Despite largely being forgotten and undervalued, Muslim women have created their own space and established their rightful place in society, said Shamshad Hussain K.T., Professor, Tirur regional centre of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, here on Saturday.
She said a large number of Muslim women had found their voice through periodicals and other publications in which they frequently wrote. Their role in society comprised a modernist outlook even in the first decades of the 20th century as evidenced by the writings of Haleema Beevi, Ayeesha Mayan, Thankamma Malik, Puthur Amina, P.N. Fathimakutty and others. Some of them wrote Mappila songs, others poems and even a novel, she said at a lecture on ‘Tradition and modernity: the multiple roles of Kerala Muslim women’ at the Kerala Museum here.
Prof. Hussain said they may not have found their rightful place in contemporary narratives as they wrote mostly in ‘Arabi Malayalam’, inaccessible to a larger reading population. Besides, there persists even to this day an unwillingness to recognise women writing, she observed.
Published – October 20, 2024 01:38 am IST
