Hajji Shariatullah and Faraizi Movement

Hajji Shariatullah and Faraizi Movement

  August 30, 2019    Fantasy

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Early Biographical Details

•    Born in 1781 in Faridpur district in East Bengal (today part of Bangladesh)
•    Father was a farmer and his family was not very-well off
•    In 1799 he travelled to Arabia on pilgrimage and stayed there for the next nineteen years
•    Became greatly influenced by the beliefs of Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Wahab
•    On his return to East Bengal he started his own reform movement designed to purify Islam of the Hindu influences
•    Died in 1840
•    His work was carried on by his son Mohsin-ud-Din

Beliefs

India as Dar-ul-Harb

•    Hajji Shariatullah believed that the miserable condition of the Muslims in India led to the country being Dar-ul-Harb
•    This meant an area where non-Muslims ruled
•    Haji Shariatullah said that in such areas Friday and Eid prayers should not be offered.

Muslims have forgotten true Islamic Principles

•    He also believed that the Muslim community had moved away from true Islamic practice

Reasons for launching Faraizi Movement

•    He wanted them to return to what he thought was the proper observation of Islamic duties called Faraiz. This was why his movement was called the Faraizi Movement.
•    The Faraizi Movement supported the idea of jihad against the non-Muslims who were undermining the true principles of Islam.

Reasons for reviving Islam in the subcontinent

•    Believed that Muslims of the subcontinent were leading miserable lives because they had started following Hindu practices due to their interaction with them, thus they started the Faraizi Movement to purify the Islamic society
•    Muslims in Bengal were surprised by the Hindu landlords. Hajji Shariatullah wanted to end this tyranny. Thus he started the Faraizi Movement to create a sense of Jihad in Muslims so that they could fight for their rights
•    Muslims had forgotten the basic principles of Islam and did not practice religious obligations like Faraizi prayer and fasting. Thus he started the Faraizi movement to insist upon them to follow the pillars of Islam

Work

Faraizi Movement

•    He began his reform movement known as the “Faraizi Movement” started as a reaction to the anti-Islamic policies of British and Hindus
•    The movement insisted upon the fulfillment of Fariaz i.e one’s religious obligations imposed by Allah and His Prophet
•    His followers came to be known as the “fairizis” on account of their insistence of the fulfillment of one’s duties
•    As a result many Muslims declared themselves to the performance of their duties and became staunch Muslims

Brought the Muslim peasantry together against the cruel exploitation by the Hindu Zamindars

•    Infused a spirit amongst the Peasants who got together to direct Jihad against the then religious and social oppression to fight for their rights
•    This confidence and awakening of the Bengalis from their slumber prepared the grounds for future works of his successors like Titu Mir and Dadu mian.

Worked towards elimination of Hindu customs that had crept into Muslim society due to their continuous interaction

•    Significant as he attempted to purify the lives of Muslims so that they could not only distinguish Islamic practices and rituals but also follow the true Islam.

Reaction of Hindu Zamindars against success of Hajji Shariatullah

•    The success of Haji Shariatullah’s movement caused great concern among the Hindus of East Bengal
•    In that region Hindu and British landlords carried economic oppression of the Muslim peasants
•    The landlords did not want Haji Shariatullah creating difficulties for them and were very alarmed that the Muslim cultivators were uniting in a desire to improve their lives purify their religion
•    They drove Haji Shariatullah out of the region Nawabganj in Dhaka district, where he died in 1840

Mohsin ud din / Dadu Mian, his son

•    Hajji  Shariatullah’s work was carried on by his son, Mohsin-ud-Din
•    He continued to work to improve the position of Muslims in East Bengal and introduced important economic measures.

Measures taken up by Mohsin ud din

Appointment of Khalifas

•    He divided East Bengal into areas called circles, each under control of Khalifas
•    They were responsible for the social and spiritual welfare of the people in their area

Helped peasants to oppose excessive taxes

•    He helped the peasants to oppose the excessive taxes imposed by Hindu and British landlords

Threatened British to declare Jihad

•    Mohsin-ud-Din’s opposition to the payment of taxes led to unrest in East Bengal
•    He went even further and threatened to declare a jihad against the British government

Decline of Faraizi Movement

•    The British arrested Mohsin ud din
•    Put him in prison
•    After his death in 1860 Faraizi Movement declined

Influence

The Faraizi Movement was influential for a number of reasons:

Encouraged and united Muslims

•    It gave encouragement to Muslims at a time when they were demoralized by the oppression they suffered from the Hindus and the British.

Brought spiritual revival in Muslims

•    It brought about a spiritual revival which led to a revival in the Islamic religion in East Bengal. 

 Hindu influences were removed from Islamic practices

Political and economic impact on Muslims

•    The Bengal peasants became united in their opposition to the harsh treatment they received
•    They became more aware of their rights and a political unity began to grow amongst them
•    This was to prove important in later years as the Muslim demands their own homeland grew
•    It might be said that some of the seeds of Pakistan Movement were sown by the Faraizi Movement