Tribute paid to educationist Syed Manzoorul Islam at Aparajeyo Bangla

The body of eminent educationist, fiction writer and essayist Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam was brought to Aparajeyo Bangla on the Dhaka University campus around 10:30am today, Saturday.

Later, his body will be taken to the Central Shaheed Minar for people from all walks of life to pay their respects.

At Aparajeyo Bangla, Professor Siddiqur Rahman Khan, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Tazin Aziz Chaudhury, Chairperson of the Department of English, members of the English Alumni Association, the Department of Music, and teachers and students from various departments laid floral tributes to Manzoorul Islam.

The namaz-e-janaza of Manzoorul Islam will be held at the Dhaka University Central Mosque after the Zuhr prayers and he will be buried at the Martyrs’ Intellectuals Graveyard in Mirpur.

Syed Manzoorul Islam, Emeritus Professor of the Department of English at the University of Dhaka, died on Friday while undergoing treatment at LabAid Hospital in the capital.

According to family and colleagues, Professor Manzoorul Islam fell ill on 3 October while on his way to the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) in Dhanmondi.

He became unwell in his car, prompting the driver with the help of a passer-by, to take him to a nearby hospital. On hearing the news, publisher Mazharul Islam and others rushed there, and later he was transferred to LabAid Hospital.

Physicians confirmed that he had suffered a massive heart attack, following which a stent was inserted.

Syed Manzoorul Islam was born on 18 January 1951, in Sylhet city. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Dhaka, and later earned his PhD on Irish poet W. B. Yeats from Queen’s University, Canada.

In his professional life, he taught at the Department of English at the University of Dhaka. After retiring from Dhaka University, he joined the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB).

Syed Manzoorul Islam wrote essays, short stories, and novels. He introduced a new style in Bengali fiction, blending the real and the surreal, where even the simplest of events took on a magical dimension through the touch of magical realism.

His book “Prem o Prarthonar Galpo” (Stories of Love and Prayer) won the Prothom Alo Book of the Year Award for creative literature in 2005 (Bengali year 1411). He received the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1996 and the Ekushey Padak in 2018. He also authored several books on literature and aesthetics.