Interestingly, both of these Muslim women are celebrated today for their contributions in the field of education and research

Mumbai: Fatima Sheikh and Fatima al Fihri – two Muslim women have set internet on fire and are trending all over the Cyber space since Sunday morning.

Interestingly, both of these Muslim women are celebrated today for their contributions in the field of education and research.

Fatima Sheikh

Fatima Sheikh was born on this day in 1831 in Pune where she lived with her brother Usman. The siblings opened their home to Savitribhai Phule and Jyotiba Phule, her husband, after they were evicted for attempting to educate people in lower castes.

Fatima Sheikh started trending all over the Cyber space Sunday after Google chose her for today’s doodle to honour and pay tribute on her 191st birth anniversary.

Fatima Sheikh, feminist icon and educator, was a colleague of social reformers Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule. She is celebrated for being one of the first Muslim women teachers of modern India.

She along with the Phule duo co-founded the Indigenous Library in 1848, one of India’s first schools for girls and started educating Dalit children. She later taught at all five schools that the Phules went on to establish and she taught children of all religions and castes. Sheikh took part in the founding of two schools in Bombay in 1851.

Fatima Sheikh faced the dual stigma of being both a Muslim and a woman, and is largely forgotten in Indian History.

Fatima al-Fihri

University of al-Qarawiyyin was founded by a Tunisian woman named Fatima Al-Fihri, the daughter of a rich merchant. 

The other Muslim woman who is trending on Twitter and other social media platforms today is Fatima bint Muhammad Al-Fihriyya. Popularly known as Fatima al Fihri she was born in 800 A.D.
Fatima al-Fihti was the daughter of Mohammed Bnou Abdullah al-Fihri – a rich merchant who settled in Fez, Morocco with his family during the reign of Idris II.

She is credited with founding the al-Qarawiyyin mosque in 859 AD in Fez. She is also known as “Umm al-Banayn”. The al-Qarawiyyin mosque subsequently developed a teaching institution, which became the University of al-Qarawiyyin in 1963.