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Rahim, (Sir) Abdur (1867-1952) Jurist, scholar and politician.
Born in a
zamindar family of Midnapur district
Abdur Rahim received his early education in Midnapur and then
joined presidency
college, Calcutta. On the completion of his post-graduate
studies in English Literature he went to London and joined the
Middle Temple for the Bar-at-Law degree and was called to the
Bar in 1890. Abdur Rahim quickly established himself as a lawyer
in Muslim and Criminal Law. He was appointed as Deputy Legal Remembrancer
and later held the post of the Presidency Magistrate for three
years (1900-1903) before he resumed his High Court practice in
1904.
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Abdur Rahim |
Abdur Rahim did extensive research on Muslim jurisprudence.
He studid the original texts of Sharia Law and became an acknowledged
authority on Muslim Law and also on Criminal Law. His erudition in Muslim
jurisprudence earned him the prestigious position of the Tagore Law Lecturer
at Calcutta University. The depth and originality of his lectures, which
were later published in a book form in 1911, made him a notable figure
among scholarly and juristic personalities. He was made a Judge of the
Madras High Court in 1908. Justice Rahim was the officiating Chief Justice
of the Madras High Court once in 1916 and again in 1919. While in Madras
he was for many years a Senate and Syndicate member of Madras University.
He was invited to deliver the Convocation Addresses at Madras University
(1910) of which he was a Fellow. He gave the Convocation Address at the
Mysore University in 1919. He was a trustee of Aligarh University and
a patron of the Madras Muhammadan Educational Association. Rahim was knighted
in 1919 and honoured again with KCSI in 1925.
Abdur Rahim resigned from the office of Chief Justice
of Madras High court in 1920 and joined the Bengal government as a member
of the governor's Executive Council (1920-25). From 1925 onward Rahim
became increasingly involved in sectarian politics. But despite being
a Muslim leader of great learning and authority he was not able to make
his public life a source of inspiration for activists of the Muslim community.
In the faction-ridden politics of the 1920s and early '30s one may notice
several political groupings amidst the Muslim leadership. Every leader
seemed to have floated one or another group and the main purpose appeared
to be to form ministries.
Abdur Rahim too led a group called bengal
muslim party. In the Council elections of 1926 his group emerged
as the strongest electoral faction. Rahim was thus made a minister in
1927 but he had to resign within a couple of days, because he failed to
enlist majority support in the Council in his favour. He organised a confederate
party, Muslim United Party, in 1928, taking all Muslim groups into its
fold. Its object was to take the question of Muslim representation to
the simon
commission unitedly. Rahim also organised a peasant party called
nikhil banga
praja samiti, the precursor of the praja
party in 1929, and became its first president. He retired from
public life in 1934 when he was made President of the Indian Legislative
Assembly. [Sirajul Islam] |
