[2] Meherullah was born in 1861, to a Bengali Muslim family of Munshis in Kaliganj under Jhenaidah subdivision, Jessore District of the Bengal Presidency.
With his vast knowledge of languages and the Quran, he became not only an important figure in his local community but someone who could converse with members of elite households in Dhaka and Calcutta.
During his lifetime, Christian missionaries moved into disaster struck rural parts of Bengal and started conversion of Muslims with the promise of hospitals, food and education.
[citation needed] Abul Ahsan Chaudhuri points out that cycles of epidemics, flooding, famines, had unsettled agricultural ecosystem and the socio-economic infrastructure in Nadia and Jessore.
[4] Meherullah upon returning to Jessore District and with his re-converted disciple Shaikh Jamiruddin adopted oratory method known as bahas[citation needed] (disputation) and sought to refute Christian missionaries.
[3] Also, among his other major contributions, Meherullah strived to teach the Muslim population not to adopt primitive ideas from their neighboring Hindu society, which was opposed to the remarriage of widows.
[1] An obituary in the Mihir-o-Sudhakar written by Sheikh Abdur Rahim, wrote: "The political and religious world of Bengali Muslims is shrouded in great darkness.
[4] Professor Abdul Hai, remarked "Meherullah proved to be the Ram Mohan Roy of the Muslims of Bengal — Roy saved the Hindus from being converted to Christianity in the early nineteenth century and Meherullah saved the Muslims from being proselytized to Christianity in the late Nineteenth century.