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{{short description|Bangladeshi poet and author}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Humayun Azad
| image = File:Humayun Azad with fellow graduate-mates (cropped).jpg
| caption = Azad on his [[convocation ceremony]] of [[Dhaka University]], 8 March 1970
| native_name = হুমায়ুন আজাদ
| native_name_lang = bn
| birth_name = Humayun Kabir
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1947|4|28}}
| birth_place = [[Bikrampur]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]<br/>(now in [[Munshiganj District]], [[Bangladesh]])
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2004|08|12|1947|04|28}}
| death_place = [[Munich]], Germany
| resting_place = [[Munshiganj]]
| occupation = poet, novelist, linguist, critic, columnist, professor
| language = Bengali, English
| nationality = Bangladeshi
| education = PhD (linguistics)
| alma_mater = [[University of Dhaka]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Master of Arts|MA]])<br>[[University of Edinburgh]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
| genre =
| notableworks = ''Laal Neel Deepabali''<br/>''[[Chhappanno Hajar Borgomail]]''
| spouse = {{marriage|Latifa Kohinoor|1975}}
| awards = [[Bangla Academy Literary Award]]<br/>[[Ekushey Padak]]
}}

'''Humayun Azad''' (born '''Humayun Kabir'''; 28 April 1947 – 12 August 2004) was a Bangladeshi poet, novelist, short-story writer, critic, linguist, columnist and professor of [[Dhaka University]]. He wrote more than sixty titles.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} He was awarded the [[Bangla Academy Literary Award]] in 1986 for his contributions to Bengali linguistics.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-07-27|script-title=bn:পুরস্কারপ্রাপ্ত লেখক তালিকা – বাংলা একাডেমি|url=https://banglaacademy.org.bd/?page_id=1315|access-date=2021-06-16|website=Bangla Academy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727183141/https://banglaacademy.org.bd/?page_id=1315|archive-date=27 July 2020|language=bn}}</ref> In 2012, the [[Government of Bangladesh]] honored him with [[Ekushey Padak]] posthumously for his contributions to [[Bengali literature]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2012/02/09/humayun-azad-to-get-ekushey-padak|title=Humayun Azad to get Ekushey Padak |work=[[Bdnews24.com]] |date=9 February 2012 |access-date=3 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=20 February 2012|title=15 personalities receive Ekushey Padak|url=http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2012/02/20/15-personalities-receive-ekushey-padak|newspaper=[[Bdnews24.com]]|access-date=20 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=আলমগীর |first=মহিউদ্দিন |date=2022-04-14 |title=হুমায়ুন আজাদ: ধর্মীয় গোঁড়ামির বিরুদ্ধে প্রতিবাদী কণ্ঠস্বর |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/bangla/%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A6/%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B6/%E0%A6%B9%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BC%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%A8-%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%9C%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A6-%E0%A6%A7%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%80%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BC-%E0%A6%97%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%81%E0%A6%A1%E0%A6%BC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A7%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%80-%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%A3%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A0%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%B0-337096 |access-date=2022-04-14 |website=The Daily Star Bangla |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Azad was born as Humayun Kabir on 28 April 1947 in Rarhikhal village in [[Bikrampur]] which village is now under the [[Sreenagar Upazila|Sreenagar sub-district]] of [[Munshiganj District|Munshiganj district]].<ref name=bpedia>{{cite book |last=Islam |first=Sirajul |year=2012 |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]|chapter=Azad, Humayun|chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Azad,_Humayun|editor2-first=Muhammad |editor2-last=Islam}}</ref> Notable scientist [[Jagadish Chandra Bose]] was born in the same village.<ref name=truncated>{{cite news |last1=Zaman |first1=Mustafa |last2=Hussain |first2=Ahmede |date=1 September 2004 |title=A Truncated Life |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/magazine/2004/09/01/cover.htm|newspaper=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]]|access-date=23 November 2022}}</ref> He passed the secondary examination from Sir Jagadish Chandra Basu Institute in 1962 and higher secondary examination from [[Dhaka College]] in 1964. He earned BA and MA degrees in [[Bengali language]] and literature from the [[University of Dhaka]] in 1967 and 1968 respectively. He obtained his PhD in [[linguistics]] submitting his thesis titled "Pronominalisation in Bangla" from the [[University of Edinburgh]] in 1976.<ref name=bpedia/><ref name=truncated/><ref>{{cite thesis |last=Kabir |first=H. |year=1976 |title=Pronominalization in Bengali |type=PhD |publisher=University of Edinburgh |hdl=1842/17313 }}</ref> Azad changed his surname from Kabir to Azad on 28 September 1988 by the magistrate of [[Narayanganj District]].<ref name=bpedia/>

