Begum Badar un nissa Akhtar

Last updated

Begum Badar un nissa Akhtar
Born16 February 1894
Midnapore, Bengal, British India
Died31 January 1956 (aged 61)
Cuttack, Odisha, India
Spouse Sayeed Mohammed
Issue Ather-ul Amin, Fazal-ul Amin, Afzal-ul Amin, Shamsunnihar Akhtar, Husnara Begum
House Suhrawardiyya (by birth)
Ni'matullāhī (by marriage)
Dynasty Suhrawardy family
Father Amin Suhrawardy
Religion Islam

Begum Badar un Nissa Akhtar (1894 -1956; Midnapore) was an Indian social reformer and educator from Cuttack, Odisha. She is known for challenging the stringent and orthodox societal norms and for encouraging and enabling Muslim girls to receive formal and skill based education from behind the purdah back in the early 20th century. [1] Begum herself was formally educated and hence she took up a job as a teacher in Cuttack to educate young girls. She worked to promote female education and to abolish gender discrimination and gender injustice in the field of education. She is regarded as one among the first female teachers and educationists of modern British Odisha. [2] The Badar un nissa Assembly hall at Sayeed Seminary is named after her.

Contents

Biography

Badar un nissa was born into the illustrious Suhrawardy family of Midnapore, West Bengal, as the only daughter of the then subordinate judge of Calcutta High Court, Aminuddin Al Amin Suhrawardy and his wife Begum Umme Khatun. She was the granddaughter of Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy. Badar un nissa received her formal education in Midnapore . After her father's death, she was married off to Sayeed Mohammed, the eldest son of Atharuddin Mohammed of the Diwan family in Cuttack.

In Cuttack, Begum Badar proved to be of a great help to her husband, they both started to work for the upliftment of the Muslim society. She helped Sayeed establish the Muslim Seminary at Cuttack. [3] After Sayeed's untimely death in 1922, Begum Badar un nissa was debarred from the family property and title as per the Shariat, nevertheless she did not let this or her widowhood come on her way in carrying forward her husband's legacy.

In the early 1900s the idea of female education was still new in Odisha. Muslim girls were not allowed to attend schools or attain formal education outside their homes. Badar un nissa made her mind to educate the young girls who were shackled by the patriarchal and orthodox norms. Begum arranged for their education and took charge of it. She even arranged two purdaah-numa horse carriages for the female students and got them admitted to Ravenshaw girls high school, where she herself took up a job as a teacher. Badar un nissa faced resistance from the Muslim society for her actions, but against every odd, she continued to educate young girls in Cuttack. She used to go door-to-door to Muslim households and explain the importance of female education. She personally took the responsibility of educating young girls at school and also of bringing them to school safely in purdah and dropping them back home. [4]

In her later life, she worked to abolish the discrimination and unfair treatment based on creed and gender. She even took the charge of spreading education among the downtrodden communities in Cuttack. She is regarded as one among the first Muslim women teachers of modern British Odisha. The Begum Badar un nissa assembly hall inside the Muslim Seminary at Cuttack is named after her. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah</span> Pakistani diplomat (1915–2000)

BegumShaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah was a Bengali Pakistani politician from Bengal, diplomat and author. She was the first Muslim woman to earn a PhD from the University of London. She was Pakistan's ambassador to Morocco from 1964 to 1967, and was also a delegate to the United Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuttack</span> City in Odisha, India

Cuttack, is the former capital and the second largest city in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised form of the Odia and Sanskrit name Kataka which literally means The Fort, a reference to the ancient Barabati Fort around which the city initially developed. Cuttack is known as the Millennium City as well as the Silver City due to its history of 1000 years and famous silver filigree works. The Orissa High Court is located there. It is the commercial capital of Odisha which hosts many trading and business houses in and around the city. Cuttack is famous for its Durga Puja which is one of the most important festivals of Odisha. Cuttack is also the birthplace of Indian nationalist & freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose from Bengal. The city is categorised as a Tier-II city as per the ranking system used by Government of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midnapore</span> City in West Bengal, India

Medinipur or Midnapore is a city known for its history in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the West Medinipur district. It is situated on the banks of the Kangsabati River. The Urban Agglomeration of Midnapore consists of the city proper, Mohanpur, Keranichati and Khayerullachak. Midnapore and its neighbouring city of Kharagpur constitute the central core of the Midnapore Kharagpur Development Authority metro area, spread across 576 square kilometres.

