Begum jahanara shahnawaz biography of michael jackson
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The group's formation stemmed from initiatives by the Shafi family women, including her mother, Lady Shafi, who assumed the presidency, reflecting a deliberate effort to address educational deficits and purdah-related isolation among Muslim women.[9]In her capacity as financial secretary, Shahnawaz managed fundraising through segregated "purdah parties," such as the 1910 event marking her own marriage to Mian Shah Nawaz, which drew elite Muslim women for social interaction and resource mobilization while adhering to cultural norms of seclusion.
These gatherings not only generated funds but also cultivated networks for broader socio-cultural advocacy.[9]Shahnawaz's involvement extended to charitable drives, including active participation in raising funds for Turkish Muslims amid the Khilafat agitation post-World War I, leveraging the Anjuman's platform to mobilize women beyond domestic spheres.
Begum Tassaduq Hussain also contested on the Muslim League ticket for the Punjab Provincial Assembly seat from the inner Lahore constituency and won with a large majority. This early leadership positioned the organization as a precursor to later women's activism, emphasizing practical reforms over radical upheaval.[9]
Anti-Polygamy Resolution and Reform Efforts
In 1918, Jahanara Shahnawaz introduced and successfully moved a resolution against polygamy at the All India Muslim Ladies Conference session held in Lahore, marking one of the earliest organized public declarations by Muslim women against the practice.[11][4] This initiative, attended by nearly 400 women from various cities, positioned reform-oriented female activists in direct opposition to male Muslim reformers who upheld polygamy as permissible under Islamic personallaw, often citing Quranic verses allowing up to four wives under conditions of equity that Shahnawaz and her supporters argued were rarely met in practice.[12][13]The resolution sought to cultivate public opinion among Muslims to discourage polygamous marriages, urging women to refuse arranging such unions for their daughters or relatives and to propagate the view that unrestricted polygamy contradicted equitable Islamic principles.[11] Shahnawaz advocated for the conference to reaffirm anti-polygamy stances annually, aiming to pressure community leaders and sustain momentum for social reform amid colonial India's evolving legal frameworks for personal laws.[11]These efforts extended into 1920, when at the 7th All India Muslim Ladies Conference, a resolution she proposed was unanimously adopted by hundreds of delegates, explicitly labeling polygamy as un-Islamic in its prevalent Indian Muslim form and committing members to an oath against facilitating second marriages without compelling justification.[14][15] Despite lacking immediate legislative impact under British rule, which deferred to religious customs in family matters, Shahnawaz's campaigns fostered intra-community debate and laid groundwork for later restrictions, such as those in Pakistan's 1961 Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, though full abolition remained elusive due to entrenched theological defenses.[14][15]Political Involvement in the Pakistan Movement
Entry into All-India Muslim League
Jahanara Shahnawaz formally entered the All-India Muslim League in 1938, joining its Women's Central Subcommittee and becoming the first woman member of the organization.[16][17] This step aligned her with the League's growing emphasis on Muslim political mobilization following the 1937 provincial elections, where the party sought to consolidate support among Muslim elites and masses.[11] Her entry leveraged her family's prominence—her father, Mian Muhammad Shahnawaz, was a longstanding League leader—and her experience in women's reform groups, enabling her to advocate for female participation within the party's framework.[18]Through this subcommittee role, Shahnawaz contributed to the League's outreach efforts targeting women, organizing meetings and propagating the party's two-nation theory amid rising communal tensions.[4] Her involvement intensified the League's gender-inclusive strategies, though limited by purdah norms and internal debates over women's public roles.[11] This period solidified her commitment to the Pakistan demand, as detailed in her later autobiography, where she reflected on the League's shift from elite advocacy to mass politics under Muhammad Ali Jinnah's leadership.[5]Her tenure faced early challenges, culminating in expulsion from the League in 1941 for accepting an appointment to the Viceroy's National Defense Council, which violated the party's boycott of government bodies during World War II.[19] She rejoined in 1945, resuming active roles ahead of the 1946 elections.[6]Participation in Round Table Conferences
Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz served as a delegate to the Round Table Conferences in London from 1930 to 1932, nominated to represent the concerns of Indian women amid discussions on constitutional reforms for British India.
By Aaliyah Gohir
Today and tomorrow mark 75 years of independence for Pakistan and India. Her career and involvement with the Pakistan Movement began at a young age when she pulled the Union Jack from the civil secretariat of Lahore and replaced it with the All-India Muslim League flag at the age of 14.
Her husband was Mian Shah Nawaz. She helped championed better educational rights for young Muslim women and girls by founding the Viqar un Nisa College for Women in Pakistan and the Viqarunisa Noon School in Bangladesh. The director of the National Archives of Pakistan, Atique Zafar Sheik, wrote: Fatima Jinnah stood with the people The people of Pakistan had great faith in her. Fatima did a lot to help build the newly formed country; she funded school and hospitals on Pakistan, founded Jinnah Medical College for Girls and even challenged Ayub Khan for the leadership of Pakistan.
Begum Ra'ana Liaqat Ali Khan (1905-1990)
Raana was an Economics professor and advisor and wife to Liaquat Ali Khan who was the first Prime Minister of Pakistan.
To help propel the Pakistan Movement, she was sent to the USA to explain the viewpoint of the All India Muslim League, and after Pakistans independence she became Member of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly. In 1942 India's government appointed her as a member of the National Defense Council, but the Muslim League asked League members to resign from the Defense Council.
She studied at Queen Mary College.
In 1918, she successfully moved the All India Muslim Women's Conference to pass a resolution against polygamy. She was one of only two women in the assembly, alongside Begum Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah, highlighting her pioneering status amid limited female representation in early Pakistani governance.
She was also nominated to the Council of the All India Muslim League and helped open schools and industrial homes for girls in Lahore. Behind every great man is a great woman; well, its time to investigate this and take a look at the amazing Muslim women involved in Pakistans independence.
Fatima Jinnah (1893-1967)
Widely known as Mother of the Nation and sister to Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Fatima Jinnah was a Pakistani politician, dental surgeon and close confidant and adviser to her brother who entered politics in 1936 and later become the first Governor General of Pakistan.
She was a member of the All Indian General Committee of the Red Cross Society.
She wrote a novel titled Husn Ara Begum and her memoirs titled Father and Daughter: a political autobiography. She refused and was thus removed from the Muslim League. She acquired proficiency in English under the tutelage of her maternal grandfather, Nizamuddin, a social reformer who established the Anjuman Himayat-e-Islam to promote Muslim education and welfare.
Her marriage at fifteen to Mian Muhammad Shahnawaz, a barrister and member of the PunjabLegislative Council, integrated her into elite political circles while underscoring the tensions between domestic obligations and emerging reformist ideals. She then went on to join the All India Muslim League as a child. After marriage she completed her graduation from the University of Punjab.
In the Round Table Conference of 1930, she and Radhabai Subbarayan were the only two active members of women's organisations nominated to the conference; they argued unsuccessfully for a five per cent reservation for women in the legislatures.
In 1937, she was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly and was appointed as parliamentary secretary for education, medical relief and public health.