The Faraizi Movement: How Haji Shariatullah Fought Colonial Bengal

Long before the 1947 partition or the 1971 war, a quiet revolution was underway in the villages of 19th-century Bengal. The Faraizi Movement, led by Haji Shariatullah and later his son Dudu Miyan, was a religious and agrarian uprising that sought to purify Islam and defend Bengali peasants from oppression by British indigo planters and Hindu landlords. This episode dives into the movement's origins in the Faridpur district, its distinctive five-point prayer (Faraiz), the clash with the Wahhabi movement, and how it laid the groundwork for later anti-colonial consciousness. We explore Shariatullah's return from Mecca in 1818, the network of village preachers (khalifas), and the 19th-century jute and indigo economy that fueled peasant anger. A story of faith, land, and resistance that reshaped rural Bengal.

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