==Career==
Azad started his career in 1969 by joining the [[Chittagong College]].<ref name="bpedia" /> He joined the [[University of Chittagong]] as a lecturer on 11 February 1970 and [[Jahangirnagar University]] in 1972.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} He was appointed as an associate professor of Bengali at the University of Dhaka on 1 November 1978 and got promoted to the post of professor in 1986.<ref name=bpedia/>

==Literary works==
{{expand section|date=March 2021}}
Azad's first published book was about collection of poems written by himself (written from 1960s decade to 1972), the book was titled as ''[[Alaukik Istimar]]'' ({{lit|Unearthly steamer}}), this was published in 1973, in which year he went to [[Scotland]] for studying [[Ph.D]] in [[Linguistics]] from [[University of Edinburgh]]. He wrote a short-story in 1979 called ''Onoboroto Tusharpat'' ({{lit|Heavy snowing}}) which was inspired from his newly-wed life with his Dhaka University class-mate Latifa Kohinoor, he took Latifa Scotland after the marriage in 1975, in Britain one day among heavy snowing Azad was driving a car with his wife which became the main plot of the short story;{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} so many years later Azad included this short-story in his 1996 book ''Jadukorer Mrityu'' ({{lit.|Death of the magician}}) which book is the collection of his own-written five short-stories.

Towards the end of the 1980s, he started to write newspaper column focusing on contemporary sociopolitical issues. His commentaries continued throughout the 1990s and were later published as books as they grew in numbers. Through his writings of the 1990s and early 2000s he established himself as a novelist.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ntvbd.com/arts-and-literature/17418/%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A8-%E0%A6%9B%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%B2-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B6--%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%8C%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BF-%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%9C%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A6 |script-title=bn:বাবার স্বপ্ন ছিল সেক্যুলার বাংলাদেশ : মৌলি আজাদ |work=[[NTV (Bangladeshi TV channel)|NTV (Bangladesh)]] |date=12 August 2015 |language=bn |access-date=15 August 2022}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=December 2022}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2016/02/28/humayun-azad-case-trial-in-limbo-12-years-on|title=Humayun Azad case trial in limbo 12 years on |work=[[Bdnews24.com]] |date=28 February 2016 |access-date=15 August 2022}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=March 2021}}

In 1992 Azad published the first comprehensive feminist book in Bengali titled ''[[Naree]]'' ({{lang-en|Woman}}). ''Naree'' received both positive and negative reviews as a treatise, it was considered the first full-fledged feminist book after the independence of Bangladesh.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/what-is-feminism-42091|title=What is Feminism|newspaper=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]]|author=Nooha Sabanta Maula|date=18 September 2022}}</ref><ref name="Words"/> In this work Azad mentioned the pro-women contributions of the [[British Raj|British India]]'s two famous Bengali socio-political reformers: [[Raja Rammohan Roy]] and [[Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar]], he criticized [[Rabindranath Tagore]], a famous Bengali poet and Nobel laureate, and [[Bankim Chandra Chatterjee]], a famous Bengali novelist of the 19th century. The work, critical of the patriarchal and male-chauvinistic attitude of society towards women, attracted negative reactions from many Bangladeshi readers. The Government of Bangladesh banned the book in 1995. The ban was eventually lifted in 2000, following a legal battle that Azad won in the [[Supreme Court of Bangladesh|High Court]] of the country.<ref name="Words">{{cite news |last=Ahsan |first=Syed Badrul |author-link=Syed Badrul Ahsan |date=2 March 2013 |title=Words that have made a difference |newspaper=The Daily Star |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=270984 |access-date=2013-06-21}}</ref>

