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.

Muslim Women’s Forum 2 The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me

Wida e roz e raushan hai gajar shaam e gharibaan ka Charagahon se palte qafiley woh bezabanon ke Qadam ghar ki taraf kis shauq se uthtta hai dehqan ka Ye veerana hai mein hoon aur tai’ir aashiyanon ke

Pathbreakers features 21 women who broke barriers and became partners with men in building post Independence India. All the women featured in Pathbreakers, without exception, removed the burqa on the eve of Independence and became architects of raising India from the blood, gore and rubble of Partition. They wrote, they argued, they healed, they restored. There were women like Anis Kidwai whose husband was killed by marauders in 1947, Fathema Ismail whose daughter’s polio led her to become a messiah for polio victims, Saleha Abid Husain who spoke fearlessly against triple talaq, dowry, multiple marriages, Sharifa Hamid Ali who represented India at the United Nations. There was Qudsia Aizaz Rasul who was Chair of Hockey Federation and wrote a book From Purdah to Parliament and Qudsia Zaidi who started the first professional theatre in post Independence India. The list of their achievements is long.

The first exhibition which was supported by UN Women was held on 28 May 2018 at Delhi at India Habitat Centre where it created a new ‘first’ for hundreds of people who walked past the 7X2.5 ft banners which lined the walls of the Convention Centre Foyer. The second exhibition was held in Ahmedabad’s unique exhibition space, The Conflictoruim: Museum of Conflict on 25 August 2018 where it ran for a month in the heart of the old city. The third was held at India International Centre Art Gallery on 2 December 2018 for one week. By now new elements had been added such as selected readings from the literary works of some Pathbreakers.

3 Muslim Women’s Forum Zehra Ali Yavar Jung 1920-2010

Born in Hyderabad, she was educated at the Mahabubia Girls’ School and later at Southlands, Harrow in England. In 1940, she worked tirelessly to ameliorate the condition of women detainees in Hyderabad’s prisons. She was the president of the Women’s Workshop which trained and provided employment to destitute women. As the State Commissioner for Guides, she played a significant role at the time of the merger of the Girl Guides Association with the Bharat Scouts and Guides in evolving new programmes to meet national needs and aspirations.

During her postings outside India she projected India’s image through the richness of her handicrafts. Her concern for the health of slum dwellers culminated in the formation of The National Society for Clean Cities India. The society launched a nationwide campaign for making and keeping cities and towns clean and healthy. The Children’s Complex near the Kherwadi slums of Bombay was the culmination of her efforts to this end. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1973.

Zehra Ali Yavar Jung with Prime Minister Jawharlal Nehru,

Muslim Women’s Forum 40 39 Muslim Women’s Forum We have visualised this as phase one of a project which if properly resourced would yield rich dividends, taking within its fold Pathbreakers from all strata of Muslim society. Laila Tyabji, herself descendant of several Pathbreakers, who spoke at the Delhi colloquium beautifully expressed this ongoing quest. ‘My mother and other women portrayed in the exhibition of Muslim Pathbreakers mostly came from privileged, enlightened backgrounds. This doesn’t diminish their contribution. But I recall today the many anonymous, incredibly gutsy Muslim women I have worked with all over India who will probably never have their photographs in an air conditioned convention centre. We should not forget their courage in stepping out out of their burqas and homes to take on roles and identities so different from their cultural roots and upbringing. The Roshenbens, Sairas, Raeesans, Zahidas in Gujarat, Lucknow, Ranthambore and Kashmir who took first steps in braving social prejudice and hostility, marking a path that others could follow.’

That is the roadmap that has been marked for Muslim Women’s Forum.

We at MWF have brought these women out of national oblivion and displayed them before people of India so that they seep into their psyche and disrupt the lazy habit of stereotyping them as faceless mass of burqa clad hordes queuing up at polling booths. The women we have featured were tending to refugees who had fled from newly created Pakistan, they were educating generations of girls in the best liberal tradition of Islam, they were cleaning the kuchi bastis around urban settlements.

Besides Delhi and Ahmedabad, Pathbreakers has been shown in a slide version in Canada. After Hyderabad it will be shown in Kerala.

Muslim Women’s Forum 4 MWF is grateful to Telangana Minorities Residential Educational Institutions Society (TMREIS) and its Chairman Janab A K Khan for sponsoring Pathbreakers in Hyderabad. To COVA, through its moving spirit Dr Mazher Hussain for standing with us with dignity and patience throughout this journey. To our mentor Dr Ismat Mehdi we offer gratitude.

