Atiya Fyzee

Atiya Fyzee (1 August 1877 – 4 January 1967; also known as Atiya Fyzee-Rahamin, Atiya Begum, Shahinda, Atiya Begum Fyzee Rahamin) was a British Indian-born Pakistani author and the first woman from South Asia to attend the University of Cambridge.

Life Fyzee was born in Constantinople in 1877 to an Ismaili Bohra family related to the Tyabjis.

Writings art and activism She came to London to attend a teachers training college and she arranged for her diary to be published in India in 1907. Fyzee did not complete the course in London. Noted for her intellectualism, Fyzee's correspondences impressed contemporaries including Muhammad Iqbal, Shibli Naumani, Hafeez Jalandhari and Maulana Muhmmad Ali Jauhar.

Her letters to her sister Zehra Fyzee were published later with Zehra editing them to tone down references of her affectionate platonic relationship with Muhammad Iqbal

There were contested gossips about her close friendships with the authors Shibli Nomani and Muhammad Iqbal

1912 to 1948 In 1912 Atiya Rahamin-Fyzee married Samuel Fyzee-Rahamin a Bene Israeli Jewish artist who converted to Islam to formalize his love relationship with her. After her marriage with Rahamin she traveled back to Europe and USA to visit art galleries. The couple also arranged exhibition on women's craft. She also addressed a gathering in one her visits about women in Indian history,

1948 to 1967 Karachi, Pakistan Fyzee being neighbor of Jinnah in Mumbai, also closely linked with Muhammad Iqbal, senior founder of Pakistan movement happened to shift to Karachi with her husband and sister in 1948 on invitation of Jinnah who also allotted a palatial residence to them in Karachi.

Legacy An incomplete project of cultural center in Karachi at her later evicted property.