— Abney Golam Samad

Samad was widely known in Bangladesh as a columnist. He published approximately 100 research articles and around 15 books in Bangladesh and abroad. He primarily wrote on politics and social policy. He worked as a regular columnist for Daily Inqilab, Naya Diganta and Amar Desh for many years.

His writings reflected free-thinking. In one piece, he wrote:

"English has now practically become the world's primary language. But English has no 'academy.' The language developed spontaneously, without the supervision of any particular institution. However, we established the Bangla Academy for the development of the Bengali language. The role of the Bangla Academy can be questioned."

He also wrote about Indian national anthems: "Many are unaware that India has two national anthems. One is 'Jana Gana Mana' written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore, and the other is 'Vande Mataram' by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Vande Mataram has 26 lines, of which twenty are in Sanskrit and only six in Bengali. It is from Bankim Chandra's novel Anandamath. The song compares the motherland to Goddess Durga. Bankim Chandra did not set any tune to it. Rabindranath composed the first stanza and sang it at the Indian National Congress session in Kolkata in 1896. The first stanza has been sung to his tune ever since. On 24 January 1950, the Constituent Assembly adopted Tagore's 'Jana Gana Mana' and the first stanza of Vande Mataram as India's national anthems."

Regarding Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's autobiography, he commented: "Sheikh Mujib's 'The Unfinished Memoirs' seems to be a work of multifaceted importance. It reflects Sheikh Mujib's political philosophy. Now, the leftist intellectuals within the Awami League are trying to prove that the Pakistan movement was an imperialist conspiracy. But Sheikh Mujib said something entirely different in his autobiography. He wrote, 'I became deeply involved in politics. I attended meetings and gave speeches. I no longer paid attention to sports. I only focused on the Muslim League and the Student League—Pakistan must be achieved, otherwise there is no way for Muslims to survive.' Progressive intellectuals of the Awami League claim that Sheikh Mujib believed in pure Bengali nationalism. But Sheikh Mujib said in his autobiography, 'We Bengalis have two aspects: one is that we are Muslims, and the other is that we are Bengalis.' That is, Sheikh Mujib had a sense of Muslim distinctiveness, along with Bengali identity."

Books

Despite being a botany student, he wrote a book on art history that was part of the university curriculum in the 1970s. In addition to column writing, he wrote several books for school, college and university syllabi. Some of his notable books include:

• Bangladesher Adibashi Ebong Jati O Upajati (Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Groups of Bangladesh) – Parilekh Prakashani
• Atmapokkho (Self-Defense) – Abishkar Publication
• Atmaparichayer Sandhane (In Search of Identity) – Parilekh Prakashani
• Bangladesh: Samaj Sanskriti Rajniti Pratikriya (Bangladesh: Society, Culture, Politics and Reaction) – Parilekh Prakashani
• Manush O Tar Shilpakala (Man and His Art) – Magnum Opus
• Nrittattwer Pratham Path (First Lesson in Anthropology) – Anannya
• Prathamik Jibanutattwa (Elementary Biology) – Anannya
• Bayan Theke Ekattor (Fifty-Two to Seventy-One) – Parilekh Prakashani (2017)
• Amader Rajnoitik Chinta Chetana Arakhan Sangkot (Our Political Thought and the Arakan Crisis) – Parilekh Prakashani (2018)
• Islami Shilpakala (Islamic Art) – Bangla Academy (1978)
• Shilpakalar Itikatha (Story of Art) – Samakal Prakashani (1960)
• Bangladeshe Islam (Islam in Bangladesh)
• Bartaman Biswa O Marksbad (The Contemporary World and Marxism)
• Bangladesher Manush O Itihas (The People and History of Bangladesh)
• Udbhid Rogtattwa (Plant Pathology) – Bangla Academy
• Jibanutattwa (Biology) – Bangla Academy
• Udbhid Samikkha (Plant Survey)
• Nrittattwa (Anthropology) – Bangla Academy (1967)
• Ebne Golam Samad Rachanasamagra (Collected Works of Ebne Golam Samad), Volumes 1–3 – Parilekh Publication (ISBN 9789849623663 Search this book on .)

Awards and honors

• Farrukh Memorial Award, Chittagong (2009)

Critical response

Poet and researcher Musa Al Hafiz said of him:

"(Abney Golam Samad's) natural domain was anthropology and sociology. In every book, even in slender essays, he would reveal its essence. His commitment to truth was uncompromising. He adopted logic as his tool. But his epistemology was not solely based on logic; his mind was deeply empiricist. He understood the limitations of logic. Where experience was inevitable, he believed in verification and direct experience. Empiricism was consistent with his judiciousness. As a result, he could remain closer to reality in his analysis of society, aesthetics and even history."

Death

Samad died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital on 15 August 2021, at 10:40 am. He had been suffering from various health issues for a long time.

Bibliography

• Ebne Golam Samader Sanskritik Sofor – Fahmid-ur Rahman, "Barendra Publication" (2025)
• Bohumatrik Ebne Golam Samad – Shahadat Sarkar (editor), "Ebne Golam Samad Research Center Publication"

References

This article "Abney Golam Samad" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Abney Golam Samad. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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