In the year of 1994 he published his first novel which was titled as ''[[Chhappanno Hajar Borgomail]]'' ({{lit|Fifty-six thousand square-miles, the area of Bangladesh}}); the novel was about military rule in Bangladesh in 1980s decade. He got special recognition for his second novel ''[[Sab Kichu Bhene Pare]]'' (1995) which was based on [[interpersonal relationship]] of Bangladeshi society. He wrote ''Ekti Khuner Svapna'' ({{lit|Dreaming of a murder}}), an [[unrequited love]]-based novel where the main male protagonist lives in [[Salimullah Muslim Hall]] of [[Dhaka University]] where Azad lived during his student life, it was Azad's last novel published in 2004 in which year he died. Other important novels are ''Kobi Othoba Dondito Aupurush'' ({{lit|The poet or the condemned eunuch}}) and ''[[Nijer Shonge Nijer Jiboner Modhu]]'' ({{lit|The honey of one's life with himself}}), the first was based on a fictitious late 20th century Bangladeshi male poet's life who is castrated after involving in [[live-in relationship]] with a much younger woman and the latter was inspired by Humayun Azad's own rural life when he was a teen-aged boy. Another noted novel written by Azad was ''Fali Fali Kore Kata Chand'' ({{lit|The split moon}}), where the main female protagonist character Shirin is an educated young woman with self-boastfulness, she engages in adultery, leaves her husband and becomes misandrist.{{Citation needed|date= March 2022}}

Azad also wrote teen-age literature, among them, the discourse-book ''Laal Neel Deepabali'' is noted, this book was written for teen-aged boys and girls as Azad's aim was to teach Bangladeshi adolescent boys and girls about the [[history of Bengali literature]] in short.{{Citation needed|date= March 2022}}

==Assassination attempt==
On 27 February 2004, near the campus of the University of Dhaka during the annual [[Bangla Academy]] book fair, two assailants, armed with chopper machetes, hacked Azad several times on the jaw, lower part of the neck and hands.<ref name=truncated/> Azad was taken to the nearby [[Dhaka Medical College and Hospital]]. By the order of the then [[Prime Minister of Bangladesh]] [[Khaleda Zia]], Azad was immediately sent to the [[Combined Military Hospital (Dhaka)|Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka]] for better treatment and later to [[Bumrungrad International Hospital]] in Thailand where he recovered.<ref name=truncated/><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/2004/03/07/d40307011212.htm|title=Azad's Health : Family blasts Disinformation|newspaper=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]]|date=2004-03-07|access-date=2017-11-24}}</ref>

Azad had been fearing for his life ever since excerpts of his novel, ''[[Pak Sar Jamin Sad Bad]]'' ({{lit|[[National anthem of Pakistan|Pakistan's national anthem]]; ''Be Blessed the Sacred Land''}}) were first published in ''[[The Daily Ittefaq|The Daily Ittefaq Newspaper]]''{{'}}s Eid supplement in 2003.<ref name=truncated/> In that novel, he indecorously criticised the political ideologies of the Islamic extremists of Bangladesh. After that book had been published, he started receiving various threats from the Islamist fundamentalists.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2010/07/29/sayedee-remanded-in-humayun-azad-case|title=Sayedee remanded in Humayun Azad case |work=[[Bdnews24.com]] |date=29 July 2010 |access-date=3 August 2022}}</ref>

A week prior to Azad's assault, [[Delwar Hossain Sayeedi]], one of the [[Bangladesh parliament|members of parliament of Bangladesh]] said in the parliament, that Azad's political satire ''Pak Sar Jamin Sad Bad'' must be banned; he also wanted infliction of the [[Blasphemy law in Bangladesh|blasphemy law of Bangladesh]] for this kind of book.<ref name=truncated/> In 2006, one of the leaders of the fundamentalist organization [[Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh|Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)]] admitted to the [[Rapid Action Battalion|RAB]] interrogators that his operatives carried out the attack on writer Azad, as well as two other murders, bomb blasts, and [[Mymensingh cinema bombings|2002 attacks on cinemas]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/2006/06/05/d6060501128.htm|title=JMB also killed writer of Tangail, Militant commander confesses in court|author=The Daily Star Newspaper's court correspondent|newspaper=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]]|date=5 June 2006|access-date=3 August 2022}}</ref>

