A Critical Study of the Novels: Of Rokeya Shakwat Hossain Zeenuth Futehally Iqbalunnisa Hussain Tara Ali Baig Attia Hosain

By Dr. Roshan Benjamin Khan

This is a comparative study of the unaccredited yet formidable five major Indian Muslim women novelists: Rokeya Sakhawat Hossian, Zeenuth Futehally, Iqbalunnisa Hussain, Tara Ali Baig, and Attia Hossian. The book explores their work with regard to themes like patriarchy, feminism, religiosity, nationality, secularity, and above all, liberty. Their contribution to the growth of novel writing in English cannot go ignored as they created a momentum in writing novel using English language as a medium of combined feminist statements with a message to liberate Muslim women from religious conventions, social taboos, and a male-dominated world. The study of their novels also makes us aware of the grit and determination and the sheer hunger of these writers to make their mark, to speak out unequivocally against prejudice, basically to enlighten us how their personalities were shaped and eventually established. Their sensitivities as women give an edge to the entire narrative as does their unprecedented and undaunted dare to the oppressors. In the great tradition of modern and postmodern fiction, our writers use their pen to stand up against inequality of any kind and to undo the stereotypes, leading themselves by example.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Mar 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482867565

Dr. Roshan Benjamin Khan

Dr. Roshan Benjamin Khan is working as a Professor in English at Shree Atal Bihari Vajpayee Arts and Commerce College Indore (M.P) India. She is currently Chairperson, Board of Studies, English, D.A.V.V. Indore (M.P) India. Besides teaching she is currently working on two projects simultaneously, on the Gospel of St John and a novel. To her credit she has co–authored two books and a number of research papers. Her first non-fiction work A Critical Study of the Novels of –Rokeya Hossain, Zeenuth Futehally, Iqbalunnisa Hussain, Tara Ali Baig and Attia Hosian is an attempt to fill the vacuum left by many anthologies, history of Indian Writing in English and other related material available to reflect on the novels written by pioneer Muslim women writers in English in India.

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Copyright © 2016 by Dr. Roshan Benjamin Khan.

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Conclusion

Work Cited: Introduction

Acknowledgements

• B.J. for being there for me yesterday, today and tomorrow.

• Veena. B. Pillai, Sumit Sharma, Alka Tomar, and S.S. Thakur, for providing an insight into technicalities.

• Renu Sinha, for taking loads off my shoulders and providing me enough space and time to write.

• Kim Misch and Rosie Lawrence, their moral support and belief in me was enough to rise from the ashes.

• Ajay Chaware for typing the manuscript.

• Bhupendra Verma for designing the cover page and all technical assistance.

• Finally, special thanks to all those who have become memories now… may be one day I will make you live in my words.

To the One Almighty Lord, who is constantly deleting, upgrading, and loading the blessed work inside me. Thank you… the network was never lost.

This book is dedicated to

My Ma, Raj Benjamin Khan

&

Pa, Dr. Benjamin Khan, for being my greatest

strength, moral guide and my teacher.

Introduction

M uslim immigration to India happened through different channels; initially they came to the southern coasts as traders and missionaries, then through invasions they targeted the north of Sindh and finally a full blown conquest led to large scale immigration from North moving towards Central areas of Indian subcontinent, thereby almost inevitably making it their homeland. Over a period of time these incomers merged themselves into the fabric of India that one could not distinguish them from the original inhabitants. Muslims became an integral part of India as for they fused themselves indistinguishably into its cultural heritage.

This upcoming religion that came with Indo-Arabs to a noticeable extent tried to foster equality when it came to social strata, race or colour. The caste system had plagued India for long, and moreover the apparent divisions into small kingdoms were also conspicuous. Therefore, for those who had suffered at the hands of powerful castes or otherwise oppressed welcomed this change, and with acceptance from the large sections of inhabitants subsequently came up with newness in social order.

That is not to say that the transition was an utopian setting. There were large-scale conflicts that led to heightened tensions and cultural syncretism between the two traditions, namely Hindu and Muslim. At an outset, the Ulemas did assist Muslim rulers in carrying out the religious warfare(Jihad) but this social unrest soon subsided and gave way to new social stability. The Muslim rulers themselves assimilated many Hindu customs and soon could be identified with the locals. Hindu population of the land too was influenced by Muslim culture to a great extent.

