ibn Abū al-Ḥasan ibn Nadhīr Aḥmad ibn Shākir ʿAlī ibn Ghulām Nabī ibn Kahūlan ibn Muʿīn ad-Dīn ibn ʿAyn ad-Dīn بن أبو الحسن بن نذير أحمد بن شاكر علي بن غلام نبي بن كهولن بن معين الدين بن عين الدين
Muḥammad Junaid, popularly known as Junaid Babunagari (Bengali: জুনায়েদ বাবুনগরী; 8 October 1953 – 19 August 2021), was a Bangladeshi Deobandi Islamic scholar, educator, writer, researcher, Islamic speaker and spiritual figure. He was the Amir of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, Shaykhul Hadith of Darul Uloom Hathazari Madrasa, vice-president of Befaqul Madarisil Arabia Bangladesh, Chairman of Chittagong Noorani Talimul Quran Board and Editor-in-Chief of Monthly Mueenul Islam.
Junaid had three brothers and two sisters. Two of his younger brothers are Shuaib Babunagari, Ustadh of Babunagar Madrasa, and Zubair Babunagari, Muhaddith of Sultanpur Madrasa in Raozan. His sister, Rashidah, is married to Bengali author Abu Jafar Shahadat, former imam of Jamiatul Falah Mosque. His other sister, Mahmuda Khatun, is married to Mawlana Zakariyyah, principal of a madrasa in Madarsha.[5]
Babunagari was then admitted to the Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia in Karachi, Pakistan. He studied advanced Hadith studies for four years under Yusuf Banuri. His thesis was titled Sīrah al-Imām ad-Dārimī wa at-Tarīkh bi-Shaykhihī (Biography of Imam Darimi and the history of his teachers) in 1978.[5]
On 15 November 2020, Babunagari was elected the new Amir of Hefajat-e-Islam Bangladesh, replacing the group's founder, Shah Ahmad Shafi, who had died two month earlier.[6][9]
Controversy
On April 11, 2021, during a press conference, Babunagari claimed that Covid-19 would not spread in madrasas and demanded that these institutions be allowed to remain open during the lockdown. Despite this public stance, Babunagari and several other Hefazat leaders later received their doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. According to a media statement from Hefazat, Babunagari received his vaccine on August 8, 2021, with the intention of easing vaccine concerns among Islamic scholars in the country.[10]
Works
He has written and edited about 30 books in Arabic, Urdu and Bengali, including:[11]
Shab-e Baraat Between Excess and Rejection (বাড়াবাড়ি ছাড়াছাড়ির কবলে শবে বরাত)
Ruling on Beard in Islam (ইসলামে দাড়ির বিধান)
Tawheed and Shirk: Type and Nature (তাওহীদ ও শিরক প্রকার ও প্রকৃতি)
The following books are compiled and edited by the direct supervision and guidance of Babunagari:[12]
Islam vs Contemporary Doctrine (ইসলাম বনাম সমকালীন মতবাদ)
Common Fake Hadith: A Theoretical Analysis (প্রচলিত জাল হাদীস: একটি তাত্ত্বিক আলোচনা)
Babunagari has written one of the prefaces to Al-Kitab al-Budoor al-Mudiyyah fi Tarajim al-Hanafiyyah by Mawlana Hifzur Rahman al-Kumillai.[2]
Death and legacy
After suffering from various diseases of old age including heart disease, kidney and diabetes for a long time, Junaid Babunagari died of a stroke at the age of 67 on 19 August 2021 at CSCR Hospital in Chittagong, Bangladesh.[6][1][13][14] His funeral, held in Hathazari on the grounds of the madrassa where he used to teach, was attended by tens of thousands of people.[15][16]
Junaid Babunagari left behind a wife, one son (Muhammad Salman Babunagari) and five daughters.[1][5]
