“Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”

Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

So far as the history of reform movement in colonial India is concerned, the

curriculum across all three educational levels, i.e, primary, secondary, and higher,
contains a section on colonial reforms, often presented in a set pattern. Typically,
while discussing these reforms, focus invariably turns towards a handful of prominent
reformers, predominantly of urban and Hindu background, who were typically upper-
caste educated men hailing from the Presidency cities, along with a notable woman or

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two.1 Beginning with Raja Ram Mohan Roy's advocacy against widow burning and

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extending until the close of the nineteenth century, a number of activists and

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reformers championed the cause of women. Their primary concerns encompassed

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education, the practice of widow remarriage, the elimination of purdah (the veil and
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seclusion and domestication of women), and the campaign against child marriage and
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female infanticide.2 Regrettably, this portrayal of the theme has seen little significant
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alteration over time. The section on social reform is often perceived as a mundane,
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albeit straightforward, interlude amidst the more engaging or demanding chapters on

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the nationalist struggle and the colonial economy. As Sumit Sarkar and Tanika Sarkar
ar

(2008) contend that a broader perspective could have allowed for a more
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comprehensive exploration of a range of interconnected issues. These may include

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regional, class, and caste-specific considerations, as well as an examination of how

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the distinctive social particulars influenced diverse approaches to societal concerns

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and styles of activism.3

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By 1860, as the dominance of the imperial power was firmly established.

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There emerged a well-structured movements for reform and the practical restructuring
of religious institutions, influenced by western rationalist and positivist ideas.4 The
resultant cultural-ideological struggle had two dimensions: resisting backward

1
Sumit Sarkar and Tanika Sarkar (ed.), Women and Social Reform in Modem India: A Reader,
Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2008, p. l.
2
Vir Bharat Talwar, ‘Feminist Consciousness in Women’s Journals in Hindi: 1910-1920’ in
Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid (ed.), Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History, Kali for
Women, New Delhi, 1989, p. 205.
3
Sumit Sarkar and Tanika Sarkar (ed.), 2008, p. l.
4
C. A. Bayly, Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire, Vol.1, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge,1988, p.203.

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 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

elements of traditional culture and opposing the hegemonising influence of colonial

culture. The changing socio-cultural consciousness stemmed from this dynamics.5
Intellectuals engaged in critical comparisons between their own customs and practices
observed in other nations, leading to a revolt against prevalent social ills such as child
marriage, Sati, polygamy, untouchability, etc. The socio-religious reforms in colonial
India differed from pre-colonial ones in certain aspects. They focused on addressing
real world issues rather than the otherworldly aspects of pre-colonial religious
movements. These reforms took to the “civil use of religion”, employing religion as a
tool for societal change. The study of scriptures was pragmatic rather than

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theological; recognizing that social practices rooted in religion could be abolished

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only through religiously backed interventions. In fact, the religious reform in colonial

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India was not an end in itself but a means to confront and address social problems

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trough the framework of religion.6

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In his The History of British India (1817) James Mill remarked, “The
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condition of the women is one of the most remarkable circumstances in the manners
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of nations. Among rude people, the women are generally degraded; among civilized
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people they are exalted”.7 Therefore, in the colonial portrayal of the civilization and
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culture of the colonized, the women’s question occupied a central place. Central to
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these colonial discourses, spanning from Mill to Katherine Mayo's Mother India
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(1927), was the critique of women’s position in Indian society along with a concurrent
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emphasis on reform, education, and the advancement. Consequently, the women’s

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question also emerged as a central theme in the discourse of the native colonized
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reformers who undertook the task of addressing the colonial critique. However, as
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Geraldine Forbes contends, the proposed changes advocated by male reformers were
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insufficient to address the complexities of the woman's question. They possessed

limited insight into the lives of women beyond those within their immediate families,
and many harbored doubts about the effectiveness of legal measures, even as these
changes were being implemented.8 The primary objective of the male reformers was

5
K.N. Panikar ‘Culture and consciousness in modern India: A Historical Perspective’, Social
Scientist, 1990, pp. 22-23.
6
Ibid., pp 9-11
7
James Mill, The History of British India, Volume I, Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, London, 1817, p.
309.
8
Geraldine Forbes, Women in Modern India, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York,
1996, p.31.

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 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

progress. But it was evident that without substantial social reforms aimed at
enhancing the status of women, the broader rejuvenation efforts appeared to be
destined for failure. However, it became apparent that the "women's question" was no
longer a topic on which educated Indians and British rulers could find common
ground.9

Historians frequently observe the abrupt absence of women's concerns from

the realm of public discourse during the final decades of the nineteenth century. This
period witnessed a political shift from moderate nationalism, to a more assertive and
militant form of nationalism. This form of nationalism often drew on revivalism and

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rs
resisted social reform or any alterations through state interventions. They saw the

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“domestic realm” as a sacred site emblematic of Indian culture, beyond the reach of

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the colonial state, unlike the social reformers who considered the domestic realm as a

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potential reform area. Traditional women began to be idealized as the last bastion of
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an endangered indigenous culture. This reciprocal relationship between revivalism
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and a more militant form of nationalism became apparent. As the popular politics of
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the Gandhian Congress and mass movements led by radical figures like Nehru,
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Subhas Bose, and Sarojini Naidu gained momentum, the close interdependence
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between cultural and militant political nationalism diminished. Gandhi himself

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opposed child marriage and supported women's participation in Congress movements.

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Women gained equal footing in all forms of struggle, and women from various social
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strata joined such movements. Bose encouraged the establishment of women's

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brigades within the Congress and even enlisted women soldiers for his Azad Hind
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Fauj. Nehru pledged to introduce universal franchise after independence. Women's

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organizations, such as the All India Women's Conference, worked closely with the
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Congress movement.

9
Partha Chatteijee argues that “nationalism sought to resolve the women’s question in accordance
with its historical project. Nationalism located its own subjectivity in the spiritual domain of culture
where it considered itself superior to the West and hence un-dominated and sovereign. It could not
permit any encroachment by the colonial power into that domain. . . This determined the
characteristically nationalist response to proposals for effecting social reform through the legislative
enactments of the colonial state. In the specific case of reforming the lives of women, consequently
their nationalist position was based firmly on the premise that this was an area where the nation was
acting on its own, outside the purview of the guidance and intervention of the colonial state”, Partha
Chatterjee, ‘The Nationalist resolution of the Women’s Question’ in Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh
Vaid (ed.), 1989, p.249.

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 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

Scholars like Partha Chatterjee (1989)10 and Tanika Sarkar (1992)11 have
elaborated upon this dynamics. It remains a key question to identify similar trends and
dynamics among Indian Muslims, albeit in a different time frame. However, what
often goes unacknowledged is that during the period spanning from the 1880s to the
1920s, as its prominence waned, the movement was energetically advanced,
broadened, and reconfigured by women. Across the nation, women, who had only just
begun to engage in the pursuits of reading and writing, swiftly assumed editorial roles
and contributed to the publication of journals that, remarkably, sustained extended
periods of circulation.12

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For the Indian Muslims, post 1857 was an era of "sharif redefinition" i.e, the

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reconfiguration of elite status among Muslims and the reform process was central to

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it. Faisal Devji (1991) calls the Muslim reformism as little more than a sharif exercise

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in "self-creation," with women playing a central role in this process.13 Furthermore,
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Francis Robinson observes that it was within the context of this reformist drive from
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the nineteenth century that South Asian Muslims witnessed the emergence of a more
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“this worldly Islam”, characterized by a greater focus on individuality and self. This
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emphasis on self-determination, self-assertion, and self-awareness, in turn, paved the

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way for a greater and diverse production of literature, including that authored by
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women, as the subsequent chapters will demonstrate.14

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Li
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The sharif or ashraf was a class with a common set of etiquette (adab) whose
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social and cultural characteristics can be traced to the court of Mughal ruler Akbar,
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which David Lelyveld describes as an “increasingly distinct variant of the

la

international Islamic culture. . . In fact, it was a culture that had no religious

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prerequisites for membership. . . The class of people who moved in this cultural

10
Partha Chatterjee has argued that with the rise of nationalist fervor, women's concerns were
sidelined on the national platform. Instead, gender-related matters were relegated to a inner aspect
of tradition that was considered beyond discussion with the colonial authorities, Partha Chatterjee,
The Nation and its Fragments, Chapters 6&7; Partha Chatteijee, 1989 in Kumkum Sangari and
Sudesh Vaid (ed.), Op.cit., p. 249.
11
Tanika Sarkar, ‘The Hindu wife and the Hindu Nation: domesticity and nationalism in nineteenth
century Bengal’, Studies in History, Vol. 8, No.2, 1992, pp. 213-235. She has located "some of the
vital beginnings” of nationalism into the politics familial relationships.
12
Susie Tharu and K Lalita (eds.), Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the Early Twentieth Century.
Volume I, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1993, p. 167.
13
Faisal Devji, ‘Gender and the Politics of Space: The Movement for Women’s Reform in Muslim
India, 1857–1900,’ South Asia, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1991, pp. 141–53.
14
Francis Robinson, ‘Religious Change and the Self in Muslim South Asia,’ Islam and Muslim
History in South Asia, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2000, pp. 105–21.