==Death==
[[File:Grave of Humayun Azad 2.jpg|thumb|Grave of Azad at Humayun Azad Complex in Rarhikhal village]]
On 12 August 2004, Azad was found dead in his apartment in [[Munich]], Germany, where he had arrived a week earlier to conduct research on the nineteenth century German romantic poet [[Heinrich Heine]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/367509|title=BD author found dead in Germany|work=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]|date=14 August 2022}}</ref> several months after the Islamists' machete attack on him at a book fair, which had left him grievously injured.<ref>{{cite news|title=Humayun Azad found dead in Munich|url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/2004/08/14/d4081401011.htm|newspaper=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]]|date=14 August 2004 |access-date=8 August 2022}}</ref> His family demanded an investigation, alleging that the extremists who had attempted the earlier assassination had a role in this death.<ref name=bbc>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3561184.stm|title=Top Bangladeshi author found dead|date=2004-08-13 |work=BBC News |access-date=2016-04-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-101061|title=Proper probe into death of Humayun Azad demanded |work=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]] |date=11 August 2009|access-date=3 August 2022}}</ref> While alive, Azad had expressed his wish to donate his body to medical college after his death.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/2004/08/14/d4081401011.htm|title=Humayun Azad found dead in Munich |work=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]] |date=14 August 2004 |access-date=3 August 2022}}</ref> But he was buried in Rarhikhal, his village home in Bangladesh, as doctors denied to take his body for medical research, as several days had passed to reach his body to Bangladesh from Germany.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.ntvbd.com/arts-and-literature/17369/হুমায়ুন-আজাদ-ভেতর-বাহিরে |script-title=bn:হুমায়ুন আজাদ, ভেতর-বাহিরে |access-date=2016-09-07|date=2015-08-12 |work=[[NTV (Bangladeshi TV channel)|NTV (Bangladesh)]] |language=bn}}</ref> The first death anniversary of Azad was observed with respect in Rarhikhal village on Friday, the 12 August 2005.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2005/08/10/1st-death-anniversary-of-prof-dr-humayun-azad-friday|title=1st death anniversary of Prof Dr Humayun Azad Friday |work=[[Bdnews24.com]] |date=10 August 2005 |access-date=3 August 2022}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Azad married Latifa Kohinoor on 12 October 1975 whom he first met 1968 when studying M.A. in Dhaka University.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/2004/02/28/d4022801011.htm|title=Humayun Azad stabbed, fighting for life |work=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]] |date=28 February 2004 |access-date=3 August 2022}}</ref><ref name=truncated/> Together they had two daughters, Smita and Mouli, and one son, Anannya.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/2004/08/14/d4081401011.htm|title=Humayun Azad found dead in Munich|newspaper=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)|The Daily Star]]|date=14 August 2004|access-date=2017-11-24}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
{{Main|Humayun Azad bibliography}}

===Notable books===
{{expand list|date=August 2021}}
*''[[Alaukik Istimar]]'', collection of poems (1973)
*''Koto Nodi Shorobor Ba Bangla Bhashar Jiboni,'' short history of the Bengali Language (1987)
*''Lal Neel Deepabali Ba Bangla Shahitter Jiboni'', short history of Bengali literature (1976)
*''[[Naree]]'', treatise on feminism (1992)
*''[[Chhappanno Hajar Borgomail]]'', (1994), novel on martial law in Bangladesh

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commonscatinline}}
*{{IMDb name|9127047}}
*{{Banglapedia}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Azad, Humayun}}
[[Category:Humayun Azad| ]]
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:Bengali writers]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi male writers]]
[[Category:Bengali poets]]
[[Category:Bengali novelists]]
[[Category:People from Bikrampur]]
[[Category:Dhaka College alumni]]
[[Category:University of Dhaka alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:University of Chittagong faculty]]
[[Category:Jahangirnagar University faculty]]
[[Category:University of Dhaka faculty]]
[[Category:Linguists from Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Bengali-language writers]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi male poets]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi male novelists]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi feminist writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Bangladeshi poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Bangladeshi writers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Ekushey Padak]]
[[Category:Recipients of Bangla Academy Award]]
[[Category:20th-century linguists]]

Humayun Azad - Revision history

Bot at 22:12, 26 October 2022