Hajra Masroor

Hajra Masroor (Urdu: ہاجرہ مسرور‎; Hājrah Masrūr born 17 January 1930, died 15 September 2012) was a Pakistani feminist writer. She has written several books of short stories in which she has raised the social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. She has also received several awards including Pride of Performance Award for best writer in 1995 and Aalmi Frogh-e-Urdu Adab Award.

Personal life

Background

Hajra was born on 17 January 1930 in Lucknow, India to Dr.Zahoor Ahmad Khan who was British Army Doctor, and sudden died after a heart attack. She had five sisters and a younger brother. Her family raised by her brave mother. She began writing from her childhood. After partition she and her sister migrated to Pakistan, and settled in Lahore. An Urdu writer in his book wrote that no one knew Hajra was engaged with famous Urdu poet Sahir Ludhianvi but once in a literary gathering Ludhianvi pronounced a word wrongly, Hajra criticised him, he got angry and engagement was broken. Later, she married Ahmad Ali Khan, who was the editor of daily Dawn. She has two daughters. She was younger sister of Khadija Mastoor, a great writer in the history of Urdu literature. She died on 15 September 2012 in Karachi, Pakistan.

Career

Hajra began writing short stories from her early age, her stories published in the literary magazines and received highly appreciation from Urdu circles. She edited literary magazine Naqoosh with Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi. Qasmi was also a friend of her and her sister. She was attacked from the aggressive and domineering groups when she found herself controversies in the Muslim sociaty. She has shown here appearance in the history of Urdu literature and Urdu fiction with bold imagination and writing of short stories as a non-traditional way. Her writings have been appreciated as;

"It was a complete withdrawal from writing as well as from the literary scene. Now she shunned participation in literary functions and felt no temptation to pen any kind of writing. After playing her role well she was now content to lead a quiet life as the wife of the former Dawn editor, the late Mr Ahmad Ali Khan. Of course, this kind of seclusion, so rare in the literary world, should be seen as the outcome of a perfect self-contentment on the part of the writer.

Now after keeping away for long, say about four decades, Hajra Masroor found herself compelled, perhaps under some personal pressure, to come to Lahore and make an appearance before a literary audience. The first function was held at Government College for paying tribute to Qurratulain Hyder, whose sad demise has been deeply felt and mourned in the literary world of India, Pakistan and beyond.

Awards

• Pride of Performance Awards for best writer in 1995 
• Nigar awards for best script writer. 
• Aalmi Frogh-e-Urdu Adab Award from Aalmi Frogh-e-Urdu Adab Organization.

Bibliography

Short stories

• Chand Ke Doosri Taraf چاند کی دوسری طرف 
• Tisri Manzil تیسری منزل 
• Andhere Ujale اند ھیرے اُجالے 
• Choori Chupe چوری چُھپے 
• Ha-ai Allah ہائے اللہ 
• Carke چرکے 
• Woe Log وہ لوگ

MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE 

Posted in: Writer