Mujibur was 13 years old when he married his paternal cousin Fazilatunnesa who was only three and had just lost her parents, so her (and Mujibur’s) grandfather, Sheikh Abdul Hamid, had commanded his son Sheikh Lutfar Rahman to marry his son Mujibur to her. It was 9 years later, in 1942, when Mujibur was 22 years old and Begum Fazilatunnesa was 12 years old that the marriage was consummated. Together they had two daughters—Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana—and three sons—Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal, and Sheikh Rasel. Kamal was an organizer of the Mukti Bahini guerrilla struggle in 1971 and received a wartime commission in the Bangladesh Army during the Liberation War. He was perceived to be the successor to Mujibur. Jamal was trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in Great Britain and later joined the Bangladesh Army as a Commissioned Officer. The Sheikh family was under house arrest during the Bangladesh Liberation War until 17 December, Sheikh Kamal and Jamal found the means to escape and cross over to a liberated zone, where they joined the struggle to free the country. Almost the entire Sheikh family was assassinated on 15 August 1975 during a military coup d’état. Only Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana, who were visiting West Germany, escaped. Mujibur is the maternal grandfather of Tulip Siddiq, British-born Labour politician, and member of parliament for Hampstead and Kilburn since the 2015 UK general election. His nephews Sheikh Helal, Sheikh Selim, Sheikh Jewel, and Abul Hasanat Abdullah are members of parliament in Bangladesh. His grandnephews Sheikh Taposh, Nixon Chowdhury, Liton Chowdhury, Andaleeve Rahman Partho, Sheikh Tonmoy, Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah, and Sheikh Parash are all Bangladeshi politicians. His grandniece, Dipu Moni, is the former Foreign Minister of Bangladesh.
akmtislam
June 12, 2023