Aisha E'ismat Taymur ( ar, عائشة عصمت تيمور‎ or 'A'isha al-Taymuriyya ; 1840–1902) was an Egyptian social activist,
at Egyptian State Information Service

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

, and feminist in the

Ottoman era The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. She was active in the early 19th century in the field of

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

. Her writings came out in a period of time where women in Egypt were realizing that they were being deprived of some of the rights that Islam granted them. Taymur was one of the earliest Arab women to be alive while her poetry and other writings were recognized and published in modern times. In the assessment of Mervat Fayez Hatem,

Personal life

Early life

Although Taymur was born into an Egyptian Turco-Kurdish royal family originally from Iraqi Kurdistan, she worked diligently for those who did not have a voice. Her passion for

in Egypt is why she is recognized as a pioneer in her field and culture. Taymur was the daughter of Isma'il Taymur, a member of the Royal Turkish entourage. Taymur's mother was Circassian and a freed slave. Her father provided Taymur with an education and when he died she assumed the education of her brother, Ahmed Pasha Taymur. At age 14, Taymur married and moved to Istanbul.

Education

Against Taymur's mother's attempts to teach her embroidery, Taymur's father educated her in the Quran, Islamic Jurisprudence, Arabic, Turkish, and Persian. Her father also taught her composition, where she began her literary career with poetry in all three of her learned languages. Taymur was dedicated to education but because of gender at time in Egypt, she was restricted to only study in her home. via Taymur voiced her anger with the segregation in poems when only 13. At age 14 she gave up her studies and writing when she married Mahmud Bey al-Islambuli. After the death of her daughter, father and husband, she returned to Egypt where she studied with female tutors on the subject of poetic composition.

Family

Taymur was born to a literary family; her brother Ahmed Pasha Taymur was a

researcher Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness t ...

and novelist. She also had two nephews: Mohammad Taymur, a playwright and

Mahmud Taymur Mahmud Taymur (16 June 1894–25 August 1973) was a Fiction, fiction writer. He contributed to several publications. Biography He was born in Cairo on 16 June 1894. into a family famous for literature. His father, Ahmed Taymour (1871-1930) was a ...

, a novelist. The Taymur's believed

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

is the language of literature and refinement, whereas the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

language is used for religion and the people. Taymur's father always wanted to provide his daughter with adequate education. Taymur got married in 1854 when she was 14 to Mahmud Bey al-Islambuli, a Turkish notable, and left with her husband to

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

. In 1873, Taymur's daughter, Tawhida, died from an unknown illness. Her father died in 1882, followed closely by the death of her husband in 1885, which prompted her to returned to Egypt where she resumed her writing. Her poems mourning her daughter are considered the best in that genre in modern times.

Activism

After the death of her husband and daughter, Taymur started on her writings advocating for women's rights. Her works came out at the time of a socioeconomic transformation of Egypt where women realized they were being deprived of the rights Islam gave them. Taymur is referenced as the "mother of Egyptian feminism." via She worked with other female intellectuals and activists to campaign for education, do charitable work, and challenge colonialism. This was the start of early growth for Egyptian feminism.

Writing

Taymur wrote

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

, Turkish and

. She arguably had a fundamental influence on the emergence of Arabic women's writing. Her 1892 sixteen-page booklet ''Mir'at al-ta'ammul fi al-umur'' (''A Reflective Mirror on Some Matters'' or, more eloquently, ''The Mirror of Contemplation'') reinterpreted the Koran to suggest that it was markedly less patriarchal in its requirements of Muslims than was traditionally thought. In her writing, Taymur illustrated women's rights in Islam through

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory t ...

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional ( fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller, novel, etc. ...

. Taymur made use of the word ''insan,'' meaning human being in

, rather than using man. Taymur did this so that readers would consider her argument as a human being, and not based on her sex. Taymur used imagery of female solitude to convey visibility of the life of a woman in Egypt. This offered readers a glimpse into the life of Muslim women. Because Taymur was considered an elite Muslim in her society, she focused on going against her own status as a woman in a changing political and socioeconomic society throughout her writing.

Works

* Poetry. * * Essay.

References

Aisha 'Esmat al-Taymuriyya
Writers from Egypt. Accessed September 2007
Gender and politics
Wanda C. Krause, Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia. Accessed September 2007

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taymur, Aisha 19th-century Egyptian poets 19th-century Egyptian women writers 19th-century novelists 20th-century Egyptian poets 20th-century Egyptian women writers 1840 births 1902 deaths Arabic-language women poets Egyptian feminists Egyptian novelists Egyptian people of Turkish descent Egyptian women activists Egyptian women poets Egyptian women's rights activists Proponents of Islamic feminism