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APPENDIX.
VACCINATION AMONG THE FERAZI MUSSALMANS OF EASTERN BENGAL.
ON taking over charge of the Metropolitan and Eastern Bengal Circle in November
1895,I was directed by the Sanitary Commissioner of Bengal to address myself specially
to the work of starting and promoting vaccination among the Ferazi Mussalmans of
Eastern Bengal, who had up to that time successfully withstood every attempt, whether
by the Sanitary Department, or local officials, to introduce vaccination among them.
As the head-quarters of the Ferazi sect are to be found in the Faridpur district,
I decided to commence work here, and thus strike at the root and source of the opposition.
Brief history of the Ferazi movement,
with the particular tenets held by the
sect.
The Ferazis belong to the Suni Division of the Muhammadan faith, and may aptly
be described as the Puritans of the Mussalman religion,
their position being very similar to that of the Pharisees in
the Jewish dispensation. The sect was first started by one
Haji Sharitulla, who was brought up and educated by his uncle, Maulvi Muhammad Ashak
Mufti, in the Murshidabad Nawab's Court, the Nawab being at that time ruler of Bengal.
As he was a bright promising lad, his relations, in order to give him every educational
advantage in their power, sent him first to Hindustan (Delhi), and then to Mecca and
Medina. In these latter cities, where he resided for some time, he came under the influence
of Abdul Wahab and his chief disciples, and gave up the ethical standards of the Hanifi
sect for the sake of what he learnt to regard as the purer doctrine of the new reformer.
He returned to India imbued with Wahabiism, and ultimately took up his residence at
Daulatpore village, Shibchar thana, Faridpur. This was in about the year 1780.
Finding that the religious life of the Muhammadans round about had greatly deteriorat-
ed by contact with Hindu idolatry, he addressed himself to the task of reforming their
practices with the aid of the new theology he had learnt in Arabia. In fact it was a
modified Wahabîism that he sought to enforce, and it was not long before he gathered an
immense following in Eastern Bengal.
He taught: —
(1) That worship should be confined to one God (Allah), and all Hindu practices
should be given up.
(2) That the Juma and two Eed prayers which are universally used among the
Hanifis were unlawful.
(3) That all marriage ceremonials, such as processions, music, firing of guns, etc.,
should be forbidden.
(4) That inoculation and vaccination should be forbidden on the following grounds:—
(a) That it being the custom among Hindus and degenerate Mussalmans to
do "puja" to the goddess Shitola (goddess of small-pox) before
being inoculated, and all connection with Hindu worship being forbid-
den, inoculation should be rigidly proscribed.
(β) That no prophylactic measures should be taken against disease.
( γ ) That it was a sin for Mussalmans to have pus or blood from man or animals
injected into their bodies.
Thus, vaccination in any form was put out of court, and was never submitted to. Maulvi
Sharitulla's following increased, and he became fairly wealthy, owing to gifts of land
and money from his followers.
He died in 1839, and the Ferazi leadership passed to Maulvi Mohsunnodin Ahmad,
generally known as Dudu Miyan.
Dudu Miyan's history is too well-known to require any detailed reference here. He
was quite unfitted, both mentally and morally, for the high position he held, and was
greatly disliked not only by many of his own followers, but also by the Hindus, who were
enraged at his forcible attempts to obtain proselytes from among them. He died in the
Dacca Jail in the year 1861, leaving three sons:—
1st Maulvi Gyassudin Hyder.
2nd
„
Abdul Goffer, and 3rd the present leader, or, as he styles himself, High
Priest, Maulvi Syeddudin Ahmad.
After Dudu Miyan's death a large number of his disciples went over to Maulvi Karamat
Ali, a learned theologian, who preached a pure form of Hanifiism, and re-enforced the
practice of reciting the Juma (Friday) and two Eed prayers. Dudu Miyan's two eldest sons
having died early, the present High Priest, Maulvi Syeddudin Ahmad, assumed power.
He has now a following in Eastern Bengal, which, I am informed, numbers about four
millions. One of the census enumerators in Shibchar thana informs me that at the last
census there were very considerably over one million Ferazis in this thana alone, and
as his disciples are scattered throughout the districts of Eastern Bengal, I can quite believe
that the statement made to me is correct. Under the guidance and control of Maulvi
Syeddudin Ahmad the Ferazi movement has flourished; but I am happy to say it has lost