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{{short description|Indian social reformer and writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2025}}
'''Sughra Humayun Mirza''' (1884 – 1958), also known as '''Begum Sughra''', was a social reformer, Urdu writer and traveller from Hyderabad, India.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Akhtar |first=Nazia |date=2024-07-03 |title=Between Sādhū and Darwesh: Storytelling and Social Reform in Suġhrā Humāyūñ Mirzā's Mohinī |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00856401.2024.2359782 |journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies |volume=47 |issue=4 |doi=10.1080/00856401.2024.2359782 |issn=0085-6401|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Tharu |first1=Susie J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u297RJP9gvwC |title=Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the early twentieth century |last2=Lalita |first2=Ke |date=1991 |publisher=Feminist Press at CUNY |isbn=978-1-55861-027-9 |pages=378–379 |language=en |chapter=Sughra Humayun Mirza}}</ref> She is known as one of the founding figures of women's writing in Urdu and believed to be Hyderabad's first female novelist, having written 14 major novels.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Akhtar |first=Nazia |date=2023-01-17 |title=The 150-year-old Indian Women's Literary Tradition You Didn't Know About |url=https://thethirdeyeportal.in/praxis/the-150-year-old-indian-womens-literary-tradition-you-didnt-know-about/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127090447/https://thethirdeyeportal.in/praxis/the-150-year-old-indian-womens-literary-tradition-you-didnt-know-about/ |archive-date=2023-01-27 |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=The Third Eye |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Haridas |first=Keerthana |date=2023-06-26 |title=Begum Sughra Humayun Mirza: Renowned Urdu Novelist And A Social Reformer |url=https://feminisminindia.com/2023/06/26/begum-sughra-humayun-mirza-renowned-urdu-novelist-and-a-social-reformer-indianwomeninhistory/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240723083740/https://feminisminindia.com/2023/06/26/begum-sughra-humayun-mirza-renowned-urdu-novelist-and-a-social-reformer-indianwomeninhistory/ |archive-date=2024-07-23 |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=Feminism in India |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Jung |first=Begum Sarbuland |url= |title=A Journey to Mecca and London: The Travels of an Indian Muslim Woman, 1909–1910 |last2=Majchrowicz |first2=Daniel |date=2025 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-07169-9 |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://publish.iupress.indiana.edu/read/a-journey-to-mecca-and-london-the-travels-of-an-indian-muslim-woman-1909-1910/section/cde60cc6-8f78-4d75-b333-2037fa14c125}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Mirza was born in December 1884 in the erstwhile [[Hyderabad State|princely state of Hyderabad]], India. She came from an educated, migrant, [[Shia Muslim]] family who had settled in Hyderabad and served the state.<ref name=":0" /> Her father, Safdar Ali Mirza, served as a surgeon in the Nizam's Army. Her mother, Maria Begum, was a scholar of [[Arabic]] and [[Persian language|Persian]] languages.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last1=Lambert-Hurley |first1=Siobhan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JeN1EAAAQBAJ |title=Three Centuries of Travel Writing by Muslim Women |last2=Majchrowicz |first2=Daniel |last3=Sharma |first3=Sunil |date=2022-08-02 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-06206-2 |pages=451–460 |language=en |chapter=Sughra Humayun Mirza: Meeting the Caliph in Switzerland}}</ref> Her grandfather was from [[Turkey]], and her maternal family was from Iran.<ref name=":4" />

Sughra was homeschooled in [[Urdu]] and Persian. At the age of 16, she married Humayun Mirza, a prosperous barrister from [[Patna]], who moved to Hyderabad.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Minault |first=Gail |date=1998-09-01 |title=Women's Magazines in Urdu as Sources for Muslim Social History |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/097152159800500203 |journal=Indian Journal of Gender Studies |language=en |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=201–214 |doi=10.1177/097152159800500203 |issn=0971-5215|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":4" />

==Career==
=== Literary work ===
Mirza was a prominent Urdu language writer of her time and wrote [[Travel literature|travel accounts]], novels, short stories, poetry, and essays. Her writings reflected her views on social reform and, particularly, advocating for women's rights.

