PROFILES- Malak Hifni Nassef : The Woman, the Nation, and the Silent History
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Malak Hifni Nassef (1886-1918) was a woman of firsts: the first woman to get a degree from government schools (1900); the first to lecture publicly; the first to address the Egyptian parliament with a list of demands (1910); the first to lay the foundations for the feminist movement in Egypt; and the first to publish her poetry in a mainstream journal at the age of thirteen (1899). For the remainder of her life Malak contributed to the mainstream press. In his memoirs, Salama Musa wrote: “For the first time, Egypt saw a woman contributing to newspapers; her identity she concealed under the pseudonym Bahithat al- Badiya”. This year marks the eightieth anniversary of her death. In those eighty years she was commemorated once— in 1924.
Although Malak fared better than hundreds of “unknown soldiers” who contributed to the women’s renaissance, her role in the enlightenment process, journalism, politics, and pedagogy is absent from mainstream Egyptian history. Her works remain, but her name no longer strikes a chord in our collective memory.
Majdeddin Hifni Nassef, Malak’s younger brother, saved her from oblivion by publishing Tahrir al-Mar’ah fi al- Islam (1924) and Athar Bahithat al-Badiya (1962) which narrate her life and preserve her writings. If it were not for such efforts, the ranks of the unknown soldiers would be greater than they already are. Today Nabawiya Musa’s work is unavailable; neither her tract, al-Mar’ah wa al-
’Amal (1920), nor have her serialized memoirs whichappeared in Al-Fatah (from 1938 to 1942) been reproducedsince. Although little is known of her life now, Malak was an important figure in her time. The list of participants in her funeral testifies to the impact and respect she exacted from society: feminists, government leaders, writers, members of the conservative “ulama” class, and the minister of education.
The rereading and immersion of Malak into Egyptian history is crucial. Malak’s presence rectifies misconceptions about Egyptian feminist discourse.
Eastern and western scholars credited progressive liberal men, like Qasim Amin, starting the debate around the “woman question.” The presence and contribution of Malak — during the thirteen years of activity in this debate up till her death in 1918 at the age of thirty-three — prove that women were actors in their own destiny rather than an audience to a male stage. Malak opposed Qasim Amin and Abdelhamid Hamdy’s views that women needed to unveil.
She chose to bide her time and reform the social order rather than upheave it. Malak emphasized education and clung to an indigenous discourse and way of life. For a society that is currently caught in the never-ending debate between forces of tradition and modernity, east and west — Malak is an ideal figure of guidance. The reconciliation of dichotomies dictated Malak’s existence: life in Cairo and in the Fayyum Oasis of the “Ramah” tribe; the desire to liberate women and yet not ascribe to a “western” feminist discourse; loyalty to a husband who caused her suffering; and promulgating a more “liberating” existence for women.
Compiled in al-Nisa’iyyat, Malak’s writings express the pain experienced from patriarchal excesses. She spoke to women in the shared language of oppression, which stemmed from collective experiences of polygamy and the obstacles that made it impossible for women to reach their potential. Malak’s husband, Abdelsattar al-Basil claimed to be sympathetic to her aspirations for women. After their marriage she discovered that he already had a wife, and daughter whom Malak was expected to tutor. Malak did not complain for fear of tarnishing the reputation of educated women whom she symbolized.
We believe that Malak is one among many women who have been pushed to the margins of history. In giving a flavor of her life and beliefs we are starting a process that redresses the balance in our masculine mainstream history and reexamines given notions about preexistent feminist figures and discourses. We challenge mainstream history in its selectivity and one-sidedness, and dispute women’s peripheral position.
 

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