Nazrul’s uniqueness in the presentation of poverty and begging: A study from Islamic perspective

Abstract

In present western civilization, poverty and begging have always been neglected at both micro and macro-economic levels. The picture of poverty and, at its extremity, begging is one of the most tragic scenarios across the world. However, in Islamic tenets, begging as a profession and action is discouraged since men are created by Allah as the best of all creations. Though, many literary works dealt with the pathetic pictures of poverty and begging, the literary contribution of Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) dealing with poverty and begging is seemingly a true reflection of Islamic creeds. His picturesque presentation of poverty from his first-hand experience urges rapid steps to alleviate poverty and begging. Above all, his human-centric mental set-up plays the key role here. Therefore, Nazrul is not to be recognized as the proponent of the familiar Western concepts like Socialism or Marxism or Capitalism. This paper aims at exploring how in his literature Nazrul, with diametric discarding of these Western concepts, deals with poverty and begging as a true reflection of Islamic paradigms to find a solution to the problems