page_title: Kazi Nazrul Islam
section_title: Religious beliefs
hierarchical_section_title: Kazi Nazrul Islam / Religious beliefs
caption_attribution_description: English: Kazi Nazrul at sitakunda chandranath hill in 1929 Uploaded by Rahat Rahim
context_page_description: Kazi Nazrul Islam was a Bengali poet, writer, musician and the national poet of Bangladesh. Popularly known as Nazrul, he produced a large body of poetry and music with themes that included religious devotion and rebellion against oppression. Nazrul's activism for political and social justice earned him the title of "Bidrohi Kobi". His compositions form the avant-garde music genre of Nazrul Geeti.
  Born in a Bengali Muslim Kazi family, Nazrul Islam received religious education and as a young man worked as a muezzin at a local mosque. He learned about poetry, drama, and literature while working with the rural theatrical group Letor Dal. He joined the British Indian Army in 1917. After serving in the British Indian Army in the Middle East during World War I, Nazrul established himself as a journalist in Calcutta. He criticised the British Raj and called for revolution through his poetic works, such as "Bidrohi" and "Bhangar Gaan", as well as in his publication Dhumketu. His nationalist activism in Indian independence movement led to his frequent imprisonment by the colonial British authorities. While in prison, Nazrul wrote the "Rajbandir Jabanbandi".
context_section_description: Nazrul was a Sunni Muslim. Nazrul wrote an editorial in Joog Bani in 1920 about religious pluralism,
  Come brother Hindu! Come Musalman! Come Buddhist! Come Christian! Let us transcend all barriers, let us forsake forever all smallness, all lies, all selfishness and let us call brothers as brothers. We shall quarrel no more.
  — 
  In another article entitled Hindu Mussalman, published in Ganabani on 2 September 1922, he wrote that the religious quarrels were between priests and Imams and not between individual Muslims and Hindus. He wrote that the Prophets had become property like cattle but they should instead be treated like a light that is for all men.
  Nazrul criticized religious fanaticism, denouncing it as evil and inherently irreligious. He wrote about human equality in his writings. He also explored the philosophy of the Qur'an and Muhammad by writing about them. Nazrul has been compared to William Butler Yeats by Serajul Islam Choudhury, Bengali literary critic and professor emeritus at the University of Dhaka, for being the first Muslim poet to create imagery and symbolism of Muslim historical figures such as Qasim ibn Hasan, Ali, Umar, Kamal Pasha, and Muhammad. His condemnation of extremism and mistreatment of women provoked condemnation from Muslim and Hindu fundamentalists who opposed his liberal views on religion.
  Nazrul's mother died in 1928, and his second son, Bulbul, died of smallpox the following year. His first son, Krishna Mohammad, had died prematurely. Pramila gave birth to two more sons – Sabyasachi in 1928 and Aniruddha in 1931 – but Nazrul remained grief-stricken and aggrieved for a long time. His works changed significantly from the rebellious exploration of society to a deeper examination of religious themes. His works in these years led Islamic devotional songs into the mainstream of Bengali folk music, exploring the Islamic practices of namaz (prayer), roza (fasting), hajj (pilgrimage), and zakat (charity). He wrote the song "O Mon Romzaner Oi Rozar Sheshe" on fasting during Ramadan. This was regarded by his contemporaries as a significant achievement, as Bengali Muslims had been strongly averse to devotional music.
  Nazrul was not limited to Islamic devotional music but also wrote Hindu devotional music. He composed Agamanis, Bhajans, Shyama sangeet, and kirtan. Nazrul wrote over 500 Hindu devotional songs. Nazrul's poetry and songs explored the philosophy of Islam and Hinduism. Nazrul's poetry imbibed the passion and creativity of Shakti, which is identified as the Brahman, the personification of primordial energy. He also composed many songs of invocation to Lord Shiva and the goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati and on the love of Radha and Krishna. Nazrul was an exponent of humanism. Although a Muslim, he named his sons with both Hindu and Muslim names: Krishna Mohammad, Arindam Khaled (Bulbul), Kazi Sabyasachi and Kazi Aniruddha.
caption: Nazrul in Sitakunda, Chittagong District in 1929.[67]
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