Abbas Uddin Ahmed

Abbas Uddin Ahmed (27 October 1901-30 December 1959), popularly known by his first name, was a Bangla  folk singer. He was born at Balarampur in Tufanganj subdivision in the district of Cooch Bihar. His father, Zafar Ali Ahmed, was a lawyer at the Tufanganj Sub-divisional Court.

Abbasuddin's interest in music grew through attendance at cultural functions at school and college. He was self-taught, except for a brief period when he learnt music from Ustad Jamiruddin Khan in Kolkata and Ustad Kader Buksh in Murshidabad. He sang different types of songs such as folk songs, modern songs, patriotic songs, Islamic songs, and Urdu songs. But Abbasuddin became renowned mainly as a singer of folk songs.

Initially, he became famous for bhawaiya, Ksirol, Chatka in Rangpur, and Cooch Bihar. He became increasingly popular with his rendition of Jaari, sari, bhatiyali, murshidi, Bichcheedi, Marsiya, Dehatattwa, and pala gan, especially when these were made into gramophone records. No other singer could surpass his emotional, full-throated rendition of folk songs. He also sang songs on Islamic themes composed by Kazi Nazrul Islam, Jasimuddin and Golam Mostafa.

Abbasuddin wrote an account of his life as a singer in Amar Shilpi Jibaner Katha (1960). For his invaluable contribution to music he was posthumously honoured with the Pride of Performance Award in 1960, Shilpakala Academy Award in 1979 (posthumously) and Swadhinata Dibas Puraskar in 1981 (posthumously). His eldest son, Justice Mustafa Kamal is a former Chief Justice of Bangladesh and former Chairman of the Law Commission. His daughter, Ferdausi Rahman, his youngest son, Mustafa Zaman Abbasi, and his granddaughters, Nashid Kamal and Samira Abbasi, are also renowned singers. His great grand daughter Armeen Musa is also an upcoming artist in Bangla music.

 

Abdul Alim was born in Arkansas in 1945 but grew up in Oakland, California during the 1960s. It was during this period that he associated with H. Rap Brown (Imam Jamil Al-Amin), who later converted to Islam.

While in prison, Musa converted to orthodox Islam. Musa supported the 1979 Iranian revolution, believing that it would lead to the revival of Islam.

In 2011 Musa founded the Islamic Institute of Counter-Zionist American Psychological Warfare, distributing flyers that say "For 30 years, Masjid Al-Islam [Sabiqun's mosque] has been carrying on a direct, face-to-face struggle against the monolithic Zionist American regime... We are an anti-Zionist American psycho-guerrilla warfare movement. We use all available tools found in our environment in exposing the anti-Islamic, anti-human policies of this Zionist American system." The mission is "to counter the concerted efforts of the enemies of Islam to sustain a false characterization of Islam and Muslims as a dangerous threat to global stability and tranquility."