available to women outside marriage compounded
by lack of inheritance rights and if widowed, no
prospect of remarriage. Their lives, from birth
onwards, were entirely controlled by the father or
by the husband’s family. Though Hindu purdah is
observed within the family between male and
female members and Muslim purdah is from the
outside world (Papanek 1982, 194), and despite
regional variations in patriarchal structures, the
purdah mentality existed in all regions. While child
marriage and lack of widow remarriage were not
specifically associated with Islam, the pervasive-
ness of cultural and regional customs tended to
influence both communities and to supersede spe-
cific Muslim laws pertaining to women (Lateef
1990, 62–4), depriving them of the right to educa-
tion, inheritance, and remarriage.
Muslim reformers did not immediately join their
Hindu counterparts in condemning such customs.
However, as the debate on the position of women
evolved, the lack of education and early marriage
became inextricably linked to the custom of pur-
dah. In the nineteenth century Muslim reformers
focused on purdah and argued that the rigidity with
which it was enforced exceeded the original intent
of the Qur±àn. A distinction was drawn between
customary purdah and the Qur±ànic requirement of
modesty (Ali 2000, 10). Reformist teaching, ema-
nating from the Dar-ul-Ulum at Deoband urged
Muslim women to absorb a mixture of Islamic and
Western education and impart it to the family and
the community in order to protect Muslim society
from colonial influences (Ali 2000, 11, 12). By
1899, Bengali intellectuals were urging Western
education for Muslim women though not the total
abandonment of purdah (Amin 1996, 198). Nei-
ther Hindu nor Muslim reformers wanted to alien-
ate conservative societies of the time. However,
even Muslim conservatives had difficulty justifying
the custom on the basis of Qur±ànic injunctions
(Rahman 1982, 291).
Since girls’ education was considered the most
important factor in reducing the incidence of pur-
dah and raising age at marriage, the Mohammadan
Educational Conference, established in 1886 to
promote English education in the community,
passed the first resolution urging the education of
women in 1888. By 1896 a separate segment was
devoted to women’s education and in 1903 women
began to participate in the activities of the confer-
ence (Nehru n.d., 23).
The pace of change and social support for
women varied between regions (including united
Bengal and Punjab, currently Bangladesh and
Pakistan) depending upon the extent of purdah and
purdah in south asia 645the activities of reform groups. In Bengal the activ-
ities of Hindu reformers were reflected in Muslim
women’s writing (Amin 1996, xiii). The political
ferment in the Muslim community in India and
abroad mobilized the community and encouraged
women to organize politically. This was strength-
ened by the setting up of purdah clubs, which
increased the interaction between women of the
Western educated Muslim community. They be-
came venues for discussion of contemporary issues,
for exchanging information and experiences out-
side the confines of the family. The Anjuman-i-
Khawatin-i-Islam (Muslim Ladies’ Association or
Conference) was set up in Hyderabad in 1901
(Zaidi 1937, 107), in Aligarh in 1905 (Mirza 1969,
13), in Lahore in 1907 (Shahnawaz 1971, 25), and
in Calcutta in 1913 (ibid., 94). The leadership of
these organizations was drawn from prominent
families already involved in political and educa-
tional activities. Polygamy, education, and the con-
straints imposed by purdah on the exercising of
rights in the Sharì≠a were their main concerns.
With the proliferation of women’s organizations,
it was inevitable that non-partisan national organ-
izations would be created to cater to the broader
needs of women. The establishment of the Women’s
Indian Association in Madras in 1917 and the All
India Women’s Conference (AIWC) in 1928 drew
many women of ability across the religious spec-
trum. The work of these organizations went beyond
social issues such as purdah and widow remarriage
to political participation. To most women leaders,
both Hindu and Muslim, purdah and its restric-
tions were to be cast aside so that women could
participate in social and political policymaking that
directly affected them.
The women’s movement benefited from the
momentum of the nascent national movement. The
imprisonment of male leaders enabled women to
set aside purdah and their restrictive familial roles
to step forward in their place. The activities of
Abadi Banu Begum and Bi Amman were just such an
example. Bi Amman,the mother of prominent
Muslim politicians Shaukat Ali and Muhammad
Ali, active in the 1920s–1930s, acted as a bridge
between the women’s and the political movements.
At meetings to encourage women’s participation,
Bi Amman was propelled into the political lime-
light. In 1917, she appeared in a burqa≠and spoke
at the Muslim League and Congress meetings
alongside Hindu women leaders. Her activities,
commitment to the political aspirations of the
Muslim community, nationalist credentials, and
her effort to recruit women to both movements,
provided the women in purdah a connection to the