Forgotten voices of Muslim women’s dissent : Vandana Shukla : Tribune Review

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/forgotten-voices-of-muslim-women-s-dissent/247342.html

The readings of Hum Khawatein (We, the women) - shattered the stereotypes constructed around the post-Independence Muslim women; burqa-clad, obedient, religious hypocrites, controlled by the diktat of the Shariya and Hadith.


Few texts got a dusting when four women staged dramatised reading of 100-year-old women's risalas (magazines) in Urdu, at India International Centre, New Delhi. The readings of Hum Khawatein (We, the women) removed the dust of bias and ignorance from the now marginalised voices — of Urdu and Muslim women — and their writings on issues ranging from political, social and international relations to fashion and tradition. These voices sounded participative — neither isolated nor ghettoised — shattering the stereotypes constructed around the post-independence Muslim women; burqa-clad, obedient, religious hypocrites, controlled by the diktat of the Shariya and Hadith. 

When self-appointed guardians of Indian culture are daring to threaten the use of Urdu script in street art — right in the national capital — such events acquire greater significance. Reintroducing the progressive nature of the century-old writings; the event opened a fresh perspective on why liberal voices of Muslim women were throttled post-Independence. 

Knowledge pools created by women, like writings and oral traditions, offer an insight into their individual perspective as also of the community of a specific period. When these knowledge pools are ignored to the extent of forgetting, they fail to find a mention in the public discourse. Ignoring such texts lead to a belief; Muslim women are comfortable in their insulated lives; they resist change. It was never so. 

In 1822, the first Urdu newspaper Jam-i- Jahan-Numa was published from Calcutta; in the same year Raja Rammohan Rai published Mirat-ul-Akbar, a journal in Persian, which carried the review of a Bangla book which dealt with the rights women enjoyed in ancient India. It is significant to understand the issue of women's rights was in the public domain in the 19th century, even though the writers were mostly men. All writings; in Hindi, Urdu, Persian and other languages were struggling to redefine social norms, under the colonial rule and later by Swaraj and Khilafat movements. The role women would play in the new order was a major point of debate; neither Urdu nor Muslim women were isolated from this debate.       

Nazir Ahmad Dehlvi wrote an Urdu novel in 1869, Mirat-ul-Uroos, based on the theme of promoting the cause of female education in Indian Muslim society. It is credited for giving birth to an entire genre of fictional works promoting female literacy in Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Kashmiri and other languages. It sold over a lakh copies within a few years of its publishing. Initially, men wrote under female names on the women's issues in Urdu magazines, gradually women-centric writing began coming from women themselves. Azizunnisa Begum of Dehi (1780-1857), three generations of Begums from Bhopal — Sikandar Begum (1819-1868), Shahjahan Begum(1838-1901), Sultan Jahan Begum (1858-1930), Ashraf Bee of Bijnaur (1840-1903) and several others became well-known names. For the majority, the understanding of progressive Muslim women begins with Ismat Chughtai (that too limited to Lihaaf for all the wrong reasons), to end with Shabana Azmi. 

If an effort is made, the stereotypes vanish. In an attempt to get a historical perspective on Muslim women's education, Delhi-based Nirantar a Centre for Gender and Education, researched old books, magazines and newspapers. They were struck by the reformative flavour of writings of women's Urdu magazines. The articles written by Muslim women were an eye-opener for their fearless sarcasm lambasting the dakiyanus hazrat with their pust zehniyat — any translation would kill their shrapnel effect. They were urging women to participate in governance; not to be afraid of the word government, in an article by Aziza Khatoon, Sarkar Hawwa Nahin Hain in 1919. 

Some of the articles written by women between 1911-1927 in magazines like Tehzeeb-e-Niswan from Lahore, Ismat and Ustani from Delhi, Awaz-e-Niswan, Payam-e-Ummeed from Sitapur, Khatun from Aligarh, were edited by Purwa Bharadwaj and published by Nirantar in a book form titled Kalam-e-Niswan (women's writing) in Hindi transliteration. Texts for Hum Khawatein were picked for the staging of Kalam-e-Niswan.

Kalam-e-Niswan systematically chronicles issues of culture, education, curricula, governance, right to women's suffrage, gender relationships and women's rights movements from across the world. It also presents the socio-economic and educational situation of those days. The range of the issues is so vast and fresh that one thinks that these writings are picked from a political magazine of the day, not of a century ago. One is surprised to read about articles such as, ridiculing superstitions in the Children of Chhattisgarh (Ismat: 1936), Women's Education Department of Egypt University (with graphics from all the universities of Egypt in Khatun: 1911), and Activities and Education of Turkey Women (Ismat: 1951).  A piece in Ismat, in 1935 made a strong case against the purdah (veil) system. “We did not bother about the preaching of Quran and Hadith before imposing the purdah system and throttling the voice of women. Similarly, given the current social scenario, we should not consider religious scriptures and we should ban purdah with immediate effect. The community should realise that purdah is harming us socially, politically and economically,” the article stated. An edition of Ustani, in 1920 documented in detail the participation of Delhi's women in Khilafat and Swadeshi movements. Another writer ridiculed Gandhi's choice of khadi, which, she found was expensive, impractical and too thick for dying. She felt, Gandhi was befooling people with the khadi crusade.  

The editor of Kalam-e-Niswan, Purwa, who was also one of the voices in Hum Khawatein, says, “While these writings help us to understand the minds of Muslim women, at the same time, it also compels us to think, rethink and question our understating and popular notions about Muslim women, their thinking, choices, dreams and contributions.” A lot happened to Muslim women's dreams, aspirations and identity in post-Partition India. Women's journals, post-1947, are relatively moderate and inward-looking. Barring Nisa which has a progressive flavour, started by a small group of Muslim women from Hyderabad, most journals like Khatoon Mashriq, Mahakta Aanchal, Huma, and Pakiza Aanchal, etc. strengthen the stereotypes.