Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...
(AMU) until her 1966 retirement.
Zaidi was a feminist in thought and deed, and this was reflected in her novel ''Mauj-e-Hawa-Paichan'' which dealt with an unconventional sexual relationship. Her philosophy progressed through stages of "religiosity, Marxism, humanism, and finally existentalism".
Zaidi was honoured by many prestigious institutions. She received the Bahadur Shah Zafar Award in 2008 and the Urdu Academy Award in 2009 from the
Delhi Urdu Academy
Urdu Academy, Delhi (Urdu: اردو اکادمی، دہلی) In the interest of developing the Urdu language
Urdu (;"Urdu"< ...
for her contribution to the Urdu language and literature.
Biography
Zaidi was born in 1926 at
Panipat
Panipat () is a historic city in Haryana, India. It is 95 km north of Delhi and 169 km south of Chandigarh on NH-1. The three major battles fought in 1526, 1556 and 1761 took place near the city. The city is famous in India as the "C ...
, India. She had four sisters. Her father, S.M. Mustehsin Zaidi, taught mathematics at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
and died when she was eight years old. She learned from her father about the poetry of
Ghalib
)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Kala Mahal, Agra, Maratha Confederacy
, death_date =
, death_place = Gali Qasim Jaan, Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk, Delhi, British India
, occupation = Poet
, language ...
Hafez
Khwāje Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shiraz, Shīrāzī ( fa, خواجه شمسالدین محمّد حافظ شیرازی), known by his pen name Hafez (, ''Ḥāfeẓ'', 'the memorizer; the (safe) keeper'; 1325–1390) and as "H ...
, a Persian poet. Her paternal grandfather, K.G. Saqulain, was a noted social reformer; while her maternal grandfather, Maulana Khwaja
Altaf Husain Hali
Altaf Hussain Hali ( – ; 1837 – 31 December 1914), also known as Maulana Khawaja Hali, was an Urdu poet and writer.
Early life
He was born in Panipat to Aizad Baksh and was a descendant of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. He was in the care of his ...
, was an Urdu poet. Her younger sister,
Zahida Zaidi
Zahida Zaidi (4 January 1930 – 11 January 2011) was an Indian scholar, professor of English literature, poet, dramatist, playwright, and literary critic. Her literary contributions include more than 30 books in Urdu and English related to soci ...
, who died two months before her, also became a well-known poet and professor of
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
at the
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...
(AMU); the two were famously known as the "Zaidi Sisters" in the literary community. Despite coming from a conservative
Muslim society
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
, she and her sister stopped wearing the
burqa
A burqa or a burka, or , and ur, , it is also transliterated as burkha, bourkha, burqua or burqu' or borgha' and is pronounced natively . It is generally pronounced in the local variety of Arabic or variety of Persian, which varies. Examp ...
as students at the AMU and rode their bicycles to class. She was also influenced by her eldest sister, Sabira Zaidi.
Zaidi started working at the AMU as a lecturer in 1955 and attained several important positions, contributing to the development of the institution until her retirement in 1986. Concurrent with her teaching assignment, she pursued poetry writing from 1958. Her debut poetry collection, titled ''Ju-e-Naghma'' (Stream of Melody), was published in 1962. Journals and magazines in Pakistan published her poems in the early years of her career; one such composition was ''Aaatish-e-Sayyal'' (Liquid Fire), published in 1972. Her writings also included dramas in verse form and the adaptation of
Federico Garcia Lorca Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.
People with the given name Federico
Artists
* Federico Ágreda, Venezuelan composer and DJ.
* Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, r ...
's ''Yerma'' into Urdu theater. Her writing was influenced by
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...
,
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, phil ...
,
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialist, existentialism (and Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter ...
, and
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ty ...