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 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

milieu and identified with Mughal styles of dress, manners, architecture, painting,
literature, athletic skills, and amusements were sometimes called sharif, a word of
unmistakable religious connotation in the rest of the Islamic world, but in Mughal
India indicating respectability in terms of cosmopolitan Mughal criteria…One usually
acquired sharafat by birth, however; if acquired in some other way, one’s identity was
quickly redefined in the vocabulary of honorable descent, which implied new bonds
of kinship. Sharafat also defined character: a sharif man was one of dignified
temperament, self-confident but not overly aggressive, appreciative of good literature,
music, and art, but not flamboyant, familiar with mystical experience, but hardly

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immersed in it. Sharif social relations involved a pose of deference, but were above all

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a matter of virtuosity within the highly restricted bounds of etiquette”. 15 Adab

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“reflects a high valuation of the employment of the will in proper discrimination of

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correct order, behavior, and taste, Metcalf argues that it implicitly or explicitly

lim
distinguishes cultivated behavior from that deemed vulgar. . . It denotes as well the
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good breeding and refinement that results from training. . . Adab is the respect or
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deference one properly formed and trained shows to those who deserve it. 16
ar
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Tracing the emergence of Muslim middle class (the new Ashraf) after 1857,
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Magrit Pernau argues that the basis of this “new Ashraf” was not economic (industrial
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br

wealth), as in England, but the involvement of educated professionals, religious

Li

leaders, poets, and some traders. The nineteenth century reformist Islam offered social
d
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mobility for merchant groups through religious devotion and public acts, like mosque
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building and charity. Victorian values and reformist Islam aligned, the emerging
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Muslim middle class upheld achievement-oriented values such as piety, thriftiness,

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education, and hard work. Gender norms also shifted, with women’s opportunities for
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public roles becoming dismal. Pernau argues that the more men’s reformist texts

15
Lelyveld, David, Aligarh’s First Generation: Muslim Solidarity in British India, Oxford University
Press, New Delhi, 1996, pp.29-30. “The word sharif itself has gone through several etymological
transformations . . . commonly used during the seventh and eighth centuries to describe a ‘man of
importance’, a sharif was someone with unimpeachable integrity and open-mindedness born of
learning. Later, the term came to imply inherited nobility; and by the time it was used as a title, in
the second half of the ninth century, it symbolized the legitimate claims of the people of ‘the People
of the House’ of the Prophet. . . Thus the (rather un-Islamic) idea of the nobility of blood became
incorporated in the title, Mecca, pp. 122-23. Also see Justin Jones, ‘The Local Experiences of
Reformist Islam in a ‘Muslim’ Town in Colonial India: The Case of Amroha’, MAS, Vol. 43, No. 4,
2009.
16
Barbara Metcalf (ed.), Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam,
University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984, pp. 2-3.

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 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

focused on discussing women, the further women were pushed away from the public
sphere.17
This dissertation has attempted at transcending the chronological constraints
and adopted rather a more nonlinear conception of time and space as is reflected in
the selection of texts and authors from various periods and locations. The plan of the
dissertation, being broadly thematic, aims to take up these interconnected themes in
respective chapters. The first is to set a context for the Muslim social reforms from
1857 onwards. The pre-colonial Indian Muslims already had a tradition of reforms
dating back to figures like Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (1564-1624), Abdul Haq

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Muhaddith Dehlavi (1551-1642), and Shah Waliullah Dehlavi (1703-62).18 However,

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the 19th-century Muslim social reforms occurred in a different context with distinct

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driving factors. After 1857, Muslims experienced a decline in wealth, status, and

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knowledge, while Hindus, through upward mobility, gained prominence in various

lim
fields. Alongside western cultural and religious critiques, Muslims also had to
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M
contend with the proselytizing efforts of Christian missionaries and the religious
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revivalist movements among Hindus, such as Arya Samaj. In response to these

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challenges, a segment of Muslim reformers, including both ulama and the educated
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Muslim middle class, reacted positively. Much like their Hindu counterparts, Muslim
y,
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elites initially pursued social reform efforts, later venturing into politics by the early
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20th century.
Li
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Another theme is to explore the discourses on women and gender issues

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among the male Indian Muslims social reformers and political leaders. In the late
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nineteenth century these male reformers criticized women's condition and developed
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various constructions of the ideal ashraf Muslim woman. A key role in the
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regeneration of the Muslim community was assigned to her by using skills in

educating her children, homemaking, and propagating social and religious values.
Thus the notion of woman's position being inextricably linked to the advancement of
the community was introduced.19

17
Margrit Pernau, Ashraf into Middle Class: Muslims in Nineteenth-Century Delhi, Oxford University
Press, Oxford, 2013, pp. 29-30.
18
Gail Minault, Gender, Language, and Learning: Essays in Indo-Muslim Cultural History,
Permanent Black Publications, Ranikhet, 2009, p. 138.
19
For a comprehensive idea of these nineteenth century male reformers and their ideas see Gail
Miault, Secluded Scholars: Women’s Education and Muslim Social Reform in Colonial India,
Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1998; Gender, Language, and Learning, and her other articles.

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 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

An important theme which the dissertation attempts to explore is the position,

experience and participation of Muslim women in the reform efforts. Once there was
an acceptance of the necessity for institutionalizing female education, women started
to play an active role in the reform movement. They contributed creatively by
participating in discussions about their education, mobilizing funds, overseeing
educational institutions, writing for publications, and arranging gatherings dedicated
to women's empowerment. Muslim women actively voiced their independent ideas
about issues such as purdah, Islamic law, and had a broader role in a perfect Muslim
society rather than remaining mute observers of the debates on gender issues. They

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wrote extensively, held meetings, formed the organizations and even participated in

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politics after 1920’s. In my endeavor to provide a deeper historical context to women

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as active subjects, I maintain my attention on respectable and aristocratic families, as

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they have played a crucial role in discussions surrounding the women’s question. All

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of the ladies chosen for in-depth study were from families that were a member of the
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new elite that had adopted the beliefs of the nineteenth-century social reformers. First
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in the realm of education and then in other fields like social change and politics, the
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women themselves were able to benefit from new chances. They commonly served as
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symbolic spokesmen for “the Muslim woman" in conversations with the colonial
y,
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power and in women's organizations since they paved the way for other Muslim
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women. The women under consideration here are part of a small elite group, but they
Li
d

were in a unique position to actively participate in politics and social reform as well
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as to contribute to the discussions examined in the dissertation.

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Another interesting theme to explore is locating the Indian Muslim reformers

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and Muslim women as part of the larger Islamic community. For Indian Muslims, this
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larger community served as a guide and often times as a comparison. Though the
history of Middle Eastern women is a relatively new field but recently many studies
have been published regarding the position of women, nineteenth century reform
movements in colonial Islamic societies of the region.20 As it is established that
political changes in the rest of the Muslim world influenced the colonial Indian

20
For Middle Eastern women's history, see Margot Badran, Feminists, Islam and Nation: Gender and
the Making of Modern Egypt, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1995; Lois Beck and Nikki
Keddie (eds.), Women in the Muslim World, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusets,
1978; Deniz Kandiyoti (ed.), Women. Islam and the State, Macmillan, London, 1991; Nikki Keddie
and Beth Baron (eds.), Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender,
Yale University Press, New Haven, 1991.

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 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

Muslims, for e.g., the Khilafat movement was partly a response to the perceived
danger to Islam in the Middle East. A similar connection between the two
communities is discernable in the realm of social reform. Indian Muslims looked to
these Muslim countries for guidance; reinterpretations and reforms of Islam in these
countries were deemed acceptable to Islamic strictures and thus making it possible for
Indian Muslims to emulate the same.21 The movements for social reform and
advancement of women's status were strikingly similar in a number of Asian and
Middle Eastern countries, there are numerous parallels between the Indian situation
and that of other predominantly Muslim countries.22 In their reform program such

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nineteenth century male reformers invoked almost similar themes such as the reform

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of institution of purdah, reform of marriage practices, and female education.

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While discussing Indian Muslim women’s reform, frequent references were

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made to the wider Islamic world, particularly Turkey and Egypt, which were
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undergoing similar modernization processes. Mostly such reformers prescribed
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purging their religion of local customs that were harming women's positions and
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advocated for a return to a 'pure' form of Islam.

