Ayesha Durrani, also known as Aisha-i-Durani and Aisha Durrani (18th-century) was an

Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, one of the wives of

Timur Shah Durrani Timur Shah Durrani (; ;), also known as Timur Shah Abdali or Taimur Shah Abdali (December 1746 – 20 May 1793) was the second ruler of the Afghan Durrani Empire, from November 1772 until his death in 1793. An ethnic Pashtun, he was the second e ...

of the

Durrani Empire The Durrani Empire, colloquially known as the Afghan Empire, or the Saddozai Kingdom, was an Afghanistan, Afghan empire founded by the Durrani tribe of Pashtuns under Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747, which spanned parts of Central Asia, the Iranian ...

. A number of her poems were compiled into a manuscript in 1882, and Durrani is credited with founding the first school for girls in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Biography

Ayesha Durrani was born in late-18th century Afghanistan. She was born into the powerful Barakzai family as the daughter of Yaʻqūb Ali Khān Barakzai, and she later married Tīmūr Shāh Durrānī, the second ruler of the Durrani Empire. Ayesha is recorded as having become an active poet by the waning years of the 18th century, and continued composing poetry into the 19th century; she wrote

qasida The qaṣīda (also spelled ''qaṣīdah''; plural ''qaṣā’id'') is an ancient Arabic word and form of poetry, often translated as ode. The qasida originated in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and passed into non-Arabic cultures after the Arab Mus ...

ghazals ''Ghazal'' is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and t ...

, and was well versed in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

literature and in

Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...

. Durrani was also noted by several sources as having founded the first school for girls in Afghanistan. Following the collapse of the Durrani Empire and the rise of the Barakzai-ruled

Emirate of Afghanistan The Emirate of Afghanistan, known as the Emirate of Kabul until 1855, was an emirate in Central Asia and South Asia that encompassed present-day Afghanistan and parts of present-day Pakistan (before 1893). The emirate emerged from the Durrani ...

in the 19th century, Ayesha's poetry garnered renewed interest. Many of her poems were compiled by an unnamed Afghan scribe into a 336-page manuscript in 1882.

Legacy

Following the 1978

Saur Revolution The Saur Revolution (; ), also known as the April Revolution or the April Coup, was a violent coup d'état and uprising staged on 27–28 April 1978 (, ) by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which overthrew President of Afghan ...

, the Afghan government promoted the study of Durrani's works in an effort to mobilize female support for the government's social programs.Dupree, Nancy Hatch. 1981
''Revolutionary Rhetoric and Afghan Women''
The Afghanistan Council, The Asia Society. Occasional paper #23, pg. 8. After the United States-led overthrow of Afghanistan's

Taliban government The government of Afghanistan, officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and informally known as the Taliban government, is the central government of Afghanistan, a unitary state. Under the leadership of the Taliban, the government is ...

(which had barred women from pursuing an education after age eight),Marsden, Peter. (1998). ''The Taliban: War, religion and the new order in Afghanistan''. London: Zed Books Ltd, pp. 88-101. a German foreign aid agency rebuilt two girls' schools in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

, naming one the Aisha-i-Durani School in honour of the poet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durrani, Ayesha Afghan royal consorts Afghan women poets 19th-century Afghan poets 19th-century Afghan women Ayesha 18th-century Afghan poets