Publish : 03 Dec 2021, 12:49 PMUpdate : 03 Dec 2021, 12:49 PM
With December upon us, and as we count down to celebrating 50 years of being a liberated nation, there have been certain luminaries that have, over the past 50 years, enlightened our country with their passion, patriotism, and zeal for Bangladesh.
National Professor Rafiqul Islam, one of the country’s most revered researchers, was one of those notable luminaries, and it is a tremendous loss for the entire nation that he is no longer with us, especially to celebrate 50 years of Bangladesh being a liberated nation on December 16.
Professor Islam’s list of achievements is substantial; from participating in the Language Movement in 1952 -- along with documenting the events in now historic images -- to writing the first book on the martyred intellectuals of 1971 -- among 30 others, and winning the Bangla Academy Literary Award (1994) and the International Mother Language Award for his excellence in the field of academia and culture.
Inducted as a National Professor in 2018, Professor Islam later became the head of the Bangla department at Dhaka University and also, the vice-chancellor (2007-2011) of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB).
However, beyond his literary achievements, Professor Rafiqul Islam has always embodied what it means to be a patriotic Bangladeshi, even refusing to leave the country for treatment as he wanted to be in the place he loved most -- Bangladesh. His achievements and contribution to putting Bangladesh on the global map, especially with regard to his research on the works of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, will remain forever.
His death is a terrible loss for all of us. Men like him do not come around often, and there will not be another like him.
Farewell, Professor Rafiqul Islam
With December upon us, and as we count down to celebrating 50 years of being a liberated nation, there have been certain luminaries that have, over the past 50 years, enlightened our country with their passion, patriotism, and zeal for Bangladesh.
National Professor Rafiqul Islam, one of the country’s most revered researchers, was one of those notable luminaries, and it is a tremendous loss for the entire nation that he is no longer with us, especially to celebrate 50 years of Bangladesh being a liberated nation on December 16.
Professor Islam’s list of achievements is substantial; from participating in the Language Movement in 1952 -- along with documenting the events in now historic images -- to writing the first book on the martyred intellectuals of 1971 -- among 30 others, and winning the Bangla Academy Literary Award (1994) and the International Mother Language Award for his excellence in the field of academia and culture.
Inducted as a National Professor in 2018, Professor Islam later became the head of the Bangla department at Dhaka University and also, the vice-chancellor (2007-2011) of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB).
However, beyond his literary achievements, Professor Rafiqul Islam has always embodied what it means to be a patriotic Bangladeshi, even refusing to leave the country for treatment as he wanted to be in the place he loved most -- Bangladesh. His achievements and contribution to putting Bangladesh on the global map, especially with regard to his research on the works of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, will remain forever.
His death is a terrible loss for all of us. Men like him do not come around often, and there will not be another like him.