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Another theme is to see gender question as contained in the contemporary

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women’s Urdu periodical literature from the 1880’s to the 1920’s. The study of
br

women’s writings to know their history has been a recent phenomenon. For instance,
Li

Marilyn Booth’s and Beth Baron's studies of Egyptian women’s biographical and
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periodical literature highlight their involvement in Egyptian nationalism and

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modernization. In the context of colonial India, the origin, popularity, and decline of
la

women’s Urdu periodical literature spanned around five or six decades from 1900-
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1950 during which the women read, wrote and emancipated themselves. Scholars like
Shobana Nijhawan, Francesca Orsini, Padma Anagol, Jayeeta Bagchi, Ipshita Chanda,
Ghulam Murshid, Meradith Borthwick, and Gail Minault have analyzed women's
periodical writing in various languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, and Urdu.
Such studies uncover women’s history and help comprehend women's agency,
shifting away from the exclusive discourse of male intellectuals on women's status. I

21
Sonia Nishat Amin, The World of Muslim women in Colonial Bengal, 1876-1939, Brill, Leiden and
New York, 1996, p. 4
22
Kumari Jayawardena, Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World, Verso Books, London and
New York, 2016 [1986], p. 15-40.

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 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

wish to provide an overall view of such journals and concentrate on women’s writings
in these journals, formation of organizations and the discourses they participated in.

Another theme intends to study one of such women’s journals, the Khatoon
(Urdu monthly from Aligarh) in detail. The aim is to highlight the rise of gender
consciousness and movement for women’s education and reform in the Aligarh
during the colonial period and the efforts of Shaikh Abdullah and Waheed Jahan for
the same. Towards the late nineteenth century, particularly after the death of Sir Syed,
a vibrant movement for Muslim women’s reform and education took roots in Aligarh.
I attempt to study the role of the Mohammadan Educational Conference in

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propagating women’s education, highlight the contribution of Shaikh Abdullah and

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Waheed Jahan in the same and make an in-depth study of the Aligarh based women’s

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journal, the Khatoon (1904-14) and trace Muslim women’s education, reform and

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literary activities from colonial Aligarh in the said time period.
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Literature Review:
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Scholars from a variety of disciplines such as Literature, History, Political

lig
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Science, and Sociology have conducted extensive researches on Indian women over
y,

the last few decades. Various aspects of women's lives and history have been
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br

thoroughly examined, encompassing areas such as women's literary works23,

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discussions surrounding gender and nationalism24, recovering women’s agency25 and

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women's participation in the nationalist struggle26. However, such works, both

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la

23
Susie Tharu and K Lalita (ed.), Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the Early Twentieth Century.
au

Volume I, 1993, Oxford University Press, New Delhi; Malavika Karlekar, Voices from Within:
Early Personal Narratives of Bengali Women, Oxford University Press, Delhi 1993; and Rosalind
M

O'Hanlon, Comparison Between Women and Men: Tarabai Shinde and the critique of gender
relations in colonial India, Oxford University Press, Madras, 1994.
24
See Tanika Sarkar, ‘The Hindu wife and the Hindu Nation: domesticity and nationalism in
nineteenth century Bengal’, Studies in History, Vol. 8, No.2, 1992; Partha Chatterjee, ‘The
Nationalist Resolution of the Women's Question’, in Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid (eds.),
Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History, Kali for Women, Delhi, 1989; and Lata Mani,
‘Contentious Traditions: the Debate on Sati in Colonial India’ in Ibid.
25
J. Krishnamurthy (ed.), Women in Colonial India: Essays on Survival, Work and the State, Oxford
University Press, New Delhi, 1999; Nita Kumar (ed.), Women as subjects: South Asian Histories,
University Press of Virginia , 1994; Anindita Ghosh (ed.), Behind the Veil: resistance, women, and
the everyday in colonial south Asia, Permanent Black, Ranikhet , 2007.
26
See Manmohan Kaur, Role of Women in the Freedom Movement 1857-1947, Sterling Publishers,
Delhi, 1968; Kumari Jayawardena, Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World, Verso Books,
London and New York, 2016; Joanna Liddle and Rama Joshi, Daughters of Independence: Gender,
Cast and Class in India, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1989; Leela
Kasturi and Vina Mazumdar (eds.), Women and Indian Nationalism, Centre for Women's

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 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

specialized as well as general concerning Indian women have predominantly centered

on Hindu women, leaving limited consideration for the distinctive experiences of
women belonging to other religious communities in India.27 The Muslim women
particularly remain more obscured in the annals of history compared to women of
other backgrounds possibly because, in the words of Meredith Borthwick28, it
“deserves a separate study” or as Dagmar Engels puts it, “the Muslim gender system
differed significantly from the Hindu”.29 Studying the history of Muslim women in
South Asia entails distinct challenges pertaining to the availability and interpretation
of sources. Materials authored by Muslim women themselves are notably scarce,

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potentially presenting a researcher with a relative dearth of such literary contributions

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for examination. This omission of Muslim women's voices from feminist discourse

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constitutes a form of oppression akin to historical marginalization of women.30 It is

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imperative to address this by actively engaging with their viewpoints, aspirations,

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understandings, and life experiences. us
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There has also been an increasing focus on the evolving roles and positions of
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Muslim women across different countries. Prominent studies in this genre are: Lois
lig

Beck and Nikki Keddie (ed.) Women in the Muslim World31; Nikki Keddie and Beth
A
y,

Baron Women in Middle Eastern History32; Beth Baron’s The Women’s Awakening in
ar

Egypt: Culture, Society and the Press33; Margot Badran’s Feminists, Islam and
br
Li
d
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A
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Development Studies, New Delhi, 1994; Dagmar Engels, Beyond Purdah? Women in Bengal 1890-
la

1939, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1996.

au

27
For e.g., Vijay Agnew, Elite Women in Indian Politics, Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1979;
Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid (ed.), Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History, Kali for
M

Women, New Delhi, 1989; J Krishnamurthy (ed.), Women in Colonial India: Essays on Survival,
Work and the State, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1999; and Geraldine Forbes, Women in
Modern India, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996.
28
Meredith Borthwick, The Changing Role of Women in Bengal, 1849-1905, Princeton University
Press, Princeton, 1984, p.xiii.
29
Dagmar Engels, Beyond Purdah? Women in Bengal,1890-1930, Oxford University Press, Delhi,
1996, quoted in Mahua Sarkar (ed.), Visible Histories Disappearing Women: Producing Muslim
Womanhood in Late Colonial Bengal, Duke University Press, Durharm and London, 2008.
30
Katherine Bullock, Rethinking Muslim Woman and the Veil, Challenging Historical and Modern
Stereotypes, The International Institute of Islamic Thought, London, 2002, p.37.
31
Lois Beck and Nikki Keddie (eds.), Women in the Muslim World, Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, 1978.
32
Nikki R. Keddie and Beth Baron (eds.), Women in Middle Eastern History, Yale University Press,
New Haven, 1991.
33
Beth Baron, The Women’s Awakening in Egypt: Culture, Society and the Press, Yale University
Press, New Haven and London, 1994.

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 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

Nation: Gender and the Making of Modem Egypt34; N Abadan Unat’s Women in
Turkish Society35; Parvin Paidar’s Women and the Political Processes in Twentieth
Century Iran36, Lila Abu- Lughod’s Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in
the Middle East37 and Beth Baron’s Egypt as a woman: Nationalism, Gender and
Politics38. These works, which focus on the perspectives of women within specific
Middle Eastern societies, offer comparable contexts from the twentieth century for
evaluating the process and the form of reforms that took place among Indian Muslim
women.

Writings by and on Muslim women and need for their reforms/education

ity
rs
started to appear from late nineteenth century as a part of socio-cultural re-definition

ve
and protection by the ashraf class. One source to study Muslim women is to examine

ni
the writings these Muslim male reformers who reformers approached the women’s

U
lim
question through diverse approaches, ranging from reformist to modernist. While the
us
reformist paradigm found its emblematic representation in Ashraf Ali Thanawi's
M

(1863-1943) monumental female curriculum, the Behisht-i-Zewar (1905). The initial

h
ar

phase of the modernist approach was embodied by the didactic writings of Nazir
lig

Ahmed (1831-1914) and Altaf Hussain Hali (1837-1914). Nazir Ahmad published his
A
y,

first novel promoting women’s education titled Mirat-ul-Arus in 1869 and Hali wrote
ar
br

Majalis-un-Nissa, a didactic work on benefits of female education in 1874. The

Li

modernists prescribed a modern education for women, similar to that received by any
d
za

well-to-do man. The next phase of the modernist approach was manifest in the
A

educational program advocated by Shaikh Abdullah (1874-1965), which also

na

incorporated English in its program of women’s education.39

la
au
M

The majority of research concerning Muslim women has predominantly

adopted a sociological or anthropological approach, focusing mostly on the second

34
Margot Badran, Feminists, Islam and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modem Egypt. Princeton
University Press, Princeton, 1995.
35
N Abadan Unat, Emine Nermin, and Deniz Kandiyoti (eds.), Women in Turkish Society, Vol. 30,
Brill, Leiden, 1981.
36
Parvin Paidar, Women and the Political Processes in Twentieth Century Iran, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, 1995.
37
Lila Abu Lughod (ed.), Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East, Princeton
University Press, Princeton, 1998.
38
Beth Baron, Egypt as a Woman: Nationalism Gender and Politics, University of California Press,
Berkeley, 2005.
39
Devji, ‘Gender and the Politics of Space, pp. 22-37.

