Zahida Khatun Shirwani: Her literary personality and poems

Zahida Khatun Shirwani who is the subject of our study is one of the first women writers of Urdu Literature. Zahida Khatun used the first letters of her name Zay Khay Sheen (ز-خ-ش ) in her poems. Especially in the early years of the 20th century in Muslim societies, many women writers who were writing for different magazines and journals chosed the man's name as her pseudonym and our writer as well used the nickname for men "Nuzhat" in her first poems. Although she died at a very young age like 28, her poems lighted social and political problems of era that she lived. Especially in her poems which is written for women, she stated that women should be educated and should do the job excellently. She gave some advice on Islamic subjects to women. Zahida Khatun lived in a period when the Ottomans had collapsed in the territorial integrity, Ottomans were tried to be disintegrated by the Western Empires, and Western Empires had declared Ottomans as a "sick man". Our poet concerned in this difficult process which was been facing by the Ottomans. She called the people around her to join the donation for Ottomans. As a matter of fact, this issue has found reflection in her poems. She pointed in many of her poem that she is in solidarity with Ottomans. This thesis consists of three parts. In the first chapter, the general political situation of Indian Subcontinent in the period of Zahida Khatun Shirwani, in the second chapter; life of Zahida Khatun and in the third chapter; the poems of Zahida Khatun will be studied. Especially in the light of her poems she wrote about the Turks, we will see the value of Turks in the eyes of the people of the subcontinent.