📚Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain: Biography, Literary Works & Muslim Women’s Education Pioneer

Introduction to Begum Rokeya Hossain

Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880–1932) was a pioneering Bengali Muslim writer, educator, and reformer whose life and work embodied what scholar Mohammad A. Quayum described as a “boldness of vision and courage of conviction.” She is best known for Sultana’s Dream, one of the earliest works of feminist science fiction, which imagines a peaceful, female-led society powered by reason and solar energy. In 1911, she founded the Sakhawat Memorial Girls’ School in Kolkata, one of the first schools for Muslim girls in colonial India. Rokeya used her pen, her platform, and her classrooms to challenge deeply held patriarchal beliefs and to argue that women’s education was not only a right, but a path to collective progress. This biography traces her family influences, literary innovations, and the enduring social impact of her mission.

Begum Rokeya’s Early Life, Family, & Marriage

Natal Family

  • Elder Brother Ibrahim Saber
    • Taught her how to read and write in English
    • Brought her books from Calcutta
    • Knew Syed Sakhawat Hossain through their study abroad in England and civil service
    • Arranged her marriage to Syed Shawkat Hossain
  • Elder Sister Karimunnessa:
    • A poet herself who was married off before Rokeya
    • Encouraged Rokeya to learn how to read and write in Bangla

Marriage, Children, and Step-Daughter

  • Husband Syed Sakhawat Hossain:

    • Non-Bengali, Urdu speaking Deputy Magistrate of Baghalpur

    • Widower in his late thirties when he married Rokeya
    • Progressive and liberal minded man
    • Actively supported, championed, and encouraged Rokeya’s work
    • Marriage hugely benefited her through his knowledge and encouragement
    • Syed Sakhawat Hossain Died: May 3, 1909
    • Left Rokeya considerable savings to be spent on women’s education in addition to her personal lawful inheritance (per Islamic marriage laws) share before his death
  • Children:
    • Had two daughters who died in infancy
  • Step-family Relations:
    • Step-daughter (from husband’s first marriage) and step-son-in-law were outraged by the fact Rokeya inherited money and dared to spend it on women’s education
    • Their hostility forced her to leave Bhagalpur (Bihar, India) for Calcutta (West Bengal, India) in 1910.

Key Works by Begum Rokeya: First Publications to Final Writings

First work: Pipasa (Thirst)
Published: 1901 in Bengali magazine, Nabaprabha
About: an interrogative narrative of the tragic tale of Muharram (martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein in Ali)

Last Work: Narir Adhikar (The Rights of Women)
Published: 1956 published posthumously in Mahe-Nao after being found incomplete on her table after her death on December 9, 1932.
About: Women’s Rights

  • Literary works spanned three decades: 1903-1932
    She left behind 5 books and numerous uncollected essays, stories, poems, and letters
  • Gap in her literary production: 1909 to 1914
  • One reason attributed to gap in literary production: preoccupation with the establishment of her school first at
    Bhagalpur in 1909 and then
    Calcutta in 1911

Rokeya’s Writing Style & Themes

  • Writing Style: matter of fact style
  • Mission: empowerment of Bengali/Muslim/Indian women through education and finding equality, dignity, and freedom in society
  • Viewed literature as a practical tool or medium for reforming and improving the status of women in society and overall humanity
  • Utilized religious satire: illustrates familiarity with Hindu religious text and references to Christianity
  • The Female-Half – critiques treatment of Sita compared to Rama from the Ramayana
    The Knowledge Fruit – ridicules biblical story of Adam and Eve
  • Used religious metaphors: The Dawn – references the Muslim call for prayer
  • Light-hearted & Humorous Work:
    The Creation of Woman 
    The Theory of Creation
  • Elder sister Karimunnessa’s Favorite Story: The Murder of Delicia

Rokeya’s work focused on three interrelated subjects

  • Bengali Muslim women’s education and situation
  • Bengali Muslims and their problems
  • Bengali society and its problems

Founding the Sakhawat Memorial School for Muslim Girls

March 1911: opened the Sakhawat Memorials Girls School first with only 8 girls

Historical & Cultural Context of Opening a School for Muslim Girls in Calcutta

There were ONLY TWO other schools for Muslim girls in Calcutta at the time when Rokeya founded her school, Sakhawat Memorial School for Muslim Girls, in 1911.
Rokeya had to walk from door to door to collect students in a society and time period that was hostile to female education.