11
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

half of the twentieth century and on women's legal status. Furthermore, with reference
to Muslim women in colonial India, the intersections of gender with overarching
issues of nationalism and the construction of communal identity have not been
thoroughly examined. Scholars like Chatterjee, Sarkar and Mani have attempted to
explore the interaction between gender question and nationalism in general but such
studies usually focus on Hindus.40 Very few works provide the account of Muslim
women from a historical perspective, such as Gail Minault's41 work on women’s
education and social reform movement in the late-nineteenth-century.

Scholars like Gail Minault, Barbara Metcalf, Azra Asghar Ali, Geraldine

ity
rs
Forbes, S.Lambert- Hurley, Shaista Ikramullah, Mahua Sarkar, Nasreen Ahmad, etc.

ve
have worked around our theme and have shed light on Muslim women of South-Asia,

ni
U
they have succeeded to a large extent in tracing the voices of hitherto silent(silenced)

lim
women and recover what is ‘hidden in history’42, while others like David Lelyveld,
us
Francis Robinson, Peter Hardy, Mushirul Hassan, Imtiaz Ahmed, etc help us to
M

understand the late 19th and early 20th century society, polity and culture of colonial
h
ar

Muslim India, thus providing many useful insights for our study. I have reviewed the
lig

literature of both the categories below:

A
y,
ar

David Lelyveld’s work43 explores the 19th century Indian Muslims, their
br

socio-cultural milieu in British India and its articulation in a colonial context. It

Li
d

chronicles the role of Aligarh movement and studies the first 25 years of Aligarh
za

Muslim University and emphasizes how Aligarh while replacing oriental learning
A
na

with English curriculum, concurrently, created and nurtured the consciousness of

la

being an “Indian Muslim” and created a sense of solidarity among the students, which
au
M

later reflected itself among the Muslim community of British India. The work
provides biographical information about Sir Syed (1817-1898) and other important
north Indian Muslims, providing insights into the milieu of the institution, the staff,

40
See Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and its Fragments, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1994,
chapters 6&7; Lata Mani, ‘Contentious Traditions’, 1989; Tanika Sarkar, ‘The Hindu wife and the
Hindu Nation: domesticity and nationalism in nineteenth century Bengal’, Studies in History,
Vol. 8, No.2, 1992, pp. 213-235
41
Gail Minault, Secluded Scholars: Women's Education and Muslim Social Reform in Colonial India,
Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1998.
42
Mahua Sarkar, ‘Muslim Women and the Politics of In (visibility) in Late Colonial Bengal,’ Journal
of Historical Sociology, Vol. 14, No.2, June, 2001, pp.27.
43
Lelyveld, David, Aligarh’s First Generation: Muslim Solidarity in British India, Oxford University
Press, New Delhi, 1996 [1978].

12
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

the curriculum etc, thereby enhancing our understanding of the social and intellectual
landscape of that era. Although, in this engaging study of “Aligarh’s First Generation”
there is no direct reference to Muslim women, but the book will serve as a
background to my research.

Apart from Lelyveld, other important works on Sir Syed such as Christian
Troll's Saiyyid Ahmad Khan: A Reinterpretation of Muslim Theology44 and Hafeez
Malik's45 works on Sir Syed Ahmed Khan remain silent on the experiences of Muslim
women at AMU. This silence can be accounted to Sir Syed’s own position on
women’s education, which could never form a form part of Sir Syed’s main vision of

ity
Muslim women’s education, there was simply no story to be told.

rs
ve
ni
Francis Robinson notes that the proponents of female subordination in Muslim

U
societies often draw justification from the Quran, given that social laws within Islamic

lim
sources have predominantly been interpreted within a patriarchal framework. 46 He
us
M
cites specific Quranic verses that are used to support practices like seclusion of
h

women in harems or observing purdah. Nevertheless, he acknowledges that the Quran

ar
lig

also emphasizes the spiritual equality of women in numerous instances. In addition,

A

Robinson observes that the process of modernization, influenced by Western ideas,

y,
ar

has encouraged women to pursue roles beyond their households, enabling them to
br

contribute their energies towards governmental development initiatives. Robinson's

Li
d

articulations are notably characterized by a discernible bias, sarcasm, and a

za

derogatory tone. He expresses lament over the fact that despite the increasing
A
na

influence of educated women, it has not led to an outright rejection of Islamic values.
la

He anticipates and perceives a fundamental conflict between modernization and

au

Islam, asserting that, “The tremendous fact is that, whether Islamically inspired or not,
M

women now play a substantial part in public affairs, which is the greatest

44
Christian W. Troll, Saiyyid Ahmad Khan: A Reinterpretation of Muslim Theology, Vikas Publishing
House, New Delhi, 1978.
45
Hafeez Malik, Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan and Muslim Modernization in India and Pakistan, Columbia
University Press, New York and London, 1980; Political Profile of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan: A
Documentary Record, National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research, Quaid-I-Azam
University Press, Islamabad, Pakistan, 1982; Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan-Educational Philosophy: A
Documentary Record, National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research, Pakistan, 1989.
46
Francis Robinson, Atlas of the Islamic World since 1500, Facts on File Inc., New York 1982, p.
222.

13
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

contemporary challenge to the pattern of Muslim life established over 1400 years
ago.47

Robinson also studies the introduction, adoption and the impact of printing
press among Muslims, particularly in South Asia. While examining the delayed
adoption of the printing press among Muslims in South Asia, he attributes it to
cultural, political, and religious factors. He highlights how the advent of printing in
South Asia facilitated the emergence of a protestant or scriptural form of Islam,
reinforced the Pan-Islamic dimension of Muslim identity, and posed a significant
challenge to the authority of the ulama as interpreters of Islam. Muslims embraced

ity
rs
printing in the 19th century to defend Islam, leading to a revolutionary impact. The

ve
interaction of print with the context of minority status, Islamic revival, and British

ni
U
rule played a crucial role. Urdu-speaking Muslims swiftly embraced print, particularly

lim
the ulama, who sought to protect Islam from Hinduism and Christian missionaries. By
us
1870’s copies of the Quran and religious books were selling in a great number. In the
M

final three decades of the century, more than seven hundred Urdu newspapers and
h
ar

magazines were launched. This active use of the print, however, became a
lig

simultaneous challenge to the authority of the ulama. By printing Islamic classics and
A
y,

translating them into vernacular languages, the authority of the ulama was
ar
br

undermined and their monopoly on knowledge transmission broken. Print also

Li

became the primary platform for religious debates, closely linked to the
d
za

popularization of formal religious knowledge during the nineteenth and twentieth

A

centuries, thus enabling a period of active religious experimentation. Throughout the

na

nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the development of printing technology has also
la
au

been intricately linked with the resurgence of Muslim religious revival and the growth
M

of pan-Islamic consciousness in South Asia.48

Mushirul Hassan49, rather than unearthing new facts, has attempted a more
adequate description on the lives of important intellectuals of 19th century Delhi-
Zakaullah (1832-1910), Nazir Ahmad (1833-1912), Sir Syed Ahmad (1817-98),
Ghalib (1797-1869) and Hali (1837-1914), studying their attitudes and behaviors

47
Ibid.
48
Francis Robinson, ‘Technology and Religious Change: Islam and the Impact of Print’, Modern
Asian Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1, 1993, pp. 229-251.
49
Mushirul Hassan, A Moral Reckoning: Muslim intellectuals in Nineteenth-century Delhi, Oxford
University Press, New Delhi, 2008.

