Oxford launches memoirs of Ghulam Fatima Shaikh

Seen in the photograph are (from l to r): the Guest of Honour, Dr Aziz ur Rehman Bughio, who transcribed in longhand Ghulam Fatima Shaikh's oral Sindhi narrative; Mehtab Akbar Rashdi, leading anchor person, former bureaucrat, and human rights activist; Elahi Bux Soomro, senior politician and legislator; Rasheeda Husain; Kishwar Naheed, renowned feminist poet; Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director, Oxford University Press Pakistan; Dr Ishrat Husain, Director, Institute of Business Administration; and Najmuddin Shaikh, former Foreign Secretary and former Ambassador to the US.

Oxford University Press launched its latest publication Footprints in Time: Reminiscences of a Sindhi Matriarch by Ghulam Fatima Shaikh. Translated from Sindhi by Rasheeda Husain, Ghulam Fatima Shaikh's saga spans two continents and two centuries as she witnessed and experienced some of the most tumultuous events of history of the subcontinent. This memoir provides a first-hand account of what conversion from Hinduism to Islam meant in practice; and its impact on Sindhi society from the late nineteenth century onwards. It contains intriguing information about what it was like to be a family that spanned the Hindu Muslim divide, and how individual members coped with the challenges and pressures generated by conversion. Sindhi Muslims were caught up in the Khilafat agitation of the period spanning the First World War and its immediate aftermath. This memoir presents an intimate picture of how this could affect one family and gives a clearer sense of what the Ottoman Empire 'meant' to Muslims of the subcontinent and how far some of them were prepared to go to support its continued existence. This account depicts a society in transition as a result of the war, the struggle for Indian independence and the rising aspirations of Indian Muslims.

Ghulam Fatima Shaikh was an institution in herself. Though semi-literate, she was a firm believer in the education of women. Her quest for learning led her to learn Arabic and Turkish and familiarized her with the lifestyles of the Arabs and Turks. In 1947, she founded the Fatima Girls Middle School in Hyderabad, Sindh, which she managed right until her death in 1981.

Rasheeda Husain has had a varied career as a teacher, newsreader, music programme conductor on radio, research librarian, and publicity manager.

Speakers present at the launch included Dr Ishrat Husain, Kishwar Naheed, Najmuddin Shaikh, Mehtab Akbar Rashdi, and Rasheeda Husain. They were all of the view that from her narratives Ghulam Fatima Shaikh emerges as an exceptionally bold, wise, and hard-working woman, who, despite difficult days and a hostile environment during her childhood, continued to take care of her family, and by accompanying her husband to distant lands, she has preserved for all times to come the forgotten pages of history. Her strength of character sets her up as an icon for women, especially in Sindh, they added. Dr Aziz ur Rehman Bughio, who transcribed in longhand Ghulam Fatima Shaikh's oral Sindhi narrative, was the Guest of Honour at the function. In her welcome address, Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director, Oxford University Press Pakistan, said that the work being launched belongs to the genre of other such narratives by intelligent and observant raconteurs, which illuminate the times they lived in and to some extent shed light on the subtext of history.