Bangladesh's centuries-old capital houses early Muslim architecture

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Bangladesh's poorly studied early Muslim architecture is a means for connecting with Islamic heritage and history on the Indian subcontinent.

The old part of the capital Dhaka contains a number of ancient Muslim architectural sites, according to archeologists and historians.

People in the city and those who come to visit it recall their ancestors’ history, culture and techniques of constructing buildings which are still standing after hundreds of years.

The International Day of Islamic Art was proclaimed at the 40th session of the UNESCO General Conference in 2019 and is marked on Nov. 18 every year with the purpose of raising awareness of past and contemporary artistic expressions of Islam and the contribution of culture through Islamic art to civilization.

A K M Shahnewaz, a professor in the Department of Archaeology at Jahangirnagar University, told Anadolu Agency that the oldest structures in Dhaka indicate how old the city is and hold archeological value in terms of revealing the history of Dhaka township.

“Dhaka is the oldest among the old cities in South Asian countries. Muslim structures revealed that Dhaka evolved as a city 200 years before the Mughals came to dominate the Bengal region in 1610,” he said.

The renowned historian and archeologist said that Mirza Nathan, a Mughal general in Bengal, wrote a book that is an important source of the history of Bengal in the region and the Mughal reign. It said the Mughals had found an old fort that had been built before they gained a foothold in Dhaka for the first time.

“The Mughals reconstructed it and used it," the book said. It means that architecture was present before the Mughals came in 1610. The Binat Bibi Mosque, the oldest structure in Old Dhaka, is dated 1456-57 and was built by Bakht Binat.

The 600-year-old mosque in Old Dhaka is a testament to the city life that emerged and the presence of a Muslim community before the Mughals came. The mosque was established during the sultanate of Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah I before the Mughal period.

- Reconstruction of Dhaka city in Muslim hands

The Nawab of Dhaka, the title of the biggest Muslim landholder, during the British colonial era in Bengal, however, reconstructed Dhaka.

Ahsan Manzil Museum in Old Dhaka is their signature work along the banks of the city’s main Buriganga River. Hundreds of visitors come daily to visit the eye-catching structure of the Muslim work during the British colonial period.

Mutasim Billah, a lecturer in the department of archaeology at Comilla University and co-author of an article titled “Reconstruction of Dhaka City in the 18th century by the Nawab family in the light of Islamic civilization,” shared with Anadolu Agency how Muslim Nawabs reshaped Dhaka.

The Nawab family, who came to Bengal from Kashmir, worked for the Muslims who felt left behind in the British colonial era.

“The Nawab family brought electricity to Dhaka for the first time. They also arranged drinking water facilities for the city’s residents and established engineering schools, hospitals, a library and a new city waste management system.

"They also published the first English newspaper and helped establish the country's first university, the University of Dhaka,” he said.

AKM Khademul Haque, a professor at the department of Islamic history and culture at the University of Dhaka, told Anadolu Agency that “old Muslim architecture is the source of the country’s history."

“We learned that farmers and marginalized groups accepted Islam during the independent and Mughal periods due to the humane treatment of Muslim rulers,” he said.

Mosques also played a significant role in religious migration. There were settlements surrounding those mosque structures, he added.

“We found separate rooms on the second floor of so many mosques and suspected that those were used as Muslim women’s prayer rooms. If so, it paints a new picture of Muslim women hundreds of years ago which we mostly don’t find in today’s mosques.”

Therefore, the conservation of these old Muslim structures is of utmost importance to keep history alive, he added.

Bangladesh’s Department of Archeology, however, has limited manpower for conservation work and their efforts are not sufficient in the field of archeological research, said Shahnewaz, who also works with the department.