14
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

towards one another, their responses to the onset of British rule, their articulation of
1857 rebellion, their own assessment of identity, society and culture and the impact of
their thinking on their contemporaries. While ruling out the narration of political
history, the book remains rather an intellectual history of 19th century Delhi, the other
themes like secularism, religious pluralism, transition of Indian society etc are dealt
with only sporadically. The bibliography is very rich, apart from using Urdu sources
very extensively, speeches, private papers, life writings, government reports are also
included. The book contains many insights for my research in terms of exploring the
20th century colonial Muslim society and culture.

ity
The above mentioned works and works including S.K. Bhatnagar’s History of

rs
ve
the M.A.0 College Aligarh (1969)50 and M.S. Jain’s The Aligarh Movement (1965)51

ni
U
provide insights into the cultural background and the emphasis placed on education as

lim
a vehicle for cultural revitalization among Muslim men.
us
Tim Allender’s52 article offers a revision to post colonial theory that regards
M
h

the failure of colonial education in India as a result of its falling victim to the forces of
ar
lig

nationalism in the early twentieth century. Studying the colonial education system in
A

Punjab Tim tries to show how the European-led education aspiring to reach the
y,
ar

general population, after a very propitious start, had failed a by 1880’s as a result of
br

faulty decisions of colonial administrators and self limiting regressive working of Raj
Li

bureaucracy. He explores various factors responsible for this failure as a “poorly

d
za

conceived but well-meaning crusade against female infanticide”, “a linguistically

A
na

tenuous curriculum”, “a drive for Middle School English instruction” and “a policy of
la

‘decentralization’, which handed ‘lower-order’ schooling to apathetic local

au
M

committees. The article also gives a detailed account of colonial efforts at female
education in Punjab, highlighting the strategy, achievements and the complexities
within. It shows how Montgomery’s partly philanthropic agenda of female education
nearly derailed the Punjab’s growing education department. The paper is very rich in
its use of primary sources like government reports, educational records, census
reports, minutes, dispatches and archival material.

50
S. K. Bhatnagar, History of the M.A.0 College Aligarh, Asia Publishing House, Delhi, 1969.
51
M. S. Jain, The Aligarh Movement: Its Origins and Development, 1858-1906, Sri Ram Mehra & Co,
Agra, 1965.
52
Tim Allender, ‘Surrendering a colonial domain: educating North India, 1854–1890’, History of
Education, Vol.36, No.1, 2007, pp. 45-63.

15
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

Madhu Kishwar53 in her study of women’s reform in Punjab led by the Arya
Samaj explores the process of 19th century social reform movements around the
women’s question and the hegemony that the elite acquired in defining it. The author
depicts the dynamics of social change that the annexation of Punjab followed- the
new stresses in the family system as a response to the newly westernizing public
world of employment and politics. How govt. efforts at girl’s education were half-
hearted and ill conceived is very plainly explained. Paltry grants and poor infra
structure could only provide the “barest literacy” to the girls. As a result, it had
inverse effect of declining even the indigenous education system. The missionary

ity
efforts were much better than that of the government. The author then shifts to the

rs
reform activity by the natives, in this case the Arya Samaj, tracing its efforts in the

ve
ni
places like Amritsar and Jallandhar, along with the complexities and limitations

U
involved. Women’s own initiatives are also discussed- Mai Bhagwati, Pandita

lim
Surender Bala, Savitri find the special mention. Along with the biographical
us
M
information of the reformers (both male and female), the work contains a rich
h

bibliography, mostly newspapers and biographies. For my topic this work is helpful in
ar
lig

comparing the reformist activities of Muslim reformers with their Hindu counterparts
A

and looking at the new dynamics while studying the women’s question of reform.
y,
ar
br

Geraldine Forbes in her Women in Modern India: The New Cambridge

Li

History of Modern India (1996)54 attempts to write what she calls as contributory
d
za

history of women in modern India from the nineteenth century under colonial rule to
A

twentieth century after independence, while privileging female agency. Forbes holds
na

that while the nationalist discourse has given Gandhi a pivotal role in bringing women
la
au

into the centre stage of action, the history of women prior to Gandhi’s arrival is still
M

under-explored. She holds that these women were already there, Gandhi only gave
them a blueprint for action. She contests the conventional view of women being
totally silent and blindly led in the colonial period and after. She holds, while the
subaltern school attempts to uncover and articulate the history of suppressed people,
women’s subalternity has never really got uncovered. Forbes begins with reform
movements established by men to educate women, and demonstrates how education

53
Madhu Kishwar, ‘The Daughters of Aryavart’, Sumit Sarkar and Tanika Sarkar (ed.), Women and
Social Reform in Modem India: A Reader, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2008.
54
Geraldine Forbes, Women in Modern India, New Cambridge History of India series, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1996.

16
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

impacted women’s lives enabling them to take part in public life. Forbes has used
personal narratives to write women’s history, exploring the formation of their
organizations, their participation in the freedom struggle, their role as agents in
women’s movement and colonial society and economy in twentieth century India.

Although the work provides an opportunity to read the history of women from
women’s point of view, giving a view of history from the margins, but while it’s
marginal, it’s still very elitist because those women who were able to record their
experiences belonged mostly to the educated elite. Also, the availability of women’s
memoirs, diaries, oral histories, documents, journals and literature remains very

ity
rs
sketchy even today. As a result Forbes succeeds in tracing a pattern but without going

ve
into its depth. In particular, she does not trace the history of Muslim women and their

ni
struggle for subjectivity. Again Forbes (2003)55 in her essay, ‘Locating and

U
lim
Preserving Documents: The First Step in Writing Women's History’, reveals the
us
importance of memoirs and photographs as a source for writing women’s history. But
M

the essay wholly neglects Muslim women.

h
ar
lig

Barbara Daly Metcalf has significantly contributed to the study of reform

A

among Muslim women through her various works, which focus on modern reformist
y,
ar

movements and women's issues. Her most notable works include Islamic Revival in
br

British India: Deoband, 1860-190056; Islamic Reform and Islamic Women, and
Li

Maulana Thanawi’s Jewellery of Paradise in Metcalf's (ed.) Moral Conduct and

d
za

Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam57; and Perfecting Women:
A
na

Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanawi’s Bihishti Zewar58. These works have provided me with
la

valuable insights into the nature of scriptualist reform movements within the Muslim
au

community during the previous century. Her article “Reading and Writing about
M

Muslim Women in British India,"59 explores the varying perspectives of Islamists,

traditionalists, and social reformers regarding the roles and status of Muslim women.

55
Forbes, ‘Locating and preserving documents: The first step in writing women’s history’, Journal of
Women’s History, Vol. 14, No. 4, 2003, pp. 169-178.
56
Barbara Daly Metcalf, Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860-1900, Princeton University
Press, Princeton, 1982.
57
Barbara Daly Metcalf (ed.), Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam,
University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984.
58
Barbara Daly Metcalf, (ed. and tr.), Perfecting Women: Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanawi’s Bihishti
Zewar: a Partial Translation with Commentary, University of California Press, Berkley, 1990.
59
Barbara D. Metcalf, ‘Reading and Writing about Muslim Women in British India’, in Zoya Hasan
(ed.), Forging Identities: Gender Communities and the State, Kali for Women, Delhi, 1994.

17
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

It delves into their engagement with Western criticisms of Muslim women's position
and Western women as potential role models. Interestingly, the "traditional" stance of
the Deoband is depicted as surprisingly progressive, as it rejects the notion of inherent
gender differences that could be used to confine women to predefined societal roles.
Metcalf, however, challenges the label of "traditional" for the Deoband compared to
Aligarh, asserting that both “shared in fundamentally modern transformations” and
“were rooted in an indigenous pattern of religious reform" rather than being shaped
solely by “interaction with Western values or models”.

She further argues that in the colonial context, women were seen as prominent

ity
rs
symbols of Islam. Muslim writers in British India viewed women as a focal point of

ve
cultural reform initiatives, particularly through the medium of print. But to Metcalf,

ni
these social reform efforts directed at women were “characteristic of an aristocratic

U
lim
(sharif) life” which prescribed a distinct way of life for the women belonging to this
us
class, markedly different from the majority of the population. Metcalf also
M

characterizes figures like Syed Mumtaz Ali (186-1935) and the Aligarh reformers as
h
ar

colonial collaborators –“people who internalized the orientalist argument that Indic
lig

traditions had fallen into decay and stagnation, and argued that they could, perhaps,
A
y,

regain vitality through education and reform”.60 Metcalf examines the writings of
ar
br

male and female authors during this period and observes that they portrayed the
Li

ashraf class as a potential (model) standard of proper conduct. She contends that in
d
za

the colonial era, while Indians were actively expressing their cultural values and
A

emphasizing their 'ethnic' identity, this significantly influenced gender dynamics.

na

These shifts were seen as social and religious changes, but Metcalf argues that at their
la
au

core, they were fundamentally political.

