Footprints in Time: A great woman with a greater story

Ghulam Fatima Shaikh's granddaughter, Rasheeda needs to be given credit for putting her grandmother’s life into words.

Book: ‘Footprints in Time: Reminisces of a Sindhi Matriarch’

Author: Rasheeda Husain

Genre: Biography

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Excerpt:

She was full of contradictions. Believing in female education she set limits to women’s freedom. Critical of makeup she reddened her own lips with miswak, and frowning on bare legs she happily donned garments; as if to say: “I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes.”

Often, knowledge and wisdom are not just the result of a formal education, as in the case of Ghulam Fatima Shaikh. While her granddaughter, Rasheeda Husain needs to be given credit for putting her grandmother’s life into words, it is worth mentioning that this was only because hers was a life to remember.

Ghulam Fatima endorsed the education of women, despite being against their independence. She herself served as a midwife while she stayed in Delhi to supervise her son’s education. During her life, Sindh became a centre for social and political instability. Her father, Shaikh Abdal Rahim, soon converted to Islam and this created a great uproar in the community and made things difficult for their family and eventually, her mother also followed suit. As a child, she had to go through difficult times as Hindu-Muslim relations went through periods of extreme strain.

When Hyderabad was hit by a plague Fatima’s family moved to Alipur where they stayed at Shaikh Ahmed’s farm. His grandson, Shaikh Shamsuddin, who was as pious and gentle as his grandfather, later expressed an interest in marrying Fatima and their wedding took place when she was only 14 and he 21.

When World War I broke out, the entire world was divided into groups and the hostility displayed by the British towards the Turks greatly angered the Muslims of India, who decided to physically and financially help their Muslim brothers. At this time, Shaikh Shamsuddin decided to depart to join those who had already left for Turkey. Ghulam Fatima was not to be left behind. Despite much resistance from her family, she left everything and joined her husband with her kids in Turkey. A change of plans and circumstances led her to move to Madinah from where she went to Syria and eventually came back to Bombay.

All in all, the book is well written with interesting details to engage the reader. It brings out the personality of the woman; her courage and her sensitivity. And above all, it makes one wonder if society has actually progressed. We may have more facilities and modern lifestyles, but we bear no resemblance to our ancestors; people whose personalities were outlined with sincerity and passion, and that in no way is progression.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th,  2011.