Sadia Dehlvi
Encyclopedia
Sadia Dehlvi is a Delhi
-based media person, activist, writer and a columnist with the daily newspaper, the Hindustan Times
, and frequently published in Frontline
Urdu, Hindi and English newspapers and magazines.
She is a prominent face on prime time television debates dealing with the issues of Muslim communities. She has been the editor of Bano, a popular woman’s journal in the Urdu language with the Shama group of Publications. Dehlvi has produced and scripted a number of documentaries and television programs, including Amma and Family (1995), starring Zohra Sehgal
.
where she was born, the one time Delhi's cultural hub, today houses Bahujan Samaj Party
headquarters, (since 2002). Her surname 'Dehlvi" (Dehlavi
) means someone from Delhi reflecting her family's long association with Delhi.
For over thirty years Sadia Dehlvi has engaged in voicing concern on issues regarding heritage, culture, women and Muslim communities. She lives with her teenage son in New Delhi
. In April 2009 Sadia Dehlvi authored a book on Sufism called "Sufism: The heart of Islam" published by HarperCollins Publishers, India. She is currently working on a book detailing Delhi’s Sufi history.
Dehlvi is a close friend and confidante of author Khushwant Singh
. Singh’s book Not a Nice Man to Know was dedicated to "Sadia Dehlvi". He wrote, "To Sadia Dehlvi, who gave me more affection and notoriety than I deserve." Singh's book, Men and Women in my Life carries an entire chapter on her and the cover has her photo. In 1998, Dehlvi produced a television show, "Not a Nice man to Know" with Khushwant Singh interviewing women from various fields.
Dehlvi won acclaim for her television series starring the veteran actress Zohra Sehgal
"Amma and Family" that broke the stereotype portrayal of a Muslim family. Dehlvi co-produced and scripted the series, also playing one of the main roles.
i citizen, Reza Pervaiz in 1990, she stayed in Karachi
for while, where the couple had a son, Armaan in 1992.Apr 8, 2002.
“Growing up in an Irish convent boarding school, I regularly went to church, sang Christmas carols, baked Easter eggs and imbibed Christian values. During annual holidays a maulana, a religious teacher, came home to teach the Quran to all the children. He instilled the fear of God into us, with the result that fear remained the only emotion that the heart felt for the Creator. Somehow, this overwhelming fear kept me connected to Allah, despite often wanting to break away completely..."
the contents of her book draws intense criticism from highly eminent islamic scholars like Shaykh `Abdul-`Azeez Bin Baz ,grand mufti of saudi arabia and madinah university ,KSA.
A fatwa exists against grave worship and seeking help from saints by scholars of highest eminence backed by a strong standing committe that issues fatwa
She also has appeared on TV series Zindagi Kitni Khoobsoorat Hai (2001) as an actress against traditional islamic values. She also regularly makes appearance in mixed gender parties which are deemed to be unislamic by all islamic scholars
Currently she is a twice-divorced lady and tied the knot for the third time to a married man with five children, she cites the following reason for the marriage:
‘‘Towards the end of last year I saw death closing in on me. Professionally, emotionally and financially, nothing was working out and I felt orphaned. I rarely went out of my farmhouse and most days stayed tucked in bed auditing life. But I was wary of getting into another marriage for fear of emotional exhaustion. I admitted to moments of loneliness and desperation but laughed through it all. Karamat’s now my biggest strength’’.
Producer:
Writer:
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
-based media person, activist, writer and a columnist with the daily newspaper, the Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ....
, and frequently published in Frontline
Frontline (magazine)
Frontline is a fortnightly English language magazine published by The Hindu Group of publications from Chennai, India. Narasimhan Ram is the editor-in-chief of the magazine. As a current affairs magazine, it covers domestic and International news. Frontline gives a prominent place to various...
Urdu, Hindi and English newspapers and magazines.
She is a prominent face on prime time television debates dealing with the issues of Muslim communities. She has been the editor of Bano, a popular woman’s journal in the Urdu language with the Shama group of Publications. Dehlvi has produced and scripted a number of documentaries and television programs, including Amma and Family (1995), starring Zohra Sehgal
Zohra Sehgal
Zohra Segal is an Indian stage and film actress, who started her career as dancer with dancer Uday Shankar in 1935 and worked with him for the next eight years. She has appeared in many Bollywood films as well as English language films and television series...
.
Biography
Sadia Dehlvi was born in Delhi in 1957, to one of the oldest media houses of Delhi, Shama group of Publications, a renowned name in Urdu publication which published 'Shama', a literary and film Urdu monthly, and eventually closed in 1987. Her grandfather was Yusuf Dehlvi and father is Yunus Dehlvi who lived in Shama Ghar on Sardar Patel Road, in New DelhiNew Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
where she was born, the one time Delhi's cultural hub, today houses Bahujan Samaj Party
Bahujan Samaj Party
The Bahujan Samaj Party is a centrist national political party in India with socialist leanings. It was formed to chiefly represent Bahujans , referring to people from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes as well as Buddhists. The party claims to be inspired by the...
headquarters, (since 2002). Her surname 'Dehlvi" (Dehlavi
Dehlavi (name)
Dehlavi or Dahlawi is a given name, and at many instances it is added as suffix to those born or resident of medieval Delhi .*Amir Khosrow Dehlavi, noted Sufi saint of Delhi*Abdul Haqq Dehlavi, Islamic scholar from Delhi...