M

Ayesha Jalal61 argues that the Muslim press in the North Western provinces of
India and the Punjab provided a platform for educated Muslims to express their
thoughts on how they could incorporate Western cultural influence and technology
within their Islamic cultural framework. The journal Tehzib-ul-Ikhlaq demonstrated
their potential for self-promotion. During that period, modernity was a complex
concept with varying degrees between traditional and modern. The strong opposition

60
Ibid., p.11.
61
Ayesha Jalal, Self and Sovereignty: Individual and Community in South Asian Islam since 1850,
Sang-e-Meel Publications, Lahore, 2001.

18
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

faced by Sir Syed's efforts to reinterpret Islam, encourage independent thinking, and
promote Western knowledge indicated a resistance to adopting English values. In
terms of women, both the ulama and the Aligarh group held similar viewpoints. She
remarks:

These men saw women as unequal, but given their class status, useful in shaping a
Muslim communitarian identity. Salaried and professional Muslim men, focused on
upholding their religiously influenced cultural identity, were keen on shielding their
women from what they perceived as the “evil” impacts of colonial modernization.
While women may have held a central role in the reconfiguration of a Muslim

ity
identity within the middle and upper classes, their participation was characterized

rs
more by being silenced partners rather than proactive agents.62

ve
ni
Jalal also highlights that the authors belonging to the ashraf class (nobility) aimed for

U
lim
the moral betterment of women while maintaining a division between ashraf and ajlaf
us
(commoner) women. She asserts that the indigenous patriarchy, regarding women as
M

a symbol of a distinct Islamic identity, celebrated them primarily as mothers and

h
ar

wives, seeking to shield them from the perceived moral risks of public spheres such as
lig

schools, etc. These men advocated for the state to refrain from treating women as a
A
y,

public commodity and sought to regulate morality in a broader sense. In doing so,
ar

Muslim men endeavored to interpret colonial modernity through their patriarchal

br
Li

perspectives.
d
za

Faisal Devji63 studies the post 1857 social reforms among the Muslims and
A
na

contends that the reform process spanning from 1857 to 1900 was primarily
la

concerned with delineating a designated sphere for women, encompassing moral,

au

intellectual, and physical dimensions, rather than delving into the intrinsic nature of
M

women themselves. He views the women’s reform in 19th century as not autonomous
but a part of more general Islamic revivalism. This revivalism was not simply a Sharif
reaction to colonialism but a more complex and radical shift in an inter-Muslim
dialogue, a shift which led to formation and consolidation of a new polity of North
Indian shurafa, distinguishing itself on the basis of true/ orthodox Islam, from both
the ‘aristocrat ’and the ‘plebe’. He establishes the fact that the reformist education

62
Ibid., p. 58.
63
Faisal Devji, ‘Gender and the Politics of Space: The Movement for Women’s Reform in Muslim
India, 1857–1900,’ South Asia, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1991, pp. 141–53.

19
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

(talim) was not a European idea by comparing the model curriculum of Ashraf Ali
Thanawi, Nazir Ahmad, Shaikh Abdullah, and Hali. The curricula faithfully reflect
almost same traditional men’s education. He explains the women’s seclusion in the
legal (shariat) culture, which paganized the domestic realm of zaif (slaves, youth,
women) by privatizing, sensualizing, and feminizing them. The mystic discourse did
not reject the legal division of space into Muslim public and pagan private, but
rhetorically privileged the later, thus exposing the zaif but still keeping them pagan.
The orthodox discourse of the emergent shurafa through the medium of print and
meetings saw a struggle for appropriation of various private (previously public)

ity
institutions like mosque and school. The author shows how after the breakdown of the

rs
‘moral city’ by the colonialism, the towns or qasbas became the focus of the shurafa

ve
ni
and private came to be seen as a ‘fortress of Islam’ and its paganess as a formidable

U
threat (a departure from the other two discourses). The solution lay in the

lim
hegemonically incorporation of the zaufa into the shurafa polity by their education or
us
M
Islamization. Thus, the author uncovers the sociological roots of reforms.
h
ar

Tracing the emergence of feminism among Indian Muslim women from 1920
lig

to 1947, Azra Asghar Ali64 studies “the chain of developments that gradually opened
A
y,

up a space for Muslim women” in the decades preceding independence, and

ar

ultimately culminating in the “emergence of feminism” among them. She chronicles

br
Li

the efforts of various entities, including, Christian missionaries, the government,

d
za

social reformers, and the women themselves, in propelling the emancipation of

A

Muslim women in India. Ali systematically details the emergence of “various kinds of
na

‘spaces’ in which Muslim women were increasingly able to participate in the public
la
au

sphere, created in large part by changes emanating from the impact of the colonial
M

state”. These spaces, where reassessed gender relations emerged, were “central to the
evolving position of Indian Muslim women”. She highlights a prevailing gap in
comprehending the sequence of developments that paved the way for Muslim
women's participation in public spaces. She sees the women’s reforms as a
consequence of the nineteenth century Muslim reformers’ desire to improve the image
of the community, rather than a serious impulse to bring long-ranging reforms to
women’s lives. She contends that these reforms were undertaken within the Indian

64
Asghar Ali, Azra, The emergence of feminism among Indian Muslim women, 1920-1947, Oxford
University Press, Karachi, Pakistan, 2000.

20
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

cultural context rather than adhering to Western standards. Ali also categorizes the
contemporary literature discussing women's issues into various categories. In the last
chapter she has tried to “recover female voices through women’s journals in Urdu”, it
discusses some women’s journals such as Tehzib-un-Niswa and Ismat in detail but no
such attention is given to the Khatoon.

65
Shahida Latif delineates a historical backdrop characterized by prevalent
biases against women's education and assertiveness. Only a limited set of roles were
deemed acceptable, with any deviation from this perceived ideal viewed negatively.
Despite holding rights, Muslim women seldom exercised them. The nineteenth-

ity
rs
century Muslim community in India exhibited a diverse array of local customs,

ve
contributing to a lack of consensus regarding their perspectives on the roles and status

ni
U
of women. Muslim thinkers, while explaining the decline of their political power and

lim
formulating strategies for its restoration, initially turned to an appeal to tradition
us
grounded in pure Islam. However, they subsequently shifted their approach towards
M

seeking accommodation with the emerging power dynamics, necessitating

h
ar

competition with other factions sharing similar objectives. Overall, the work focuses
lig

mostly on the Muslim women’s position after independence, only giving a brief
A
y,

glance at the period prior to 1947. Other works in this category include: Frogs in a
ar

Well66; Status of Muslim Women in North India67; Muslim Women in Transition: A

br
Li

Social Profile68; and more recent ones such as Muslim Women in India69; and Forging
d
za

Identities: Gender Communities and the State70.

A
na

Studying Muslim women in the colonial period through regional perspectives

la

allowed me to connect the broader reform movements of that time with the awakening
au
M

and responses of Muslim women, particularly in the realm of education. In this line,
Sonia Nishat Amin's book The World of Muslim Women in Colonial Bengal 1876-
193971situates their emergence within what she terms as the "larger socio-cultural

65
Shahida Latif, Muslim Women in India: Political and Private Realities 1890s- 1980s, Kali for
Women, New Delhi 1990.
66
Patricia Jeffery, Frogs in a Well: Indian Women in Purda, Zed Press, London, 1979.
67
Roy, Shibani, Status of Muslim Women in North India, B. R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, 1979.
68
H.Y. Siddiqui, Muslim Women in Transition: A Social Profile, Harnam Publications, Delhi, 1987.
69
Mohini Anjum (ed.), Muslim Women in India, Radiant Publications, Delhi, 1992.
70
Zoya Hasan (ed.), Forging Identities: Gender Communities and the State, Kali for Women, Delhi,
1994.
71
Sonia Nishat Amin, The World of Muslim women in Colonial Bengal, 1876-1939, Brill, Leiden and
New York, 1996.

21
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

orientation of the Bengal Muslims" and “problematic of Bengali Muslim culture”.

Amin's focus on women's reminiscences and writings is evident in several of her other
works, including, The New Woman in Literature and the Novels of Nojibur Rahman
and Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain;72 The Early Muslim Bhadramahila: The Growth of
Learning and Creativity, 1876-193973 and The Changing World of Bengali Muslim
Women: The Dreams and Efforts of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain74.

