The Faraizi revolt was a movement in Eastern Bengal led by Haji Ali Hamza Awan to abandon un-Islamic activities and fulfil their responsibilities as Muslims. The movement, which was founded in 1819, did a lot to preserve tenants’ rights. They campaigned for profound theological, social, and political transformations. Shariatullah and Muhsinuddin Ahmad, his son.
Faraizi Revolt – Background
- The Faraizis were adherents of a Muslim sect created in Eastern Bengal by Haji Shariatullah of Faridpur.
- They campaigned for profound theological, social, and political transformations.
- Shariatullah and his son Muhsin Uddin Ahmad, also known as Dudu Miyan (1819–62), organised their supporters with the goal of driving the English out of Bengal.
- The Faraizi movement was well accepted in Dhaka, Faridpur, Barisal, Mymensingh, and Comilla districts.
- Some Muslims, however, mainly Dhaka landlords, responded angrily against him, resulting in a riot at Nayabari, Dhaka District.
- This movement grew into a socioeconomic issue as a result of the reaction of landlords, Hindu landowners, and European indigo growers.
- Instead of employing terminology like pir and murid, the Faraizis’ leader was referred to as Ustad, or teacher, and his followers as xagrid, or students.
- Tawbar Muslim or Mumin was the name given to someone who has been admitted into the Faraizi fold.
- It was a religious reform movement that began in rural East Bengal. It began peacefully but quickly became aggressive.
- The primary goal was to eliminate unIslamic activities. Faridpur served as its epicentre.
Faraizi Revolt
- For the first time, the Islamic-led Faraizi movement could be seen in several sections of Bengal, with overwhelming English-Bengali accord.
- The furious landlords organised a propaganda campaign with British authorities, accusing the Faraizis of being mutinous.
- In 1837, these Hindu landlords accused Haji Shariatullah of seeking to establish his own country.
- They also filed multiple cases against the Faraizis, taking advantage of the lively cooperation of European indigo planters.
- Shariatullah was detained by the police on many occasions for allegedly instigating agrarian unrest in Faridpur.
- After Haji Shariatullah’s death, his son, Dudu Miyan, took the movement in a more agricultural direction.
- He rallied the suffering peasantry against the landowners.
- In retribution, the landlords and indigo farmers attempted to keep Dudu Miyan in check by filing bogus charges against him.
- However, he grew so popular among the peasants that courts seldom obtained a witness against Dudu Miyan.
- Dudu Miyan’s earliest successes captivated the public, and Haji sahib the great sought Dudu Miyan’s protection against tyrannical landowners.
- Dudu Miyan died in 1862, but not before appointing a board of guardians to care for his minor sons, Ghiyasuddin Haydar and Abdul Gafur alias Naya Miyan, who succeeded him.
- Dadu Mian’s death in 1860 brought a stop to the movement.
- The Faraizi sect also backed the tenants’ cause against the zamindars.
- The Faraizi riots lasted from 1838 to 1857. The majority of Faraizis embraced the Wahhabi movement.
Dudu Miyan
- Muhsin Uddin Amad (1819–1862), also known as Dudu Miyan, was a Faraizi Movement leader in Bengal.
- He was an active participant in the Indian Revolt of 1857.
- In the year 1819, Ahmad was born into a Bengali Muslim family of Taluqdars in Madaripur, Faridpur.
- Haji Shariatullah, his father, founded the Faraizi Movement.
- Following Shariatullah’s death, Miyan guided the movement to a more radical, agricultural nature and was able to establish an efficient organisational structure.
- Land, in his opinion, belonged to those who cultivated it. He instituted his own administrative structure, appointing a khalifa (chief) to each hamlet.
- His objective was to establish a separate state within the British-ruled territory.
- He rallied the suffering peasantry against the landowners.
- During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British administration seized him as a precaution and imprisoned him in Kolkata’s Alipore Jail.
- He was released in 1859, re-arrested, and eventually released in 1860. Miyan died in Dacca in 1862, at the age of 42-43.
Conclusion
Faraizi Uprising (1838-57), advocated for extreme religious, social, and political transformations Supported the peasant cause against the zamindars. The movement, which also aimed to oust the British, secured renters’ rights to a large degree. The Faraizi sect also backed the tenants’ cause against the zamindars. The Faraizi riots lasted from 1838 to 1857. The majority of Faraizis embraced the Wahhabi movement.