All the art forms that were permitted by Islam were perfected by the artists and artisans thereby giving roots to Indian order of Islam. Islamic sense of dress, their etiquettes and the activities associated with recreation and otherwise influenced some rich Hindu gentry. There was tremendous shift when it came to art of warfare as well. The food that came with Muslim contact like Biryani, kebab, paan etc was admired and adopted by the Hindus. Ingenious creativity was observed in the enriching of music and musical instruments. Mridangam, the traditional Hindu drum was modified into Tabla. Sitar that has been widely popularised in the west by multi-Grammy award winning Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar too was born of the amalgamation of Iranian Tambura and Indian Veena. It was not just the instruments, new genres of music were being introduced like khyal and quwwalis, and so was the case in other classical vocal tradition of India. The newness in architecture can be witnessed in world heritage sites like the Taj Mahal, even Indian paintings received an Islamic touch and vice-versa. Crafts like metals, enamelings, paper-making, etc., received new dimensions; workshops related to gold and silver embroidery were set up. Except for Aurangzeb, most Mughal rulers patronised artistic virtues like fine art, painting and architecture.

With the inevitable exchange in art and culture, many imported negative aspects were made rigid. The new social order established by the Muslims was bent upon ensuring that Hindu women veil themselves. As a result of conversion and forced marriages of Hindu women in an alien culture, the local Hindu society imposed sati with greater strictness. Child marriage gained wide acceptance. Basically, women for a great part bore the brunt of Muslim aggressors. Girl child became a curse and women were victimised and as a result female infanticide gathered roots in the society. Hindus who ran the risk of losing the family honour or chastity readily adopted this means as a mode of defence. Veiling of a woman was unheard of during the Hindu rule, but with the advent of Islam, purdah system and seclusion of women from men was ensured. It all came down to not just women from the oppressed class suffering but the entire womanhood took an unmerciful toll.

Languages were not far behind. With increasing contact between the two sides languages witnessed linguistic synthesis. When languages like Arabic, Persian and Turkish got mixed with myriad concepts that originated from Sanskrit, the outcome was a new language called Urdu. Urdu went on to become the language of the masses. The Hindi language influenced by Muslim contact underwent a huge change in vocabulary, grammar, similes and styles. Literature in India was influenced by the Turko-Afghans to a large extent. Many Arabised Persian language words found their way into the local languages. The contribution of Indian Muslim writers has been quite significant in the development of practically all modern languages of India. A new trend of secularist Islam took shape especially in language and literature. Mahmud brought entire libraries from Rayy and Isfahan to Ghazni. He even demanded that the Khwarizmshah court send its men of learning to Ghazni. The notable poet Ferdowsi, after labouring 27 years, went to Ghazni and presented the Shahnameh to Mahmud. In due course of time the emergence of poet Amir Khusrau [1253–1325 CE] marked the beginning of poetry in mixed language with an amalgamation of Khari Boli, its grammatical syntax sprinkled with Turkish, Persian and Arabic words. The development of Urdu language and literature began to flourish mainly in 18th and 19th century. This usage of a new idiom and expression soon spread itself into various literatures in India like Punjabi, Kashmiri, and Bengali etc.

As far as emergence of Indian Muslim women writers is concerned, it is a long walk through the history from Princess Gul-Badan Begum, who in 1587 completed the HumayunNama in Persian language which was translated into English language in 1898 by Annette Beveridge. This is described as the first novel-biography by an Indian Muslim woman. It was not before 19th century that reformation in education saw a stage in the development of women’s literature in India especially in English language. In tracing the history of Muslim women fiction writers in English in India, it remained a rarity till early half of twentieth century. With the advent of English Language, many Muslim writers began to use this medium to create a scope to reinterpret Muslim culture for its better understanding in world cultures. It is interesting to note that the first ever Muslim to make English language as writing medium was none other than a Muslim woman, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, who wrote Sultana’s Dream as early as 1905. Many critics have categorised this novella of fourteen pages as a short story. And many other anthologies claim that with the publication of Ahmed Ali’s novel Twilight in Delhi, literary history was being made. As Amin Malak writes in his book Narratives and the Discourse of English, Moving from geography to genesis, the first narrative ever published by a Muslim in English is a short story entitled Sultana’s Dream" written by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and published in 1905 in India…Hossain’s landmark story was followed, over three decades later by Ahmed Ali’s novel Twilight in Delhi. It was the first major work of fiction written by a Muslim ever to be published in English: thus a precedent is set and a tradition launched." 1. But Penguin books on the back-cover page of Sultana’s Dream write, Sultana’s Dream and Padmarag are boldly provocative works, particularly in the context of the era that spawned them. Written in English in 1905, Sultana’s Dream is a delightful satirical work set in Ladyland, where men are in purdah and women firmly in charge of home and government. Published in 1924 and translated here for the first time, Padmarag complements Sultana’s Dream in its espousal of women’s personal journeys towards emancipation. Resonant with autobiographical undertones, the novella is both a powerful indictment of male oppression and a celebration of Rokeya’s faith in a universalistic society where women, regardless of race, class, creed and religion, reject the diktat of a tyrannical patriarchal society in favour of a life devoted to improving their lot. Playful, fascinating and intelligent, these novellas offer a keen insight into the psyche of a largely self-taught social activist who has, more than seventy years after her death, come to acquire near-iconic status in South Asia.2 Nevertheless, the credit to use English language as medium of creative imagination certainly will always go to Rokeya. She, without a debate is the first among men or women Muslim novelist using English language as a mode of writing fiction in Indian Writing in English.