Suhrawardi or Sohrevardi or variants may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Sarvath al-Hassan</span> Jordanian princess

Princess Sarvath El Hassan is a Jordanian royal and the wife of Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. She was born in Calcutta on 24 July 1947, to a prominent Muslim family, the Suhrawardy family of the Indian subcontinent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravenshaw University</span> Public Unitary University in Odisha, India

Ravenshaw University, formerly known as Ravenshaw College, is a co-educational state university situated in Cuttack, Odisha on the eastern coast of India. Founded as Ravenshaw College in 1868, the institution became a university in 2006. The university has nine schools, thirty three academic departments and a student enrolment of nearly 8,000. It is one of the oldest educational institutes in the country and its history is synonymous with the history of modern Odisha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in West Bengal</span>

According to the 2011 census, West Bengal has over 24.6 million Muslims, making up 27% of the state's population. The vast majority of Muslims in West Bengal are ethnic native Bengali Muslims, numbering around over 22 million and comprising 24.1% of the state population. There also exists an Immigrants Urdu-speaking Muslim community numbering 2.6 million, constituting 2.9% of the state population and mostly resides in Urban areas of the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravenshaw Collegiate School</span> Public high school

Ravenshaw Collegiate School is the oldest High School of Odisha which was established in 1851 by Thomas Edward Ravenshaw in the District of Cuttack in Odisha, India. It was one of three institutions founded by Ravenshaw, the other two being the Ravenshaw Girls' School and the Ravenshaw College, the latter now having become Ravenshaw University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nawab Faizunnesa</span> Nawab

Nawab Begum Faizunnesa Choudhurani was Zamindar of Homnabad-Pashchimgaon Estate in present-day Comilla District, Bangladesh. She is most famous for her campaign for female education and other social issues. In appreciation of her social work, in 1889 Queen Victoria awarded Faizunnesa the title of "Nawab", making her the first female Nawab in South Asia.

Mohammad Mohsin called popularly as Mohsin was an Indian actor, director and producer. In his movie career spanning more than 30 years across Bollywood, Odisha and West Bengal, he has acted and directed in many commercially successful movies. Mohsin started a revolution in commercial Odia movies and connected with the pulse of his audience. His movies ranged from social drama to action packed crime thrillers. Mohsin made his first Bollywood debut in the movie Naiyya, in which he played the character of Karim. Naiyya was produced and distributed by Rajshri Productions, which was a remake of Odia movie Shesha Shrabana, in which Mohsin played the character of a boat maker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sayeed Mohammed</span>

Sayeed Mohammed was an Indian Odia educationist, freedom fighter and philanthropist. In 1913, he founded the Moslem Seminary at Cuttack, which is regarded as the second nationalist school of Odisha. Sayeed is known for his activism against the British in the early 1900s. He was one of the prominent members of the Utkal Sammilani. In 1922, Sayeed along with Ekram Rasul co-founded the All Odisha Khilafat Committee, in the wake of the Non cooperation movement in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afzal-ul Amin</span> Indian politician and social worker (1915-1983)

Mohammed Afzal-ul Amin, popularly known as M.A. Amin, was an Indian statesman, politician and social worker from Cuttack, Odisha. He served as the general secretary of Utkal Pradesh Congress Committee during Biren Mitra's chief ministership. Afzal-ul was the Vice Chairman and later the Chairman of Cuttack Municipality and also the President of Odisha Mohammadan Association. He played a major role in preserving Urdu language in Cuttack by establishing several lower primary and upper primary Urdu schools in the city. He is also credited for organising various nationalist meetings and for mobilizing the common masses in Cuttack during the Quit India movement of 1942.

