Al Mahmud to be laid to rest in his hometown on Sunday
The poet’s first janaza was held on the National Press Club premises and the second one at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque after Zohr prayers
Al Mahmud, one of the major poets of modern Bangla literature who died on Friday night, will be laid to rest in his hometown of Brahmanbaria, on Sunday afternoon.
“We are taking my father’s body to Brahmanbaria, where he will be buried at a graveyard in Dakkhin Morail after Zohr prayers on Sunday,” Mahmud’s son Mir Sharif Mahmud told UNB around 5pm on Saturday.
Before the burial, he said the poet’s third and final namaz-e-janaza will be held at Brahmanbaria’s Niaz Mohammad High School field.
Sharif said they had wanted to bury his father either near National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam’s grave, or at the Martyred Intellectuals Graveyard in Mirpur, Dhaka.
“As we did not get the permission to fulfil our desire, we have decided to bury him in our family graveyard,” he added.
Mir Abdus Shukur Al Mahmud, popularly known as Al Mahmud, one of the seminal writers of Bangla literature, who passed away on Friday at 11:05pm at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Ibn Sina Hospital in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area, at the age of 82.
His body was taken to the Bangla Academy premises on Saturday morning and was kept at the Nazrul Mancha for a while, allowing people from all walks of life to pay their last tributes to him.
The poet’s first janaza was held on the National Press Club premises and the second one at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque after Zohr prayers.
Also Read- Poet Al Mahmud dies at 82
After the second janaza, his body was taken to his residence in Dhaka’s Moghbazar area, before being taken to Brahmanbaria.
Al Mahmud was hospitalized on February 9 and was being treated under the supervision of Dr Abdul Hye. He had been suffering from multiple old-age complications for a long time.
He was born in 1936, in Morail village of Brahmanbaria, where he spent his childhood and secondary education days at this village adjacent to Brahmanbaria town.
He is considered to be one of the finest Bangali poets to have emerged in the 20th century, as his work in Bangla poetry was dominated by his frequent use of regional dialects.
Mahmud is also considered to be one of the finest novelists, short story writers, and essayists in the country, who authored over 50 books in over six decades.
He shot to fame with his masterpiece poems, ‘Lok Lokantor’ and ‘Sonali Kabin’.
In the 1950s, he was among those Bangali poets who were outspoken in their writing on such subjects as the events of the Language Movement, nationalism, political and economic repression, and the struggle against the West Pakistani government.
Mahmud started his career as a journalist and obtained widespread recognition after ‘Lok Lokantor’ was published in 1963.
In 1975, he joined the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy as an assistant director and retired from the academy as its director in 1993.
Al Mahmud was honoured with the Ekushey Padak, the Bangla Academy Award, and the Kabi Jasim Uddin Award in recognition of his contributions to Bangla literature.