The writings of Indian Muslim women of this period are more or less an insight into their life and thinking. Their novels are a critique of social and gender inequalities, be it from the perspective of religion or culture. All the novelists that I have dealt in this book reflect Muslim women, as being trapped miserably in the morass of overweening religious and socio-cultural restrictions.3 The style, the voice and the finer aspects of writing may not have been very polished but the literature that ran out of these women was a sincere plea to spread a word of their plight and it was with a voice of rebellion that they brought out in their tales. These women writers question, subvert, or challenge the social dogmas of their time and environment regarding the status of women, status that has been circumscribed by male power, yet they are keen to express, each in her own way, their loyalty and affiliation with the culture of Islam.4 These novels are "remarkable representation of self –actualising, identity defining process…functionally Muslimized language without seeking sanction from any authority, be it literary, religious, or institutional."5 It is true that except for Rokeya and Attia, most of the women novelists in this book have not written their novels in an autobiographical style yet a brief introduction of their biographies is important as it gives an insight into an understanding of their work.

It was in 1905 Rokeya Sakhawat Hossian (1880-1932) published her fourteen pages novella, Sultana’s Dream. It became one of the most radical of early feminist writings. Rokeya Sakhawat Hossian was born about 1880 in Pairaband union Rangpur in undivided Bengal (India, now Bangladesh) into a well to do orthodox Muslim family. Her upbringing and her ideas both reflected the, tension between traditional practices, the demands of culture and political modernisation… she is the first and foremost feminist of Bengali Muslim society6. Rokeya’s mother, Rohatunnessa Sabera Chowdhurani, was first of four wives of Mohammed Abu Ali Saber. Although Rokeya’s father was orthodox in his attitude to women, but her elder brother Ibrahim Saber helped Rokeya to learn Bengali when it was forbidden for even the elite Muslim women to learn anything except the Holy Quran in Arabic. Rokeya was married in 1896 at about the age of sixteen, to Syed Sakhawat Hossian, a deputy magistrate by profession. Sakhawat though a widower and much older than Rokeya, was a highly educated and progressive man who actively encouraged her not only to expand her education but also to write and publish her work despite its outspokenly feminist politics. She launched her literary career in 1902 with a Bangla essay entitled Pipasa (Thirst). Her husband fell ill in 1907, leaving behind a bequest specifically dedicated to founding a school for Muslim girls. Rokeya set up a school at Bhagalpur, but was forced to move to Calcutta where she reopened her school called Sakhawat Memorial Girls’ School. This school still flourishes with government aid and is a testament to Rokeya’s efforts. Rokeya gave birth to two daughters but unfortunately they both died in infancy. Despite of all her personal losses, she continued to write and work in Calcutta. Although Rokeya herself observed purdah but all her writings reiterate the importance of women’s mental powers by which she meant a resurrection of self-confidence about their worth and equality. As Selina Hossian says, Instead of defying religion wholly, Rokeya coordinated it with work and tried to logically show that education and employment, which are the fundamental pillars of women freedom, do not contradict religion… Rokeya was very different from today’s feminists who are up in arms about their rights…7. The major works penned by Rokeya Sakhawat are Matichur (Vol.1.1904), it is a collection of columns in different magazines and newspapers, particularly on women’s conditions in the then India. Matichur (Vol. II. 1907). Sultana’s Dream. (1908). Padmarag (1924). Oborodh Bashini(1931) Gyanpol. She was definitely a woman much ahead of her times. Educated, cultured, free-spirited and intelligent, she did things which enraged the Muslim community of that time but she went forth and held on to her grit. She also participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement along with other progressive Hindu and Muslim women of her time. She also opened a school for young girls, the very famous, Sakhawat Memorial High School. Begum Rokeya also founded the Anjuman-e-Khawateen-e-Islam (Islamic Women’s Association), which was active in holding debates and conferences regarding the status of women and education. She advocated reform, particularly for women, and believed that parochialism and excessive conservatism were principally responsible for the relatively slow development of Muslims in British India. As such, she is one of the first Islamic feminists. She was inspired by the traditional Islamic learning as enunciated in the Qur’an, and believed that modern Islam had been distorted or corrupted. Anjuman-e-Khawateen-e-Islam organised many events for social reforms based on the original teachings of Islam that, according to her, were lost. On December, 9, 1932 at the early age of 52, a childless Rokeya died due to overwork and strain. Rokeya all through her life wrote impassioned, highly intelligent polemics about the oppression, discrimination, pain and obstacles to development faced by women both within her own community and by women belonging to all communities… her status as writer also gave Rokeya’s work a sharpened edge, greater public visibility, and greater power to mould public opinion.8

