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{{More citations needed|date=September 2025}}{{Short description|Indian educator and feminist (1897–1954)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Iqbalunnisa Hussain
| occupation = Activist, Writer
| education = [[University of Leeds]]
| discipline = Sociologist
| sub_discipline = Feminism
| birth_date = 21 January 1897
| death_date = 22 October 1954
| birth_place = [[Chikkaballapur]], Bangalore, Karnataka
}}
'''Iqbalunnisa Hussain''' (21 January 1897 – 22 October 1954) was an Indian educator, writer, activist and feminist who worked for the educational reform in Muslim women.

== Early life and education==
Iqbalunnisa Hussain was born on 21 January 1897 at [[Chikkaballapur]], Bangalore, [[Karnataka]] into the family of Gulam Moinuddin Khan and Zaibunnisa, a descendant of [[Tipu Sultan]]. They belonged to a family who followed [[Sunni Islam]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Iqbalunnisa Hussain: A Stalwart of Muslim Women's Education |url=https://indianliberals.in/bn/content/iqbalunnisa-hussain/ |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Indian Liberals |language=bn-IN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Begum |first=Dr. Shameemunnisa |title=IQBALUNNISA HUSSAIN'S PURDAH AND POLYGAMY: LIFE IN AN INDIAN MUSLIM HOUSEHOLD: A STUDY |url=https://eprajournals.com/IJMR/article/4958/download |journal=EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research |volume=7 |issue=5 |pages=281–285 |doi=10.36713/epra2013 |eissn=2455-3662|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Hussain was fluent in [[Urdu]], [[Arabic]], [[English language|English]] and [[Persian language|Persian]]. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree with a Gold Medal from Maharani College, [[Mysore]], then studied at the [[University of Leeds]] for her post graduate degree of Master of the Arts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rehman |first=Mumtaz |date=2021-05-30 |title=Iqbalunnisa Hussain: A Pioneer In The Education Of Muslim Women In India l #IndianWomenInHistory |url=https://feminisminindia.com/2021/05/31/iqbalunnisa-hussain-muslim-women-education/ |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Feminism in India |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Azfar |first=Ayesha |date=2015-09-06 |title=REVIEW: Leading the way: Changing India by Iqbalunnisa Hussain |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1204906 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}}</ref>

== Career ==
Hussain's book ''Purdah and Polygamy'' (1944) was the first novel in English written by a Muslim woman.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Malak |first=Amin |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Muslim_Narratives_and_the_Discourse_of_E/Bia5PuDTgjYC?hl=en |title=Muslim Narratives and the Discourse of English |date=2004-12-16 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-6306-2 |pages=31-32 |language=en}}</ref> In the episodic novel, which follows three generations of an upper-class Muslim family, the practice of [[purdah]] (the seclusion of women) and [[zenana]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Basu |first=Argha |last2=Tripathi |first2=Priyanka |date=2024-07-02 |title=Poetics and Politics of Seclusion: Approaching Purdah Through Intersectionality in Select Works of Indian Female Authors |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/10436928.2024.2383144 |journal=Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=229–252 |doi=10.1080/10436928.2024.2383144 |issn=1043-6928|url-access=subscription }}</ref> are represented with restrained irony,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">Ahmed, Tajuddin. (2011) [http://vu.dspaces.org/bitstream/123456789/2017/1/9.pdf "Raise the Sail and Lift the Veil: Islam and Woman’s Rights in the Writings of Iqbalunnisa Hussain Tajuddi"] In: ''Journal of the Department of English'' '''9''', [[Vidyasagar University]]. p. 117-118. Retrieved 15 September 2025.</ref> as Hussain "did not feel that purdah had any sanction in the tenets of the Prophet."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Souza |first=Eunice de |date=2006 |title=Recovering a Tradition: Forgotten Women's Voices |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4418141 |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=41 |issue=17 |pages=1642–1645 |issn=0012-9976}}</ref> The book also depicts [[Polygamy|polygamous]] marriages.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Noreen |first=Munnzza |last2=Asif |first2=Muhammad |date=2023-03-16 |title=Muslim Women’s Agency and South Asian Literature: A Postcolonial Feminist Analysis of Purdah and Polygamy: Life in an Indian Muslim Household by Iqbalunnisa Hussain |url=https://ojs.plhr.org.pk/journal/article/view/399 |journal=Pakistan Languages and Humanities Review |language=en |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=68–77 |doi=10.47205/plhr.2023(7-II)07 |issn=2708-6461|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Aftab |first=Tahera |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Inscribing_South_Asian_Muslim_Women/HIISikCITAgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Iqbalunnisa+Hussain&pg=PA517&printsec=frontcover |title=Inscribing South Asian Muslim Women: An Annotated Bibliography & Research Guide |date=2008 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-15849-8 |pages=517 |language=en}}</ref> Hussain additionally wrote essays about the social status of women in India.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Siddiqui |first=Naila Usman |last2=Madani |first2=Munazza |last3=Raza |first3=Sabahat |date=2019-06-30 |title=REFLECTION OF WOMEN’S OPPRESSION IN THE WRITINGS OF QURUT-UL-AIN HAIDER: A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS |url=https://jsshuok.com/oj/index.php/jssh/article/view/136 |journal=Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities |language=en |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=165–178 |doi=10.46568/jssh.v58i1.136 |issn=2664-4967|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Hussain also worked as an assistant teacher at Vani Vilas High School in [[Bangalore]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}

== Literary works ==
* {{Cite book |last=Hussain |first=Iqbalunnisa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8EuwSgAACAAJ |title=Changing India: A Muslim Woman Speaks |date=1940 |publisher=Hosali Press |language=en}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Book Review: Changing India |url=https://newslinemagazine.com/magazine/book-review-changing-india/ |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Newsline |language=en}}</ref>
* {{Cite book |last=Hussain |first=Iqbalunnisa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q9eJwgEACAAJ |title=Purdah and Polygamy: Life in the Indian Muslim Household |date=2018 |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |isbn=978-93-86771-86-5 |language=en}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Anwar |first=Nadia |date=2020-09-02 |title=Purdah and polygamy: life in an Indian Muslim household by Iqbalunnisa Hussain, edited by Jessica Berman, Karachi, Oxford University Press, 2017, 276 pp., £19.99 (hardback), ISBN 978 0 1994 0756 9 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17449855.2020.1739886 |journal=Journal of Postcolonial Writing |volume=56 |issue=5 |pages=724–725 |doi=10.1080/17449855.2020.1739886 |issn=1744-9855|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Even Without Polygamy and 'Purdah', Patriarchy Continues |url=https://thewire.in/books/iqbalunnisa-hussain-purdah-and-polygamy |access-date=26 December 2024 |website=[[The Wire (India)|The Wire]] |language=en}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Hussain was married to Syed Ahmed Hussain, a government official at Mysore in 1914, aged 15. They had seven children together.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}

== References ==
<references />

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite journal |last=Souza |first=Eunice de |date=2006 |title=Recovering a Tradition: Forgotten Women's Voices |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4418141 |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=41 |issue=17 |pages=1642–1645 |jstor=4418141 |issn=0012-9976}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2nwq9jx |title=Three Centuries of Travel Writing by Muslim Women |date=2022 |publisher=Indiana University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctv2nwq9jx |jstor=j.ctv2nwq9jx |isbn=978-0-253-06239-0}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hussain, Iqbalunnisa}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1954 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds]]
[[Category:People from Bengaluru]]
[[Category:Writers from Karnataka]]
[[Category:Indian women writers]]

Iqbalunnisa Hussain - Revision history

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