Additional studies from Bengal, such as Sultana’s Dream and Selections from
the Secluded Ones75; and Early Feminists of Colonial India: Sarala Devi
Chaudhurani, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain76 further contribute to this discourse. One of

ity
the more recent works in this area is Mahua Sarkar’s Visible Histories Disappearing

rs
ve
Women: Producing Muslim Womanhood in Late Colonial Bengal77. Sarkar's insights

ni
U
into the intricate connections between the historical construction of Muslim women

lim
and their present representation in both academic and popular discussions in
us
contemporary India, along with her efforts to challenge a specific definition of
M

feminism, raise compelling and thought-provoking questions about women’s agency

h
ar

and consciousness. While delving into Bengali women’s periodicals, Sarkar tries to
lig

explain why Muslim women were conspicuously omitted from official Indian
A
y,

nationalist narratives from the outset. She contends that Brahmo/Hindu women often
ar
br

depicted Muslim women as the "backwards" other to enhance their own portrayal as
Li

"liberated/modern", this “representation of Muslim women as ‘backward/victimised’

d
za

were intimately related to the production of the category modern ‘ideal Indian
A

woman’ as Hindu, upper caste/middle class and the category ‘Muslim’ as

na

predominantly male, violent, dissolute and ‘medieval’ in late colonial Bengal.”

la
au
M

72
Sonia Nishat Amin, ‘The New Woman in Literature and the novels of Nojibur Rahman and Rokeya
Sakhawat Hossain’, in Firdous Azim and Niaz Zaman (ed.), Infinite Variety: Women in Society and
Literature, University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1994, pp. 118-48.
73
Sonia Nishat Amin, ‘The early Muslim Bhadramahila: The growth of learning and creativity, 1876
to 1939’, in Bharati Ray (ed.), From the seams of history: Essays on Indian women, Oxford
University Press, Delhi and New York,1995, p. 108.
74
Sonia Nishat Amin, ‘The Changing world of Bengali Muslim Women: The Dreams and efforts of
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossein’ in Rafiuddin Ahmed (ed.), Understanding the Bengal Muslims:
Interpretive Essays, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2001, pp: 139-52.
75
Roushan Jahan (ed. and tr.), Sultana's dream and selections from The secluded ones, Afterword by
Hanna Papanek, The Feminist Press, CUNY, 1988.
76
Bharati Ray, Early Feminists of Colonial India: Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, Rokeya Sakhawat
Hossain, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2002.
77
Mahua Sarkar (ed.), Visible Histories Disappearing Women: Producing Muslim Womanhood in
Late Colonial Bengal, Duke University Press, Durharm and London, 2008.

22
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

Similar publications focused on Bhopal have been particularly inspiring.

Siobhan Lambert Hurley's research on the princely state of Bhopal, titled Muslim
Women Reform and Princely Patronage: Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam of Bhopal78
traces the endeavors of Begam of Bhopal. It places significant emphasis on the initial
generation of female activists who challenged the conventional understanding of
Muslim women. This study highlights the endeavors of women who were eager to
introduce gradual change, it presents a unique indigenous model of reform that
operated within an Islamic framework, drawing from already established male
customary traditions and reformist patterns.

ity
rs
In the past two decades, there emerged a series of publications which delve

ve
into women's self-identification as a marginalized group. This kind of research has

ni
U
drawn attention to women's, autobiographies, diaries, short stories, and journals, etc.

lim
Some of these notable works include Women Writing in India, 600 B.C. to Present79;
us
Voices from Within and Feminist Consciousness in Women’s Journals in Hindi: 1910-
M

192080; Pandita Ramabai in Her Own Words; A Comparison between Women and
h
ar

Men: Tarabhai Shinde and the Critique of Gender Relations in Colonial India81; and
lig

From Child Widow to Lady Doctor: The Memoirs of Haimabati Sen82.

A
y,
ar

Given a comprehensive examination of Muslim women during the colonial

br

era, Gail Minault's contributions stand out as unparalleled. She has been a leading
Li
d

figure in uncovering the history of education and early social and political
za

involvement of Muslim women. Her groundbreaking works include: The Extended

A
na

Family: Women and Political Participation in India and Pakistan83, Secluded

la

Scholars: Women’s Education and Muslim Social Reform in Colonial India84, and her
au
M

78
Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Muslim Women, Reform and Princely Patronage: Nawab Sultan Jahan
Begum of Bhopal, Routledge, London, 2007.
79
Susie Tharu and K Lalita (ed.), Women Writing in India, 600 B.C. to the early twentieth century,
Volume I, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1993.
80
Malavika Karlekar, Voices from Within: Early Personal Narratives of Bengali Women, Oxford
University Press, Delhi, 1993.
81
Rosalind O’Hanlon and Tarabai Sinde, A Comparison between Women and Men the Critique of
Gender Relation in Colonial India, Oxford University Press, Madras, 1994.
82
Geraldine Forbes and Tapan Raychaudhuri (eds.), From Child Widow to Lady Doctor: The Memoirs
of Dr. Haimabati Sen, Roli Books,New Delhi, 2000.
83
Gail Minault (ed.), The Extended Family: Women and Political participation in India and Pakistan.
Chanakya Publications, Delhi, 1981.
84
Gail Minault, Secluded Scholars: Women’s Education and Muslim Social Reform in Colonial India,
Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1998.

23
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

essays such as ‘Purdah and Politics: The Role of Muslim Women in Indian
Nationalism’85 along with numerous articles on Muslim women's education.

Minault has opened up a new line in this direction—the study of women’s

magazines in Urdu as a source for exploring the lives of Muslim women and
movements for their social and educational reforms. She regards these as “the only
windows available” upon the otherwise hidden lives of Muslim women, for women
do not appear frequently in public records. Her Secluded Scholars is an exploration
Muslim women of colonial India in their historical context. She uses different
strategies for this. The first involves studying women an issue in colonial encounter of

ity
rs
cultures. The second strategy is to study these women as symbols of reformers,

ve
motivated by changing political, economic and social conditions. The third strategy

ni
involves studying women as an object of men’s reforms- as a beneficiary of their

U
lim
activism. The fourth strategy is to unearth the views of Muslim women regarding the
us
contemporary milieu, this strategy makes it even harder to find the sources for study.
M

Overall, Minault examines critical dimensions including the production of literature

h
ar

and journals for women, the educational institutions, and the reform initiatives
lig

undertaken by reformers- both religious and educational, and the role of journalism in
A
y,

that. The work mainly studies three groups: pre 1857 reformers, post 1857 anglicized
ar
br

reformers, and the products of the reforms (i.e, the first generation of educated
Li

Muslim women). She highlights the resolute efforts and proficiency demonstrated by
d
za

reformers, who often staked their own livelihoods for the sake of their mission. She
A

also provides detailed insights into the ongoing debates concerning the most suitable
na

curriculum for girls' education and offers a comprehensive examination of the

la
au

processes involved in educating, reforming, and instilling confidence in women on a

M

broad scale. Altogether, the focus is on the process of reform of Muslim women by
the ashraf class and an attempt to render such women visible. Ironically, while doing
so, the book seems to give much space to the writings and efforts of men. Minault
herself, in the epilogue, calls her research as “a story of the ideas and actions of men
as they sought to create ideal women who would be wives and mothers qualified to
meet the challenges of life in a rapidly changing world.” First, the story of “women of
older generation” is dealt with only in a limited manner. In general, an in depth study

85
Gail Minault and Hanna Papanek (eds.), Separate Worlds: Studies of Purdah in South Asia,
Chanakya, Delhi, 1982.

24
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

of women’s writings is missing. Secondly, Minault contends that women authors and
editors involved in reform and uplift efforts in the early 20th century did not
fundamentally challenge the prevailing ideology rooted in a patriarchal Islamic
framework. This was attributed to the perception that asserting their individuality
yielded limited gains, whereas prioritizing their position within the household and
upholding the status and honor of male relatives held greater practical advantages.
Finally, among Minault’s “the big three”, the Tehzib-un-Niswan and the Ismat are
quite well described as compared to the Khatoon. Although, to Minault, Khatoon is
chiefly important for its documentation of the history of Muslim women’s education

ity
in India, yet one fails to understand, why the author doesn’t attempt a description of

rs
the journal. This leaves a wide scope for revisiting such literature.

ve
ni
U
Again, Minault in her Gender, Language and Learning: Essays in Indo-

lim
Muslim Cultural History86, which is a collection of reprinted essays originally
us
published from 1974-99, calls the Tehzib-un-Niswan, the Khatoon and the Ismat as
M

the “big three”. Although Minault highlights the contribution of these journals but she
h
ar

mainly highlighting male writings. Also, she makes only a passing reference to how
lig

this literature was received by women and men, an in depth study is therefore still
A
y,

awaited. She holds that these magazines aimed only at status enhancement with
ar

household seclusion and to produce better wives, mothers and helpmates, women’s
br
Li

own efforts have not been dealt with adequately. Minault has drawn a generalized
d
za

conclusion that women’s reforms were symptomatic of social change rather than
A

causative and the Muslim male reformers educated women because they wanted to
na

make their life harmonious. Such a conclusion reduces these “women of the older
la
au

generation” to mere objects of the reform and needs to be investigated. It is

M

noteworthy that these women were the editors of magazines, wrote articles in favour
of women’s education, formed organizations, opened and run schools. Any reform
activity on their part was revolutionary in itself and should not be reduced to the only
aim of improving the household, rather these women should be seen as the true
forebears of Indian brand of “Muslim feminine if not feminist” consciousness.
Minault herself acknowledges in the epilogue that she has tried to just “outline the
dimensions of a territory that others need to explore”. The context is ample for

86
Gail Minault, Gender, Language and Learning: Essays in Indo-Muslim Cultural History,
Permanent Black Publications, Ranikhet, 2009.

