Kulsum Sayani: Inspiring India's Freedom and Learning Revolution

By Afroz Khan, New Age Islam 5 August 2025 Kulsum Sayani, born in 1900, was a freedom fighter, social reformer, and educator. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, she joined independence movements, promoted literacy among Muslim women, and edited the magazine Rahbar. Leading education initiatives, she empowered millions. Awarded Padma Shri in 1960, she passed away in 1987, leaving a lasting legacy. Main Point: 1. Freedom fighter inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. 2. Promoted literacy, especially among Muslim women. 3. Edited “Rahbar” magazine to educate in simple Hindustani. 4. Led education initiatives, making millions literate. 5. Awarded Padma Shri (1960) and Nehru Literacy Award (1969). ----- Kulsum Sayani ----- 15 August 2025, India will complete 78 years of independence. The contribution of Muslim women in India's independence has its own history which is often marginalized, this month we will remember those freedom fighter Muslim women whose contribution cannot be ignored. An important name in this series is "Kulsum Sayani" who was the mother of famous radio announcer Amin Sayani. Apart from being the mother of Amin Sayani, she was also a freedom fighter, social reformer and a great educational worker. Kulsum Sayani was born on 21 October 1900 in the state of Gujarat, India. Her father Rajbali Patel, a doctor by profession, was the personal physician of Mahatma Gandhi and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. In 1917, she got the opportunity to meet Mahatma Gandhi along with her father. After meeting Mahatma Gandhi, she was very impressed by him and vowed to follow the path shown by Mahatma Gandhi. At the age of 18, Kulsum Sayani got married to Jan Mohammad Sayani, who was also a freedom fighter. With the encouragement received from her husband, Kulsum Sayani used to participate openly in the movements run for independence. In 1921, when the Prince of Wales visited Bombay, protests started in many places against him. Soon, unrest spread in the city. Lathicharge and arrests started in the city and martial law was imposed. Many people were seriously injured in this lath charge. Recalling that time, Kulsum Sayani said that "A new Congress Hospital was established to take care of the injured. My late husband Jan Mohammad Sayani was the first doctor to be in charge of it. We had a small Saxon car on which the Red Cross badge was clearly visible. My husband used to go to the hospital every day, on almost completely deserted roads, with policemen posted on both sides. I would sit by the phone until he called from the hospital and informed me of his safe arrival.” At that time, along with the struggle for freedom, many programs were being conducted to eradicate the evils and illiteracy prevalent in the society. "Jan Jagran" programs were started to create awareness about social evils. Kulsum Sayani represented Mumbai city and its suburbs in these programs. Kulsum joined the "Charkha Class" and started teaching the illiterate. "Each person, teach one" was a very effective method in adult education and Kulsum Sayani was the one who started this method. In 1938, she appointed 2 teachers out of 100 at her own expense and started going to Muslim areas to convince Muslim girls and women to get educated. She went from house to house and convinced people to send their women and girls to classes but it was not that easy. According to Kulsum Sayani, many times people would shut the door on her face and say, "Why should women learn to read?" Even in such difficult circumstances, Kulsum Sayani did not give up but intensified her efforts. To make her efforts stronger, she joined many committees formed for adult literacy. Kulsum Sayani joined the first National Planning Committee established by the Congress in 1938 itself. Kulsum Sayani was given the responsibility of taking charge of 50 centres for Muslim women by the Bombay City Social Education Committee formed in 1939. Under Kulsum Sayani's able leadership, this number soon reached 600. In 1944 she was also appointed General Secretary of the All India Women's Conference and worked for women's empowerment. Noting her dedication and tireless efforts for education, The Times of India's New Delhi edition (March 10, 1970) wrote, "Since she (Kulsum Sayani) took charge of the Bombay City Social Education Committee in 1939, five lakh adults have become literate in one of the five languages - Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Telugu. Her days are spent running from school to school to encourage children to teach adults and her nights are spent dreaming up new literacy schemes.” Kulsum Sayani used to visit many schools and encourage young students to spend at least 15 minutes of their day teaching an illiterate adult a new alphabet every day. Kulsum Sayani once said, "Lower middle class women, who are forced to work, have no choice but to leave their children on the streets after school, while fashionable women have no time for children after bridge and mah-jong parties.” In a later interview, Sayani revealed: The quota of 25 students per teacher could not be gathered in one individual group, hence the teachers had to go from building to building. It was an uphill task. The interest of the women students was difficult to sustain, so dogged perseverance and close personal contact was needed to make the scheme successful….I used to roam from house to house and lane to lane collecting women, persuading them to read and write. In 1940, Kulsum Sayani, under the guidance of Mahatma Gandhi and along with her son Amin Sayani, started publishing and editing the bi-weekly magazine "Rahbar". The magazine was published in Hindi, Urdu and Gujarati. The main objective of the magazine was to educate the newly literate in simple Hindustani language (a mixture of Hindi and Urdu). In a letter dated June 16, 1945, Gandhiji addressed Kulsum Sayani as 'Daughter Kulsum' and wrote: "I like the mission of 'Rahbar' to unite Hindi and Urdu. May it succeed." Rahbar magazine was very popular among the political prisoners in jails. They used to read it aloud and improve their language”. Rustomji Faridoonji in her letter to Sayani noted about her Rahbar Magazine (1945): ------ ”My heartfelt congratulations on your great and solid work. It’s a wonderful paper & may you live long to increase its activities a hundred fold & may your noble example be followed by hundreds of others in every large town. What a place adult education would take if even half a dozen persons in every town would work on your lines. You are after my own heart as you are doing practical work without talking”. Kulsum Sayani's fame as a social worker gave her the opportunity to represent India on many international platforms. In 1953, at the UNESCO conference in Paris, Kulsum Sayani met representatives of many countries and exchanged views. In 1960, Kulsum Sayani had to stop editing her magazine Rahbar. The red tape that arose after independence forced her to take this step. Kulsum Sayani was also awarded the Padma Shri in 1960 and the Nehru Literacy Award in 1969 for her unique work and contribution. Kulsum Sayani passed away in 1987. A strong-willed woman who selflessly dedicated her life to education and development of society said goodbye to this world and left behind an inspiration "to do something for the society and bring about a change in the society". ----- Afroz Khan is a teacher by profession, focusing on writings about women and Islam. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education. 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