Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah
Encyclopedia
Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah (December 25, 1921 – September 10, 2000) was a pioneer of Pakistani literature
and journalism in English
, and also a pioneer of feminism
in Pakistan
, West Pakistan
till 1971. She was Pakistan's first female columnist (in English), editor, publisher and political commentator. Zaibunnisa Street
in Karachi
was named for her.
Before Partition
, she wrote for many India
n newspapers, and was the first Muslim woman to have a column in an Indian newspaper. After Partition, her column in the Dawn
made her the first female political commentator in Pakistan. After she left Dawn, she became the founder and editor-publisher of the Mirror
, the first social glossy magazine in South Asia
. Due to her status as Pakistan's first female editor, she became the first woman to be included in press delegations sent abroad. On one of these delegations, in 1955, she became the first woman to speak at the ancient al-Azhar University
in Cairo
, Egypt
.
; her father, S. Wajid Ali
, was the first person to translate the writings of the well-known Urdu
poet Iqbal
into Bangla
, and was an avid Bengali
nationalist and writer. She had two brothers, and one half-brother from her mother's second marriage. She grew up in a tightly-knit Anglo-Indian
household filled with Bengali thinkers and philosophers of the age, as her father's house at 48, Jhowtalla Road, was something of a meeting place for the Calcutta literary circle. She started to write at an early age, and received considerable support from both her English mother and Bengali father. A lonely child, Zeb-un-Nissa took to writing poetry as a means for expressing her thoughts and emotions. Her later writing was affected by her trips to rural areas of Bengal
and Punjab
, including her father's birthplace, the Bengali village of Tajpur. She was educated at the Loreto House convent.
In 1940, she married Khalifa Muhammad Hamidullah. Unlike most marriages of the time, hers was not an arranged marriage
. She moved to the Punjab
with him after their marriage. He worked there as an executive for the Bata
shoe company. During the Partition of 1947, she and her husband helped refugees coming from across the Indian border.
K.M. Hamidullah, her husband, belonged to a well-known family of the Punjab. His father, Khalifa Mohammad Asadullah
, was the librarian
of the Imperial Library
in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Hamidullah was the head of Bata's operations in Pakistan, and was sent to head Bata in Ireland
in 1972. All Zaib-un-Nissa's books were dedicated to him, proof of their devotion to one another. They had two children: Nilofar (b.1943) and Yasmine (b.1949).
After moving to the Punjab in 1942, Zeb-un-Nissa was shocked. Raised in an Anglo-Indian household, she found it hard to adjust to the very different lifestyle of her husband's large Punjabi
family. It took time for her to adjust, as she admitted in the foreword to The Young Wife.
at the time of the Simla Conference
. It was here that Zeb-un-Nissa met Fatima Jinnah
. They became friends, and Miss Jinnah soon managed to get Zeb-un-Nissa an exclusive interview with her brother, Muhammad Ali Jinnah
. This was a landmark in the young Zeb-un-Nissa's career, and managed to shoot her to India-wide fame. Her stories, poems and articles started to gain her more fame around this time, as well, and she came into demand.
of Karachi
. This column began in December, 1948. After a time, she rebelled against the limited scope of the feature, declaring that women should have the right to comment on every subject, including politics. Mr. Altaf Husain, then editor of the Dawn, eventually agreed to give her a wider scope. He recognized the merit of her work by giving her a new assignment - that of a columnist appearing on the editorial page. Begum
Hamidullah thus became the first female political commentator of Pakistan. Her column established her reputation as an honest columnist who was not afraid to voice her opinions. It was also a huge step for the women's rights
movement in Pakistan.
, and became its editor and publisher. She thus became a businesswoman as well. This glossy social pictorial, with its courageous and sincere editorials, was an instant success.
The Mirror became very popular, and Zeb-un-Nissa soon became quite famous as a journalist and editor. The Pakistani government included her in numerous press delegations during this period.
She was one of the founding members of the Pakistani Working Women's Association, as well as a close friend of Fatima Jinnah
, sister of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, and Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan
, wife of Pakistan's first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan
. Some of her other close friends were Hakim Said
, Salima Ahmed, Ardeshir Cowasjee
, Hashim Raza, Shaista Ikramullah and Jahanara Habibullah.
