Princess Sahira Begum Siraj Al Banat or Bibi Gul, mostly known as just Seraj al-Banat (born 1902), was a royal princess of Afghanistan. She was born to

Habibullah Khan Habibullah Khan (Pashto/Dari: ; 3 June 1872 – 20 February 1919) was the Emir of Afghanistan from 1901 until his death in 1919. He was the eldest son of the Emir Abdur Rahman Khan, whom he succeeded by right of primogeniture in October 1901. ...

(r. 1901-1919) and

Sarwar Sultana Begum Sarwar Sultana Begum or (Ulya (Ulli) Hazrat) (1875 – 1965), was an Afghan royal consort. She was married to Habibullah Khan (r. 1901–1919), and was the mother of king Amanullah Khan (r. 1919–1929). Life Early life and marriage She was the ...

, and the sister 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 1919, ...

(r. 1919–1929). She married in 1919 to General H.E. Taj-i-Afghan ‘Ali Ahmad Jan Shaghasi (1883-1929), Minister for Home Affairs 1919-1920, Governor of Kabul 1925-1929. In 1919, her brother succeeded to the throne, and launched a radical modernization of Afghanistan. The royal harem was dissolved and its slaves manumitted. The modernization included a change in women's position. This change was supported by the king's mother, Rora Asim Khan (Aurora Nilsson): Anders Forsberg and Peter Hjukström: ''Flykten från harem'', Nykopia, Stockholm 1998. . and his 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 his sisters acted as role models by unveiling, adopting Western fashion and taking on public roles. She often participated in social work and campaigns raising social awareness among women. In 1923, she criticized the prevailing concept of women’s inferiority in a public gathering in Kabul: :"Some people are laughing at us, saying that women know only how to eat and drink. Old women discourage young women by saying their mothers never starved to death because they could not read or write....But knowledge is notman’s monopoly. Women also deserve to be knowledgeable. We must on the one hand bring up healthy children and, on the other hand, help men in their work. We must read about famous women in this world, to know that women can achieve exactly what men can achieve." In 1924, she was appointed general director of the Masturat Hospital, which was the first hospital for women in Kabul. In 1928, she and her sister-in-law queen Soraya co-founded the women's organisation

Anjuman-i Himayat-i-Niswan Anjuman-i Himayat-i-Niswan ('Association for the Protection of Women') was a women's organization in Afghanistan, founded in 1928.Julie Billaud: Kabul Carnival: Gender Politics in Postwar Afghanistan' It was the first women's organization in Afghan ...

(1928),
Kabul Carnival: Gender Politics in Postwar Afghanistan
' which was chaired by her half-sister, Princess Shah Gul Jahan. In 1929, however, her brother was deposed and exiled, and his reforms in favor of women's rights were reverted, resulting in women returning to

purdah Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of female seclusion prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities. It takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes and the requirement that wom ...

for another twenty years. Her spouse proclaimed himself

Emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...

Jalalabad Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلال‌آباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...

on 17 January 1929 after the departure of King Amanullah, but was defeated by

Habibullāh Kalakāni Habibullah Kalakani ( prs, , 19 January 1891 – 1 November 1929), also known by his nickname "Bacha-ye Saqao" (also romanized Bachai Sakao; literally ''son of the water carrier'') was the ruler of Afghanistan from 17 January to 13 October 1929 ...

at Jagdalak in February 1929, captured at Kandahar 9 May 1929 and imprisoned in Kabul.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahira Begum Siraj Al Banat 1902 births Year of death missing Afghan princesses Barakzai dynasty Afghan feminists