"Badia researcher"... The pioneer of the battles of the journalistic struggle in the twentieth century

It is difficult for anyone to study the history of the national struggle journalism in the Arab world, and to overlook this young woman, who a century ago was a pioneer in many things, education, work, journalism, social work, political struggle, literature and culture, and we address her here as the first woman to fight "journalistic battles" for the liberation of women on non-Westernized grounds, and the first woman to lead charitable, civil and women's work in the battles against the occupation.

She was 23 years old when she stood calling on the people of Egypt to revolt against the British occupation. She is the king of Hefni Nassef, or "Badia researcher", which is the name by which she signed her articles in the newspaper "Al-Jarida", and she stood singing a poem in which she addresses the people of Egypt, saying:

What do you say in the grievance that is meant for you ... Even as if you are stakes and stones

Tomorrow you will rob your first precious ... A freedom that has been lost in its attainment

Freedom as long as they lied to it ... On the sons of the Nile in the horizons and be proud

Malak Hefny Nassef was the first Egyptian girl to obtain a primary school diploma in 1900, and then continued her studies to obtain a teacher's school certificate in 1905. She worked as a teacher in the Sunni school, then married in 1907 to one of the notables of Fayoum, Sheikh of the Arabs Abdul Sattar al-Bassel, the sheikh of the Rumman tribe, who is the brother of Hamad al-Bassel, a member of the Egyptian delegation who played an important role in the 1919 revolution.

In her short life, she suffered from the pressures of society as a woman, especially as she was deprived of childbearing, and she also lived the suffering of the Egyptian people, who were searching for themselves amid intellectual and political currents from the East and West and the occupation of their breath, so she began to write about women's issues and social reform. She chose the name "Badia Researcher" after the Fayoum Badia, which she adored.

Al-Jarida supported the British occupation of Egypt, called for cooperation with it, and opposed the national movement demanding evacuation and independence. But the king of Hefni Nassef had a different opinion, so she believed in the need for the independence of Egypt and the freedom of its people, so she fought journalistic battles in which she opposed the orientations of the newspaper in which she writes and her book.

On the pages of the newspaper, there was a dialogue between enlightenment intellectuals, who demand imitation of the West, see Egyptian women in a state of antagonism with men, and want to change their customs and culture. Qasim Amin, Ahmed Lotfi al-Sayyid and Salama Moussa were among the most important leaders of this movement, but the "Badia Researcher" (the name by which she signed her series called Women's) rejected this Westernization trend, for example: "If we cannot distinguish between what is new and useful from what is old and harmful, we will accept everything that comes from the West uncritically... If we want to be a living nation, we must not quote from the civilizations of the West except what serves our interests after rooting, so that it conforms to our customs and the conditions of our country, and it is not permissible for the sake of development and openness to melt into the West, losing our identity and culture."

A new vision linked to identity

In light of this, we can understand the vision of the "Badia scholar" for women's liberation, as she rejects the portrayal of women by enlightenment intellectuals as being in conflict with men, and demands the liberation of women without imitating the West. It calls for building women's political awareness so that they can play their national role alongside men. It wanted the freedom of the whole people, men and women, and it wanted women to play their part in the struggle to achieve the fundamental goal of evacuation and independence. Influenced by Sheikh Muhammad Abdo's reformist tendency, she consciously links identity, social reform, and education.

Women's education occupied a privileged place in the vision of King Hefni Nassef, as the only way to liberate women was their education. Therefore, she demanded that education be compulsory for girls, and urged the rich of the nation to educate the poor girls of the nation. In her articles, she presented 10 principles of reform, the most important of which was to teach girls the true religion, i.e. the teachings of the Qur'an and the authentic Sunnah, to open the way for girls' education in primary and secondary schools, to give them an opportunity to enroll in universities and higher institutes, to include them in legislative and political councils, and to eliminate all customs and traditions that limit their freedom and dignity.

She stressed that women's education serves the interest of the family and society, saying: "If education is the basis of civilization, then women's education is the basis of education... It is the one that breeds generations and raises them on the principles of good and evil... If she is ignorant, he cannot come out of her womb except in ignorance... If she is a scientist, only a scientist can come out of her womb."

The king of Hefni Nassef swims alone against the current in the newspaper "Al-Jarida", but this distinctive voice gave the newspaper richness and popularity, and made her a distinctive presence in the cultural arena, so the editor-in-chief, Dr. Ahmed Lotfi Al-Sayed - has been a proponent of Westernization as mentioned above - collected her articles published in a book entitled "Women" wrote his introduction himself, and printed in the printing press "newspaper" in 1910, and it was clear that her moderate ideas on the issue of women's liberation stronger impact in Egyptian society than the influence of intellectuals Westerners.

An activity that threatened her with exile

Not only did Malak write, but she also started establishing schools at her own expense to educate girls, and then established a women's union, in which she directed women to know their rights while adhering to the Islamic religion. The name of her union was the Egyptian Women's Union, and its goal was "to remove aspects of underdevelopment around Egyptian women, and to show their strength and ability to work and produce." It organized lectures, seminars and cultural competitions for women, encouraging them to participate in public life. She also defended women's rights to divorce, inheritance and hijab, and opposed early marriage, circumcision and domestic violence.

She was not only a journalist or social activist, but also a poet and novelist. She wrote poems carrying patriotic and reformist messages, and wrote novels depicting women's life in the desert and Medina. One of her most famous poems is "Hope", and one of her most famous novels is "The Badia", which tells a love story between a young man from the desert named Abdul Sattar, and a girl from the city named Malak. This novel was about her personal experience marrying Abdul Sattar al-Bassel.

In politics, it also had an important area of activity, as it established the "Nursing Association", which then turned into the "Red Crescent" Society, and used this association to collect donations for the victims of the Italian aggression on Libya, and recruited the efforts of Fayoum girls to produce military uniforms for the Libyan mujahideen, and they themselves simulated 100 suits, and because of that, the occupation authorities discussed a decision to exile them from Egypt, but this decision was reversed for fear of the reaction of the Egyptian people, especially the Bedouins in Fayoum.

In the lament of the "Badia researcher"

Malak lived a short life, as she contracted Spanish fever and died in 2018, and she was a friend of many intellectuals and writers in Egypt, such as Muhammad Hussein Heikal, Hafez Ibrahim and May Ziada, when she died, there were many writings about her, and Hafez Ibrahim and Ahmed Shawky organized poems in her lamentation, and over the years the feeling of the value of this pioneer increased, so that in most cities of Egypt she had streets or institutions bearing her name and commemorating her.

Hafez Ibrahim described that inimitable ability that made her able to reconcile cultures, she was wealthy intellectual, her home is a verse in beauty, preparation and arrangement, but on the outskirts of the "Fayoum desert" and extends the ropes of communication with the community around him, he said about her: "prevailed over the people of palaces and blackened the people of lint."

The Lebanese writer Mai Ziadé, who enjoyed an important literary position in Egypt, wrote a book about her friend, the Badia researcher, in which she dealt with different aspects of her personality and activity, in which she explained that the most important thing that distinguished her "is that she is a woman in all that she wrote, but she is a Muslim above all, and any Muslim woman, a Muslim who is passionate about her religion, jealousy of a lover who sanctifies the beloved name, and finds in each of its letters a world of splendor, greatness and glory that does not perish... Her Islam is evident in her writings."

She adds: "She is Muslim to the extent of introducing religion in every matter, whether political, social or moral, even matters of fashion, adornment, terminology and secondary hadiths."