Sayyidah
Muhammadi Begum
Personal
Born22 May 1878
Shahpur, Punjab, British India
Died2 November 1908(1908-11-02) (aged 30)
Shimla, British India
ReligionIslam
SpouseSayyid Mumtaz Ali
ChildrenImtiaz Ali Taj (son)
DenominationSunni Islam
Notable work(s)Tehzeeb-e-Niswan
RelativesNaeem Tahir (grandson), Faran Tahir (great-grandson)

Muhammadi Begum (also known as Sayyidah Muhammadi Begum; 22 May 1878 – 2 November 1908) was a Sunni Muslim scholar, Urdu writer and an advocate of women education. She co-founded the Islamic weekly magazine Tehzeeb-e-Niswan, and was its founding editor. She is known as the first woman who edited an Urdu magazine. She was the wife of Sayyid Mumtaz Ali Deobandi.

Biography

Muhammadi Begum was born on 22 May 1878 in Shahpur, Punjab.[1] She learned Urdu and she became a Hafiz as she memorized the Quran. She learned to write letters to remain in touch with her elder sister after she got married in 1886.[2]

In 1897, she became the second wife of Sayyid Mumtaz Ali Deobandi, an Islamic scholar and an alumnus of Darul Uloom Deoband.[3][4] She learned Arabic and Persian from her new husband and she was privately educated in English, Hindi and Maths.[5]

On 1 July 1898, the couple started a weekly magazine for women called Tehzeeb-e-Niswan, which is regarded as one of the pioneering works on women rights in Islam.[6] The magazine published radical ideas about divorce with enforced alimony and to end purdah and polygamy. She was hailed as India's first Muslim feminist woman[7] and the first woman who ever edited an Urdu magazine.[4] She edited Tehzeeb-e-Niswan until her death in 1908.[8]

Literary works

Muhammadi Begum authored thirty books which included Shareef Beti which dealt with the hazards of arranged marriages of children which often lead to enforced marriages.[5][1] Her other works include:[5]

Death and legacy

Aged 30, Muhammadi Begum died at Shimla on 2 November 1908.[4] Her grandson Naeem Tahir compiled a biography Sayyidah Muhammadi Begum awr Unka Khandan (transl. Sayyidah Muhammadi Begum and her family).[9] Her son was Imtiaz Ali Taj who was born in 1900. She nicknamed him "Mera Taj" (My crown) and in time he would become a leading playwright and he adopted her pet name for him, "Taj", as part of his own name.[10] Her daughter, Waheeda Begum, became the editor of her magazine after she died and after a few years Imtiaz Ali Taj took over.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b Sarwat Ali (10 May 2020). "Stuff legends are made of". The News International. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  2. ^ Sarkar, Sumit; Sarkar, Tanika (2008). Women and Social Reform in Modern India: A Reader. p. 363. ISBN 9780253352699. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  3. ^ Nayab Hasan Qasmi. "Mawlana Sayyid Mumtaz Ali Deobandi". Darul Uloom Deoband Ka Sahafati ManzarNama. Idara Tehqeeq-e-Islami, Deoband. pp. 147–151.
  4. ^ a b c Rauf Parekh (2 November 2015). "Muhammadi Begum and Tehzeeb-e-Niswan". Dawn. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Farrukhi, Asif (2018-09-16). "NON-FICTION: A PIONEERING WOMAN OF LETTERS". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  6. ^ Moaddel, Mansoor (1998). "Religion and Women: Islamic Modernism versus Fundamentalism". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 37 (1): 116. doi:10.2307/1388032. JSTOR 1388032.
  7. ^ Prasad, Amar Nath; Joseph, S. John Peter (2006). Indian Writing In English:Critical Rum.(part-2). Sarup & Sons. p. 255. ISBN 978-81-7625-725-1.
  8. ^ Tahir Kamran (8 July 2018). "Re-imagining of Muslim Women - II". thenews.com.pk. The News International. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  9. ^ Asif Farrukhi (16 September 2018). "A PIONEERING WOMAN OF LETTERS". Dawn. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Imtiaz Ali, the Taj of Urdu drama". DAWN.COM. 2009-04-14. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  11. ^ "Re-imagining of Muslim Women - II | Political Economy | thenews.com.pk". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
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