During the literature review of my doctoral research, I discovered a treasure trove of published articles on Muslim women in various Malayalam magazines. The content/topics and presentation style left me amazed. This discovery introduced me to M. Haleema Beevi^[1], the author of these articles. Despite her extensive work on the empowerment of Kerala Muslim women, she remained unknown to me, unlike many  ‘famous’ women writers of her era in Kerala. This lack of recognition in the Kerala literary world prompted me to delve deeper into her writings. I came to know that M.Haleema Beevi was the first Muslim women editor in Kerala’s history. Surprisingly, I could not find her important works in libraries and archives, despite their supposed richness in documents from that period. In the course of a regular casual discussion forum held at Vakkam Padana Kendram, a Kozhikode-based organisation in India, participants discussed the politics of marginalisation of M, Haleema Beevi, from the perspective of both, Kerala Muslim reform history and Kerala literary history. This led to my decision, along with my friend Noora, to embark on writing her biography. This article aims to bring to light and discuss the life, work and philosophy of M.Haleema Beevi. This article is organized into three parts. The first part sketches a brief biography of Haleema Beevi, while the second part discusses her works and ideology. The third part is an attempt to discuss the question of double marginalisation and Muslim women reformers in the light of M. Haleema Beevi’s case.

Bibliographical Sketch of Haleema Beevi

M. Haleema Beevi was born in 1918, at Adoor, Pathanamthitta district of Kerala, as one of seven children of Maidheen Beevi, a typical middle-class woman. M.Haleema Beevi’s family did not have any extraordinary tradition of education, reformation or politics. However, her mother took utmost courage to send her to school until the 7^th standard, which was uncommon then for girls. Muslim girls attaining modern and secular education was rare then as religious scholars propagated against it (Beevi 1965, 143). In such a social milieu, Maidheen Beevi, haleema’s mother, made efforts to send M.Haleema Beevi to school to provide her daughter with  basic education.

At the age of 17, in 1935, she got married to K M Moulavi, an Arabic Munshi ormuslim scholar, and editor of a Malayalam muslim monthly called ‘Anasari’. He was also a follower of Vakkam Abdul Kadhar Moulavi^[2]. Following her marriage, they moved to Thiruvalla, Kottayam, where they lived for ten years. During these years, she started her editing career by editing “ Muslim Vanitha” (Muslim women) in 1938 with the guidance of her husband. She claimed that “Muslim Vanitha” was the first journal in Kerala particularly for Muslim women. Through this magazine, she addressed various topics concerning Muslim women, such as education and social participation. Apart from that, she was actively involved in organising women. In 1938 she organised the first Muslim women conference in Thiruvalla (Noora and Noorjahan 2022, 47).She was also actively involved in politics.  She became the first women municipal councillor of Thiruvalla Municipality as a nominee of the Muslim league

In 1944, she initiated a weekly publication titled  “Bharath Chandrika”, which discussed contemporary politics, including the Indian Independence Movement, literature and social issues. Later, in 1948, this weekly turned into a daily newspaper with her diligent efforts. Concurrently, for this purpose, she moved to Perumbavoor, Aluva, also in Kerala, with her family as she was offered collaboration by some prominent figures there. In between, she also started another magazine, called ‘Vanitha, ‘ from Thiruvalla, which catered to  Kerala women, addressing various topics related to women at that time. Apart from editing and publishing, her articles related to Muslim women, modernity, reformation and empowerment got published in various magazines in Kerala. aIn 1963, she owned her press named Asad Press, which made her dream come true. She collected the money for this dream institution by selling her home and property. She named the press Asad Press, after Moulana Abdul kalam Asad^[3]. The press published lots of books and monthly articles. By this time she became an expert in the art of editing, printing and publishing. She believed that printing is an art. In 1970 she returned to editing by initiating Adhunika Vanitha (modern woman), a Malayalam monthly. Besides printing, editing and publishing, she was an excellent organiser and activist. She made collectives of Muslims named Akhila Kerala Muslim Mahila Samajam (All Kerala Muslim Women Association). She believed in women’s empowerment through education, and her efforts were dedicated to achieving this goal.

She was a mother of eight children while actively engaging in multifaceted activities. Balancing a career alongside motherhood was extraordinary for a middle-class woman like her. According to her daughter, Haleema Beevi would write editorials with her child in her lap. This is to acknowledge her struggle and not to romanticise it. On January 14, 2000, Haleema Beevi passed away.

Intellectual Contribution and Ideology

Deeply influenced by reformation in general and Kerala Muslim reformation in particular, she strongly believed that women should be educated and handle their affairs with consciousness and knowledge (Beevi 1961, 147-155). In the case of Muslim women, she strongly propagated the need for education. She strongly advocated for the education of Muslim women, challenging those clergies who propagated that reading and writing Malayalam and English is haram(forbidden) for Muslim women (Beevi 1965, #). Haleema vehemently fought against the idea that the space of women should be confined to their houses. She built her arguments based on the Quran and Hadith^[4]and wrote about these in her articles. In her articles, she directly addressed her fellow women, calling them to rise, educate and redesign their spaces and work. Simultaneously, she also addressed the society and clergies in her articles and wrote about the need and scope of women’s empowerment with an Islamic Perspective (Noora and Noorjahan 2022,).

Besides writing, she employed other methods to disseminate her idea of women’s empowerment, including public speeches and direct dialogues with different people in the society. In “Almanar” she mentioned that the core idea of her activities were the same, as it is so important to address. She organised women’s seminars in 1938, and it was the first documented one of its kind in Kerala. Later, in 1956, she organised another Women’s seminar in Perumbavoor. During our field work, we met some of the women who remember Haleema Beevi inviting the women door to door to such seminars in Perumbavoor. She even registered an organisation called “Akhila Kerala Muslim Mahila Samajam” and she collected women all around Kerala to that organisation.  Under her leadership, that organisation engaged with Muslim women to address many pivotal matters related to Muslim women. The organisation worked on promoting women’s education, and empowerment.

Despite her pioneering contributions, Haleema Beevi remains largely absent from mainstream narratives of Kerala’s literary and reformist history. This erasure can be attributed to the double marginalization she faced—first as a Muslim woman and second as a woman within the broader literary and journalistic spheres. Unlike many of her contemporaries who gained recognition, her legacy has been largely overlooked in archives and academic discussions.

M. Haleema Beevi was a pioneer in Kerala’s Muslim women’s empowerment, advocating tirelessly for women’s education and empowerment despite facing significant societal resistance. Her work, spanning journalism, politics, and social activism, was remarkable as it broke the stereotypical notion of muslim women in the early 20th century.

By revisiting her life and contributions, we not only acknowledge a forgotten reformist but also challenge the historical amnesia that sidelines voices like hers. It is imperative that her legacy is restored and studied as an integral part of Kerala’s literary and social history, ensuring that future generations recognize and build upon her contributions to women’s empowerment and social reform.

Footnotes:

1. The first picture is of Haleema Beevi (https://thesite.in/haleema-beevi-a-pioner-of-social-reform-and-advocate-of-muslim-womens-rights)
2. Vakkam Abdul Khadir Moulavi(1873-1932), popularly known as Vakkom Moulavi was one of the pioneers of the Kerala Muslim Reformation.
3. Moulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958) was an Islamic theologian and one of the leaders of the Indian Independence Movement . He served as India’s first education minister after Independence
4. Corpus of the sayings or traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH),

(The views expressed in this article are the author’s own. Content can be used with due credit to the author and to ‘Zariya: Women’s Alliance for Dignity and Equality’)

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: