January 9 has widely been recognised as the birth anniversary of Fatima Sheikh, dubbed one of the first female Muslim educators and a close associate of educationist social reformer Savitribai Phule. However, this year, discourse around her on social media took a complete turn.
On her birth anniversary this year, former journalist, author and self-proclaimed activist Dilip Mandal took to X to a pen a post titled “Confession”. In this, he claimed that Fatima Sheikh never actually existed and was a character “fabricated” by him.
“I had created a myth or a fabricated character and named her Fatima Sheikh. Please forgive me. The truth is that ‘Fatima Sheikh’ never existed; she is not a historical figure. Not a real person. It is my mistake that, during a particular phase, I created this name out of nothing—essentially from thin air. I did that knowingly,” Mandal writes.
Confession:
I had created a myth or a fabricated character and named her Fatima Sheikh.
Please forgive me. The truth is that “Fatima Sheikh” never existed; she is not a historical figure. Not a real person.
It is my mistake that, during a particular phase, I created this name… pic.twitter.com/8pHjiQXTfG
— Dilip Mandal (@Profdilipmandal) January 9, 2025
The “fictional sketch” here refers to an article by him published in The Print on January 9, 2019 titled: ‘Why Indian history has forgotten Fatima Sheikh but remembers Savitribai Phule’. After Mandal’s latest post on X, however, The Print retracted this piece.
Three days later, on January 11, Mandal posted another thread on X titled: “11 Points of Agreement in the Fatima Sheikh Controversy”, where he outlined claims supporting his latest argument that Fatima Sheikh is a fictional character he created and not a real historical figure.
He claims there is no historical evidence that points to Fatima Sheikh’s existence and association with Savitribai Phule since there are “no books, poems, government documents, letters, or newspapers from that era that mention her”.
11 Points of Agreement in the Fatima Sheikh Controversy:
A thread
highlighting key points of consensus among otherwise disagreeing parties.
— Dilip Mandal (@Profdilipmandal) January 11, 2025
Finding Fatima Sheikh
In this report, we will try to tackle Mandal’s latest claim that “no contemporary evidence from that era exists to confirm the existence of ‘Fatima Sheikh’ during the time period she is said to have lived” and whether this can be used to establish that the discourse around Fatima Sheikh predates Mandal’s writing around her.
1. Books and letters
One of the first and easily locatable academic references to Fatima Sheikh is in an anthology of Indian women’s writing — “Women writing in India: 600 B.C. to the present” — edited by Susie Tharu and K Lalitha, published in 1991. This collection delves into the literary contributions of Indian women from ancient times to the early 20th century and brings to the mainstream voices of historically marginalised women writers. The anthology features poetry, prose, letters and autobiographical fragments, all of which reflect the socio-political and cultural contexts of their time.
Savitribai Phule’s name emerges prominently each time there’s any mention of Indian women who made significant contributions to society but were excluded from historical records. Tharu and Lalitha’s anthology dedicates a chapter to Phule, in which Fatima Sheikh is clearly mentioned. In a brief introduction to Phule and her work, Sheikh is referred to as a colleague of Savitribai and her husband Jyotirao Phule, who was also an activist and reformer. The book says:
“In 1848, when Savithribai was only seventeen, they (Jyotirao and she) opened five schools in and around Pune, and in 1851, one meant especially for the girls from the mang and mahar castes. Savithribai and Jotiba, together with another colleague, Fatima Sheik, taught in them until 1856 when Savithribai fell seriously ill and went back to her parental home in Naigaon (Khandala taluk, Satara district), where she was nursed back to health by her elder brother, ‘Bhau’.”
The edition also has a letter Savitribai wrote to her husband in October 1856, from her parental home where she was recovering from her illness. This letter, translated from Marathi to English by Maya Pandit, who has translated 18 books, including Marathi Dalit women’s autobiographies, again mentions Sheikh.