She was a founder member of the Karachi Business and Professional Women's Club, and served as its first president. She held this position for two consecutive terms. She was also the first president of the Women's International Club of Karachi, a member of the Horticultural Society and first woman President of the Flower Show Committee. Another organization Hamidullah played an important role in was APWA
, founded by her friend Begum Raana Liaquat Ali Khan.
In 1955, as part of a press delegation to Cairo
, she became the first woman to speak at the ancient Al-Azhar University
. Her speech was controversial, as she discussed Pakistan's Kashmir
issue. However, it was a great distinction for her.
In 1956, Begum Hamidullah wrote a travelogue entitled 'Sixty Days In America', about her trip to the USA as part of a 'World Leaders Program', during which she befriended people like Marilyn Monroe
and Jean Negulesco
, and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show
. This travelogue consisted of columns she had written for a newspaper, The Times of Karachi, during her trip. The editor, ZA Suleri
, gave her permission to reprint the columns in book form as a travelogue, and she proceeded to do so.
The following year, she represented Pakistan at the UN
sponsored seminar on "Civic Responsibilities and Increased Participation of Asian Women in Public Life".
, culminated in a six-month government ban on the Mirror, issued on November 9. This ban, she was privately informed, would be withdrawn if she publicly apologized. She refused to do this and, on the advice of the well-known lawyer A.K. Brohi, appealed to the Supreme Court
.
After Brohi's intervention on her behalf, the Supreme Court passed judgement in her favour. Holding the order of the Central Government illegal and unconstitutional, the government awarded costs to Begum Hamidullah. This incident made journalistic history, and gave her the distinction of being the first woman journalist to have won a case in the Supreme Court.
In April 1961, Begum Hamidullah opened her own publishing house: Mirror Press. Mirror Press, and its subsidiary, Mirror Publications, were charged with printing the Mirror from 1961 onwards. They also did other jobs, but the publishing house remained small.
During this period, she wrote a series of very critical editorials about Ayub Khan's style of government, starting with 'Please, Mr. President!', a very emotional open letter in which she pleaded with Ayub Khan to stop ordering the police to harm students taking part in demonstrations. After Khan replied to the first editorial with a letter in which he dismissed Begum Hamidullah as 'rashly emotional', the tension steadily increased. The Mirror came close to being banned many times, and was banned twice. However, this period of her career came to a climax in the February 1969 edition of the Mirror, in which she published both 'Please Mr. President!' and a new editorial, 'No, thank you, Sir!'. She claimed that the situation had not improved and that "Pakistanis from Peshawar to Chittagong are crying 'out with Ayub!'".
Ayub Khan soon abdicated, ironically doing exactly what she'd advised him to do. However, she continued to write critical editorials whenever she felt the government was in need of a rebuke.
from 1970 to 1971. In 1971, after civil unrest which saw India train Bengali militia and the subsequent independence of Bangladesh
, Zaib-un-Nissa sent a telegram congratulating the new government but chose to remain in Pakistan.
In 1971, Begum Hamidullah's husband was transferred to Ireland, to head Bata operations there. As neither of her two daughters was willing to take over the magazine, she closed it down, and sold off her publishing house, Mirror Press.
(APWA), an organization she had played a major role in since its inception. Still writing columns for the Morning News of Karachi, she continued to comment on the socio-political aspects of Pakistani society. However, she was becoming increasingly reclusive.
She was plunged into sadness following KM Hamidullah's death, and soon retired from an active writing life. Disenchanted with the new generation of Pakistanis, Zaib-un-Nissa fell into seclusion and soon moved in with her daughter, choosing to spend her remaining years with her family. She retired from an active career, and only wrote occasional articles in the '80s.
In 1987, however, she was plunged into the public eye once again, when her book of short stories, The Young Wife and Other Stories, was republished due to popular demand. Yet this late fame did not last very long, and she soon went back into seclusion.
An obituary in Dawn said "even her detractors admired her for the courage of conviction and the strength of character she displayed throughout her life." Another newspaper obituary said "She will be long remembered for her pioneering role in a certain genre of journalism in Pakistan, and as a powerful and courageous writer."
