Aroj Ali Matubbar

He was born in the village of Charbaria Lamchari, about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Barisal town in British India, currently in Bangladesh.[1] His original name was Aroj Ali, and he only acquired the name 'Matubbar' (meaning 'local landlord') later. He was born to a poor farming family. He studied for only a few months at the village maqtab, however this brief dabble in institutional education centered only on the Quran and other Islam studies. He gathered most of his knowledge on varied subjects, including science and philosophy, through his own readings and research.

Matubbar lost his father at an early age. When he was 12 years old, his inherited property of 2 acres (8,100 m²) of land was auctioned off because, as a minor, he was unable to pay land tax. The landless boy faced an even more critical crisis when a local usurer called him out of his ancestral homestead. Destitute, Matubbar grew up somehow on the charity of others and by working as a farm laborer. Due to his poverty, he could not attend school and had to rely on the free maqtab religious education provided by a local mosque. However he did not accept the rigid methods of learning there, and left it. A kindhearted man helped him finish the Bengali Primers. Persevering as he was, he kept on reading more and more. To satisfy his thirst for knowledge he studied all the Bengali books in Barisal Public Library like a serious student. Philosophy as a subject interested him most, but there were not enough books in the collection there. A teacher of philosophy at the B M College, Kazi Ghulam Quadir, was impressed by his depth of knowledge and understanding, so he helped him borrow books from the college library. This was how his mind was shaped.

Matubbar developed a very progressive approach and wrote against ignorance, superstition, and religious fundamentalism. He came to be considered an iconoclast for writing against established religious ideologies. For example, he questioned Islamic law of inheritance, as he failed to reconcile the suggested mode of sharing of inherited property.

Aroj Ali wrote several books, in spite of his lack of formal schooling. His writings reflect his controversial philosophy about life and the world. He also befriended a number of communist politicians and academics of Barisal town, including Professor Kazi Golam Kadir and Professor Muhammad Shamsul Haque. His books were always in danger of being banned by the government, since they contained certain claims that disagreed with the religious beliefs of the majority. Matubbar was arrested and taken into police custody for his book, Sotyer Shondhaney (The Quest for Truth).[2] He was, in fact, subjected to harassment and threats throughout his life, due to his writings, as many of them challenged religious statements and claims.[2]

Due to financial constraints, Matubbar could not pursue any academic course or attain a formal institutional degree. He lived mostly on subsistence farming. He learned surveying techniques and began his life as a private land surveyor in his locality. This enabled him to accumulate some capital and he could own some land to start farming.

He died on 15 March 1985 (1st Chaitra of the Bengali year 1392 ) in Barisal, Bangladesh. He donated his eyes for transplantation after his death.[1] He donated his body which was received by the Anatomy Department of Sher-e-Bangla Medical College and used for dissection by the medical students. After his death in 1985, Aroj Ali Matubbar came to be regarded as one of the most prolific thinkers that rural Bangladesh ever produced, and an iconoclast who was not afraid of speaking out against entrenched beliefs and superstitions.[2]

Matubbar had to take a lot of trouble in order to publish his books. He himself drew the cover of his first book, which was written in 1952 and published twenty one years later in 1973, under the title Satyer Sandhane. This book gained him a reputation in the locality as a "learned man". In the preface he wrote:

“I was thinking of many things, my mind was full of questions, but haphazardly. I then started jotting down questions, not for writing a book, but only to remember these questions later. Those questions were driving my mind towards an endless ocean and I was gradually drifting away from the fold of religion.”

He made six propositions in this book, which reflected the nature of his philosophical questions. These are:

Proposition 1 : dealt with the soul, containing 8 questions
Proposition 2 : dealt with God, containing as many as 11 questions
Proposition 3 : dealt with the after-world, containing as many as 7 questions
Proposition 4 : dealt with religious matters, containing as many as 22 questions
Proposition 5 : dealt with Nature, containing as many as 10 questions
Proposition 6 : dealt with remaining matters, containing as many as 9 questions

The eight questions he posed in the first proposition exemplify his approach. These are (a) Who am I (self)?, (b) Is Life incorporeal or corporal ? (c) Is mind and his/soul one, and the same? (d) What is the relationship of life with the body and the mind? (e) Can we recognize or identify life? (f) Am I free? (g) Will the soul without body continue to have "knowledge" even after it leaves the body at death? and finally (h) How does life can come into and go out of the body?

He was an unusual type of writer. Because of his rural background, it was not possible on his part to remove the darkness covering his society, but with the dim torch he held, he tried to see the truth, wherever he could, without fear or doubt.[3] In Bangladesh, his writings were censored.[4] Following are his writings:

• Shotter Shondhaney (The Quest for Truth) (1973)
• Sristir Rahasya (The Mystery of Creation) (1977)
• Anuman (Estimation) (1983)
• Muktaman (Free Mind) (1988)

Several of his unpublished manuscripts were later published posthumously under the title of Aroj Ali Matubbar Rachanabali. Some of his writings have been translated into English and compiled in a volume published by Pathak Samabesh.

Matubbar was little known to the elite educated society of the country during his lifetime. His first book, published in 1973, was rich with secular thought but caught little attention. It is only in the final years of life that he came to be known to the enlightened society of the country. His writings were collected and published. People in general started to take an interest in his books, which, although reflecting an untrained mind, posed a number of intriguing questions. He soon rose to eminence, albeit after his death in 1985.

• Life Member of Bangla Academy, inducted in 1985;
• Awarded Humayun Kabir Smriti Puraskar (Humayun Kabir Memorial Prize) in 1978 by the Bangladesh Lekhak Shibir;
• Award of Honour by the Barisal branch of Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigoshthi in 1982.[1]