The Fathima Sheikh Mystery
Since author Dilip Mandal claimed yesterday that Fathima Sheikh, India’s celebrated first Muslim teacher and a friend of the country’s first female teacher, Savitribai Phule, is his fictional character, the internet is abuzz searching the mystery associated with the charector. Savitribai Phule was a 19th-century Indian teacher and a well-known social reformer Fathima Sheikh was believed to be her colleague.
In an X post titled ‘Confession,’ Mandal claimed that he had created a myth or a fabricated character and named her Fatima Sheikh. Mandal, an author and activist who recently became a media advisor in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, asked for forgiveness, stating that the truth is that Fatima Sheikh never existed. On January 9, many across social media celebrated Fathima Sheikh’s birth anniversary, hailing her contribution to women’s education in India.
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The same day, Mandal claimed that it was his mistake that during a particular phase, he created the character’s name out of thin air, adding that he did so deliberately. Stating that Fatima Sheikh is not a historical figure nor a real person, Dilip Mandal said people will not find a single entry in a Google search earlier.
“No article, no book, no mention. Nothing. Interest in her vanished in 2022 when I abandoned the story of Fatima Sheikh. She came in with a social media narrative and just vanished,” he said.
Requesting the people not to ask him why he did the purported mistake, Mandal said it was a matter of time and circumstance, and also a figure needed to be constructed for a purpose.
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“Thousands of people can attest to this—most of them heard this name from me for the first time. I know the art of creating narratives, of building images. I have mastered this craft, so it was not difficult for me. A fictional sketch was created because there were no old photographs. I spun many stories about her. And thus, Fatima Sheikh came into being,” Mandal wrote.
Claiming that the story spread and the ones who needed the narrative for political and ideological purposes amplified it, Munda pointed out that the complete writings of Jyotiba Phule and Savitribai Phule have been published, and nowhere is the name Fatima Sheikh mentioned as someone who taught alongside them, adding that even Babasaheb Ambedkar never referred to such a name.
“No biographer of Mahatma Phule or Savitribai Phule has mentioned Fatima Sheikh. No Muslim scholar referenced this name until 15 years ago. British documents that discuss the educational efforts of the Phule couple make no mention of Fatima Sheikh either. She is nowhere to be found—absolutely nowhere,” Munda wrote, asking netizens to refrain from digging up his old tweets, Facebook posts, articles, or videos.
Fatima Sheikh, as described in various writings, was believed to be a close associate of Savitribai Phule. She was believed to have helped Savitribai establish India’s first school for girls in Pune.
