Kazi Nazrul Islam

Kazi Nazrul Islam (Bengali: কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম Kazī Nazrul Islām (24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) was a Bengali polymath, poet, writer, musician, revolutionary and philosopher. Popularly known as Nazrul, his poetry and music espoused Indo-Islamic renaissance and intense spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. Nazrul's impassioned activism for political and social justice earned him the title Bidrohī Kobi (The Rebel Poet "বিদ্রোহী কবি"). His musical compositions form the avant-garde genre of Nazrul geeti (Music of Nazrul). Accomplishing a large body of acclaimed works through his life, Nazrul is officially recognised as the National Poet of Bangladesh and highly commemorated in India and the Muslim world.[3]

Born into a Bengali Muslim Quazi (Kazi) family, Nazrul received religious education and worked as a muezzin at a local mosque. He learned of poetry, drama, and literature while working with theatrical groups. After serving in the British Indian Army, Nazrul established himself as a journalist in Calcutta. He assailed the British Raj in India and preached revolution through his poetic works, such as Bidrohi (The Rebel) and Bhangar Gaan (The Song of Destruction), as well as his publication Dhumketu (The Comet). His nationalist activism in the Indian independence movement often led to his imprisonment by British authorities. While in prison, Nazrul wrote the Rajbandir Jabanbandi (Deposition of a Political Prisoner). Exploring the life and conditions of the downtrodden masses of the Indian subcontinent, Nazrul worked for their emancipation. His poetry and music fiercely inspired Bengalis during the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Nazrul's writings explore themes such as love, freedom, and revolution; he opposed all bigotry, including religious and gender. Throughout his career, Nazrul wrote short stories, novels, and essays but is best known for his poems, in which he pioneered new forms such as Bengali ghazals. Nazrul wrote and composed music for his nearly 4,000 songs (including gramophone records),[4] collectively known as Nazrul geeti (Songs of Nazrul), which are widely popular today. In 1942 at the age of 43 he began suffering from an unknown disease, losing his voice and memory. It is often said, the reason was slow poisoning by British Government but later a medical team in Vienna diagnosed the disease as Morbus Pick,[5] a rare incurable neurodegenerative disease. It caused Nazrul's health to decline steadily and forced him to live in isolation for many years. Invited by the Government of Bangladesh, Nazrul and his family moved to Dhaka in 1972, where he died four years later.

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