Soraya Tarzi
Soraya Tarzi | |
---|---|
Princess consort of Afghanistan | |
Tenure | 28 February 1919 – 9 June 1926 |
Born | Suraiya Shahzada Tarzi 24 November 1899 Damascus, Ottoman Syria, Ottoman Empire |
Died | 20 April 1968 Rome, Italy | (aged 68)
Burial | |
Spouse | Amanullah Khan |
Issue | See
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Asma Rasmiya Khanum | |
Religion | Islam |
Soraya Tarzi (
Born in
Early life and family background
Suraiya Shahzada Tarzi was born on 24 November 1899, in
When Amanullah's father (
After the Tarzis returned to Afghanistan, they were received at Court as wished by the Amir Habibullah Khan. This is where Soraya Tarzi met Prince Amanullah, son of the Amir Habibullah Khan. They struck an affinity. The prince, who was a sympathiser of Mahmud Tarzi's liberal ideas, married Soraya Tarzi on 30 August 1913 at Qawm-i-Bagh Palace in Kabul.[3][2] Soraya Tarzi became the future King Amanullah Khan's only wife, which broke centuries of tradition: Amanullah was to dissolve the royal harem when he succeeded to the throne and free the enslaved women of the harem.[7] It was when she married into the royal family that she grew to be one of the region's most important figures.[1]
Queen of Afghanistan
When the prince became Amir in 1919 and subsequently
Women's rights
Amanullah drew up the first constitution, establishing the basis for the formal structure of the government and setting up the role of the monarch within the constitutional framework. Amanullah was influenced and encouraged by Mahmud Tarzi in his endeavors.[9] Tarzi was specifically instrumental in designing and implementing changes pertaining to women through his personal example of monogamy.[2][8][10] His daughter, Queen Soraya Tarzi, would be the face of this change. Another daughter of Tarzi's married Amanullah's brother. Thus, it is not surprising that Tarzi's sophisticated and liberal intellectual ideology blossomed and concretely embedded itself in Amanullah's reign.[2]
King
In 1921 she founded and contributed to [11] the first magazine for women, Ishadul Naswan (Guidance for Women) [2] which as edited by her mother,[11] as well as the first women's organisation, Anjuman-i Himayat-i-Niswan,[12] which promoted women’s welfare and had an office to which women could report mistreatment by their husbands, brothers, and fathers.[7] She founded a theatre in Paghman which, although segregated for women, still gave women an opportunity to find their own social scene and break the harem seclusion.[7]
King Amanullah Khan said, "I am your King, but the Minister of Education is my wife — your Queen".[1] Queen Soraya encouraged women to get an education and opened the first primary school for girls in Kabul, the Masturat School (later the Ismat Malalai School),[13] in 1921, as well as the first hospital for women, the Masturat Hospital, in 1924.[11] In 1926, at the seventh anniversary of Independence from the British, Soraya gave a public speech:[10]
It (Independence) belongs to all of us and that is why we celebrate it. Do you think, however, that our nation from the outset needs only men to serve it? Women should also take their part as women did in the early years of our nation and Islam. From their examples we must learn that we must all contribute toward the development of our nation and that this cannot be done without being equipped with knowledge. So we should all attempt to acquire as much knowledge as possible, in order that we may render our services to society in the manner of the women of early Islam.
She sent 15 young women to Turkey for higher education in 1928.[2][10] These fifteen were all graduates of the Masturat middle school she had founded, mainly daughters of the royal family and government officials.[7]
The Swedish memoir writer
In 1927-1928, Soraya and her husband visited Europe.
The unveiling of women was a controversial part of the reform policy. Women of the royal family already wore Western fashion before the accession of Amanullah, but they did so only within the enclosed royal palace complex and always covered themselves in a veil when leaving the royal area. Throughout her husband's reign, Queen Soraya wore wide-brimmed hats with a diaphanous veil attached to them.
This was an era when other Muslim nations, like Turkey, Iran and Egypt were also on the path to Westernization. Hence, in Afghanistan, the elite was impressed by such changes and emulated their development models, but the time may have been premature.[2] Not only did conservative Muslims disagree with the changes, some alleged that the opposition was stoked by the British agents distributing international publications showing Soraya without a veil, dining with foreign men, and having her hand kissed by the leader of France, Germany, etc. among tribal regions of Afghanistan.[17][2] The British did not have a good relationship with Soraya's family as a whole, for the chief representative of Afghanistan that they had to deal with was her father, Mahmud Tarzi.[2][8] Conservative Afghans and regional leaders took the images and details from the royal family's trip to be a flagrant betrayal of Afghan culture, religion, and "honour" of women.