Savitribai writes:
“…I’ll come to Pune as soon as I have completely recovered. Please don’t be worried about me. This must be causing a lot of trouble to Fatima. But I am sure she will understand and won’t grumble.”
When we reached out to Susie Tharu to learn more on the scholarship regarding Sheikh and her primary sources, she said much of Phules’ life, including what the chapter contains, has been documented by eminent scholars specialising in Marathi literature, Dalit history and the role of Muslims in social reform in India, such as Vidyut Bhagwat, Ram Bhapat, Gail Omvedt and Gail Minault. The chapter on Phule was written in consultation with some of these scholars and their work. She also told Alt News that the burden of proof of Fatima Sheikh’s non-existence should be placed on Dilip Mandal and not the other way around.
“It’s clear now that Dr Mandal’s claim that he invented Fatima Sheikh is false… Mandal should be asked what evidence he has that the Sheikhs (Fatima and her brother Usman Sheikh) were not involved?”
The other mention of Sheikh and Phule together is in M G Mali’s biography of Savitribai Phule titled ‘Kranti Jyoti Savitribai Phule’. In this biography, first published in 1980, Mali mentions Fatima Sheikh alongside others who assisted and made significant contributions to Savitribai Phule’s efforts:
“Just as Savitribai contributed to Mahatma Phule’s work in the social field, contributions from progressive thinkers such as Sagunabai Kshirsagar, Vishnupant Thate, Vamanrao Kharaatkar and Fatima Sheikh also played a role. Fatima Sheikh, who studied at the normal school opened by the Phule couple, became the first student and the first Indian Muslim woman teacher at that school. Savitribai and Fatima Sheikh taught in schools for girls from the lower untouchable society, while other assistant teachers taught in schools for Brahmin or wealthy girls. Both Savitribai and Fatima were fully capable of teaching”.
Dr. M.G. Mali, in his biography क्रांतीज्योती सावित्रीबाई फुले (Kranti Jyoti Savitribai Phule), originally published in 1980, writes: “Just as Savitribai Phule contributed to the social reform efforts of Mahatma Phule, pic.twitter.com/eXhkh1cehu
— Revolutionary Memes For Bahujan Teens (@RMBT_tweets) January 10, 2025
This debunks Dilip Mandal’s claim that there are no historical records, or books or letters mentioning Fatima Sheikh before he wrote about her. References to a person named ‘Fatima’ as a close associate of the Phules appear in Tharu and Lalitha’s 1990 anthology on women writers as well as Mali’s 1980 biography of Phule.
2. Photograph with Savitribai Phule
Another piece of evidence that cements Sheikh’s association with the Phules is a photograph of them from over a century ago.
This appears in another book on Savitribai Phule titled ‘Savitribai Phule – Samagra Vangmaya’, which was also edited by M G Mali. It was first published in 1988; subsequent editions were published by the Maharashtra government’s Literature and Culture Board. Page 49 of the digital copy of this book has a note by editor M G Mali followed by several photographs of Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule with some of the people in their lives. Page 54 of the book has a photograph of three women — two sitting and one standing behind them — along with two young girls. The accompanying caption says, “Savitribai Phule and Fatima Sheikh with two students from their school (A rare photograph developed from a negative over a hundred years ago)”. Scholars believe that in this photograph, the woman standing behind the two others who are seated is Fatima Sheikh.
Thus while it is true that evidence surrounding Fatima Sheikh’s existence is limited, enough records predating Mandal’s article point to the fact that she did, in fact, exist and was closely associated with Savitribai Phule.
Mandal only speculates about Fatima Sheikh’s existence, fails to disprove it
In his January 11 X thread, Mandal says that only one letter from Savitribai Phule to her husband has a reference to Fatima Sheikh, and even that is just a single line. He claims that this brief mention offers no concrete evidence of Fatima Sheikh’s existence or her key role as an educator. This letter, originally in Marathi, is the same one appearing in Tharu and Lalita’s anthology.