This is the first booklet we have prepared on Pathbreakers for which we thank Janab A K Khan and Mazher Hussain who gave us the irresistible offer of supporting the printing costs. So here it is in your hands, a document to celebrate your foremothers; effervescent lamps on our mindscape. In words of the poet Wasim Barelvi:

Jahan rahega wahin raushni lutayega Kisi chiragh ka apna makan nahin hota

Wherever it is placed it will spread light The lamp has no home of its own

Syeda Saiyidain Hameed (Founder & President, Muslim Women’s Forum)

5 Muslim Women’s Forum Muslim Women’s Forum 38 Surayya Tyabji 1919-1978

Born in Hyderabad, she was very young when she won a gold medal to study art in London. Along with her husband Badruddin Tyabji, she became deeply involved with the Indian National Congress. She was pursuing her incredible artistic talent when, at the cusp of Independence, she assisted in the task of designing the Indian flag, which was created by Pingali Venkayya.

She drew a graphic version of it and gave the flag its saffron, white and green colors. Originally, the tricolor was to have the spinning wheel (charkha) used by Mahatma Gandhi.

It was her idea to replace it with the Ashoka Chakra. She adapted it as an emblem from the Ashoka Pillar from Sarnath, as Emperor Ashoka was equally venerated by all irrespective of religion.

37 Muslim Women’s Forum An Exhibition by Muslim Women’s Forum

Exhibition Concept & Design Ranesh Ray

Photo-Editing & Design Hilal Ahmad Khan

Text Tazeen Mahmood, Kulan Amin, Safia Mehdi

Coordination Ruth Zothanpuii

Acknowledgements towards visual material Azra Kidwai, Koninika Ray. Laila Tyabji, Monisha Be- hal, Rehana Mishra, Sabiha Zaidi, Salima Raza, Seema Baquer, Shahla Haider, Shaili Sathyu, Shiraz Husain, Sumbul Warsi, Syeda Imam, Wajahat Habibullah, You- suf Saeed, Zakia Zaheer

Muslim Women’s Forum 6 7 Muslim Women’s Forum Muslim Women’s Forum 4336 Razia Sajjad Zaheer 1917-1979

She was born in Ajmer, Rajasthan, where her father was headmaster Ajmer Islamia High School and where she completed her basic schooling. While in purdah, she got her bachelor’s degree. She received her master’s degree from Allahabad University after marriage. She was a writer, translator and member of the Progressive Writers Movement of Urdu. Her stories were published in leading magazines of her time; her novels include Sar- e-Sham, Kante and Suman. She published a collection of her husband’s prison letters to her - Nuqush-e-Zindan - and several children’s books. Her collections of short stories Zard Gulab and Allah De Banda Le were published posthumously. She translated more than forty books from many languages which include works of Bertolt Brecht, Chingiz Aitmatov and Bhagwati Saran Sharma, and was the recipient of the Nehru Award and the Uttar Pradesh State Sahitya Academy Award.

Excerpt and translation from the story Dushala (Shawl) After a little while, his dead body covered by the dushala was brought outside. It was ready for the qabristan. Thus nobody ever saw what kind of penurious kafan he had been given. It was only the expensive dushala which was visible to one and all and which made his janaza look like that of a rich man. Perhaps Nawab Sahib was right when he said, “Inanimate objects have a life of their own.” Maybe these objects also have feelings. In his last journey, the dushala covered his body thereby covered his poverty, to conceal which Nawab

35 Muslim Women’s Forum Tyaba Khedive Jung 1873-1921

Born in Hyderabad. She received her BA degree at the University of Madras in 1894 and became the first Muslim woman in India to have received a university degree. Though she gave up formal education after her marriage, Tyaba Begum continued learning Arabic and Persian. She published a collection of Indian folklore in the London based Indian Magazine. Her speeches and sociological writings were on Islamic subjects and chiefly devoted to education. Her novel,Anwari Begum, was written in 1905. It is one of the most accomplished early twentieth century Urdu fiction revolving around the secluded interiors of aristocratic homes in the princely state of Hyderabad and examines the changing mores of Indian Muslim society as it opened up to Western and colonial influences. She presided over the annual women’s conference of the Brahmo Samaj. It is her effort that led to the establishment of educational institutions such as the Anjuman Khwateen-i-Islam.

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me Excerpt and translation from Anwari Begum

Muslim Women’s Forum 8 Atiya Fyzee 1877-1967

Born in Istanbul, Atiya was among the first Muslim women to go to London for higher education. Her travel diary was published in 1921 as Zamana-i-Tahsil (A Time of Education).