In the 60s the government named a major street in the Karachi city centre
after her: Zaibunnisa Street
.
passed to her younger daughter, Yasmine S. Ahmed. This included the right to all her pictures, works, etc. Due to popular demand, a fourth edition of 'The Young Wife and Other Stories' was published by OUP
Pakistan in August 2008.
, and kept this spelling of her name through most of her life. However, there was much confusion, as, due to the pronunciation, most people thought her name was spelt Zaib-un-Nissa. Thus, when in 1970 the government named Zaibunnisa Street
in her honour, she changed her name permanently to Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah. This has the become the more common and accepted spelling of her name, and is the spelling most widely used today. However, most readers of the Mirror still remember her as Zeb-un-Nissa Hamidullah, as that was how she was accredited in the magazine. In latter anthologies, like A Dragonfly In The Sun by Muneeza Shamsie
, she was accredited as Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah.
Even though the first part of her name is now accepted as 'Zaib', there is still some confusion, with various transliterations popping up. Zaibunnisa, Zaibunnissa, Zaibunissa and Zaibunisa are the most common errors.
Pakistani literature
Pakistan literature, that is, the literature of Pakistan, is a distinct literature that gradually came to be defined after Pakistan gained nationhood status in 1947, emerging out of literary traditions of the Indian subcontinent. The shared tradition of Urdu literature and English literature of...
and journalism in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, and also a pioneer of feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, West Pakistan
West Pakistan
West Pakistan , common name West-Pakistan , in the period between its establishment on 22 November 1955 to disintegration on December 16, 1971. This period, during which, Pakistan was divided, ended when East-Pakistan was disintegrated and succeeded to become which is now what is known as Bangladesh...
till 1971. She was Pakistan's first female columnist (in English), editor, publisher and political commentator. Zaibunnisa Street
Zaibunnisa Street
Zaibunnisa Street is a famous street in Karachi, Pakistan. Located in the neighbourhood of Saddar, in the heart of the city, it is one of Karachi's oldest and historic streets....
in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
was named for her.
Before Partition
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
, she wrote for many India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n newspapers, and was the first Muslim woman to have a column in an Indian newspaper. After Partition, her column in the Dawn
Dawn (newspaper)
Dawn is Pakistan's oldest and most widely read English-language newspaper. One of the country's two largest English-language dailies, it is the flagship of the Dawn Group of Newspapers, published by Pakistan Herald Publications, which also owns the Herald, a magazine, the evening paper The Star and...
made her the first female political commentator in Pakistan. After she left Dawn, she became the founder and editor-publisher of the Mirror
Mirror (Pakistani magazine)
The Mirror of the Month, better known as the Mirror, was a popular Pakistani social magazine which ran from 1951 to 1972. Its editor, founder and publisher was Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah . As editor of the Mirror, Begum Hamidullah became the first woman editor in Pakistan...
, the first social glossy magazine in South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
. Due to her status as Pakistan's first female editor, she became the first woman to be included in press delegations sent abroad. On one of these delegations, in 1955, she became the first woman to speak at the ancient al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.It is...
in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
Early life
Zeb-un-Nissa Ali was born in 1921 to a literary family in CalcuttaKolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
; her father, S. Wajid Ali
S. Wajid Ali
S. Wajed Ali was a Bengali writer and nationalist.- Early life :Wajid Ali was born on 4 September 1890 in the village of Bara Tajpur of Hooghly district. S. Wajed Ali's maternal grandmother hailed from the Nawabpur village in Chanditola of Hooghly district...
, was the first person to translate the writings of the well-known Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
poet Iqbal
Muhammad Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal , commonly referred to as Allama Iqbal , was a poet and philosopher born in Sialkot, then in the Punjab Province of British India, now in Pakistan...
into Bangla
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
, and was an avid Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
nationalist and writer. She had two brothers, and one half-brother from her mother's second marriage. She grew up in a tightly-knit Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and British ancestry, or people of British descent born or living in India, now mainly historical in the latter sense. British residents in India used the term "Eurasians" for people of mixed European and Indian descent...
household filled with Bengali thinkers and philosophers of the age, as her father's house at 48, Jhowtalla Road, was something of a meeting place for the Calcutta literary circle. She started to write at an early age, and received considerable support from both her English mother and Bengali father. A lonely child, Zeb-un-Nissa took to writing poetry as a means for expressing her thoughts and emotions. Her later writing was affected by her trips to rural areas of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
and Punjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
, including her father's birthplace, the Bengali village of Tajpur. She was educated at the Loreto House convent.