) means someone from Delhi reflecting her family's long association with Delhi.
For over thirty years Sadia Dehlvi has engaged in voicing concern on issues regarding heritage, culture, women and Muslim communities. She lives with her teenage son in New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
. In April 2009 Sadia Dehlvi authored a book on Sufism called "Sufism: The heart of Islam" published by HarperCollins Publishers, India. She is currently working on a book detailing Delhi’s Sufi history.
Dehlvi is a close friend and confidante of author Khushwant Singh
Khushwant Singh
Khushwant Singh is a prominent Indian novelist and journalist. Singh's weekly column, "With Malice towards One and All", carried by several Indian newspapers, is among the most widely-read columns in the country....
. Singh’s book Not a Nice Man to Know was dedicated to "Sadia Dehlvi". He wrote, "To Sadia Dehlvi, who gave me more affection and notoriety than I deserve." Singh's book, Men and Women in my Life carries an entire chapter on her and the cover has her photo. In 1998, Dehlvi produced a television show, "Not a Nice man to Know" with Khushwant Singh interviewing women from various fields.
Dehlvi won acclaim for her television series starring the veteran actress Zohra Sehgal
Zohra Sehgal
Zohra Segal is an Indian stage and film actress, who started her career as dancer with dancer Uday Shankar in 1935 and worked with him for the next eight years. She has appeared in many Bollywood films as well as English language films and television series...
"Amma and Family" that broke the stereotype portrayal of a Muslim family. Dehlvi co-produced and scripted the series, also playing one of the main roles.
Personal life
She married a PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i citizen, Reza Pervaiz in 1990, she stayed in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
for while, where the couple had a son, Armaan in 1992.Apr 8, 2002.
Controversy and Criticism
Dehlvi wrote an infamous book on sufism which rendered support for personal interpretation of islam. It extended support for idolatry in the form of worshiping of saints and graves. This view was influenced by catholic saint worship and Christian upbringing in her early days of childhood as described in following excerpt from a chapter entitled Tariqa in her book Sufism, The Heart of Islam“Growing up in an Irish convent boarding school, I regularly went to church, sang Christmas carols, baked Easter eggs and imbibed Christian values. During annual holidays a maulana, a religious teacher, came home to teach the Quran to all the children. He instilled the fear of God into us, with the result that fear remained the only emotion that the heart felt for the Creator. Somehow, this overwhelming fear kept me connected to Allah, despite often wanting to break away completely..."
the contents of her book draws intense criticism from highly eminent islamic scholars like Shaykh `Abdul-`Azeez Bin Baz ,grand mufti of saudi arabia and madinah university ,KSA.
A fatwa exists against grave worship and seeking help from saints by scholars of highest eminence backed by a strong standing committe that issues fatwa
She also has appeared on TV series Zindagi Kitni Khoobsoorat Hai (2001) as an actress against traditional islamic values. She also regularly makes appearance in mixed gender parties which are deemed to be unislamic by all islamic scholars
Currently she is a twice-divorced lady and tied the knot for the third time to a married man with five children, she cites the following reason for the marriage:
‘‘Towards the end of last year I saw death closing in on me. Professionally, emotionally and financially, nothing was working out and I felt orphaned. I rarely went out of my farmhouse and most days stayed tucked in bed auditing life. But I was wary of getting into another marriage for fear of emotional exhaustion. I admitted to moments of loneliness and desperation but laughed through it all. Karamat’s now my biggest strength’’.
Stances
Dehlvi has taken a conservative stance http://www.ibnlive.com/news/constraining-creativity-have-the-extremists-won/53421-3.html in the recent controversy over Taslima Nasreen.Author
- Sufism, The Heart of Islam, HarpercollinsHarperCollinsHarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, 2009. ISBN 8172237979. - Dilli ka Dastarkhwan - chapter in City Improbable : An Anthology of Writings on Delhi/edited by Khushwant Singh. New Delhi, Viking, 2001, xv, 286 p., $22. ISBN 0-67-091235-2.
Works
As Actress:- Zindagi Kitni Khoobsoorat Hai" (2001) TV series
- Amma and Family (1995) TV series
Producer:
- Not a Nice Man to Know (1998) TV series (associate producer)
Writer:
- Amma and Family (1995) TV series (writer)
Awards
- Winner of Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini AwardIndira Gandhi Priyadarshini AwardIndira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award is given every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of Late Smt. Indira Gandhi on 19 November.This award is instituted by All India National Unity Conference and is awarded to individuals for promoting national unity, integration and brotherhood.- 2010 Awards...
Tribune India - Sadia Dehlvi received the Best Journalist Award in 1989.
Further reading
- Sadia Dehlvi columns Outlook (magazine)Outlook (magazine)Outlook is one of India's four top-selling English weekly newsmagazines. Like many other Indian magazines, it is reluctant to reveal its circulation, but the 2007 National Readership Survey suggested 1.5 million copies...
- Ideology of Intolerance - article Hindustan TimesHindustan TimesHindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ....
- Sadia Dehlvi on Women Sufis of Delhi
External links
- Sadia Dehlvi's blog
- India Muslims Profile
- Interview with Sadia Dehlvi
- Srinagar Diary by Sadia Dehlvi in Outlook
- Profile published in the Friday Times