Farhat Amin is an Indian journalist, cartoonist and social activist. She's Odisha's state convenor of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, a national rights based organisation which fights for the rights of Muslim women. Farhat is the founder and chief functionary of BIRD Trust, a non-governmental organisation which works for the upliftment of marginalized women in Odisha. She is the pioneer of Muslim women movement in Odisha. In 2005 she was enlisted in the directory of Development journalists published by the prestigious Press Institute of India.

Ibrahim Suhrawardy (1896-1971) was an Indian educationist, author and linguist from Balasore, Odisha. He is credited to have written the first English grammar books in Odia for the native students. He achieved high distinction in English studies in British India and taught many generations of students and scholars how western languages could be pursued to great educational advantage. Ibrahim was also the first muslim from Orissa province to have qualified the prestigious Indian Civil Services Examinations in 1921. He was one of the active Satyagrahis during the Inchudi Satyagraha movement in 1930.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qadam e Rasool, Cuttack</span>

Qadam e Rasool, situated at Cuttack, is a shrine and an important specimen of Mughal architecture in Odisha. In the Qadam Rasool premises are present numerous dargahs, two masjids, namely Moti Masjid and Qadam e Rasool Masjid and several inscriptions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khujista Akhtar Banu</span>

Khujista Akhtar Banu Suhrawardiyya popularly known as Suhrawardy Begum was a late 19th century writer, Bengali socialite, educationist and a social reformer. Khujista was the first Indian woman to pass the Senior Cambridge examinations, in the year 1887. She was also the first Indian woman to be appointed as an examiner by the prestigious Calcutta University. She was the mother of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the former Prime Minister of Bengal.

The Suhrawardy family with over nine hundred years of recorded history has been one of the oldest leading noble families and political dynasties of the Indian subcontinent and is regarded as an important influencer during the Bengali Renaissance. The family has produced many intellectuals who have contributed substantially in the fields of politics, education, literature, art, poetry, socio-religious and social reformation. Numerous members of the family, both biological descendants and those married into the family, have had prolific careers as politicians, lawyers, judges, barristers, artists, academicians, social workers, activists, writers, public intellectuals, ministers, educationists, statesmen, diplomats and social reformers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sayeed Seminary</span> Public high school

Sayeed Seminary School is a public school located in the heart of Cuttack city, India. It was established in 1913 by Sayeed Mohammed, a prominent Odia freedom fighter, scholar and educationist. The school is credited to be the second nationalist school of Odisha and is one of the two institutions bearing the name of Sayeed Mohammed, the other one being Sayeed Seminary Primary School, which is located within the campus of the former.

Amin Suhrawardy was a Bengali judge, academic and a prominent sorcerer of his time. He served as the subordinate judge of Calcutta High court from 1887 to 1891. He was a professor of law at Calcutta University. Amin also had a parallel career in the field of stage magic and is regarded as one of the pioneers of the field in Bengal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Umdatunnissa, Nawab Begum of Kharui</span> Nawabzadi of Singranatore

Nawabzadi Umdatunnissa Begum was the queen consort of Nawab Syed Ahmed Hassan of Kharui Raj. She served as the regent of Kharui for 20 long years i.e. from 1892 to 1912. Nawab Begum gave up purdaah and went to the Court of Wards, Calcutta to fight against the arbitrary economic policies introduced by the British, because of which her estate had suffered severe losses. She challenged the British government in their own court and won the legal battle against them, making her one of the first woman royalties in British Bengal to do so.

References

  1. CHATTERJEE, KABERI (1996). "PROMOTION OF FEMALE EDUCATION IN 19TH CENTURY BENGAL". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 57: 767–769. ISSN   2249-1937.
  2. Sircar, Partha (26 May 2016). "Early Women's Education in Bengal and India". Best Indian American Magazine | San Jose CA | India Currents. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  3. "Ravenshaw Girls High School-Cuttack". Schosys. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  4. "Ravenshaw Girls' High School | Oriya Bazar, Cuttack, Odisha | Schools - Joon Square". www.joonsquare.com. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  5. "GRIN - Female Education in 18th and 19th Century Britain". www.grin.com. Retrieved 14 June 2020.