She is considered to be the first woman novelist in Urdu from Hyderabad. She authored major 14 novels,<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Pernau |first=Margrit |date=2002 |title=Female Voices: Women Writers in Hyderabad at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century |url=https://minds.wisconsin.edu/handle/1793/18420 |url-status=live |journal=The Annual of Urdu Studies |language=en-US |publisher=Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin–Madison |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329234605/https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/18420/08_Pernau.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-29}}</ref> including Mohini (1929), Zohra (1911), Bibi Turi ka Khwab (Turi's Dream), Awaz-e-Ghaib (Voice from the Unknown), Sarguzisht-e-Hajira (1926) and Safina-e-Najat (The Barge of Liberation).<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Urdu Books of Sughra Humaun Mirza |url=https://www.rekhta.org/authors/sughra-humaun-mirza/ebooks |access-date=2025-01-19 |website=Rekhta |language=en}}</ref> She wrote poetry under the pen name 'Haya'.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

She contributed to several women's magazines and served as editor Al-Nisa (The Woman), and Zaib-un-Nisa (Women's Adornment). Al-Nisa was published between 1919 and 1927 and focused on social issues like cleanliness, health, nursing, and critiques of outdated customs. It became a platform for women writers and had an audience beyond Hyderabad, including in cities such as Aligarh, Delhi, Lahore and Lucknow.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rani |first=E. Sudha |date=2015 |title=Women's Education in Hyderabad State – Public and Private Institutions |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156617 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=76 |pages=521–531 |jstor=44156617 |issn=2249-1937}}</ref>

In 1934, she started another magazine called Zaib-un-Nisa after moving to Lahore which ran through the 1930s and 1940s.<ref name=":6" /> Unlike in Hyderabad, where she "had to do all the work of editing herself", Mirza had access to better publishing facilities and editorial support in [[Lahore]]. The magazine had greater political content as compared to Al-Nisa and documented significant events such as meetings of the All India Women's Conference and the Women's Muslim League.<ref name=":5" />

Mirza authored five book length travelogues,<ref name=":8" /> three of which documented her travels within India during 1914 and 1918, and two documented her journeys abroad to [[Iraq]] in 1915 and through Europe in 1924. Her domestic accounts emphasized more on reformist activities and social engagement, while her international narratives offered more observations on the countries she visited, while also discussing social issues. In her travelogue about her journey through England, France, Germany and Switzerland titled 'Safarnamah-i Yurap', she wrote about meeting [[Abdülmecid II|Abdulmejid II]], the last Ottoman caliph, during his exile on the shores of Lake Geneva. By her own account, she was the first Indian woman to meet with the Ottoman leader and his wife during their exile.<ref name=":4" />

=== Reform ===
Mirza's reform work focused on women's empowerment through education and challenging societal norms that restricted their participation in public life. She opposed the oppression of women and the imposition of purdah, supporting measures such as the rehabilitation of women in abusive marriages, their right to divorce, and widow remarriage.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3" /> She highlighted the strictness of [[Purdah|pardah]] practice in India and, in her later years, and began addressing public gatherings without a veil.<ref name=":0" />

In 1913, she became the secretary of the Anjuman-e-Khawatin-e-Islam (Association for Muslim Women), contributing to the organization's efforts toward improving the status of Muslim women. In 1919, she established the Anjuman-e-Khawateen-e-Dakkan (Deccan Ladies' Association). These organizations became platforms for discussing issues related to girls' education, teaching trades and crafts, fundraising for educational initiatives, and arranging sports activities for women.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

In 1934, she founded the Madrasa-e-Safdaria, an Urdu-medium girls school for Muslim girls named after her father. She dedicated a portion of her own property to the institution.<ref name=":1" /> It continues to operate under the name 'Safdariya Girls High School'.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-09-03 |title=Safdariya Girls School celebrates 90th anniversary |url=https://www.siasat.com/safdariya-girls-school-celebrates-90th-anniversary-3089775/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008015003/https://www.siasat.com/safdariya-girls-school-celebrates-90th-anniversary-3089775/ |archive-date=2024-10-08 |access-date=2025-01-19 |website=[[The Siasat Daily]] |language=en}}</ref>

Beyond her work in education and social reform, she contributed to nationalist efforts by promoting communal harmony through her writings and advocating for the use of [[Swadeshi movement|swadeshi]] goods.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" /> She was also involved with the Hindu Women's Association as its only non-Hindu member.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news |last=Shahid |first=Sajjad |date=2014-03-16 |title=Strange turns in the fight for equality |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/strange-turns-in-the-fight-for-equality/articleshow/32098786.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140316191439/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/strange-turns-in-the-fight-for-equality/articleshow/32098786.cms |archive-date=2014-03-16 |access-date=2025-01-19 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

== Death ==
Mirza died in 1958. She is buried along with her husband in a tomb next to Safdariya Girls High School which she had established.<ref name=":7" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirza, Sughra Humayun}}
[[Category:1884 births]]
[[Category:1958 deaths]]
[[Category:Women from Hyderabad State]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:Urdu-language women writers]]
[[Category:Indian women's rights activists]]
[[Category:Indian travel writers]]
[[Category:Urdu-language Indian poets]]
[[Category:Indian people of Turkish descent]]
[[Category:Indian Shia Muslims]]
[[Category:Indian feminist writers]]

Sughra Humayun Mirza - Revision history

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