Muslim Women’s Forum is a not for profit organisation formed in 2000 by a group of concerned Muslim women and men including Begum Saeeda Khurshid, Dr Sughra Mehdi, Dr Aziz Qureshi and Dr Syeda Hameed. The aim of the Forum is to work for the empowerment, inclusion and education of Muslim women and women from other marginalized communities. The primary function of the Forum is to provide women, a platform for expressing their aspirations and opinions on matters directly affecting their lives. Copyright Muslim Women’s Forum Muslim Women’s Forum 267A, Saiyidain Manzil Jamia Nagar New Delhi 110025 Aziza Fatima Imam 1924-1996 Born in Patna in 1924 to Dr Wali and Khatija Ahmad, she was adopted by Sir Ali and Lady Anis Imam who was Khatija’s own sister. She grew up in service of the community and exposure to enlightened nationalists as much as dignitaries and intellectuals, both Indian and international. This groomed her into a stellar social worker who knew every district of Bihar; also into a cultural ambassador who travelled to many countries as Member of the Rajya Sabha to which she was elected in 1973 and served for over 11 years. Although a very fine exponent of Ghazal, Bhajan and Rabindra Sangeet herself, she assiduously and consistently promoted obscure and unsung talent. In the Parliament it was said that “Begum Imam was sought with deep regard by both the Mantri and the Santri”- given her extraordinary humane approach to public service. 45 Muslim Women’s Forum Jab tak jiyo tum, ilm-o-daanish se raho mehroom yan Aiyee ho jaisi bekhabar, vaisi hi jao bekhabar Jo ilm mardon ke liye samjha gaya Aab e hayaat Thehra tumhare haq mein voh Zehr e halahal sar ba sar Aata hai vaqt insaaf ka, Nazdeek hai yaum ul hisaab Duniya ko dena hoga in Haq talfiyon ka vaan jawaab For as long as you live Remain deprived of learning and education, Ignorant as you have come, go just as ignorant That learning, which for men is considered the elixir of life For you It is poison, bitter, lethal and rife The time for justice draws near The Day of Judgment is nigh The World will have to answer For dispossessing you of your rights. Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali, 1905 Muslim Women’s Forum Muslim Women’s Forum 44 Saeeda Khurshid 1927-2015 Born in Kaimganj, UP, she moved to Delhi when her father Dr Zakir Husain established Jamia Millia Islamia. Her early education was at a local government school in Karol Bagh where Jamia was then located. In 1947 she gave up the burqa and continued her education. She studied as a private student, traveling to Aligarh for her exams. She was an excellent student and gold medalist. She wrote Zakir Sahib ki Kahani Unki Beti ki Zubaani. She was a very private person but stepped out of the house to campaign for the Congress party in several elections. She was the Founder President of the Muslim Women’s Forum in 2000, inspiring the organisation to take the middle ground on issues of Muslim women’s rights. She led the organization to engage with all sections of Muslim society, activists and Ulema to resolve issues internally. Saeeda Khurshid adressing, National Colloquim on Muslim Women’s Rights, New Delhi. From left: Dr. Syeda Hameed, Justice B A Khan, Saeeda Khurshid, Aziz Qureshi 43 Muslim Women’s Forum Muslim Women’s Forum presents Pathbreakers Pathbreakers brings before the world Muslim women who were at the forefront of nationalist and feminist struggles. The main body of their work spanned from 1947 until the end of their lives. They believed in equal rights for women and propagated this belief through their work and their social engagement. As in other communities, pathbreakers among the elite were more visible and known. We are committed to identifying and recognizing pathbreakers from among all sections of society and consider this only a first step. Far from the commonly held impression of silenced, cloistered and acquiescent women, Pathbreakers narrates the stories of strong, determined and engaged women. Muslim Women’s Forum Foreword We are living in times when a multiplicity of labels and stereotypes are constructed in the public domain regarding Muslim women. But the inexorable fact is there is no undifferentiated ‘mass’ of Muslim Women. As women of all socio-cultural groups, they too are a divergent, shifting composition of individuals, often dumped in popular parlance into one single heap. This homogenisation has to be rejected. During and after the independence movement many Muslim Women shed the purdah and became partners in the project to build a new India. They became writers, teachers, artists, scientists, lawyers, educators, political workers, trade unionists. A few became MP’s, MLA’s and some represented India in international fora. With a few exceptions, most of them have