He further adds, “It is unclear who this ‘Fatima’ was, what work burden she had, and why she would not complain. These questions remain unanswered and likely unanswerable. In Marathi, the phrase ‘not complain’ is written as ‘kurkur’ nahi karegi, which does not convey much respect toward Fatima… She may have been a household servant or helper”.
His argument that the word “kurkur” used in Savitribai Phule’s letter denotes a lack of respect is farfetched because the connotation of disrespect is based on a generic idea of how the word may have been spoken or used in popular culture. “Kurkur” is a common Marathi term for ‘grumble’ or ‘complain’.
Mandal goes on to say that it’s possible the ‘Fatima’ mentioned in Savitribai’s letter could be Christian: ‘she could have been Fatima Ansari, Fatima Kunjra, or Fatima Dhuniya’.
5. This “Fatima” might have been a Christian, as the name was common among Christian women long before the advent of Islam. Alternatively, she could have been Fatima Ansari, Fatima Kunjra, or Fatima Dhuniya. She may have been a household servant or helper. pic.twitter.com/8KgfZFCmzK
— Dilip Mandal (@Profdilipmandal) January 11, 2025
This too seems mere speculation on Mandal’s part. His phrase “She could have been…” is a wide net to cast doubt without any substantial evidence.
To put it simply, by introducing alternative theories Mandal is perhaps exploiting the limited historical evidence of her existence and contributions. And while the lack of availability of written, textual material is a genuine issue, it cannot be used to conclusively establish that Sheikh did not exist or had no contribution to the education movement.
According to Professor Shraddha Kumbhojkar, head of the History department at Savitribai Phule Pune University, while there is only one concrete piece of evidence suggesting the existence of Fatima Sheikh, there is a strong implication that a female colleague took on responsibilities during Savitribai Phule’s absence. The letter to her husband could be seen as her reference to an able colleague like Sheikh.
She adds that it is very plausible that a Muslim woman like Sheikh was a close associate considering the Phules’ Satyashodhak movement included individuals across castes and religions, with Muslims forming a significant part of it.
We reached out to Pune-based researcher Tahera Shaikh, whose work focuses on Fatima Sheikh. Shaikh, who has written a book in Urdu titled ‘Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule’, specifically told us that her interest in Fatima Sheikh was primarily born out of the fact that there was so little material available.
“I went to all the spaces in person and tried to document as much as I could but while we were able to establish what her life entailed and what her contributions primarily were, public records on Sheikh are few,” she said. She added that some references to Sheikh could be found in the works of Marathi scholars and in Marathi books on Phule but these too are not easily accessible.
“I visited every nook and corner in Pune to meet elderly persons who had any knowledge vis-à-vis Fatima Shaikh. But I hardly got anything in writing i.e. any evidence which can be used as reference in the book… Unlike Fatima Shaikh, there are plenty of materials and books available on Savitribai Phule and we know basic things about her… Savitribai used to write what she would do; therefore many things are available in writing with regard to her works. And, as she has mentioned about Fatima Bi several times, we also know about her. But, the unfortunate thing is that Fatima Bi herself did not write about herself and her works,” the scholar said in a podcast in 2022.
Not just Shaikh, the lack of archival records and written material, especially on women, is something several scholars have faced and have written about in detail. So, at best, Mandal’s half-baked claims on Fatima Sheikh’s (lack of) existence only highlight this issue.
The post ‘Activist’ Dilip Mandal’s claim that Fatima Sheikh is a ‘non-existent’ character is a travesty of historical truth appeared first on Alt News.
This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Oishani Bhattacharya.
Oishani Bhattacharya | Radio Free (2025-01-29T14:20:26+00:00) ‘Activist’ Dilip Mandal’s claim that Fatima Sheikh is a ‘non-existent’ character is a travesty of historical truth. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2025/01/29/activist-dilip-mandals-claim-that-fatima-sheikh-is-a-non-existent-character-is-a-travesty-of-historical-truth/
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