    • First Muslim girls’ school in Calcutta: established in 1897 under patronage of Begum Ferdous Mahal of Murshidabad
    • Second Muslim girls’ school in Calcutta School #2: established in 1909 under patronage of Khojesta Akhtar Banu (mother of the Bengali Muslim leader Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy)

Sakhawat Memorial Girls’ School Management Activities

    • Managed Urdu section of school for 11 years, struggled to open up Bangla language section
    • Received active opposition from influential men remained until Rokeya’s death while she was running her school
    • Rokeya had to tolerate continuous sarcasm and criticism due to her writing and school being involved with mainly upper and middle classes

Begum Rokeya’s Advocacy & Muslim Women’s Rights Work 

Women’s Organization Leadership

  • 1916 – founded the Calcutta branch of Anjuman-e-Khawatin-e-Islam (All Indian Muslim Women’s Association)
  • Realized that to build public opinion favoring women’s education, solidarity among organized women was needed
  • Presided over a session during the Indian Women’s Conference in Aligarh

All Indian Muslim Women’s Association (Anjuman) Community Programs

  • Offered financial assistance to poor widows
  • Rescued and sheltered battered wives
  • Helped poor families marry their daughters
  • Helped poor women achieve literacy
  • Devised literacy program for Hindu and Muslim slum women in Calcutta
  • Work teams visited slum areas to teach:
    • Rudimentary writing and reading
    • Personal hygiene
    • Child care
    • Instruction provided in both Urdu and Bangla depending on area

Legacy of Begum Rokeya: Rokeya Day, Her School & Feminist Honors

  • Rokeya is recognized as the first Muslim female voice in the Bengal Renaissance
  • The First Book published about Rokeya: Rokeya Jibani in 1937 written by Shamsun Nahar Mahmud
  • Rokeya’s Resting Place: Panihati Girls’ High School, Sodepur, West Bengal, India

Present Day – Sakhawat Memorial Girls School

Sakhawat Memorial Girls’ School, Calcutta, West Bengal, India continues to thrive as a government-funded institution in Calcutta. Three years after her death, her school began to receive government grants and it now thrives as a government funded institution in Calcutta.

Rokeya Day in Bangladesh – December 9 

Rokeya Day is celebrated and known as Rokeya Dibash in Bangladesh on December 9 annually.

Further Reading

Daily Star Article: Begum Rokeya: A redoubtable Muslim feminist and educationist
Note: this article written by Mohammad A. Quayum & is the short version of the book.

Begum Rokeya Biography Information Source 

Book: The Essential Rokeya (Brill 2013) by Mohammad A. Quayum
Biography Curation & Format Design: Aanika I., 2024-2025
Information Description: Begum Rokeya’s biography reorganized, reformatted, and curated with the goal of
making information user-friendly and enhance accessibility to a wider global audience while ensuring information has been fact checked and is based on original research.
Content Usage Rights: This reformatted presentation of information has been published for educational purposes. Any use, reproduction, or distribution should appropriately credit both the original work and its curation.

Copyright Note:
© Mohammad A. Quayum, 2013. All original content and research remains the intellectual property of the author.
© Aanika I., 2024-2025 Curation and format design

Acknowledgment

I am deeply grateful to Rokeya scholar, Dr. Mohammad A. Quayum for his comprehensive research published in the book The Essential Rokeya (Brill 2013), which is the primary source for the biographical information on Rokeya.

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