Zeenuth Futehally

Zeenuth Futehally (1904-92) grew up in Hyderabad in a Muslim family of high social standing. Fond of writing from a very young age, an early marriage took her to Japan, where Zohra® (1951) was conceived. Zeenuth Futehally lived most of her life in Mumbai with her husband, son, and two daughters. She travelled to Japan and Manila with her husband. Influenced by Jane Austen style of writing, Zohra can be said to be the first Romance…that broke taboos,9 or a novel of forbidden love10 written by an Indian Muslim woman. Zeenuth’s novel Zohra depicts the changing panorama of Muslim social life in Hyderabad. Zohra’s proud father, the Nawab Saheb named her the brightest star in all the Heavens (Zohra, 104) She stood torn between the old feudal and conventional social life that was fading fast and was being replaced by new resurgent life and nationalism. Modern politics of Gandhian era had also been deftly interwoven into the texture of this poignant story of a sensitive girl’s life whose face even in death appeared as a face that has been filtered through sorrow and suffering. It is a touching story of Muslim social life. Rummana Futehally Denby, her daughter later edited Zohra (Oxford India Collection.2008). It is unfortunate that I was not able to find more on the life history of Zeenuth Futehally

Iqbalunnisa Hussain revolted against the traditions of Indian Muslim Community in her novel Purdah and Polygamy. Life in an Indian Muslim Household.® (1944). Iqbalunnisa Hussain is the only South-Indian Muslim woman of the pre-independence period, who wrote in English. She hailed from Karnataka. She was born on 21st January, 1900 in Chikkaballapur near Bangalore. She had a good family background, belonged to the Sunni of Islam. Her father Gulam Mohinuddin was an educated gentleman. He served as Superintendent of Police. Naturally, his daughter felt secure because of his service as a police officer. Iqbalunnisa’s father was an admirer of western style of life and was European in outlook. Iqbalunnisa Hussain inherited a sense of liberty from her maternal side. Her mother Zaibunnisa was a descendent of Tipu Sultan who fought for India’s Independence. Iqbalunnisa Hussain’s parents were great patriots. They encouraged their daughter for learning languages. She learned English tutored by a lady teacher. She married Sayed Ahmed Hussain in 1914. Then, she was just 14 years old. Sayed Ahmed Hussain was an engineering student at Bangalore so she shifted to Bangalore. This encouraged Iqbalunnisa Hussain towards doing intellectual activities. She passed her intermediate examination in 1922, along with her eldest son Boshiruzaman, she got enrolled into Maharani College Mysore for B.A. Both son and mother passed their graduation with gold medals. Later, she completed higher education in England in 1933. She was the first Indian Muslim woman from Karnataka who graduated from Leeds University. These experiments and achievements brought to light a special insight for further her plans of uplifting female community in ‘Muslim Community’. She dedicated herself to the cause of social service and fought for the social recognition of widows and divorcees. She believed in women’s education and appealed and requested parents to send their girls to schools. But the rigid Muslim community did not respond and felt that Iqbalunnisa Hussain was degrading their community.