She was ranked with the best Muslim intellectuals of her time. Her personal friendship and published correspondence with Allama Iqbal and Maulana Shibli broke epistolary barriers of that time. With her husband, Samuel Rahamin, she wrote authoritative books on classical Indian music: Indian Music (1914), The Music of India (1925) and Sangeet of India (1942).

Books authored by Atiya Fyzee

9 Muslim Women’s Forum Photograph of Hamida Habibullah with Major General Enaith Habibullah

Muslim Women’s Forum 34 Hamida Habibullah 1916-2018

Born in Lucknow, she was a first class first student throughout. She entered politics, fought elections in UP, and sat in high decision making bodies of the Congress Party. She was Minister, Social and Harijan Welfare, National Integration & Civil Defence in UP, the President of the Mahila Congress, and UPCC Member of the Rajya Sabha. Beyond politics, her work extended to the education of girls and women. In 1975 she founded the Avadh Girls’ Degree College, Lucknow’s first English Degree College for girls. She was President, Talimgah-e-Niswan, a college for Muslim girls. Her work with various organisations included SEWA, Nari Sewa Samiti, and Cheshire Homes India. For many years she was Vice President of the National Federation of Indian Women.

In London, there are a large number of people who speak and understand Urdu. In one mushaira, Faiz Ahmed Faiz was invited and a huge crowd had turned out to listen to him. While he was reciting his poems, there was a loud voice from the crowd, “Faiz ji, will you recite Mehdi Hasan’s poem!” Those whose Mother tongue was not Urdu were very interested in Urdu theatre, If they did not understand a particular word, they phoned me. Being from a literary family, I was for them an Urdu dictionary; among the blind, a one eyed queen!”

33 Muslim Women’s Forum Muslim Women’s Forum 10 Sharifa Hamid Ali 1883-1971

Begum Sharifa Hamid Ali was born in Vadodra, Gujarat, into a family known for its progressive and nationalistic outlook and championship of national unity. In 1907, after attending a session of the Indian National Congress, she came away with a commitment to serve the Swadeshi movement and work for social justice for the Harijans. She joined the AIWC of which she was one of the founding members along with Sarojini Naidu, Rani Rajwade and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. She ultimately served as its President. She was appointed as the Indian representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Sharifa propogated legal reforms for Muslim women, including raising the age of marriage and the drafting of a model marriage contract (Nikahnama) incorporating greater rights for women in marriage. She was a member of the National Planning Commission of the Indian National Congress, Hindustan Textbook Committee and Chair of the All India Women’s Education Association.

11 Muslim Women’s Forum Four years?

Four years are nothing! Perhaps these rulers are unable to understand that we can struggle for not just four years, but for four hundred even four thousand years.

There is no comparison between the tedious counting of years and the passionate pace of struggle.

Safia Jan Nisar Akhtarin conversation with Razia Sajjad Zaheer on the imprisonment of her husband, Sajjad Zaheer (BanneyBhai); from Zer-e-Lub

Zer-e-Lub authored by Safia Akhtar

Muslim Women’s Forum 32 Safia Jan Nisar Akhtar 1916-1953 Born in Rudauli Shareef, a Qasba in Barabanki, UP, she received her early education at home. Her father taught her Urdu, English and Persian, and the Quran by a hafiza. She studied Mathematics from her brother, the renowned poet Majaz. Formal schooling began from the fourth grade in Karamat Hussain School in Lucknow. Later, in Abdullah College, she received a double promotion in her very first year and after, was first class first throughout. She received her BA and BT degrees from Lucknow and was appointed supervisor of the Teachers Training Programme. She found her place in Urdu literature for an epistolary collection, letters to her husband written over a period of nine years which were posthumously published as Hurf-e-Aashna and Zer-e- Lub, and a collection of essays, Andaaz-e-Nazar.

31 Muslim Women’s Forum Masuma Hosain Ali Khan 1901-1990

Born in Hyderabad, she attended the Mahabubia Girls’ School. After her marriage in 1922 she came out of purdah. She was the first Muslim woman minister in India, and the first woman minister in the Council of Ministers of Andhra Pradesh. In 1927 Masuma became involved with the All India Women’s Conference and was elected President in 1962. Strengthening ties between the AIWC and international organisations, she led the AIWC delegation to the Golden Jubilee Congress of the International Alliance of Women in Colombo. Masuma fought her first state election from the old city of Hyderabad and served as MLA for two terms. She was appointed Minister for Social Welfare and Muslim Endowments. In 1957 she became the Deputy Leader of the Congress Legislative Party.

