Forgotten voices of Muslim women’s dissent BY Vandana Shukla

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. 

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