Rashid ul Khairi
1868–1936
Biography
Rashid ul Khairi (1868–1936) was an Urdu novelist and social reformer from British India. Readers also knew him as Musawir-e-Gham, which means something like the illustrator of grief. He was born in Delhi in 1868. His family took the name Khairi from an ancestor who had come to India from Arabia in the reign of Shah Jahan. He learned Urdu and Persian at home, went on to an Arabic school, and for a time studied under the poet Altaf Hussain Hali.
What set him apart was his concern for women and their place in society. Ignorance was widespread in his day, and the condition of women was especially poor, so he started several periodicals aimed at them and their families. Among them were Banat, Johar-e-Niswan and Ismat, and the last continued after his death. His fiction carries the same purpose. It mixes reform with storytelling, and he is counted among the pioneers of the Urdu short story. His many books include Subh-e-Zindagi and Sham-e-Zindagi.
The book on this site, گوہر مقصود (Gohar-e-Maqsood), is listed under his name. Its title, which means something like the jewel of purpose, points toward the earnest, instructive writing for which he is remembered. Readers who want to see how a reformer of his time used stories to speak about conduct, family and learning will find it a useful place to start.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
گوہر مقصود
by راشد الخیری
Rashid ul Khairi's Gauhar-e-Maqsood is a slim book of two stories, Khayalistan ki Pari and Lal ki Talash. The first begins in the fairy kingdom of Khayalistan, where the fairy Ghafira is sentenced to lose her wings and be driven out for staying away from the court three days.…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.