We Sinful Women : Contemporary Feminist Urdu Poetry

by Rukhsana Ahmad (Translator, Editor)

Book by

Genres: Poetry, Pakistan, Feminism, Womens, Asia

193 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Rukhsana Ahmad has written and adapted several plays for the stage and radio, achieving distinction in both. Her play River on Fire was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn International Prize. Her first novel, The Hope Chest, was published by Virago. We Sinful Women, her pioneering translation of Urdu feminist poetry, is widely acclaimed. Rukhsana is a co-founder of Kali Theatre Company, London. She has served as a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund at Queen Marys, University of London. The Gatekeepers Wife and other stories, is an anthology of her short fiction.

Reviews

[Zanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this collection in one morning. It comprises work by seven women poets all selected and translated by Rukhsana Ahmad on the basis of its feminist qualities. In her introduction, Ahmad explains the socio-political context of the poems, important to which is the promulgation of the Hudood Ordinances under General Zia-ul-Haque. A number of the poems make some reference to these laws. One of the Ordinances allowed the punishment of adultery by stoning, and although it was apparently awarded only once and never carried out (the case was dismissed) thanks largely to pressure and agitation by women's organisations, two poems in the collection refer to it, illustrating the horror the mere existence of such a law evoked. Neelma Sarwar's poem To The First Man to be Awarded Lashes also refers to the Ordinances, and reminds me of the oft quoted "let he who has not sinned cast the first stone"

You are the Messiah of my times
who, bearing all the sins of the nation,
all the evils, all the punishment,
on your shoulders received the lashes.

We are all thieves
We are all fornicators
We are all corrupt robbers
Then, the punishment which everyone deserved
Why did you receive it?

And we stood on all four sides
watching this spectacle
as if you had committed the crime
and we were all virtuous

The scope of the poems goes beyond such specific issues, however, encompassing experiences of love and sexuality, oppression, freedom and liberation and all the painful politics of the personal in a patriarchal society (like every culture I know about). Kishwar Naheed's poem A Palace of Wax suggests that keeping silence about shared experiences adds to their traumatic nature

...
Then one night my mother slept
And I stayed up
Watching her open and shut her fist
She was trying to hold onto something
Failing, and willing herself to hold on again.

I woke her
But she refused to tell me her dream

Since that day
I have not slept soundly.
I moved to the other courtyard.

Now I and my mother both scream
through our nightmares

And if someone asks us
We just tell them
We can't remember our dreams.

Ahmad's introduction is concise and highly informative. I particularly appreciated her brief introductions to each poet. She wastes no time on what is evident and obvious, instead drawing attention to what Anglophone readers may miss, like Fahmida Riaz' focus on using less "persianised" forms in her Urdu and the political significances of this. Ahmad notes that the youngest poet featured, Ishrat Aafreen, writes in a highly polished traditional style, observing the classical rules of form and meter scrupulously. However, in theme and content, her work is insurrectionary, presenting radical perspectives on the lives of women. Here is my favourite of her poems among those printed here:

The Daughter of Riches

Imprisoned in the haveli
the stalwart's darling daughter
crushed with fatigue,
drained by disatisfaction,
laments the weather
feeling very tetchy.

Laden with the deep oppressiveness
waiting for the rain,
the atmosphere feels close.

Feeling suffocated, the girl
moves the golden silky curtains
a fraction
from the French windows
with a strange wistfulness.
Sits quietly
With her face towards the fields
where the girls
chattering
clinking their anklets,
wearing pink and light green scarves
walk around with a swagger.
For around their feet diligence has tied anklets
for in their hands is the harp of love for the soil
for in their eyes is the intoxication merely of the warmth of wheat.

That daughter of riches
with great envy
watches these landless
poorly dressed
poorly fed faces
in which glows the true fire of life.

For those lucky/learned enough to be able to read it, the original Urdu is printed alongside the translation of each poem. I am not one of those, and I am deeply grateful to Rukhsana Ahmad her hard and loving work in creating this collection and making these poems accessible to me.

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Muslim feminist writings that are often Arab-centric in their approach, I wondered about my own roots and what, if any, voices were out there apart from Asma Barlas whose work is essentially feminist, but does she count if she refuses the feminist label? Then I stumbled across this book and what a powerful collection of scattered pearls this is. The original Urdu is given so I read some with my mum and she and I were both moved. I was especially moved by Neelma Sarwar's poetry at the end, again, particularly in its original Urdu. My mum is a gifted poet so I've grown up with an appreciation for good Urdu poetry. To utilise this powerful medium to amplify the plight of women is awesome.

[Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely fascinating. the historical context at the beginning of this was very useful, as was the brief introduction of each author. these are some very powerful women.

[Fozia Khanam]

A classic of its kind; it should be reissued

[Ermina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moćno, direktno i subverzivno do kosti!

[hana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful work, really appreciate the foreword that does a pretty good job at capturing the social context of these works.

[Amna Siddiqui · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am writing this review over a year later as I work on graduate school applications to say this book is carrying my research on its back. So powerful, so needed, I have yet to come across an anthology that explores themes of feminist revolutionary poetry in Pakistan as well as this, or even at all. Excited to one day be a part of a conversation that can talk about women in Pakistan, women afraid, women in love with their existence as women despite the world, women fighting.