Marriage
Arranged marriage
An arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
. She moved to the Punjab
Punjab (Pakistan)
Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, with approximately 45% of the country's total population. Forming most of the Punjab region, the province is bordered by Kashmir to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the...
with him after their marriage. He worked there as an executive for the Bata
Bata Shoes
Bata Shoes is a large, family owned shoe company based in Bermuda but currently headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, operating 3 business units worldwide – Bata Metro Markets, Bata Emerging Markets and Bata Branded Business. It has a retail presence in over 50 countries and production...
shoe company. During the Partition of 1947, she and her husband helped refugees coming from across the Indian border.
K.M. Hamidullah, her husband, belonged to a well-known family of the Punjab. His father, Khalifa Mohammad Asadullah
Khalifa Mohammad Asadullah
Khalifa Mohammad Asadullah was a pioneer of the library movement in the Indian subcontinent before 1947.-Early life:He was born on 6 August 1890 in Lahore, Pakistan to Maulvi Mohammd Ziaullah and Alam Jan.-Marriage and family:...
, was the librarian
Librarian
A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...
of the Imperial Library
National Library of India
The National Library of India at Belvedere, Calcutta is the second largest library in India after the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai and India's library of public record....
in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Hamidullah was the head of Bata's operations in Pakistan, and was sent to head Bata in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
in 1972. All Zaib-un-Nissa's books were dedicated to him, proof of their devotion to one another. They had two children: Nilofar (b.1943) and Yasmine (b.1949).
After moving to the Punjab in 1942, Zeb-un-Nissa was shocked. Raised in an Anglo-Indian household, she found it hard to adjust to the very different lifestyle of her husband's large Punjabi
Punjabi people
The Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...
family. It took time for her to adjust, as she admitted in the foreword to The Young Wife.
1936 - 1943
Zeb-un-Nissa first came into prominence in 1936, when a poem of hers was accepted for publication by Bombay's famous Illustrated Weekly of India. From then on, she was a regular contributor to that newspaper, until Partition. In 1941, her first book of poetry, Indian Bouquet, was published by her father's publishing house and proved to be very popular. All the copies of the first edition were sold in three months. She followed up on her early success with Lotus Leaves, another book of poetry.1944 - 1946
In 1945, Zeb-un-Nissa and her husband were in SimlaShimla
Shimla , formerly known as Simla, is the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of the British Raj in India. A popular tourist destination, Shimla is often referred to as the "Queen of Hills," a term coined by the British...
at the time of the Simla Conference
Simla Conference
The Simla Conference was a 1945 meeting between Viceroy Archibald Wavell and the major political leaders of India at Simla, India. Convened to agree on and approve the Wavell Plan for Indian self-government, it reached a potential agreement for the self-rule of India that provided separate...
. It was here that Zeb-un-Nissa met Fatima Jinnah
Fatima Jinnah
Fatima Jinnah , was one of the figurative and pioneering woman figure in Pakistan Movement and was the younger sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. An active political figure in the movement for independence from the British Raj, she is commonly known in Pakistan as Khātūn-e...
. They became friends, and Miss Jinnah soon managed to get Zeb-un-Nissa an exclusive interview with her brother, Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a Muslim lawyer, politician, statesman and the founder of Pakistan. He is popularly and officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam and Baba-e-Qaum ....
. This was a landmark in the young Zeb-un-Nissa's career, and managed to shoot her to India-wide fame. Her stories, poems and articles started to gain her more fame around this time, as well, and she came into demand.