25
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

further research in this direction. Minault’s works not only inspired me to delve into
this overlooked area of study but also provided a structured framework for my
research.

On the whole the history of women, mostly Muslim women (especially prior
to the advent of Gandhi) is still under explored. Aligarh journal, Khatoon (1904-
1914), which involves women not as mere objects of reforms but also as part of the
reform process, remains under-utilized as a source for historical investigation. This
thesis therefore would be an attempt at filling these gaps. The above analysis brings to
light that despite a substantial surge in expressions of feminist concerns by Muslim

ity
rs
women, there still persist widespread misunderstandings about them. So, this thesis

ve
will attempt to focus on the restoration of women's historical agency and to amplify

ni
U
the voices of Muslim women for a broader and more inclusive audience.

lim
Research Questions: us
M

• How did Urdu Journalism portray Muslim women's reforms within the patriarchal
h
ar

and colonial context of late nineteenth and early twentieth century India.
lig
A

• In what ways did women's Urdu journals/magazines from 1880’s -1914 reflect the
y,
ar

aspirations of Muslim women in colonial India.

br
Li

• How did the journal Khatoon (1904-14) contribute to the discourse on Muslim
d
za

women’s education and reform at Aligarh.

A
na

Methodology:
la
au

No single methodology could sufficiently capture the intricate dynamics

M

through which gender relations intersected with and influenced broader social and
political structures in colonial India. Feminist research in humanities aims to address
the neglect and misrepresentation of women's experiences. Faced with diverse and
dynamic feminist perspectives, I employed a qualitative approach that prioritizes
women's own interpretations and language to understand their social experience. To
comprehensively address this, I employed a combination of historical and
interpretative approaches in my analysis of diverse archival sources, including, life
writings, memoirs, biographies, fiction, personal collections/files, newspapers,

26
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

magazines, journals, records, reports, official government documents and proceedings

of various organizations. Most of the sources used are in English and Urdu language.
Some of these sources have already been studied, but not in relation to attitudes
regarding gender issues. The historical methodology proved instrumental in bridging
significant gaps in our understanding of history, thereby illuminating aspects that
might have otherwise remained hidden. In my examination of Urdu journals, notably
Khatoon, I predominantly adopted an interpretive approach, drawing from the
hermeneutic tradition of historical analysis. This approach necessitates that the
researcher adopt a holistic, or "contextualist," perspective when scrutinizing a given

ity
issue, taking into account the prevailing political and cultural influences during the

rs
period in which the text was created.

ve
ni
U
Objectives of the study:

lim
• To study the Muslim women’s reforms, within a patriarchal and a colonial
us
M
setting, through Urdu journalism of late nineteenth and early twentieth
h
ar

centuries.
lig

• To provide a concise analysis of women’s Urdu journals/magazines from

A

1880’s-1914 as a source of Muslim women’s history in colonial India.

y,
ar

• To make an in-depth study of Aligarh journal Khatoon (1904-14) and the

br
Li

movement for women education and reform at Aligarh.

d

Structure of the Thesis:

za
A
na

The first chapter begins with introducing the Muslim women’s question in
la

colonial India. It seeks to underscore the significance of gender-related concerns

au

within the broader conversation surrounding the revitalization of the Muslim

M

community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The chapter also forms a
necessary background for further chapters and provides a concise overview of the
existing literature on this subject, while also emphasizing the imperative to delve
deeper into this domain.

The second chapter delves into the critical intersection of gender concerns
within the broader discourse surrounding the societal and political revitalization of the
Muslim community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It gives an overview
of how gender question among Indian Muslims evolved from 1880’s- 1920’s,

27
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

changing political and socio-economic position of Indian Muslims in late 19th century
and its impact on Muslim women (especially the aspects of women education and
purdah). It studies the gender debate among Muslims and tries to explore any possible
interplay of gender question, reformism, revivalism, communalism and nationalism.
The chapter gives an overall view of history that evolved around the gender question
in the given time period. Contextualizing the Muslim women’s educational reforms in
a colonial and a patriarchal setting, it studies the writings of prominent Muslim
personalities, socio-religious reform leaders, writers and their impact on Muslim
women and highlights various trends among the contemporary Muslim middle class

ity
regarding the question of women’s education. Writings of Ashraf Ali Thanawi (1864-

rs
1943), Sir Syed (1817-98), Nazir Ahmad (1833-1912), Altaf Husain Hali (1837-

ve
ni
1914), Syed Mumtaz Ali (1860-1935) are discussed. Such writings discussed

U
women’s education, curriculum, purdah, shariat, gender equality, etc and created the

lim
image of the ideal reformed Muslim woman. The Muslim women themselves were
us
M
not mere passive onlookers to the debates on gender. Towards the end of nineteenth
h

century, however few and exceptional, they also took part in shaping the public
ar
lig

opinion by both their writing and activism. Educated by their fathers or husbands at
A

home and benefitting by the growth of print culture, Muslim women’s own writings
y,
ar

started to appear. The chapter highlights the writings of Begam Sultan Jahan (1858-
br

1930), Rashid-un-Nisa, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) and the like. The
Li
d

chapter concludes with an overview of the associations and institutions formed by

za

men and women for the cause of women’s education

A
na

The third chapter specifically scrutinizes the gender question as it manifested

la
au

in Urdu journalism of late 19th and early 20th centuries. The chapter provides a
M

comprehensive survey of numerous Urdu women's journals, including but not limited
to Rafeeq-e-Niswan, Muallim-e-Niswan, Shareef Bibiyan, Tehzib-un-Niswan, Pardah-
Nasheen, Ismat, Al-Hijab, Zill-us-Sultan, An-Nissa, Saheli, Ustani, Harem, Hamjoli,
and Khatun-e-Mashriq. Notably, some of these periodicals were exclusively helmed
by women, while others were under the sole editorship of men, and a few operated
through joint editorial endeavors between both genders. The chapter provides a
thematic analysis of the subjects broached in these journals, encompassing themes
like purdah, women's rights, education, marriage, polygamy, widowhood, and more.
A prevailing trend observed in these publications was the consistent advocacy,

28
 “Muslim Women in Colonial India: A Study of Aligarh Periodical Khatoon”
Ishrat Mushtaq, CAS, Dept. of History, AMU, Aligarh; Year 2024

promotion, and endorsement of formal schooling for women, as evidenced by the

publication of erudite articles in its favor. Furthermore, the chapter provides an
overview of the various schools for girls across different regions of India, highlighting
the concerted efforts to advance female education during this transformative period.
This examination illuminates the multifaceted efforts made through Urdu journalism
to advance the educational and societal standing of women within the Muslim
community, thereby contributing to the broader goals of social and political
rejuvenation.

The fourth chapter aims to examine the women's journal Khatoon (1904-14),

ity
rs
with the objective of shedding light on the emergence of feminist consciousness and

ve
the movement advocating for the institutionalization of women's education and reform

ni
U
in colonial Aligarh, as well as the endeavors of Shaikh Abdullah (1874-1965) and

lim
Waheed Jahan (1886-1939) in this regard. This chapter traces the origins of the
us
Mohammadan Educational Conference and its dedicated initiatives towards advancing
M

the cause of education for Muslim women. It also delineates the concerted efforts of
h
ar

the pioneers Shaikh Abdullah and Waheed Jahan who, despite financial and social
lig

constraints, played pivotal roles in championing women's education, ultimately

A
y,

culminating in the establishment of a girls' school in Aligarh. Subsequently, the

ar
br

chapter conducts an in-depth analysis of the journal Khatoon, undertaking a thematic

Li

examination of the articles it comprises. These encompass a spectrum of critical

d
za

subjects including women's education, women's rights, purdah, polygamy, Muslim

A

social life, motherhood, domesticity, as well as health and hygiene, among others.
na

Through this comprehensive exploration, the chapter seeks to provide a nuanced

la
au

understanding of the pivotal role played by Khatoon in shaping and influencing the
M

discourse on women's advancement and societal reform in colonial Aligarh.

The concluding chapter of the thesis sums up the arguments made in the
previous chapters, points out some pertinent questions and future scope of research on
the theme.

29