Final years
In 1929, the King abdicated in order to prevent a civil war and went into exile.[3] Queen Soraya lived in exile in Rome, Italy, with her family, having been invited by Italy.[3] She died on 20 April 1968 in Rome.[3][8]
The funeral was escorted by the Italian military team to the Rome airport, before being taken to Afghanistan where a solemn state funeral was held. She is buried in Bagh-e Amir Shaheed,[18] the family mausoleum in a large marble plaza, covered by a dome roof held up by blue columns in the heart of Jalalabad, next to her husband the King, who had died eight years earlier.[3]
Her youngest daughter, Princess India of Afghanistan, has visited Afghanistan in the 2000s, setting up various charity projects.[3][19] Princess India is also an honorary cultural ambassador of Afghanistan to Europe.[19] In September 2011, Princess India of Afghanistan was honored by the Afghan-American Women Association for her work in women's rights.[20]
Honours
- National honour
- Grand Collar of the Order of the Supreme Sun.
- Foreign honours
- Time Magazine's woman of the Year, 1927.[21]
- Decoration of al-Kemal in brilliants (Kingdom of Egypt, 26 December 1927).
- Honorary Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (United Kingdom, 13 March 1928).
Ancestry
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References
- ^ ISBN 9780313337987.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Ahmed-Ghosh, Huma (May 2003). "A History of Women in Afghanistan: Lessons Learnt for the Future or Yesterdays and Tomorrow: Women in Afghanistan". Journal of International Women's Studies. 4 (3): 14. Retrieved 30 June 2016.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Halidziai, K. "The Queen Soraya of Afghanistan". AFGHANISTAN OLD PHOTOS. Archived from the original on 2007-07-12.
- ^ Moubayed, Sami (2021-08-27). "The Eva Perón of Afghanistan". New Lines Magazine. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
- ^ Goudsouzian, Tanya. "Afghan first lady in shadow of 1920s queen?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
- ^ A History of Women in Afghanistan: Lessons Learnt for the Future Archived May 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e f Emadi, Hafizullah, Repression, resistance, and women in Afghanistan, Praeger, Westport, Conn., 2002
- ^ a b c d "When Afghanistan was in Vogue". Wadsam -Afghan Business News Portal. Archived from the original on 2016-08-22.
- ^ Ahmed-Ghosh, Huma. "A History of Women in Afghanistan: Lessons Learnt for the Future or Yesterdays and Tomorrow: Women in Afghanistan." Journal of International Women's Studies. Bridge Water State University, May 2003. Web. 4 Feb. 2017.
- ^ a b c d Ismene. "Burqa Babes: Soraya Tarzi". A Handful of Dust – On Afghanistan, Counterinsurgency, and Whatever Else We Might Fancy. Archived from the original on August 17, 2012.
- ^ a b c Afghanistan Quarterly Journal. Establishment 1946. Academic Publication of the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan. Serial No: 32 & 33
- ^ Julie Billaud: Kabul Carnival: Gender Politics in Postwar Afghanistan
- ^ Unrisd
- ISBN 91-86936-01-8.
- ^ Pathé, British. "England: Arrival Of King Amanullah Khan And Queen Soraya Tarzi Of Afghanistan". www.britishpathe.com. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
- ^ "Queen Soraya of Afghanistan: A woman ahead of her time". Arab News. 2020-09-10. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
- ^ "Queen Soraya of Afghanistan: A woman ahead of her time". Arab News. 2020-09-10. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
- ^ Shalizi, Hamid (9 February 2009). "Afghan king's shrine neglected as city modernizes". Reuter. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
- ^ a b Garzilli, Enrica; Asiatica Association (December 3, 2010). "Afghanistan, Issues at stake and Viable Solutions: An Interview with H.R.H. Princess India of Afghanistan". Journal of South Asia Women Studies. 12 (1). Retrieved 1 July 2016.
- ^ "Afghan-American Women Association honor Princess India D'Afghanistan" (PDF). Afghan-American Women Association. September 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- ^ "Queen Soraya Tarzi: 100 Women of the Year". Time. Retrieved 2021-06-28.