Iqbalunnisa Hussain after her education at Leeds worked as an assistant teacher in Vani Vilas Higher School, Bangalore. Later she became headmistress of a city Urdu School. She travelled across country, supporting the schemes of women’s welfare and education. She even dressed like Hindu women while visiting Hindu deities in Haridwar and Benaras. 1931 was an event year in Iqbalunnisa Hussain’s life as she stopped wearing burka (veil). It was a heroic venture. The entire Muslim community opposed her dare-devilry. People wrote articles, cried foul of her name and thought of burning her alive. But she did not budge. Her husband defended and guided her as a friend and philosopher. The couple was happy perusing intellectual pleasure. Iqbalunnisa Hussain is remembered as a social reformer and creative writer. She was founder of handicraft school for widows and orphans in 1931 and she sent her first daughter Malika Hussain to this school. She had a rapport with Sir Mirza Ismail, the Divan of Mysore. She was in correspondence with great persons like Pearl S. Buck, Yesuf Ali, Amir Ali, Humayu Kabir, R. K. Narayan and other contemporary writers and thinkers.11

Tara Ali Baig (1916-1989) was a writer social reformer, writer, and first Asian woman president of the International Union for Child Welfare in Geneva. Born on 8 August at Mussoorie, Baig completed schooling mainly at three places i.e. Dhaka, Darjeeling and Switzerland. Diplomat named Mirza Rashid Ali Baig would eventually become her husband. She was also aunt to celebrated and award winning Indian artist Anjolie Ela Menon. Planning Commission that has been replaced by the NDA government that came to power in 2014, had in 1937 appointed her as the convener for the group that was entrusted with the task for studying the challenges faced by women, particularly with regards to social and economic disabilities. Her sense of purpose is evident from the fact that while on a tour to Indonesia and Iran along with her husband, she formed women association such as ‘Women’s International Club’. While her husband went on to become the Chief of Protocol in Delhi, she materialised an idea of building up Indian Council for Child Welfare of which she would later become the President. She gave a new Indian flavour, hue to Rashtrapati Bhavan, that was still influenced by British customs. She helped then the Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi to make the entertainment at Rastrapati Bhavan more indigenous. Her determination to evolve made her do many firsts, including the fact that she became the first ever woman and more so an Asian to be elected as the president of International Union for Child Welfare in the year 1977. Having been committed to child welfare and other issues of public services, as a president she served the SOS children’s villages of India, and that too for over two decades i.e. from 1967 to 1989. After Dalai Lama left China for India, she contributed towards Tibetans settlement in India through an organisation named Tibetan Homes Foundation.

Her service to children continued with shifting borders, she became the vice president of SOS Kinderdorf International in Austria. From 1975, she served also as a member of the National Children’s Board, and contributed to Indian government’s Five Year Plans by being the chief architect of Child Welfare Policies. Her literary works ranged from a distinguished biography of Sarojini Naidu to several other fiction titles like Women in India, The Moon in Rahu, India’s Women Power and many books for children, using her fiction to capture their imagination, books like Indrani, The Forbidden Sea and The Enchanted Jungle here deserve a mention. She gained popularity with her talks on Prasar Bharti’s All India Radio and her programme on television that dealt with historical and cultural themes. Besides this she has to her credit several other accolades. In 1965, Tehran School of Social Work awarded her an honorary degree, in 1984 International Union for Child Welfare gave her a gold medal and a special award for her tireless advocating of children’s issues. She received an honorary degree from the Tehran School of Social Work in 1965; a gold medal and special award from the International Union for Child Welfare and the National Award for Child Welfare in the year 1984; another honorary degree came to her kitty with Alberta University in Canada deciding to award her with Doctor of Law in 1988.

Attia Hosain (1913-1998) was born into a feudal Kidwai Taluqdari family of Lucknow, North India in 1913 and grew up knowing many literary and major political figures of that time. Attia enjoyed the opportunity of having an English governess for her education at home. She studied outside her domestic environment, first at the elite La Martiniere School, and, later, at the Isabella Thoburn College in Lucknow. Attia had the honour of being the first woman from the feudalistic taluqdar family to graduate from Lucknow University. When independence came to India and Pakistan in 1947, she had already migrated to Britain as 1946 her husband Ali Bahadur Habibullah was posted at Indian High Commission, London. She belongs to the early period of the formation of an Asian diasporas in England. Mulk Raj Anand reflecting on Attia writes, Attia Hosian will be honoured for her reflections of the woman without veil, facing the mirror with a smile of self-recognition above the lingering sadness of empathy for other females not yet liberated. Attia Hosian’s life encapsulates many of the personal contradictions and difficult choices as she left the division of religion in one part of the world, only to find that they still matter decades later in another apparently secular country.12. A longtime BBC Urdu programme presenter to both India and Pakistan, she also had a successful career in theatre and other media for