In 2007, Arifur Rahman starts drawing for a Bangladeshi satirical magazine called Alpin. It was a fun supplementary publication of a Bangladeshi newspaper.
In Alpin one of his cartoons that made a joke about adding “Mohammad” to the beginning of a person’s name. The cartoon culminates in a young boy introducing his cat as “Mohammad Cat.” The cartoon, which was published during the Islamic holiday of Ramadan, ignited protests across Bangladesh and led to Arifur Rahman’s arrest.
On the 18th of September, Alpin was banned permanently and the editor of Alpin suspended. Bangladeshi Newspapers editors decided that they will never be published his cartoon in the future. In prison, Arifur Rahman wishes that when he will be free then he will start a magazine like Alpin. After six months and two days in prison for “hurting religious sentiments,” he was freed but found himself unable to publish his work.
One year later some newspaper published his cartoon but all of them published anonymously. Arifur Rahman wasn’t happy to publish his cartoon anonymously. He always wishes to publish his cartoon by his own name. So, he tried to start a printed cartoon magazine but had not enough money. Then he decided to publish on the internet, a cheap and easy way to get a global audience. In 2009 he started “Toons Mag online cartoon Magazine”, the first cartoon magazine on the Internet. Up till now published in five different languages.
