Muslim Women at the Crossroads between Tradition and Modernity in Colonial India: A Study of Zeenuth Futehally’s Zohra

Abstract

In colonial India, the tradition–modernity debate and the rise of nationalism were integrally connected to the women’s question, and the idea of womanhood underwent significant changes during this period in the country. However, it is difficult to track down how the concept of womanhood was perceived in the Muslim community in colonial India for more than one reason. First, Muslim women were excluded from the rhetoric of colonial modernity that was brought in by the upper-caste Hindu nationalists. Secondly, the emergence of religion-based nationalism, the Pakistan movement, and the sectarian politics around it complicated the issues of modernity vis-à-vis the Muslim women question. My article will explore how the idea of womanhood was formed in Muslim society against the backdrop of the rise of modernity in colonial India and how the emergence of nationalism and the tradition–modernity divide affected Muslim women’s condition through a critical reading of Zeenuth Futehally’s novel Zohra (1951). It will look into the position of Muslim women in the debate over the issue of modernisation and emancipation of women among traditionalists, modernists, nationalists, separatists, and colonialists in colonial India individually with particular reference to the select novel.