Know Your History: 5 Afghan Women You Should Know

Words by Shamayel, founder of Blingistan. Illustrations by Blingistan + Daughters of Witches.

How many of these five extraordinary women have you heard of? Blingistan and Daughters of Witches created a T-Shirt honoring Meena Keshwar, Malalai of Maiwand, Queen Soraya, Rukshana, and Rabia Balkhi.


We wanted to know a bit more about these historical figures:

Meena Keshwar:

Meena was the unstoppable force behind the creation of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) in 1977. Meena believed in an Afghanistan for Afghans, with a secular government and more involvement of women both in political and social sectors of Afghanistan through non-violent means. Though she was assassinated in 1987, Meena, whose name means "love" in Pashto, was a community organizer, activist. She was a leader whose memory lives on through her ideologies, speeches and the organization she founded, which still exists today. RAWA has opposed the Soviet-backed government of Afghanistan, the Mujahideen government after the fall of the Soviet government, the "Islamic" oligarchy of the Taliban government, as well as the US-backed government of today's Afghanistan. The organization aims to "involve women of Afghanistan in both political and social activities aimed at acquiring human rights for women and continuing the struggle against the government of Afghanistan based on democratic and secular, non fundamentalist principles, in which women can participate fully", and as their website states: "If you are freedom-loving and anti-fundamentalist, you are with RAWA."

See more here

Malalai of Maiwand:

Afghanistan's Joan of Arc- but even more badass. When the English were invading her village of Maiwand during the second Anglo-Afghan War, the 18 year-old Malalai invigorated the Afghan soldiers - who were dispirited and far out numbered - with her poetry. As she picked up the flag from the dead flag-bearers hand, and got up on his horse, she sung out to her fellow countrymen that if they did not die fighting for the homeland they were symbols of shame! She fought alongside the men, and, as their spirits were lifted, the Battle of Maiwand was won in favor of the Afghans, which subsequently led to the entire war being won by the Afghans. The English retreated and never managed to successfully colonize the Afghans. Unfortunately, Malalai's fate wasn't as sweet. She died during the battle, but was given a martyr's burial, revered and remembered as a war hero and is a household name in Afghanistan, as not only a brave, patriotic and caring woman but as a true hero.

See more here.

Queen Soraya:

Soraya Tarzi, or Queen Soraya GBE, was the Queen Consort of Afghanistan and wife of King Amanullah in the 1920's. King Amanullah's reign was marked by women's rights, intellectualism, economic growth, and very secular values, of which Queen Soraya - who was educated by her father, a poet, patriot, and scholar-played a key role in. Not only was she the Minister of Education, she also opened the first school for girls in Kabul, founded the first magazine for women, but was also the first Muslim Queen to have ever appeared publicly beside her husband- whether it be on a trip abroad, or on horseback at a hunting event. At a speech she famously said: "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." Her memory lives on through her reign, and when she famously ripped off her veil (and every woman in the audience followed suit) at the end of one of her husband's speech about veils not being mandatory for women in Islam. A true badass!

Rukshana:

Queen Rukshana, was the Afghan wife of Alexander the Great, and as legend has it, the greatest love of his life as he apparently fell in love with her on first sight. Though very little is known about Rukshana, due to her reign being over 2000 years ago, Rukshana was said to have been a fierce and intelligent woman who did not just merely sit idly by as her husband took over the world, but more along the lines of a loyal, cunning and valuable right-hand woman. She bore Alexander one son before his death, and was his most beloved wife. Don't let the Hollywood adaptation fool you- Rukshana is not Puerto Rican- she is in fact from Balkh, Afghanistan.

Rabia Balkhi:

Rabia Balkhi was a poet, born into a royal family, during the 900's A.D. Historians depict her as the first female poet in the New Persian Poetry genre. Though a lot of her poetry has been lost, it is known that Rabia pioneered a lot of concepts for Persian poetry at the time- writing about love and eroticism, and is heavily praised and cited by her contemporaries. She fell in love with a Turkish servant to the court, and once he was killed, slashed her wrists and wrote her final poem in her own blood, on the walls of the bathroom she died in:


"I am caught in love's web so deceitful,
None of my endeavors turned fruitful,
I knew not when I rode the high blooded stead,
The harder I pulled its reins the less it would heed,
Love is an ocean with such a vast space,
No wise man can swim it in any place,
A true lover should be faithful till the end,
And face life's reproached trend,
When you see things hideous, fancy them neat,
Eat poison, but taste sugar sweet."

See more here

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