Muslim Women’s Forum 12 Fathema Ismail 1903-1987

Born in Bombay, Fathema was passionate about women’s education from an early age. After her schooling she went to Vienna to study medicine, a course she could not complete. She became the Secretary of the Shimla branch of the All India Women’s Conference in 1936, and founder member of the All India Village Industries Association.

13 Muslim Women’s Forum Muslim Women’s Forum 30 Qudsia Zaidi 1914-1960

Born in Delhi, she studied at Kinnaird College, Lahore. She wrote and translated books for children; Chacha Chakkan ke Draamae was among the most loved series. In 1954, she founded the Hindustani Theatre which became one of the first urban professional theatre companies of Independant India. Its debut production was a Hindi-Urdu version of Kalidasa’s Shakuntala, followed by Mrichhakatika or Mitti Ki Gadi. Qudsia translated and staged masterpieces of world theatre; such as those of Bertolt Brecht and George Bernard Shaw. These productions toured across Delhi and northern India. Her work in world and Sanskrit classics widened the repertoire of Hindi-Urdu theatre at a time when very few stage- worthy texts were available. A visionary committed to Indian theatrical tradition, yet intensely contemporary, she established a theatre that was anchored in classical, national heritage while consistently defining its own relevance. Her Hindustani Theatre, with this theatrical daring, would eventually become Delhi’s first post- independence professional theatre troupe.

Book authored by Qudsia Zaidi

29 Muslim Women’s Forum Fathema was actively involved in the nationalist movement. Her house was a meeting ground for activists and a safe haven for underground freedom fighters. In 1945, when Fathema’s daughter, Usha, was diagnosed with poliomyelitis, Fathema began talking to the leading members of Bombay’s medical community about starting a rehabilitation clinic for polio stricken children. The first clinic opened in the empty Chowpatty premises offered by Dr A V Baliga. In 1951, Fathema toured hospitals and attended conferences in the USA and Europe. Armed with a vision of a fully fledged hospital dedicated to polio patients, she returned to India and petitioned Prime Minister Nehru for a plot in Bombay near the race course at Haji Ali. She was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1978 and served as Member till 1984.

Fathema Ismail checking on a child at the rehab hospital

Muslim Women’s Forum 14 15 Muslim Women’s Forum Muslim Women’s Forum 28 Siddiqa Kidwai 1914-1958 Born in Baragaon, District Barabanki UP, she was educated at home and gave up purdah in 1947. Deeply interested in empowering women of the walled city of Delhi, she established Balak Mata Centres under the Talim o Taraqqi Department of Jamia Millia Islamia. These centres operated in Jama Masjid, Beriwala Bagh, Qasab Pura, Matia Mahal and Bara Hindu Rao. She organised outings for inner city women who had never even seen Jama Masjid or Lal Qila. She introduced them to theatre as a learning tool. Everywhere she encountered resistance, which she successfully overcame. She served on all the important bodies of Jamia in her capacity as Convenor of the centres. For two terms she served as Member, Rajya Sabha, and was part of major committees of the Congress Party.

Because of the rains, only a few children were able to come. Afsar Begum taught them counting, and a few songs. The women, as usual, were at their sewing. The girls are enthusiastically preparing for the mela. But I want to hold the Annual Day Jalsa before the mela. I find that tasks I cannot do personally never get done. Therefore, I am afraid this Annual Day Jalsa will not be held, and the women of the cities will not see the work we have done this whole year. This Jalsa is very important because when their work is displayed, women get enthusiastic and they try to emulate each others work. Excerpt and translation from a diary of Siddiqa Kidwai, May 1955

27 Muslim Women’s Forum Anis Kidwai 1906-1982

Born into a patriotic and traditional family of Barabanki, UP, she learnt Urdu and English literature by listening to her brothers’ tutors. Her marriage to Shafi, the younger brother of the great freedom fighter, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, brought her into the midst of India’s freedom struggle. In 1947 her husband was brutally killed in a communal clash. In coming to terms with this grief Anis realized that her personal tragedy was part of a wider national disaster. She gave up the burqa and with a band of committed colleagues started working in refugee camps. Her intense social engagement earned her a Rajya Sabha seat from 1956 to 1962.

Her memoir Azaadi Ki Chhaaon Mein (In Freedom’s Shade), 1974, covers the years immediately after independence. She recieved the Sahitya Kala Parishad Award for her writings.