been forgotten in time. Despite some progress in post-Independence India due to government policy and civil society action, Muslim women continued to remain largely invisible and generally excluded from mainstream discourses. Their contributions were either unknown or overlooked. Due to many global imperatives there was the myth that women’s struggles for rights are alien to Islamic societies. This notion had to be rejected and the evidence to the contrary had to be placed up front. Pathbreakers was born as an idea to break the stereotyping of Muslim Women as ‘victims’ of their own religion. Muslim women in popular perception are beleaguered by Triple Talaq, multiple marriage, burqa, chulha, chador, chardeevari, halala. As if these were the only issues; human development issues highlighted by the Sachar Committee Report are drowned in this popular objectification. Our research for many such hidden treasures revealed an uncharted history. Hundreds of Muslim women became contenders for being part of this project. Who to take and who to leave was the toughest call. So we took post partition as our starting point and our cut off point the turn of the century. 1 Muslim Women’s Forum India’s independence movement led by Gandhiji was achieved through non-violent efforts, mobilising people, irrespective of their caste and religious identities. Sadly, today people have immersed themselves in the infernos of communal violence and intolerance towards one another. Can anything be worse than this when a country is an embodiment of diversity and cultural mix? Leaders in the country do not shy away from using violent and self- centered means for their personal gains at the cost of the country’s integrity. Thus the world’s largest democracy is at stake. The misuse of personal freedom and cultural domination by powerful people has made common people stray away from their rightful duties as citizens of the country. It is therefore important to initiate a discourse on personal freedom at the earliest. Muslim Women’s Forum Muslim Women’s Forum 42 Mofida Ahmed 1921-2008 Born in Jorhat, Assam, she became actively involved with the Indian National Congress early in life. In the 1957 Lok Sabha elections she was elected Member of Parliament from the Jorhat constituency. She served as Joint Secretary of the Red Cross Society, Jorhat District Mahila Samiti, Tezpur District Mahila Samiti, Jorhat Civil Hospital Advisory Committee and the Jorhat Blind School. Mofida dedicated her life to women’s education as the means for gender equality. She was closely connected with the Jagannath Barooah College and the DCB Girls College. She was also Convener of the Women’s Wing of the Congress at Golaghat. She was Assam’s first woman MP and also one of the first few Muslim women Members of Parliament. Excerpt of Assamese text by Mofida Ahmed with translation 41 Muslim Women’s Forum The women we presented were in public life either through their work, their activism or their writing. None of them wore Burqa; they were all believing and practising Muslims and believed that the dress code of Islam was modesty, and it applied equally to men and women. My own mother, though she is not featured here, removed her burqa in 1947. From this churning was born Pathbreakers: The Twentieth Century Muslim Women of India, a concept which featured 21 women who broke barriers and became partners with men in building the post Independence nation. Many people want to know what made me dream of this project for Muslim Women’s Forum? It was a small incident; but small incidents lead to big outcomes. I am the custodian of my mother’s library. Her Urdu collection which I had got bound in red covers 40 years ago is lined in my bookshelves. One day while I was browsing through the shelves, a volume almost jumped into my hands. It was a novel with the first three pages missing. The Foreword had survived which was signed by Maulvi Abdul Haq, the most respected name in Urdu literature. The Maulana had written glowing praises of the author, Tyaba Begum alias Tyaba Khadive Jung. Her novel Anvari Begum was published after her death in 1921; the book may have been written in the first decade of the Century. It was set in Hyderabad of early 1900’s showing the changing mores of Indian Muslim society as it was opening up to Western and Colonial influences. Among her many interests was interfaith; she presided over Annual Women’s Conference of Brahmo Samaj held in Hyderabad. Another gem in her novel was an Urdu verse translation of an English poem Thomas Gray’s ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’, which was compulsory reading in school literature course for people of my generation. As student of English and Urdu literature, I aver that the translation surpassed the original.