1947 - 1951
After Partition, the ambitious Zaib-un-Nissa decided to work in the field of journalism, and soon established herself as an outspoken writer in her column 'Thru a Woman's Eyes', in the daily Dawn newspaperDawn (newspaper)
Dawn is Pakistan's oldest and most widely read English-language newspaper. One of the country's two largest English-language dailies, it is the flagship of the Dawn Group of Newspapers, published by Pakistan Herald Publications, which also owns the Herald, a magazine, the evening paper The Star and...
of Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
. This column began in December, 1948. After a time, she rebelled against the limited scope of the feature, declaring that women should have the right to comment on every subject, including politics. Mr. Altaf Husain, then editor of the Dawn, eventually agreed to give her a wider scope. He recognized the merit of her work by giving her a new assignment - that of a columnist appearing on the editorial page. Begum
Begum
Begum, Begam or Baigum is a Turkic title given to female family members of a Baig or 'Beg', a higher official. The term Begum is derived from the word Beg, and means a female member of the Beg's family.Also used Begzadi, for Ex...
Hamidullah thus became the first female political commentator of Pakistan. Her column established her reputation as an honest columnist who was not afraid to voice her opinions. It was also a huge step for the women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
movement in Pakistan.
1951 - 1956
In 1951, she left Dawn, due to a disagreement with Mr. Altaf Husain's policies, and founded a monthly magazine called the MirrorMirror (Pakistani magazine)
The Mirror of the Month, better known as the Mirror, was a popular Pakistani social magazine which ran from 1951 to 1972. Its editor, founder and publisher was Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah . As editor of the Mirror, Begum Hamidullah became the first woman editor in Pakistan...
, and became its editor and publisher. She thus became a businesswoman as well. This glossy social pictorial, with its courageous and sincere editorials, was an instant success.
The Mirror became very popular, and Zeb-un-Nissa soon became quite famous as a journalist and editor. The Pakistani government included her in numerous press delegations during this period.
She was one of the founding members of the Pakistani Working Women's Association, as well as a close friend of Fatima Jinnah
Fatima Jinnah
Fatima Jinnah , was one of the figurative and pioneering woman figure in Pakistan Movement and was the younger sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. An active political figure in the movement for independence from the British Raj, she is commonly known in Pakistan as Khātūn-e...
, sister of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, and Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan
Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan
Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan , DPhil, NI, was one of the leading woman figure in Pakistan Movement, along with her husband Liaquat Ali Khan, and career economist, and prominent stateswoman from the start of the cold war till the fall and the end of the cold war...
, wife of Pakistan's first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan
Liaquat Ali Khan
For other people with the same or similar name, see Liaqat Ali Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan was a Pakistani statesman who became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Defence minister and Commonwealth, Kashmir Affairs...
. Some of her other close friends were Hakim Said
Hakim Said
Sir Hakim Muhammad Said , was a prominent and world acclaimed medical researcher, scholar, philanthropist, and a former Governor of Sindh Province of Pakistan from 1993 until 1996...
, Salima Ahmed, Ardeshir Cowasjee
Ardeshir Cowasjee
Ardeshir Cowasjee is a renowned newspaper columnist from Karachi, Sindh in Pakistan. His columns regularly appear in the country's oldest English newspaper Dawn. Recently a new blog has been started with the view of accumulating the bulk of ardeshir's articles...
, Hashim Raza, Shaista Ikramullah and Jahanara Habibullah.
She was a founder member of the Karachi Business and Professional Women's Club, and served as its first president. She held this position for two consecutive terms. She was also the first president of the Women's International Club of Karachi, a member of the Horticultural Society and first woman President of the Flower Show Committee. Another organization Hamidullah played an important role in was APWA
All Pakistan Women's Association
The All Pakistan Women's Association, or APWA, as it is commonly known, is a non-profit and non-political Pakistani organization whose fundamental aim is the furtherance of the moral, social and economic welfare of the women of Pakistan....
, founded by her friend Begum Raana Liaquat Ali Khan.
In 1955, as part of a press delegation to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, she became the first woman to speak at the ancient Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.It is...
. Her speech was controversial, as she discussed Pakistan's Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
issue. However, it was a great distinction for her.
In 1956, Begum Hamidullah wrote a travelogue entitled 'Sixty Days In America', about her trip to the USA as part of a 'World Leaders Program', during which she befriended people like Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
and Jean Negulesco
Jean Negulesco
Jean Negulesco was a Romanian-born American film director and screenwriter....
