Born to late Al-haj Dr. Nawab Danish Muhammad and late Zaheda Begum, on October 30, 1933, at Cinnamora, Jorhat, Dr. Nawab Md. Rafique was the eldest of the seven siblings. He matriculated from Jorhat Government High School in 1951 and did his MBBS from AMC, Dibrugarh in 1959. After a decade of private laboratory practice at Jorhat, he joined the Assam Agricultural University as a medical officer in 1970. There he spent the next twenty-six years of the most productive and defining phase of his life.
Notwithstanding the fact that he composed few songs and won the All Assam Best Singer Award twice, while at AMC, it was here that his musical genius flourished with some priceless lyrics and their tunes produced by him one-after-another. Once recognized by the AIR, Dibrugarh in 1986, his songs became instant hits with some eminent singers lending their voices. He carried it forward even after retirement in 1996, till his illness in 2016. 'MADHUMALATI'- a precious compilation of over a hundred songs is a testimony to his poetic versatility.
A humanist to the core, he was actively involved in numerous welfare and cultural activities both at the AAU and outside. The proverbial 'man-in-need', both in distress and merriment, private or public, he was God-fearing, liberal, rational and progressive. Gardening and Yoga nourished his vitality.
He breathed his last on September 27, 2020, leaving behind his wife, two sons, one daughter besides three brothers and a sister. Today, on the tenth day of his demise, I pray to the Almighty to grant my eldest brother, eternal peace and happiness.
– NMD Hasan
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