Book authored by Anis Kidwai

Muslim Women’s Forum 16 Mumtaz Jahan Haider 1907-1981

She was born in the famous Koocha Chelan in Delhi to Sheikh Abdullah and Wahid Jahan Begum, her parents, whose work in Women’s education is legendary. She was affectionately called Mumtaz Apa by the thousands of students she mentored all her life. After matriculation from Aligarh she joined the Isabella Thoburn College for Women at Lucknow where she obtained FA and BA degrees and her MA from Lucknow University. She obtained her Bachelor of Education from Leeds, UK. In 1937, Mumtaz Apa was appointed Principal, Aligarh Women’s College in which she served the cause of women’s education all her life.

17 Muslim Women’s Forum She was influenced by the political thoughts of the left in Progressive Writers Movement through Mulk Raj Anand, Sajjad Zaheer and Mahmuduzaffar. On partition, she said, “We live in a generation which has its heart in pieces.”

In London, her home was a hub for writers and artists and she became a Qissagoh, the storyteller of her own roots.

Books authored by Attia Hosain

Muslim Women’s Forum 26 Attia Hosain 1913-1998

Born in Lucknow, UP, she was a novelist, writer, broadcaster, journalist and actor. Growing up on the cusp of two cultures, she read English, European literature as well as Urdu literature and was grounded in the Quran. Attia wrote for the The Pioneer, The Statesman, Atlantic monthly, and her best known works of fiction are Sunlight on a Broken Column and a short story collection Phoenix Fled.

25 Muslim Women’s Forum Ai maon, behnon, betiyon Duniya ki zeenat tumse hai Mulkon ki basti ho tumhin, Qaumon ki izzat tumse hai

O mothers, sisters, daughters, You are the ornaments of the world, You are the life of nations, Dignity of civilizations.

Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali, Chup ki Daad, 1905

Muslim Women’s Forum 18 Qudsia Aizaz Rasul 1908-2001

Born in Malerkotla, Punjab, she fought her first election in 1937 and was elected to the UP Legislative Council. Her autobiography From Purdah to Parliament: A Muslim Woman in Indian Politics describes her political journey. Breaking all barriers, she became the first woman to lead the Opposition. She had the distinction of being member of the UP Legislative Council, the UP Assembly and Parliament more or less continuously for 60 years. In 1946, she became the only Muslim woman to be elected to the Constituent Assembly of India.

19 Muslim Women’s Forum Saliha Abid Hussain 1913-1988

Born in Panipat, then part of Punjab, Saliha Abid Hussain was a prominent and prolific writer of Urdu. Her novels, short stories, essays, epistolary collections and translations number over fifty volumes. From her great grandfather, the poet Maulana Altaf Husain Hali, she inherited the zeal of a reformer. Her entire literary corpus is imbued with this objective. Her emotional connect with the struggle of women made her the first gender specialist of Urdu literature. She spoke on issues of nationalism, human values, Islamic jurisprudence and women’s education. Being thoroughly grounded in the Quran, she spoke with courage and conviction for reform of Muslim Personal Law in the light of the teachings of Islam. She was a recipient of many literary and national awards.

Books authored by Saliha Abid Hussain

Muslim Women’s Forum Muslim Women’s Forum 24 33

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23 Muslim Women’s Forum She broke the glass ceiling to sit at the drafting table of India’s Constitution at a time when political participation was at a nascent stage. She was passionate about the primacy of women’s empowerment in whichever capacity she served. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan.

She held the office of President of the Indian Women’s Hockey Federation for 20 years and was President of the Asian Women’s Hockey Federation. The Indian Women’s Hockey Cup is named after her.

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Book authored by Qudsia Rasul

Muslim Women’s Forum 20 Hajrah Begum with Chinese delegates, 1955

21 Muslim Women’s Forum Hajrah Begum 1910-2003

Born in Rampur, she got involved with the Marxist Indian Students Committee in London. She visited the Soviet Union and was impressed by the spirit and hope of the Soviet people. At an international conference in Brussels against Fascism and War, she walked out because the word ‘imperialism’ was not included.

She taught at Karamat Hussain Muslim Girls’ College in Lucknow, became a member of the CPI. In 1936, she joined the All India Progressive Writers Association and the AIWC. She organised the Railway Coolies at Allahabad Station and became founder secretary of the Allahabad Railway Coolies Union. She attended the Indian National Congress sessions at Faizpur, Haripura and Ramgarh. She edited Roshni, an Urdu and Hindi journal of the AIWC.

Hajrah was a founder member of the National Federation of Indian Women. She said “Whether a woman is a rani or a maharani or whether she is the wife of a capitalist, there are certain things which are common to all women against which they will revolt, against which they will fight.”

Muslim Women’s Forum 22