, and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
. This travelogue consisted of columns she had written for a newspaper, The Times of Karachi, during her trip. The editor, ZA Suleri
ZA Suleri
Ziauddin Ahmad Suleri was a notable journalist and writer from Pakistan. He served as Editor of Dawn and the Pakistan Times and founded the Times of Karachi. He was outspoken and frequently jailed for his statements and activities. He was also called Pip...
, gave her permission to reprint the columns in book form as a travelogue, and she proceeded to do so.
The following year, she represented Pakistan at the UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
sponsored seminar on "Civic Responsibilities and Increased Participation of Asian Women in Public Life".
Ban on the Mirror
In 1957, her outspoken criticism of the harsh regime of Major-General Iskander Mirza and the forced resignation of Huseyn Shaheed SuhrawardyHuseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was a Pakistani-Bengali politician and statesman who served as 5th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 till 1957, and a close associate of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan, first Prime minister of Pakistan...
, culminated in a six-month government ban on the Mirror, issued on November 9. This ban, she was privately informed, would be withdrawn if she publicly apologized. She refused to do this and, on the advice of the well-known lawyer A.K. Brohi, appealed to the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Pakistan
The Supreme Court is the apex court in Pakistan's judicial hierarchy, the final arbiter of legal and constitutional disputes. The Supreme Court has a permanent seat in Islamabad. It has number of Branch Registries where cases are heard. It has a number of de jure powers which are outlined in the...
.
After Brohi's intervention on her behalf, the Supreme Court passed judgement in her favour. Holding the order of the Central Government illegal and unconstitutional, the government awarded costs to Begum Hamidullah. This incident made journalistic history, and gave her the distinction of being the first woman journalist to have won a case in the Supreme Court.
1958 - 1961
In 1958, she published an anthology of her short stories, "The Young Wife and Other Stories", which was so popular that second and third editions were printed in 1971 and 1987 respectively. Eminent critics, from newspapers and periodicals both Pakistani and foreign, called some of the stories in it "...the most significant literary productions of Pakistan". It was during this period that her editorials started to become a major feature of the Mirror, and this increased the popularity of both her and her magazine.In April 1961, Begum Hamidullah opened her own publishing house: Mirror Press. Mirror Press, and its subsidiary, Mirror Publications, were charged with printing the Mirror from 1961 onwards. They also did other jobs, but the publishing house remained small.
The 1960s
The Mirror became a highly controversial magazine in the '60s, mainly due to Begum Hamidullah's editorials, which were highly critical of the government's authoritarian form of rule. As her magazine became and more and more risqué, Begum Hamidullah began to feel that her, and her family, could soon be in danger. Highly critical of Ayub Khan and his government, Begum Hamidullah dropped out of governmental favour. As such, the Mirror lost government advertisements and patronage.During this period, she wrote a series of very critical editorials about Ayub Khan's style of government, starting with 'Please, Mr. President!', a very emotional open letter in which she pleaded with Ayub Khan to stop ordering the police to harm students taking part in demonstrations. After Khan replied to the first editorial with a letter in which he dismissed Begum Hamidullah as 'rashly emotional', the tension steadily increased. The Mirror came close to being banned many times, and was banned twice. However, this period of her career came to a climax in the February 1969 edition of the Mirror, in which she published both 'Please Mr. President!' and a new editorial, 'No, thank you, Sir!'. She claimed that the situation had not improved and that "Pakistanis from Peshawar to Chittagong are crying 'out with Ayub!'".
Ayub Khan soon abdicated, ironically doing exactly what she'd advised him to do. However, she continued to write critical editorials whenever she felt the government was in need of a rebuke.
1969 - 1971
Begum Hamidullah was Deputy Leader of the Pakistani delegation to the United Nations General AssemblyUnited Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
from 1970 to 1971. In 1971, after civil unrest which saw India train Bengali militia and the subsequent independence of Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Zaib-un-Nissa sent a telegram congratulating the new government but chose to remain in Pakistan.
In 1971, Begum Hamidullah's husband was transferred to Ireland, to head Bata operations there. As neither of her two daughters was willing to take over the magazine, she closed it down, and sold off her publishing house, Mirror Press.
