Asma Rasmya or Asma Rasmiya Khanum (1877 – ?), was an Afghan editor, school principal and feminist. She has been referred to as the first female managing editor as well as the first female principal in Afghanistan. She was the mother of queen

Soraya Tarzi Soraya Tarzi (Pashto/Dari: ملکه ثريا; November 24, 1899 – April 20, 1968) was the first queen consort of Afghanistan as the wife of King Amanullah Khan. She played a major part in the modernization reforms of Amanullah Khan, particula ...

and the mother-in-law of king

Amanullah Khan Ghazi Amanullah Khan ( Pashto and Dari: ; 1 June 1892 – 25 April 1960) was the sovereign of Afghanistan from 1919, first as Emir and after 1926 as King, until his abdication in 1929. After the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War in August 1 ...

(r. 1919–1929).

Life

She was born in Damascus in Ottoman Syria. She was the daughter of Saleh Al-Mossadiah, a

muezzin The muezzin ( ar, مُؤَذِّن) is the person who proclaims the call to the daily prayer ( ṣalāt) five times a day ( Fajr prayer, Zuhr prayer, Asr prayer, Maghrib prayer and Isha prayer) at a mosque. The muezzin plays an important r ...

of the Umayyad mosque. In 1891, she married the Afghan politician and editor

Mahmud Tarzi Mahmud Tarzi ( ps, محمود طرزۍ, Dari: محمود بیگ طرزی; August 23, 1865 – November 22, 1933) was an Afghan politician and intellectual. He is known as the father of Afghan journalism. He became a key figure in the history of ...

. She moved to Afghanistan in 1901. Afghanistan was at this point very conservative, while she was more Western in her outlook, having been raised in the Ottoman Empire after the Tanzimat reforms. In 1913, her daughter Soraya married the future king. Her son-in-law king Amanullah started a radical modernization reform program after his succession in 1919. This included a reform of the position of women, and the women of the royal family, notably her daughter queen Soraya, were to act as role models for the new modern Afghan woman. The reform were supported by Mahmud Tarzi and Asma Rasmya, and Asma Rasmya and the women of her family, notably her nieces Bilqis Afiza and Ruh Afiza, were to participate actively in these reforms. Her spouse was a pioneer of Journalism in Afghanistan, and Asma Rasmya became the managing editor of the first women's magazine in Afghanistan, the '' Ishadul Naswan'', which was published from 17 March 1922. She was the co-editor of the magazine with her niece Ruh Afza, sister of Habibullah Tarzi, and her daughter queen Soraya also contributed to the magazine. As editor, she was the first woman in journalism in Afghanistan. She was also appointed principal of one of the girls schools which was founded by her daughter: Masturat, the first girls' school in Afghanistan.

' She was thereby also the first woman to be principal in Afghanistan. In 1929, however, her son-in-law was deposed and exiled with her daughter, and all their reforms were reverted.

References

* M. Saed:
Women in Afghanistan history
' *
Afghanistan Quarterly Journal. Establishment 1946. Academic Publication of the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan. Serial No: 32 & 33
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Asma Rasmya 1877 births Afghan journalists Afghan feminists 20th-century Afghan women writers Afghan women journalists Year of death missing