Khwaja Ahsanullah

Nawab Khwaja Ahsanullah Nawab of Dhaka
Nawab Khwaja Ahsanullah Khan Bahadur KCIE
Reign	1896 - 1901
Predecessor	Nawab Khwaja Abdul Ghani
Successor	Nawab Khwaja Salimullah
Born	(1846-08-22)22 August 1846 Dacca, Bengal Presidency, British India
Died	16 December 1901(1901-12-16) (aged 55) Dacca, Bengal Presidency, British India
Burial	Begum Bazaar, Dhaka
House	Dhaka Nawab Family
Father	Nawab Khwaja Abdul Ghani
Mother	Ismatun Nesa

Nawab Khwaja Ahsanullah (1846–1901), Khan Bahadur KCIE, was the Nawab of Dhaka. He was a renowned Urdu litterateur.

He was born in 1846 as the son of Khwaja Abdul Ghani and Ismatun Nesa. As a young child he learned Urdu, Arabic and Persian in addition to the Islamic education of Quran, Hadis and Fiqa. He was noted as being a very gifted child, and mastered the religious Islamic doctrine at a very young age. By age 22, he handled the maintenance and expansion of the family estates.

He wrote widely in Urdu under the pen name "Shaheen". Those around him noted that he had a talent for composing spontaneous poetry which generally evoked sunny imagery. Much of his spare time was spent composing literature in Urdu and Persian. He published a book of Urdu poems Kulliyat-e-Shaheen which has been preserved at Dhaka University. He also published his diaries, titled Tariq-e-Kandan-e-Kashmiriya. In 1884, he started an Urdu magazine, Ahsanut Qasas, which was published in Dhaka.

Ahsanullah was a noted philanthropist. He donated over 5 million rupees to various charitable projects. He spent over 50,000 rupees on famine relief in Barisal District, Mymensingh District and Dhaka District in 1896. He also was one of the chief backers for the building of Comilla. Many hospitals were funded and constructed by him, including: the Patuankali Begam Hospital, Lady Dufferin Women's Hospital, and the Mitford Hospital. He also spend 40 thousand rupees on creating an Engineering College in Dhaka, which is now Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.