In 1933, Muslims of India were shocked & a majority was agitating against Angare, a collection of short stories in Urdu with a progressive outlook on sexuality & private lives of Indian Muslims. The four contributing authors were Sajjad Zaheer, Ahmed Ali, Mahmud Zafar & Rashid Jahan. The event would eventually lead to the formation of the Progressive Writers’ Association (PWA) with Sajjad Zaheer himself taking the lead.
Mirza Jaffer Abid of New York University writes, “Jahan, the group’s lone woman, wrote a story called Dilli ki Sair (Journey to Delhi) and a one act play, Parde ke Piche (Behind the Curtain). Both these pieces had female characters speaking for the first time about things that were considered taboo. (Bano, 2012) Particularly provocative is her treatment of sexuality, descriptions of the female body and details on the subjugation of women by men. Rashida’s, or Apabi as she would be called by her female admirers who later join AIPWA like Ismat Chugtai, training as a gynecologist is what prompted her to make the female body the subject of her work not only in Angare, but later in her career as well.”
Emerging from the shadows, with Lihaaf and Ismat Chughtai.
Ahmed Ali later wrote to Carlo Coppola, “We were condemned at public meetings and in private; bourgeois families hurried to dissociate themselves from us and denied acquaintance with us, especially Rashid Jahan and myself, and even Sajjad Zahir’s mother (a dear old lady) accused me of spoiling her son. People read the book behind closed doors and in bathrooms with relish but denounced us in the open. We were lampooned and satirized, condemned editorially and in pamphlets. Our lives were threatened; people even lay in wait with daggers to kill us.”
Rashid Jahan, a gynaecologist by training, was daughter of Begum Wahid & Sheikh Abdullah (founders of the Women’s College at Aligarh) critics attacked the institution as well.
In Aligarh, a local cleric Shahid Ahrarwi was leading the charge against the Women’s College. He wrote articles & published cartoons asking for the closure of the college. The college was called a brothel which should be brought down for good.
Ismat Chughtai in her memoir writes, “Some footloose young men from Lucknow brought out a book with the title Angarey, in Urdu, which was thought to be the language of Muslims. A cleric by the name of Shahid Ahrarwi turned his attention to the Girls’ College. He began to publish a rag in which he went about tarnishing the reputation of the Abdullah family. Shahid Ahrarwi stated that the Girls’ College was a brothel and that it must be closed immediately. He also published obscene cartoons of Rasheeda Apa and other writers.”
What did Jayaprakash Narayan think of Aligarh Muslim University?
Ismat Chughtai was a student at the Women’s College at the time. She read the stories & articles of Ahrarwi. Ismat responded to Ahrarwi with an article which was published in Aligarh Gazette calling male students of Aligarh to save the college. In response, male students had beaten up Ahrarwi.
Ismat Chughtai later recalled the incident as, “After reading Angarey, I read Ahrarvi’s rag. I felt deeply offended and wrote an article in which I said, ‘Muslim girls are backward and deprived of many opportunities. On top of it, Mulla Ahrarvi has become their mortal enemy. Let the college be closed, but only our corpses would go from here. Who will come to close the college? We will deal with him appropriately. We have six thousand brothers in the university; will they see our corpses being defiled and remain quiet? Whenever Mulla Ahrarvi comes to our mind we remember our six thousand brothers in the university, and the venerable professors and teachers, and we feel emboldened. As long as they are there, no son of a mother can do any harm to us. The queen of Jhansi sent a rakhi to Emperor Humayun. All the girls of the college are sending their best wishes and rakhis of esteem and affection to thousands of our brothers. We are sure they will take some steps for our protection.”
1962 : When AMU teachers took on Nehru government after attack on the University
I read out the long and rather emotional article to the girls. There was great commotion. Papa Mian got to know of it and came to see me. When he heard the contents, he had the letter sealed in an envelope and sent it to the Aligarh Gazette. It was published the following day. The boys read the article, and on the same night gave Mulla Ahrarvi a thrashing and vandalized his office. No one had the courage to support him. We conveyed our gratitude to the boys through the girls who were related to them. After that, Mulla Ahrarvi disappeared from the scene.”
The action of Aligarh boys was celebrated. Ismat tells. “We celebrated our victory in the hostel. We sang songs, many of them out of tune. Khursheed Abdullah danced on the tennis court. We sent for sherwanis from the university, dressed ourselves as famous contemporary poets and read from their verses. Khursheed Jahan, who was fair and bulky, became Josh Malihabadi. Misha, who was pitch-dark with sparkling teeth, sported a beard and played Jigar Moradabadi. Sufia Siraj was Majaz’s sister. She brought her brother’s outfit and when she dressed herself as Majaz girls began to scream. Fakhira played Saghar Nizami. The tennis court had turned into a dance floor. The mushaira left everyone spellbound. Khatoon Apa declared the following day a holiday.”
(The article is an extended edited version of a social media post by the author)
