Saif Faiz Badruddin Tyabji (1904–1957) was a solicitor, mathematician, an educationist passionately devoted to the cause of

female education Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girl ...

, and a nationalist committed to the idea of India. He was closely associated with the Anjuman-i Islam of Bombay from the 1930s till his death in November 1957. He was a Congress Member of Parliament in 1957 from Jalna in Maharashtra.

Education & work

Tyabji was grandson of an early president of India's Congress party,

Badruddin Tyabji Badruddin Tyabji (10 October 1844 – 19 August 1906) was an Indian lawyer, activist and politician during British Raj. Tyabji was the first Indian to practice as a barrister of the High Court of Bombay who served as the third President ...

(1844–1906). Though he was an engineer educated at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, his career as a lawyer and a judge were perhaps surpassed by his role as a Member of Parliament representing the Congress party in newly independent India. He was in the forefront of reform of his own community. He realised the lack of English education amongst the Muslims had hurt them. He resolutely opposed the purdah system for Muslim women as it prevented their education and social advancement. In 1955 Tyabji wrote a series of essays in the influential

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Indian Culture Indian culture is the heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse India. The term al ...

will have little to do with the achievements of this country". Tyabji's other suggestions were that Muslims ask for technical and commercial education, rather than merely study the humanities and join the ranks of the educated unemployed.

Death

His early death on 12 November 1957 was described by his cousin, the distinguished conservationist Zafar Futehally as, "a great tragedy for the Muslims of India".

References

1957 deaths 1904 births Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra India MPs 1957–1962 People from Marathwada People from Jalna district Marathi politicians Indian people of Arab descent {{Maharashtra-INC-politician-stub Tyabji family Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra