Muslim Home.: Part I: A Present to the Married Couple.

Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co.,, 1916. An uncommon work First edition, first impression, with the stamp of the Y.M.C.A. Indian Students Union and Hotel to the title page. The work, intended as the first in a series, was written "in the style of an advice manual to a newly married couple" and "was deemed so important that it was translated into English under the title Muslim Home" (Lambert-Hurley). The translation aimed to counter imperialist concepts of the supposed subjection of women in Islam. The original text, titled Hadiyat ul-Zaujain (A Guide for the Married Couple) was then printed in the Madras Weekly Newspaper Press in 1917. Although no further parts of the series were issued, the work was highly popular, and a number of extracts were reprinted in Muslim publications in Britain. Sultan Jehan, Begum of Bhopal (1858-1930) ruled Bhopal State from 1901 until 1926. During this time she enacted a series of innovative reformist policies such as the creation of workshops in prisons, the establishment of a number of schools and colleges for Muslim and Hindu women, and improvements to general sanitation in the region. As part of these measures she founded The Lady Lansdowne hospital for women and the Lady Hardinge Infant Home, which housed, fed and clothed orphan and destitute children, both of which are still active. At the Lady Lansdowne hospital Sultan Jehan Begum implemented a scheme to encourage the training of midwives by providing an allowance of five rupees a month for each woman who attended the daily classes. Sultan Jehan Begum was a prolific writer, publishing nearly 50 works on various religious and social topics. She often gave speeches to the Princess of Wales Ladies' Club in Bhopal, which she founded in 1909, describing the life of Prophet Muhammad. She was awarded the title of Knight Grand Commander in 1910, and was made Companion of the Order of the Crown of India in 1911 for services to the British Empire. This edition is notably uncommon, with only four copies listed by Library Hub among British and Irish institutional libraries (British Library, Glasgow, Oxford, LSE); WorldCat adds four in North America (Minnesota, Colorado, Stony Brook, Michigan) and four others worldwide. Octavo. Original red cloth, spine lettered in gilt, front cover with central sun wheel device, panel of interlocking buta symbols in gilt, repeated in blind to rear cover, dark purple coated endpapers. Spine and front board faded, boards a little soiled, touch of wear to tips, front free endpaper a slightly stuck to pastedown with subsequent small tear at gutter, light foxing to book block edges; a very good copy. Islam, Tuhina, "Social and Educational Reforms of Nawab Sultan Jahan Begum" in The International Journal Of Humanities & Social Studies, Vol II, Issue 8 (2014); Lambert-Hurley, Siobhan, Muslim Women, Reform and Princely Patronage: Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam of Bhopal, Routledge (2007).