Question

write names of two leaders of farazi movement

Answer 1

Faraizi Movement nineteenth century religious reform movement launched by haji shariatullah.The term Faraizi is derived from 'farz' meaning obligatory duties enjoined by Allah. The Faraizis are, therefore, those who aim at enforcing the obligatory religious duties. The exponent of the movement, Haji Shariatullah, however, interpreted the term in a broader sense to include all religious duties enjoined by the quran as well as by the Sunnah of the Prophet (Sm).

Shariatullah made a pilgrimage to Makkah, stayed there for 20 years and studied religious doctrines under Shaikh Tahir Sombal, an authority of Hanafi School. Returning home he launched a movement to make the Bengal Muslims follow the true canons of Islam. For historical reasons the Muslims of Bengal had been following many indigenous customs, rituals and ceremonies which were far from the principles of Islam. Most Bengal Muslims did not even follow the fundamentals of Islam.

Shariutullah vowed to bring the Bengal Muslims to the true path of Islam. He laid utmost emphasis on the five fundamentals of Islam, insisted on the complete acceptance and strict observation of pure monotheism and condemned all deviations from the original doctrines as xirk (polytheism) and bid'at (sinful innovation). Numerous rites and ceremonies connected with birth, marriage and death such as Chuttee, Puttee, Chilla, Shabgasht procession, Fatihah, Milad and Urs were forbidden. Saint-worship (Pir), showing undue reverence to the Pir, making of Taziah during the Muharram was also declared xirk. He gave stress on justice, social equality, and the universal brotherhood of Muslims.

Haji Shariatullah regarded British rule in Bengal as injurious to the religious life of the Muslims. In pursuance of the Hanafi law he opined that the absence of a lawfully appointed Muslim caliph or representative administrator in Bengal deprived the Muslims of the privilege of holding congregational prayers. To the Faraizis, Friday congregation was unjustified in a non-Muslim stale like Bengal.

The Faraizi movement spread with extraordinary rapidity in the districts of Dhaka, Faridpur, Bakerganj, Mymensingh, Tippera (Comilla), Chittagong and Noakhali as well as to the province of Assam. The movement, however, gained the greatest momentum in those places where the Muslim peasantries were depressed under the oppressive domination of Hindu zamindars and European indigo planters.

Many Muslims did not accept the Faraizi doctrine and they tried to resist their activities with the help of zamindars. Thus, the landlords of Dhaka secured the expulsion of Shariatullah by the police in 1831 from Ramnagar or Nayabari where he had set up his propaganda centre. Through continuous involvement with the Hindu landlords and European indigo planters, the movement gradually developed into a socio-economic programme which became a dominant feature of the Faraizi movement under Shariutuallah's son dudu miyan and his successors.

The landlords levied many abwabs over and above normal rent and such abwabs were illegal in the eyes of law. Many abwabs were of religious nature, such as, cesses on Kali Puja, Durga Puja etc. Shariatullah objected to this practice and directed his disciples not to pay these illegal cesses to the landlords. The landlords had even imposed ban on the slaughter of cow, especially on the occasion of Eid-ul Azha. The Farizis ordered their peasant followers not to adhere to such a ban. All these contributed to strained relations between the Faraizies and the landlords who were almost all Hindus.

The offended landlords launched a propaganda campaign with the British officials, implicating the Faraizis with rebellious mood. In 1837, they accused Shariatullah of attempting to set up a kingdom of his own like that of titu mir. They also brought numerous lawsuits against the Faraizis in which they gained active co-operation of the European indigo planters. Shariatullah was more than once in the custody of the police for allegedly occasioning agrarian disturbances in Faridpur.
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Answer 2

The names of any two leaders of Faraizi Movement are:
1) Dudhu Miyan
2) Haji Shariatullah