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The story of Atiya Fyzee (1877-1967), little known in the West and insufficiently appreciated anywhere, is as important today as when, more than a century ago, she traveled from Bombay to Britain and elsewhere writing a journal of her experiences. In these times of conflict between Muslim countries and the West, increased migration of South Asian and other Muslims to Europe and North America, uncertainty within the South Asian diaspora about its cultural heritage, conflict within Muslim countries in South Asia and elsewhere about the role of Islam in government and society and conflict almost everywhere about the role of women in society, we have much to learn from her life and its struggles. Published in 2010, Atiya's Journey tells the story of her life in Pakistan, India and Europe and provides a translation from Urdu of her journals which were published in a women's magazine called Women's Culture (later her journal entries were published as a book under the title A Time of Education). Atiya was the first Muslim woman to write a diary in Urdu describing her stint as a student in London in 1906-1907 and interestingly her narrative is unique as it moves away from formulaic European travelogues by Indian men and places particular emphasis on “everyday” activities of women and subaltern classes, dimensions which appeal to general readers and researchers alike today.
Atiya Fyzee was an important figure in the cultural salons of Bombay and Karachi (she lived in Pakistan for 19 years) for several decades of the twentieth century. A member of the highly educated and influential Tyabji clan, in her lifetime Atiya traveled throughout India and many parts of the world, often with her sisters and her husband, the artist Samuel Fyzee-Rahamin.
I think there are a number of explanations for why Atiya was able to travel and live in the way she did, but the main one must be the familial context. The Tyabji clan of Bombay - of which Atiya belonged to the Fyzee branch-were renowned i