1971 - 1979
For most of the '70s, she and her husband lived in Dublin, Ireland, where he had been transferred. Zaib-un-Nissa put her career on hold to be with her husband, and visited Pakistan regularly. She returned near the end of the decade and began writing a column entitled 'Thinking Aloud' for the Pakistani magazine MAG, part of the large Jang Group.1980 - 1983
In the early 1980s, she served as president of the All Pakistan Women's AssociationAll Pakistan Women's Association
The All Pakistan Women's Association, or APWA, as it is commonly known, is a non-profit and non-political Pakistani organization whose fundamental aim is the furtherance of the moral, social and economic welfare of the women of Pakistan....
(APWA), an organization she had played a major role in since its inception. Still writing columns for the Morning News of Karachi, she continued to comment on the socio-political aspects of Pakistani society. However, she was becoming increasingly reclusive.
Retirement
In 1983, Zaib-un-Nissa's husband had a heart attack, and he died the next year. On the day of his funeral, she wrote what was to become the most famous article of her later career. This introspective piece was published in the Morning News the day after her husband's death.She was plunged into sadness following KM Hamidullah's death, and soon retired from an active writing life. Disenchanted with the new generation of Pakistanis, Zaib-un-Nissa fell into seclusion and soon moved in with her daughter, choosing to spend her remaining years with her family. She retired from an active career, and only wrote occasional articles in the '80s.
In 1987, however, she was plunged into the public eye once again, when her book of short stories, The Young Wife and Other Stories, was republished due to popular demand. Yet this late fame did not last very long, and she soon went back into seclusion.
Death
Begum Hamidullah died on 10 September, 2000, at the age of 78. She had been rushed to hospital on the 9th, but died in the early hours of the 10th, due to water in her lungs.An obituary in Dawn said "even her detractors admired her for the courage of conviction and the strength of character she displayed throughout her life." Another newspaper obituary said "She will be long remembered for her pioneering role in a certain genre of journalism in Pakistan, and as a powerful and courageous writer."
In the 60s the government named a major street in the Karachi city centre
Saddar
Saddar is one of the neighbourhoods of Saddar Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Saddar is the central business district of Karachi. 'Saddar' generally means 'centre' and also 'head' ....
after her: Zaibunnisa Street
Zaibunnisa Street
Zaibunnisa Street is a famous street in Karachi, Pakistan. Located in the neighbourhood of Saddar, in the heart of the city, it is one of Karachi's oldest and historic streets....
.
Legacy
After Begum Hamidullah's death, her copyrightCopyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
passed to her younger daughter, Yasmine S. Ahmed. This included the right to all her pictures, works, etc. Due to popular demand, a fourth edition of 'The Young Wife and Other Stories' was published by OUP
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
Pakistan in August 2008.
Zaib-un-Nissa or Zeb-un-Nissa?
There has been much confusion about the correct spelling of Begum Hamidullah's name. She was originally named Zeb-un-Nissa after the Mughal Princess Zeb-un-NissaZeb-un-Nissa
Zēb-un-Nisā Makhfī was the eldest daughter of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir...
, and kept this spelling of her name through most of her life. However, there was much confusion, as, due to the pronunciation, most people thought her name was spelt Zaib-un-Nissa. Thus, when in 1970 the government named Zaibunnisa Street
Zaibunnisa Street
Zaibunnisa Street is a famous street in Karachi, Pakistan. Located in the neighbourhood of Saddar, in the heart of the city, it is one of Karachi's oldest and historic streets....
in her honour, she changed her name permanently to Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah. This has the become the more common and accepted spelling of her name, and is the spelling most widely used today. However, most readers of the Mirror still remember her as Zeb-un-Nissa Hamidullah, as that was how she was accredited in the magazine. In latter anthologies, like A Dragonfly In The Sun by Muneeza Shamsie
Muneeza Shamsie
Muneeza Shamsie is a Pakistani writer, critic, bibliographer and freelance journalist. She was born in Lahore, Pakistan into a literary-minded family, and was educated in England. She is daughter of the writer Jahanara Habibullah...
, she was accredited as Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah.
Even though the first part of her name is now accepted as 'Zaib', there is still some confusion, with various transliterations popping up. Zaibunnisa, Zaibunnissa, Zaibunissa and Zaibunisa are the most common errors.