Fatima Sheikh: A Founding Member Of The Indian Feminist Movement, Alongside Savitribai Phule And Jyotirao Phule
Fatima
Sheikh Launched The Feminist Movement In India And Worked For Women's Rights
Highlights
1. She was an
enlightened woman who stood side by side with Savitribai Phule and Jyotirao
Phule.
2. People used
to harass and stop Fatima and Savitribai when they started the educational
campaigns.
3. Fatima
Sheikh started the first joint struggle of Dalits and Muslims.
4. Google, the
world's largest search engine, featured a photo of Fatima Sheikh, wishing her a
happy 191st birthday.
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By
Bilal Ahmad Mir, New Age Islam
Translation
from Urdu by Kaniz Fatma, New Age Islam
28 January
2022
Fatima
Sheikh not only launched the feminist movement in India, but she also worked
for women's rights. She originated the slogan "Save daughter, educate
daughter" with Savitribai Phule a century and a half ago when education
for women was deemed kufr. The presence of a poor and lower-class woman, in
particular, was regarded as foreboding.
Fatima
Sheikh was born on January 9, 1831, in Pune, Maharashtra. She was the first
Indian woman to become a teacher and open a school for girls. She was an
enlightened woman who stood side by side with Savitribai Phule and Jyotirao
Phule. She served as a teacher in Phule's secret school and went door to door
encouraging small and large families to send their daughters to school and take
care of school affairs.
It is known
that When Savitribai Phule started teaching lower castes, Dalits and especially
women, she was asked to either stop this practice or leave her home. The
mother-in-law and father-in-law forced her to leave the house. When she decided
to leave her house, Fatima Sheikh and her brother Usman Sheikh gave her a place
to stay in their house. They helped her establish the first girls' school, the
"Intelligence Library".
She was
against both the upper caste Hindus as well as the conservative Muslims. Almost
everyone in the upper class was enraged by her decision and sought to stop her
by pestering her socially. Fatima Sheikh, on the other hand, stood like an iron
wall and aided Savitribai in any way she could. Her brother, Usman Sheikh could
not remain unaffected by the movement. According to documentation from the
time, Usman Sheikh recommended Fatima Sheikh to pursue a career in education.
People used
to harass and stop Fatima and Savitribai when they started attending Jyotibai's
school. They were stoned, and the path front of them was littered with thorns.
They did not, however, give up and instead became an iron wall in their cause,
fighting oppressors who were plotting day and night against the education of
lower-class, oppressed, and Muslim women.
The life of
Fatima Sheikh is of great importance because she started the first joint
struggle of Dalits and Muslims. The struggle in the life of Fatima Sheikh
proved to be an early prelude. Fatima Sheikh became an icon in India. Fatima
Sheikh also worked for women's rights and founded a school for Muslim girls in
Pune.
Fatima
Sheikh was also a teacher at Savitribai Phule School, where she educated Dalit
and Muslim girls. The Aim for Education campaign included both Savitribai and
Fatima. Fatima Sheikh was a well-known figure in both India and the United
States. Fatima Sheikh taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard
College of Education as an assistant professor. With her job and personal life,
she has affected many women. She was India's first Muslim teacher. She taught
in two different Muslim and Dalit girls' schools. Fatima Sheikh was placed in
textbooks by the Indian government in 2014. The storey of Fatima Sheikh
motivates women to fight for equal rights.
Fatima
Sheikh was instrumental in opening the doors of education for Muslim and Dalit
women in the country and became a forerunner in Indian education for
underprivileged women. But unfortunately, history has forgotten Fatima Sheikh.
On the
internet, Google, the world's largest search engine, featured a photo of Fatima
Sheikh in a Google Doodle and wished her a happy 191st birthday. This was a
true honour for her.
Urdu
Article: Fatima Sheikh -
The Icon of Women's Rights فاطمہ شیخ۔ حقوق نسواں کی آئیکن
New Age
Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in
Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In
Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women
in West, Islam Women and Feminism