Abney Golam Samad

Abney Golam Samad (29 December 1929 – 15 August 2021) () was a Bangladeshi academic, scholar, writer, columnist and public intellectual. His writings and speeches contained deep analyses of national and international society, politics, culture and literature. He was also a professor in the Department of Botany at the University of Rajshahi.

Education

In 1948, Samad completed his B. Course from Shiksha Sangha Bishnupur in West Bengal, which was equivalent to secondary education at the time. He then completed his higher secondary education from Rajshahi College in 1949. After graduating in agriculture from Tejgaon Agricultural Institute, he went abroad to research plant pathology. He spent four years researching plant viruses in France and earned a PhD from the University of Poitiers.

Career

Samad returned to Bangladesh in 1963 and joined the University of Rajshahi as a faculty member on 11 November 1965. During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, he moved to Kolkata, where he edited the newspaper The Jai Bangla, which served as the mouthpiece of the provisional government of Bangladesh. After independence, he returned to Bangladesh in February 1972 and rejoined the University of Rajshahi. He retired from teaching in 1995.

Personal life

Samad's father, Mohammad Yasin, was a station master. His mother was Neshiran Nesa. His elder sister was Daulatunnesa Khatun, a prominent Bangladeshi writer and social worker.

Samad married twice. While in France, he married Francine Dourdain, with whom he had two sons and one daughter. He brought her to Bangladesh, but she returned to France before 1971 and later died there. His children from this marriage do not reside in Bangladesh. His second wife, Jahanara Samad, lived with their two sons—Shahriar Samad and Al Fattah Samad—and one daughter, Ayesha Samad, at their residence in Rajshahi until his death.

Writing

Samad was widely known in Bangladesh as a columnist. He published approximately 100 research articles and around 15 books in Bangladesh and abroad. He primarily wrote on politics and social policy. He worked as a regular columnist for Daily Inqilab, Naya Diganta and Amar Desh for many years.

His writings reflected free-thinking. In one piece, he wrote: He also wrote about Indian national anthems: "Many are unaware that India has two national anthems. One is 'Jana Gana Mana' written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore, and the other is 'Vande Mataram' by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Vande Mataram has 26 lines, of which twenty are in Sanskrit and only six in Bengali. It is from Bankim Chandra's novel Anandamath. The song compares the motherland to Goddess Durga. Bankim Chandra did not set any tune to it. Rabindranath composed the first stanza and sang it at the Indian National Congress session in Kolkata in 1896. The first stanza has been sung to his tune ever since. On 24 January 1950, the Constituent Assembly adopted Tagore's 'Jana Gana Mana' and the first stanza of Vande Mataram as India's national anthems."

Regarding Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's autobiography, he commented: "Sheikh Mujib's 'The Unfinished Memoirs' seems to be a work of multifaceted importance. It reflects Sheikh Mujib's political philosophy. Now, the leftist intellectuals within the Awami League are trying to prove that the Pakistan movement was an imperialist conspiracy. But Sheikh Mujib said something entirely different in his autobiography. He wrote, 'I became deeply involved in politics. I attended meetings and gave speeches. I no longer paid attention to sports. I only focused on the Muslim League and the Student League—Pakistan must be achieved, otherwise there is no way for Muslims to survive.' Progressive intellectuals of the Awami League claim that Sheikh Mujib believed in pure Bengali nationalism. But Sheikh Mujib said in his autobiography, 'We Bengalis have two aspects: one is that we are Muslims, and the other is that we are Bengalis.' That is, Sheikh Mujib had a sense of Muslim distinctiveness, along with Bengali identity."

Books

Despite being a botany student, he wrote a book on art history that was part of the university curriculum in the 1970s. In addition to column writing, he wrote several books for school, college and university syllabi. Some of his notable books include:

• Bangladesher Adibashi Ebong Jati O Upajati (Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Groups of Bangladesh) – Parilekh Prakashani
• Atmapokkho (Self-Defense) – Abishkar Publication
• Atmaparichayer Sandhane (In Search of Identity) – Parilekh Prakashani
• Bangladesh: Samaj Sanskriti Rajniti Pratikriya (Bangladesh: Society, Culture, Politics and Reaction) – Parilekh Prakashani
• Manush O Tar Shilpakala (Man and His Art) – Magnum Opus
• Nrittattwer Pratham Path (First Lesson in Anthropology) – Anannya
• Prathamik Jibanutattwa (Elementary Biology) – Anannya
• Bayan Theke Ekattor (Fifty-Two to Seventy-One) – Parilekh Prakashani (2017)
• Amader Rajnoitik Chinta Chetana Arakhan Sangkot (Our Political Thought and the Arakan Crisis) – Parilekh Prakashani (2018)
• Islami Shilpakala (Islamic Art) – Bangla Academy (1978)
• Shilpakalar Itikatha (Story of Art) – Samakal Prakashani (1960)
• Bangladeshe Islam (Islam in Bangladesh)
• Bartaman Biswa O Marksbad (The Contemporary World and Marxism)
• Bangladesher Manush O Itihas (The People and History of Bangladesh)
• Udbhid Rogtattwa (Plant Pathology) – Bangla Academy
• Jibanutattwa (Biology) – Bangla Academy
• Udbhid Samikkha (Plant Survey)
• Nrittattwa (Anthropology) – Bangla Academy (1967)
• Ebne Golam Samad Rachanasamagra (Collected Works of Ebne Golam Samad), Volumes 1–3 – Parilekh Publication ()

Awards and honors

• Farrukh Memorial Award, Chittagong (2009)

Critical response

Poet and researcher Musa Al Hafiz said of him:

Death

Samad died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital on 15 August 2021, at 10:40 am. He had been suffering from various health issues for a long time.

Bibliography

• Ebne Golam Samader Sanskritik Sofor – Fahmid-ur Rahman, "Barendra Publication" (2025)
• Bohumatrik Ebne Golam Samad – Shahadat Sarkar (editor), "Ebne Golam Samad Research Center Publication"